Acer Aspire 5315 - Great laptop for kids or home office

If you are buying a computer for your student or the home office, the Acer Aspire 5315 laptop is a terrifc value. I helped a friend to buy one for his daughter and I really pushed him to this one, which he loves. She's just happy to have her own computer. But he has good reason to like it. For less than $500, she is able to do reports and download research (and iTunes, come on now, priorities!) on a very solid piece of equipment. This does not feel flimsy, actually robust enough for any slight carelessness a 12 year might inflict. And the screen is awesome- one of the better monitors I've seen. It's not huge (the standard 15.4 inches) but the colors pop and everything shows up crisply, even movies, which is important with a screen of this size.

This is a solid computer with reasonable power for the typical work that you would have if you are in school or do a little work at home such as typing papers, email, Internet access, creating presentations, working on spreadsheets, etc.

But this is not a low-end laptop. The Acer Aspire 5315 also delivers great entertainment performance. For a little fun, this computer is also more than capable of playing music with surprisingly rich speakers for a laptop (although you'll want headphones) and sharp, clear movies. Like I said, the screen is clear and your DVD's do actually look good on this Aspire. However, the Acer Aspire 5315 is not particulary a gaming computer. If you or your child are into graphic-intense, complex games like World of Warcraft or Flight Simulator, or you work with a lot of video recording and editing, the processing power and graphic card may come up a little short for you. You might want to look at the Acer Aspire 2020 instead.

Specifications

• Processor - Intel^® Celeron^® Media 2.13 GHz. Able to to multitasking on a large scale, even with plenty of intense multimedia.
• Graphics - Intel^® Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100 with integrated 3D graphics takes on hi-def applications and displays brilliant
• Audio - Intel^® High Definition Audio support
• Operating System - Windows Vista® Home (Basic or Premium) or Linux
• Display - 15.4", high-brightness CrystalBrite™
• Hard Disk - 80 GB Hard Drive (but you can upgrade or buy an Aspire 5315 with a larger disk)
• RAM - 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM (but you can add more or buy one that comes with more RAM)
• CD-RW/ DVD-ROM Drive-
• Weight - 10 pounds
• Battery power: about 2 hours of normal use
• Built in Wireless connection

Things that could be better

OK, The mouse pad is not my favorite, we all think it's a bit jumpy. But since, Sally, like most laptop users, is going to use a mouse with the machine most of the time, we can over look it.

This notebook is relatively heavy compared to other notebooks-10 pounds! Not something I'd want to--or want my kid--to cart around. However, if it is going to be parked on a table or desk most of the time, it's fine. In fact, I kind of like it's durable feel for kid-use, especially for tweens and younger.

These things aside, the Acer Aspire 5315 laptop is an affordable and capable notebook computer for most uses.