Life in plastic's not fantastic
We don't often talk about the benchmark tests we use to rate computers’ performance. That's because they’re boring. Really, seriously boring. Sometimes we actually fall asleep while doing them. There’s plenty of time for sleeping when a PC comes in with a Celeron processor. The name comes from the Latin for ‘hurry up!'. Presumably this is Intel’s little joke. We prefer to think of it as an abbreviation of ‘Cornu aspersum’, the garden snail.
Here's a case in point. Mid-range desktop PCs score 50-odd in our usual round of tests. Fancy ones get over 100. The Aspire R11, equipped with the recently introduced Celeron N3050, managed 7. Yes, seven. If processors were Eurovision Song Contest entries, Celeron would be the UK. To be fair, it’s not Montenegro. But don’t buy this laptop expecting Sweden on a budget.
For everyday stuff like web browsing and video playing, it's fine. The R11’s tiny 2GB of memory means there’ll be pauses when switching back and forth between apps - this isn’t helped by the sluggish mechanical hard drive. But its 500GB capacity does give you a decent amount of room for documents, music, photos and videos, unlike some budget laptops with fast but small flash storage.
Despite traditional features like this and a full set of ports, the R11 is slim and reasonably light. It’s unashamedly plasticky, but solid - in fact, it feels like the sort of protective case you might buy for a more delicate machine. So it's easy to carry, and with a battery that lasted us more than nine hours of light use, you won’t have to come back early.
The 11.1in screen isn’t great, with limited brightness and contrast and colours too dull for graphical work such as photo editing. I hat’s to be expected in this price bracket, and shouldn’t matter too much for most purposes. At least its rigid hinges keep it firmly propped at your chosen angle. It’s also a touchscreen, and can be folded all the way back against the keyboard for use as a tablet. Install the free upgrade to Windows 10, with its neat Tablet mode, and this works well, but it’s too bulky to compare to a dedicated tablet.
As a laptop, the R11 is pleasant to use, with a comfortable keyboard. When used this way, it makes more sense to move the cursor with the touchpad rather than swipe the screen. Unfortunately, we found the touchpad didn’t work reliably with Windows 10, even after we’d found and installed a new driver from its maker's website (www.snipca.com/18919). Acer says it’s working on this, but for now it means we can’t recommend the R11. If you come into possession of one, stick to Windows 8.1.
VERDICT
A practical hybrid at an attractive price, but its difficulties handling Windows 10 means you're better off looking elsewhere.
SPECIFICATIONS
1.6GHz Intel Celeron N3050 processor • 2GB memory • 500GB hard drive • Intel HD Graphics • 11.1in 1360x768-pixel screen • Webcam • SD card slot • 1x USB 2.0 port • 1x USB 3.0 port • Gigabit Ethernet port • 802.11ac Wi-Fi • Bluetooth 4.0 • Windows 8.1 (free upgrade to Windows 10) • 21x298x211mm (HxWxD) • 1.58kg • One-year warranty