Acer Aspire AS5742G-7200 review: Acer Aspire AS5742G-7200

Editors' note: The Acer Aspire 5742G-7200 is not currently available on Acer's Web site, but a nearly identical equivalent is the Acer Aspire 5742G-5464G50Mnkk.

7.0

Acer Aspire AS5742G-7200

The Good

Robust Nvidia graphics; affordable price; competitive performance for a Core i5 laptop.

The Bad

Lackluster design; short battery life; weak speaker; no USB 3.0 or Bluetooth.

The Bottom Line

On a price-to-performance basis, the Acer Aspire 5742G-7200 is one of the better laptop buys on the market, but better-designed alternatives can be had for a little more money.

For some, the purpose of a laptop isn't to be exciting or sexy, so much as to be functional. Those who feel that way might appreciate the Acer Aspire 5742G-7200, an utterly uninspiring 15.6-inch laptop that, nevertheless, has a pretty good set of specs for its $750 price: an Intel Core i5 processor, Nvidia GeForce GT420M graphics, a 500GB hard drive, and 4GB of RAM. You'll be saving money over the competition: the entry-level Dell XPS 15 costs $100 more. However, the XPS 15 features a more modern design, additional ports such as USB 3.0, far better speakers, and a better touch pad. You'll have to decide whether a bit of savings or better features matter more.

For deal hunters, it's hard to beat what this Acer Aspire offers; however, its plastic-feeling construction, lack of high-end features, and middling battery life make it difficult to recommend outside of the budget category.