Laptop Review: Acer Aspire 5742G

At one time, most workers could meet the demands of their jobs with a word processor and a spreadsheet program. Now, multimedia applications have become more important than ever. Websites need video to attract eyeballs. Presentations need pictures to make them lively. That means users are asking for more from their laptop computers, even users on a tight budget. Aware of these trends, Acer has introduced a multimedia notebook, the Aspire 5742G-7200, with an attractive $750 price tag.

This Aspire model is a handsome unit with a matte black finish. The cover has a pebbled surface that allows it to be carried with a sure grip, something you'll need given the notebook's size -- 10 by 15 by 1.3 inches -- and weight -- 5.7 pounds.

What sets this Aspire model apart from many economy notebooks is the inclusion of both Intel integrated and Nvidia discrete graphics managed by the latter company's Optimus technology.

Processors or chipsets with integrated graphics are familiar sights in economy-model laptops. But not only do integrated graphics rob system memory from other programs, they generally lack the muscle to handle applications with intensive graphics demands, especially 3D modeling, games and video editing.

A dedicated graphics processor fixes that shortcoming, but usually results in lower battery life. Nvidia's Optimus hybrid graphics engine, however, saves power by automatically switching between integrated graphics for less demanding apps and discrete graphics when more sinew is needed, without so much as a reboot or hiccup.

Our 5742G review unit was built around an Intel Core i5-460M processor, with 3MB of cache and each of its dual cores running at 2.53GHz, and included Nvidia GeForce GT 420M graphics with 1GB of memory. The combination produced zippy performance, especially with our graphics programs.

In addition to its graphics memory, the Aspire has 4GB of DDR3 system SDRAM -- a pair of 2GB modules, which must be replaced if you want to upgrade the computer to its maximum 8GB.

The Big Picture

The 5742G has a 15.6-inch LED-backlit display with a resolution of 1,366 by 768 pixels -- enough for 720p (though not 1080p) HD content. That extra half-inch of diagonal width may not seem like much but, coupled with the display's wide 16:9 aspect ratio, it gives the screen a more spacious feel than you'd find in a typical 15-inch notebook. That's even more evident when viewing DVDs on the unit.

Although the screen's colors are good, they don't have the "pop" found in more expensive notebooks. For most computing tasks, the display's brightness and sharpness are also good, but when watching DVDs, scenes shot in low lighting conditions lack both clarity and definition.

In addition, there are marked differences between the horizontal and vertical viewing angles for the screen. Horizontally, the display has a wide viewing angle. Vertically, though, even a slight head movement up makes the screen appear whiter.

Another distracting aspect of the display is its glossy finish. Its shiny surface can be hard to see under some lighting conditions. A nearby desk lamp, for instance, can almost turn the screen into a mirror, which is fine if you want to shave in it, not so fine for working with it.

As with most laptops these days, the 5742G has a webcam. It supports 1,280 by 1,024 video. Acer includes its own software for videoconferencing, but the camera also works with other video chat services like Google Talk and Skype.

A great thing about 15-inch notebooks is that there's plenty of room for a full-sized keyboard, plus numeric keypad. This Aspire model has a "floating" key design and the keyboard action is very fast. All the keys are nicely sized, but some of the keys on the right side of the clavier are very generously proportioned, notably Shift, Enter and Backspace. The touchpad and rocker (button) bar below the spacebar work smoothly.

The 5742G has a standard array of ports. It has three USB 2.0 ports, microphone and stereo headphone jacks, a Gigabit Ethernet socket and connections for a VGA monitor or HD display through HDMI.

A Dandy Package

For optical storage, the unit has an 8x DVD drive that supports reading and writing to all platter formats, including double-layer discs. The memory-card reader in the unit is less versatile, though. It can only read MMC and SD cards.

Battery life is adequate, but not exceptional. The Acer's six-cell, 4400mAh lithium-ion pack repeatedly lasted just over three hours in our real-world tests.

Our review unit came with the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium. There was also a starter edition of Microsoft Office 2010 and scads of junkware that you'll probably want to remove to reclaim the space it's occupying on the machine's hard drive.

Acer appears to have scaled back some of the components in the 5742G, probably to keep the series affordable. It uses mono instead of stereo speakers, which detracts from watching DVDs on the unit (unless you use headphones, naturally). Its 500GB Serial ATA hard drive spins at the low end of the speed scale, 5,400 rpm. Bluetooth isn't supported out of the box, though we found the machine's Wi-Fi reception quite good.

Despite some of the pricing tradeoffs, the Aspire 5742G is a dandy multimedia package. At first glance $750 may not seem like a bargain next to the $400 laptops seen in the Sunday supplements, but its combination of a fast CPU and Optimus graphics makes its price seem downright thrifty.