Tarun Verma
Table of Contents
Are you looking for a Windows laptop? Want to spend less than $500? Then Acer Aspire and Lenovo Ideapad laptops are almost certainly at the top of your list. Aspire laptops routinely top Amazon’s list of best-selling laptops, with some models selling for as little as $369.99. The model we evaluated for this review offers the best of both worlds. It is reasonably priced and provides adequate performance.
Whereas If you’re looking for a low-cost laptop, you’ll have to make some difficult choices. Balancing a tight budget with a feature set that mostly consists of the necessities is difficult when evaluating a sea of machines that all look similar. So finding a standout low-cost laptop like the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 14 is a welcome relief. At $519, it’s on the higher end of the price range, but this 14-inch notebook has just about everything you’d want for a notebook in its price range, including a full HD display, a sturdy chassis, and a comfortable keyboard, all held together by on-point performance and some unexpected luxuries for the money. It receives our most recent Editors’ Choice award for low-cost Windows laptops.
Acer Aspire 5 Vs Lenovo Ideapad 3: Comparison Table
| Features | Acer Aspire 5 | Lenovo Ideapad 3 |
| Launching Year | 2020 | 2021 |
| Brand | Acer | Lenovo |
| Series | Aspire 5 | Ideapad 3 |
| Available Colors | Black | Black |
| OS | Windows 10 Home | Windows 10 Home |
| Display | 15.6’ Full HD | 15.6’ FHD IPS |
| Processor | Intel Core i5 7th Gen | Intel i3 10th Gen |
| RAM | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| SSD | 256 GB | 256 GB |
| Customer Ratings | 4/5 | 3.8/5 |
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Acer Aspire 5 vs Lenovo Ideapad 3: Detailed Analysis
Specifications and Features
The Acer Aspire 5 comes equipped with an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a PCIe solid state drive. Buyers looking for graphics performance should be aware that the Core i5-1135G7 includes Intel’s Iris Xe graphics with 80 execution units and a maximum clock speed of 1.3GHz. This isn’t Intel’s fastest integrated graphics option, but it’s a significant improvement over the Intel UHD graphics found in the majority of 10th-generation Intel Core hardware. As previously stated, Acer provides the hardware at rock-bottom prices. A quick Amazon search reveals that alternatives from HP, Lenovo, and Dell are typically more expensive, with most entry-level models ranging from $499 to $599. Acer has a price advantage with budget shoppers but does this hold up under scrutiny.
Lenovo’s IdeaPad laptop line, on the other hand, is comparable to the Dell Inspiron or HP Pavilion series—midrange to low-end machines that range in price, size, and features. The IdeaPad 3 14 sits comfortably on the cusp of both worlds, with an AMD Ryzen 5 5500U processor, 8GB of DDR4 RAM, and 256GB of SSD storage for around $500. Our review unit is available with Windows 10 installed from Amazon.com, but the retailer also offers a Windows 11 variant for $560.
Design
If you go to Jo-Anne Fabrics and order a 14-inch laptop, you’ll get the Acer Aspire 5. They’ll roll it out, cut it, reroll it, and hand it to you in a large paper bag. It is your responsibility to iron out any wrinkles once you get it home.
What the laptop lacks in style is compensated for by its solid, long-lasting feel. I’ll even admit that the laptop resembles a potential suitor on The Bachelorette: it’s generic, yes, but admittedly attractive. The silver-and-black trim is professional, and the black keycaps are eye-catching.
There is one exception. The display lid is a shade darker than the rest of the laptop. It’s not that noticeable in person, but the difference is obvious in photos.
The laptop is.71 inches thick and weighs 3.75 pounds. It’s not light, but it fits easily into most laptop bags and is light enough that you’ll forget you’re carrying it. The adapter is small enough to fit into a small pocket on a backpack, messenger bag, or purse.
Whereas is referring to the Lenovo Ideapad 3? This translates to outstanding performance in the IdeaPad 3 14, distinguishing it from many of its competitors in the same price range. (Learn how to choose the best laptop CPU here.)
The exteriors are equally important. Budget laptops frequently feel and appear cheap, with flimsy, plastic parts that make the devices feel more like Leapfrogs than sophisticated laptops. (For example, see the HP Stream 14.) Notably, the IdeaPad 3 14 defies the trend and performs admirably in this regard. It’s a sturdy machine with a unique blue finish that gives the laptop a slick, eye-catching look, measuring 0.78 by 12.76 by 8.49 inches (HWD) and weighing just over 3 pounds. Yes, it’s still plastic masquerading as metal, but you could do a lot worse in this category.
MUST-READ: Dell Inspiron 15 Vs HP Pavilion 15: Which To Choose?
Display
The Acer Aspire 5 features a 14-inch 1080p matte display. It’s simple, but not unremarkable because it’s both better and worse than expected.
Let us begin with the negative. The colour gamut of the display is limited, accounting for only 64 per cent of the sRGB scale. Colour accuracy is also slightly below average, but not disastrous. The display’s vibrancy is diminished by the narrow colour gamut and mediocre accuracy.
The poor colour performance is offset by a high contrast ratio of up to 1300:1, which is acceptable for a low-cost laptop. The brightness is adequate, reaching 290 nits. That is sufficient to make the matte display usable in almost all indoor lighting conditions.
Every laptop in this comparison, on the other hand, uses integrated graphics—either Intel’s newer Iris Xe silicon, the standard Intel UHD Graphics found in many budget laptops, or, in the case of the IdeaPad 3 14, AMD’s Radeon integrated GPU. Graphics benchmarks can be difficult to run on low-cost laptops due to a lack of memory or a weak GPU.
Performance
The Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor in the Acer Aspire 5 promises respectable performance at a low price. It has four cores, eight threads, and Iris Xe graphics with 80 execution units from Intel. Acer hasn’t skimped on RAM either, with the laptop packing an impressive 8GB.
Battery
The Aspire 5 comes with a 53-watt-hour battery. This is a reasonable size for a low-cost laptop. Our battery test, which loops a local video file until the battery dies, found only six hours and 35 minutes of endurance. That’s not a good outcome.
However, when it comes to the Lenovo Ideapad 3, To test laptop battery life, we charge the battery to 100% before playing a locally stored copy of the open-source Blender movie Tears of Steel on a loop at 50% brightness and 100% volume, along with a few other battery-testing tweaks to ensure accurate readings across all devices. If there isn’t enough space on the laptop to store a copy, we’ll watch the movie from a drive. We also switched the laptop to Airplane mode.
READ MORE: Acer Nitro 5 Vs Lenovo Legion 5: Everything Compared!
Acer Aspire 5 Vs Lenovo Ideapad: Quick Result
| Particulars | Acer Aspire 5 | Lenovo Ideapad | Which one is the best? |
| Battery Life | Good | Good | Any |
| Display | Good | Average | Acer |
| Performance | Good | Better | Any |
| Processor | I5 | I3 | Acer |
Acer Aspire 5 vs Lenovo Ideapad 3: Final Verdict
The Acer Aspire 5 avoids the common pitfalls of low-cost laptops. Windows laptops sold at this or lower prices frequently make drastic cuts. They could have a dual-core processor, 4GB of RAM, or a 128GB hard drive. This laptop does none of these things. It provides the bare necessities for an enjoyable Windows 11 experience at a price that is only a few tens of dollars higher than less capable alternatives (including other Aspire models). That makes it difficult to beat for $499.
Whereas the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 14 is a fantastic budget laptop, with excellent performance and a slew of modern features that almost make you forget it costs less than $600.
