Skip to main content Laptop Mag Laptop Mag Search Laptop Mag View Profile Business laptops Gaming laptops Chromebooks 2-in-1 laptops Best laptops Best business laptops Best laptop deals Windows Laptops Need a cheap Windows laptop? The Acer Aspire 3 15 makes a few sacrifices to hit its tempting sub-$500 price It's hard to complain about something so cheap Rami Tabari When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image: © Laptop Mag/Rami Tabari) Laptop Mag Verdict The Acer Aspire 3 15 is an affordable laptop that sacrifices a bit too much for me, especially with its battery life and performance. But it's not all bad. TODAY'S BEST DEALS Check Amazon Sleek design Decent keyboard Short battery life Poor display Quiet audio Middling performance Why you can trust Laptop Mag Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test. Specs and benchmarks Price and configurations Battery life Keyboard and touchpad Performance and heat Gaming and graphics AI features Software and warranty Bottom line I'm a bit spoiled with all the fancy laptops I get to review on a weekly basis, but I can spot a lazy budget laptop from a mile away. I wanted to love the Acer Aspire 3 15. The first laptop I ever bought was an Acer Aspire laptop with a barebones discrete GPU inside, and that thing carried me through Fallout 4, albeit on very low settings. I expected the Aspire 3 to come at me with a low-quality display and speakers, but I lost hope when I saw its abysmal battery life. Its performance didn’t help either. However, sacrifices must be made in the quest for a sub-$500 Windows laptop, and the Aspire 3 15 is often well under that mark. If you’re looking for a Windows laptop that offers a nice design and a decent keyboard for an affordable price, then the Acer Aspire 3 15 might be the budget laptop for you. But just to be sure, let’s dive in. Acer Aspire 3 15: Specs and benchmarks Swipe to scroll horizontally Header Cell - Column 0 Acer Aspire 3 15 AMD Ryzen 3 7320U AMD Radeon Graphics 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080, 60Hz touchscreen 14.3 x 9.4 x 0.74 inches 3.92 pounds Click to view full benchmark test results Swipe to scroll horizontally Acer Aspire 3 15 benchmarks Header Cell - Column 0 Acer Aspire 3 15 Geekbench 6 (Higher is better) Handbrake conversion (Lower is better) SSD Transfer rate (Higher is better, MBps) Row 2 - Cell 1 BlackMagic Write (SSD speed) BlackMagic Read (SSD speed) Heat (Degrees Fahrenheit) Battery life (Higher is better) Display brightness (Higher is better) sRGB color gamut (Higher is better) DCI-P3 color gamut (Higher is better) Color accuracy (Lower is better) Sid Meier's Civ VI: Gathering Storm (1080p) 3DMark Fire Strike (Higher is better) Acer Aspire 3 15: Price and configurations There are quite a few models of the Acer Aspire 3 15. The one I reviewed costs $499 and is outfitted with an AMD Ryzen 3 7320U processor, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080, 60Hz touchscreen display. It's just $309 on Amazon at the time of writing, which is a great deal. The cheapest model costs $329, but that brings you down to a 128GB SSD, and Windows 11 will come in S mode (which you can disable afterward). The most you can pay for this laptop is $619, and that model features a Ryzen 5 7520U, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. You’re well within budget range with these laptops, and overall, the price for components is what we expect. However, if you’re looking for something with a bit more power, I recommend checking out the best laptops overall. Acer Aspire 3 15: Design (Image credit: Laptop Mag/Rami Tabari) I’ll give Acer credit; the Aspire 3 15 does not look like a budget laptop. I’ll give Acer credit; the Aspire 3 15 does not look like a budget laptop. It’s got a sleek silver colorway with the company logo at the top of the lid and “Aspire” typed in an elegant font at the bottom. For better or worse, the hinge has plenty of resistance, so it takes a bit of effort to lift the lid open. The interior shows off more of the same silver design, accompanied by a black keyboard carved in the center. I’m not a fan of the rounded edges on the touchpad or the slanted lip of the deck. While the Aspire could certainly be lighter and thinner, it’s not so bad, clocking in at 3.92 pounds and 14.3 x 9.4 x 0.74 inches. Here’s how it compares: Acer Aspire 14 AI: 3.2 pounds, 12.56 x 8.86 x 0.46~0.67 inches Asus Vivobook 16 (2025): 4.14 pounds, 14.06 x 9.87 x 0.70~0.78 inches Acer Chromebook Spin 312: 2.84 pounds, 11.41 x 8.10 x 0.78 inches Acer Aspire 3 15: Ports Image 1 of 2 (Image credit: Laptop Mag/Rami Tabari) (Image credit: Laptop Mag/Rami Tabari) There’s a decent number of ports aboard the Acer Aspire 3 15, but there probably should’ve been more than one USB Type-C port. 1x USB Type-C USB 3.2 Gen 2 (up to 10 Gbps), DisplayPort over USB-C 1x HDMI 2.1 2x USB Type-A 1x 3.5mm headphone jack 1x Kensington lock slot Need more ports? Check out our best USB Type-C hubs and best laptop docking stations pages. Acer Aspire 3 15: Battery life the Aspire 3 15 lasted a measly 6 hours and 56 minutes. I don’t expect a whole lot out of budget laptops due to their price. However, one thing I will not compromise on, no matter the price, is battery life. This is where the Acer Aspire 3 15 falters. On the Laptop Mag battery test, which sets it to continuously surf the web over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, the Aspire 3 15 lasted a measly 6 hours and 56 minutes. That’s the shortest time of all its competitors, each of them scoring over 10 hours of battery life. Click to view chart data in table format Swipe to scroll horizontally Header Cell - Column 0 Acer Aspire 3 15 Acer Aspire 14 AI Asus Vivobook 16 (2025) Acer Chromebook Spin 312 Battery life (Higher is better, HH.MM) Acer Aspire 3 15: Display (Image credit: Laptop Mag/Rami Tabari) If you're opting for a budget laptop, you can forget about the display. If you're opting for a budget laptop, you can forget about the display. This is one of the more acceptable sacrifices you’ll need to come to terms with, as much as it pains me to say as a lover of OLED. The Acer Aspire 3 15 features a 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080, 60Hz touchscreen display that’s not very colorful or very bright. I watched the colors drain from Stitch’s typically vibrant blue face in the latest Lilo & Stitch trailer. Scenes in the daylight looked like they were shot at dusk. And the dull contrasting colors between the ocean and the sand felt like the beach wanted to be left behind (no 'Ohana here). The numbers our colorimeter caught on the Aspire 3’s panel confirm what I saw. It’s the dimmest screen among its competition, but its poor color averages the same. Click to view chart data in table format. Swipe to scroll horizontally Header Cell - Column 0 Acer Aspire 3 15 Acer Aspire 14 AI Asus Vivobook 16 (2025) Acer Chromebook Spin 312 Display brightness (Higher is better) sRGB color gamut (Higher is better) DCI-P3 color gamut (Higher is better) Color accuracy (Lower is better) Acer Aspire 3 15: Keyboard and touchpad (Image credit: Laptop Mag/Rami Tabari) I love the raised texture on the keys, and they’re well-spaced overall. Typing on the Acer Aspire 3 15’s keyboard felt good. I love the raised texture on the keys, and they’re well-spaced overall. However, a mixture of lower key travel and its lower placement in the deck makes typing require a bit more effort. I noticed this when I scored 78 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test, which is just below my 81-wpm average. The keyboard is fine, it just needed a little something to make it great, like more travel or bounce on the keys. The 3.2 x 5.1-inch touchpad is surprisingly smooth, but it feels too stiff to click, and the clicker itself sounds soft and muffled. The touchpad experience is an important component of a laptop, so if you’re as picky as I am, maybe check out the best gaming mouse. Acer Aspire 3 15: Audio Play something on your phone, and then sit on it. That’s what the Acer Aspire 3 15’s front-firing speakers sound like. I listened to “Keep Your Friends Close” from Epic: The Musical and was shocked by the opening wind instruments presenting a decent albeit quiet sound. Then, I was hit with the nasally vocals and the sharp percussion. There isn’t much of a balance, either, as the horned instruments took over the vocals toward the end of the song. I wouldn’t exactly want to listen to the rest of the musical like this, so I’d opt for one of the best headphones. Acer Aspire 3 15: Performance and heat (Image credit: Laptop Mag/Rami Tabari) If you’re opting for a budget laptop, you’ve got to keep your expectations low Listen, I wasn’t expecting much out of the Acer Aspire 3 15 in terms of performance, but the AMD Ryzen 3 7320U processor is a bit of a mess. I already noticed a slight slowdown when I started to open new Chrome tabs. Jumping to a couple of dozen tabs and YouTube videos did slow it down further, but to be fair, it wasn't a dealbreaker kind of bad. If you’re opting for a budget laptop, you’ve got to keep your expectations low, regardless. Stick to light tasks like web browsing, writing, and spreadsheet management. Despite that, the Aspire 3 scored quite a bit lower on the Geekbench 6 overall performance test compared with its rivals. The Vivobook 16’s Qualcomm Snapdragon X X1-26-100 and the Aspire 14 AI’s Intel Core Ultra 5 226V managed over a 140% increase in performance versus the Aspire 3. Meanwhile, the Acer Chromebook Spin 312, which features the low-tier Intel Core i3-N305, scored slightly better than the Aspire 3. Getting trumped by your siblings, especially a Chromebook, is rough. The Aspire 3 took nearly 12 minutes to transcode a 4K video to 1080p on our HandBrake benchmark, which is nearly or over twice as long as its Windows competitors. Meanwhile, its SSD speed was unbearably slow. Don’t get me started on the heat (too late). Why are we clocking 107.4 degrees Fahrenheit as the hottest temp? What is this budget laptop doing that it needs to be that hot? We found this on the rear-center of the underside, about 2 inches left off center (behind the vent). Click to view chart data in table format. Swipe to scroll horizontally Header Cell - Column 0 Acer Aspire 3 15 Acer Aspire 14 AI Asus Vivobook 16 (2025) Acer Chromebook Spin 312 Geekbench 6 (Higher is better) Handbrake conversion (Lower is better, MM.SS) Row 1 - Cell 4 SSD Transfer rate (Higher is better, MBps) Row 2 - Cell 1 Row 2 - Cell 4 BlackMagic Write (SSD speed) Row 3 - Cell 2 Row 3 - Cell 3 Row 3 - Cell 4 BlackMagic Read (SSD speed) Row 4 - Cell 2 Row 4 - Cell 3 Row 4 - Cell 4 Heat (Degrees Fahrenheit, 95 comfort threshold) Acer Aspire 3 15: Gaming and graphics (Image credit: Laptop Mag/Rami Tabari) Do I really need to go out of my way to tell you not to game on this thing? Do I really need to go out of my way to tell you not to game on this thing? The Acer Aspire 3 15’s AMD Radeon Graphics doesn’t get you anywhere apart from your barebones photo-editing. Again, just because it can’t game, doesn’t make this a bad laptop. The Acer Aspire 3 is built for light loads. On the Sid Meier's Civ VI: Gathering Storm benchmark at Medium, 1080p settings, the Aspire 3 scored 10 frames per second, a third of what the playable threshold is. The Aspire 14 AI’s Intel Arc 130V managed some impressive frames overall, while the Vivobook 16’s Qualcomm Adreno actually didn’t get it much further than the Aspire 3. Click to view chart data in table format. Swipe to scroll horizontally Header Cell - Column 0 Acer Aspire 3 15 Acer Aspire 14 AI Asus Vivobook 16 (2025) Acer Chromebook Spin 312 Sid Meier's Civ VI: Gathering Storm (1080p, FPS) Row 0 - Cell 4 3DMark Fire Strike (Higher is better) Row 1 - Cell 4 Acer Aspire 3 15: AI features You’re not going to find any dedicated AI features aboard the Acer Aspire 3 15. The AMD Ryzen 3 7320U doesn’t support an NPU for onboard AI processing. There is Copilot, but considering that there isn’t even a dedicated button for it on the keyboard, this device wasn’t built with AI in mind Acer Aspire 3 15: Webcam (Image credit: Laptop Mag/Rami Tabari) If you’re invested in how you look (which you should be, you’re beautiful), then maybe don’t use the Aspire 3’s 720p webcam. The poor contrast overexposed the window behind me, consuming half of my ceiling in a white light. The My Hero Academia poster behind me looked dull, washing away the bold green and red of Deku’s outfit. And the overall resolution made my face and hair look fuzzier than usual. Like most of this laptop, it does work, but if you want something better, I suggest looking at the best webcams. Acer Aspire 3 15: Software and warranty The app you’ll want to keep in mind is Care Center, which features system information, hardware checkups, tuneups, updates, and recovery management. You’ll see a couple of other Acer-branded items in the app section, but those are just documentation for your laptop. Apart from that, there’s the Acer Purified Voice Console, which reduces background noise of your microphone, and Acer Product Registration, which handles your warranty. The Acer Aspire 3 15 comes with a one-year limited warranty. Bottom line I cannot deny that it's pretty solid for a laptop this price. While I’m not the biggest fan of the Acer Aspire 3 15, I cannot deny that it's pretty solid for a laptop this cheap. It looks nice and features a relatively clicky keyboard. However, I cannot get over its poor battery life. The lower performance does suck, but battery life? I can name a bunch of budget laptops with great battery life, and I have! If battery life is important to you, and I assume it is, then I highly recommend either saving some money or waiting for a sale on the Acer Aspire 14 AI. That offers over double the battery life of the Aspire 3 15, as well as double the performance. If you really want a 15-inch laptop for dirt cheap, and plan on staying plugged in all day, then the Aspire 3 might be for you. Today's best Acer Aspire 3 A315-24PT-RO8Z deals No price informationCheck Amazon We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices Acer Aspire 3 A315-24PT-RO8Z: Price Comparison No price informationCheck Amazon We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices powered by Rami Tabari Social Links Navigation Reviews Editor Rami Tabari is the Reviews Editor for Laptop Mag. He reviews every shape and form of a laptop as well as all sorts of cool tech. You can find him sitting at his desk surrounded by a hoarder's dream of laptops, and when he navigates his way out to civilization, you can catch him watching really bad anime or playing some kind of painfully difficult game. He’s the best at every game and he just doesn’t lose. That’s why you’ll occasionally catch his byline attached to the latest Souls-like challenge. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. Amazon Gaming Week slashes up to $248 off TP-Link gaming routers — here are 5 deals I'd add to give my setup a speed boost The Laptop Mag Editor's Choice Award-winning XREAL Air 2 AR glasses just dropped $110 What Mark Zuckerberg said about smartglasses this week reveals his opinion on AI See more latest Most Popular This MSI Raider gaming laptop costs more than my rent, but it’s worth every penny The iPad 11 is the best budget-friendly tablet you can buy, but there are two big drawbacks This Lenovo Yoga's stunning OLED display and hinge speakers reeled me in. Here's why I'm hooked. ANC and hot-swappable batteries are great, but here's why the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro isn't my go-to gaming headset This Geekom Mini PC is so small, I almost forgot where I put it "I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a display this drop-dead gorgeous.": The new HP Omen Max is putting in maximum effort This slim, stylish business laptop won me over with its vivid display and unmatched keyboard, but I have two key concerns I spent a week using this sub-$500 2-in-1 Chromebook — I can't believe how much better they are in 2025 Asus Vivobook 16 (2025) review: It’s not glamorous, but it’s affordable Alienware 27 4K QD-OLED (AW2725Q) gaming monitor review: 4K gaming has never looked better MORE FROM LAPTOP MAG... Amazon Gaming Week slashes up to $248 off TP-Link gaming routers — here are 5 deals I'd add to give my setup a speed boost The Laptop Mag Editor's Choice Award-winning XREAL Air 2 AR glasses just dropped $110 What Mark Zuckerberg said about smartglasses this week reveals his opinion on AI This MSI Raider gaming laptop costs more than my rent, but it’s worth every penny iPad 11 vs iPad 10: Which affordable iPad is the best value? Laptop Mag is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site. Terms and conditions Contact Future's experts Privacy policy Cookies policy Accessibility Statement Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885. Please login or signup to comment Please wait...