Acer's Aspire 5742 manages to combine speedy performance with excellent battery life and deliver both in a tidy-looking notebook that costs considerably less than much of the competition
The 2.5GHz Intel Core i3-370M processor is second only to the Medion Akoya P6624's Core i5-460M in terms of clock speed. This helps the Acer Aspire 5742 to achieve a highly creditable 102 points in WorldBench 6, beating all but the aforementioned Medion model.
While the Acer Aspire 5742's 48Wh battery is of only average capacity it manages to outlast every other laptop in this roundup, staying up and running for an impressive five hours (307 minutes) when running MobileMark 2007 Productivity test.
For many, these two feats alone will be enough to secure a purchase especially when you consider that the Acer Aspire 5742 can be found online for less than £450.
While it is possible to pay even less for another model, you’ll have to make some serious compromises. For example, Advent’s similarly-priced Sienna 510 offers similar performance but less than half the battery life, while the Toshiba Satellite-C660D-10W at £380 can struggle when faced with more demanding computing tasks.
Of course, at this price you won’t be getting premium features such as a discrete graphics chip. Like many other budget laptops the Acer Aspire 5742 relies on the Core i3’s built-in graphics processing. This is more than adequate for the majority of non-gaming tasks.
In construction, the Acer Aspire 5742 is smart if a little unimpressive. It’s a far cry from Lenovo’s IdeaPad Z560 M37AFUK in terms of style, but its textured lid and svelte proportions make the most of the lower-cost materials used.
Acer’s usual ‘lilypad’ keyboard has no dedicated special function keys, but is easy to type on and is accompanied by a smooth recessed muti-gesture trackpad with a single button which tilts to provide left and right clicks.
Three USB ports are provided on the Acer Aspire 5742-374G32Mnkk, two of which are right at the front for easy access, along with an SD/SDHC memory card reader.
Built-in sound is limited to a single mono speaker, so if you plan on listening to music you may be better off using earphones or external speakers.
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See also: Group test: what's the best laptop?
Comments
Saud Mohammed said: I am selling mine if anyone wants onecontact at darknetwork1hotmailcom
rosh said: Does it have windows7 built in
jay said: over heating
Tmclean111 said: HorribleLaptop Let me list you the problems I have had Mostly from overheating Screen went white had to get a new screen Right speaker broke still is Mouse pad was overheating was burning my finger Now is has broken Probably because it melted a componentExtremelyslow Overheats and crashes When I sent a message to acer I got no reply Please see photo attached of drastic measures
Kuranda said: Does it have a built in fax modem
Tom Fotheringham said: 5742 star in 1337
Joanne said: had mine for one year in januaryit overheats and shuts down anymore than 5or 6 apps openedyou can t do anything elseand im just talking medium speed games nothing high endnot impressed looking for a new more capable one
aiden said: if u r using windows 7 and firefox that would be causing problem every windows 7 machine goes through that stage Mine did in September plus firefox may also be the problem
Bob said: windows vista better than 7 No way
Mr_Mistoffelees said: If you are going to be pedantic you should at least try to be correctIt should be Tesco not tesco
Mrjim1 said: Its spelt tesco not tescos
funkywhitepimp said: I bought mine with built in Windows 7 and McAfee Antivirus over a year ago for 400 in PC WorldThe only flaws this laptop has is the sound is a bit muffled and the webcam is pretty cack Im not too bothered about that thoughIts such a great laptop One of the best choices I have ever made buying it
Jayprime said: Yes there is
Jayprime said: Sorry to butt in but yes it does have a Mic
Jayprime said: I have had mine for several months andkeep it of a desk stand so that the underside is well ventilated and I have absolutely no problems at all with heat
Lil_ms_nwaughty said: Does ithave a MIC
Karan said: it gets heat very quickly
FadingAway said: just got mine today its a good laptop the Intel i3 370M is clocked at 24Ghz not 25 thespeaker is not so good so headphones are a must other than that I use it for programming and it does everything quite quick after a good few hours testing it andinstallinga lot of large software including Visual Studio I would recommend this to anyone who is thinking of buying a laptop
Jayprime said: I bought mine - 6GB RAM 640GB Memory considerably cheaper than your priceThe biggest problems are that 1 it comes with Windows Live Mail which is the worst email service Ive ever come across and 2it is loaded with Windows 7 which is far worse than the Vista I had on my previous laptopI find both of them are VERY user unfriendly
Graham said: I had an Acer 8102WLMI before which was superb for its time and an EbayrEbuyer shopspecial offerof the 5742 for 26999 was too good to miss I really like the lighter weight and smaller proportions Battery life is much improved too and W7 Home Premium is great My only gripe is the loss of Bluetooth that I had on the 8102 and possibly the absence ofa wi-fi switch on the fornt panel a la 8102 Overall Im very happy with the 5742 - especially after removing all the games software that is pre-installed It handles graphics packages well and Office 2010 is a breezeGood all around performer for the lower end of the market