ACER Aspire 5745PG-354G32MN
A clear and confident winner with excellent all-round quality and few faults…
Acer is one of the most prolific laptop manufacturers around, recently releasing a large number of portables under its consumer Aspire range. The Aspire 5745PG-354G32Mn is one of the latest and it’s an excellent machine that’s hard to fault.
Build quality is strong, with a solid chassis that’s one of the sturdiest in this group test. Design is minimal but sleek, with a glossy black lid and brushed-aluminium finish on the palmrests.
Usability is another clear strength, with an impressively firm keyboard in place. Acer has used its standard design, with perfectly flat keys sitting slightly raised from the chassis. Some users may lament the lack of key definition, but we found it a very comfortable board to type on.
The 15.6-inch widescreen display rivals all others in this group test and produces stunningly realistic images, thanks to the glossy Super-TFT coating. Only the Sony produced sharper pictures, but the extra size here makes working on documents side by side much easier. The screen also tilts back far enough to make working on your lap a comfortable experience.
What’s more, Acer has added touch-control functionality, so you can prod the screen to move the cursor if you tire of the touchpad. Acers TouchPortal software makes full use of the touchscreen control, giving you easy access to your music, movie and photo collections with the swipe of your finger, and large virtual buttons offer excellent interactivity.
Limited Portability
With 196-minutes of productivity between charges, battery life is outshone by the Sony. However, at 2.7kg and with a reasonably thin chassis, it’s still feasible to take this laptop on the road. Just remember to pack the power charger.
Performance is assured thanks to the Intel Core i3 processor, and this laptop comfortably beat all except the Toshiba. There’s easily enough power on offer for multi-tasking with the most intensive office applications. The dedicated nVidia graphics card produced the best 3D performance of this group, perfect for those using professional design software.
The 320GB hard drive provides ample storage and only the Hi-Grade has more space. Networking is fast thanks to 802.3.1n Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet, as with all but the HP in this group, and a full range of ports including a 5-in-1 memory card reader are available. There’s also four USB ports for attaching peripherals, although three of them are very close together.
The Aspire 5745PG-354G32M0 is an excellent all-rounder and a worthy group winner. Portability may be a weak point,but the solid build quality, power and usability more than compensate.
Specs Detail
- PROCESSOR INTEL 2.26GHZ CORE i3 350M
- MEMORY4096MB DDR3 SDRAM
- HARD DRIVE 320GB (5400 RPM)
- OPTICAL DRIVE TRI-FORMAT DVD DL
- SCREEN SIZE AND TYPE 15.6-INCH SUPER-TFT
- DISPLAY RESOLUTION 1366 X 768 (WXGA)
- GRAPHICS CARD NVIDIA GEFORCE 310M
- DIMENSIONS 380 X 235 X 39MM
- WEIGHT 2.7KG
- WIRELESS LAN 802.11N
- ETHERNET GIGABIT
- USB PORTS 4
- FIREWIRE NO
- OPERATING SYSTEM WINDOWS 7 HOME PREMIUM
- STANDARD WARRANTY1 YR C&R P&L
A clear and confident winner with excellent all-round quality and few faults…
Acer is one of the most prolific laptop manufacturers around, recently releasing a large number of portables under its consumer Aspire range. The Aspire 5745PG-354G32Mn is one of the latest and it’s an excellent machine that’s hard to fault.
Build quality is strong, with a solid chassis that’s one of the sturdiest in this group test. Design is minimal but sleek, with a glossy black lid and brushed-aluminium finish on the palmrests.
Usability is another clear strength, with an impressively firm keyboard in place. Acer has used its standard design, with perfectly flat keys sitting slightly raised from the chassis. Some users may lament the lack of key definition, but we found it a very comfortable board to type on.
The 15.6-inch widescreen display rivals all others in this group test and produces stunningly realistic images, thanks to the glossy Super-TFT coating. Only the Sony produced sharper pictures, but the extra size here makes working on documents side by side much easier. The screen also tilts back far enough to make working on your lap a comfortable experience.
What’s more, Acer has added touch-control functionality, so you can prod the screen to move the cursor if you tire of the touchpad. Acers TouchPortal software makes full use of the touchscreen control, giving you easy access to your music, movie and photo collections with the swipe of your finger, and large virtual buttons offer excellent interactivity.
Limited Portability
With 196-minutes of productivity between charges, battery life is outshone by the Sony. However, at 2.7kg and with a reasonably thin chassis, it’s still feasible to take this laptop on the road. Just remember to pack the power charger.
Performance is assured thanks to the Intel Core i3 processor, and this laptop comfortably beat all except the Toshiba. There’s easily enough power on offer for multi-tasking with the most intensive office applications. The dedicated nVidia graphics card produced the best 3D performance of this group, perfect for those using professional design software.
The 320GB hard drive provides ample storage and only the Hi-Grade has more space. Networking is fast thanks to 802.3.1n Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet, as with all but the HP in this group, and a full range of ports including a 5-in-1 memory card reader are available. There’s also four USB ports for attaching peripherals, although three of them are very close together.
The Aspire 5745PG-354G32M0 is an excellent all-rounder and a worthy group winner. Portability may be a weak point,but the solid build quality, power and usability more than compensate.
Specs Detail
- PROCESSOR INTEL 2.26GHZ CORE i3 350M
- MEMORY4096MB DDR3 SDRAM
- HARD DRIVE 320GB (5400 RPM)
- OPTICAL DRIVE TRI-FORMAT DVD DL
- SCREEN SIZE AND TYPE 15.6-INCH SUPER-TFT
- DISPLAY RESOLUTION 1366 X 768 (WXGA)
- GRAPHICS CARD NVIDIA GEFORCE 310M
- DIMENSIONS 380 X 235 X 39MM
- WEIGHT 2.7KG
- WIRELESS LAN 802.11N
- ETHERNET GIGABIT
- USB PORTS 4
- FIREWIRE NO
- OPERATING SYSTEM WINDOWS 7 HOME PREMIUM
- STANDARD WARRANTY1 YR C&R P&L
