Review and testing of the Acer Aspire 7 A715-42G laptop based on the AMD Ryzen 5 5500U processor and the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card

We all follow the top innovations in the laptop market with interest, but most users are content with mid-range or budget laptops. For office tasks and study, maximum performance is not required, and for most, a simple “workhorse” is enough. Approximately such a laptop came to us for review. Acer Aspire 7 A715-42G has a high potential for everyday tasks and allows you to play undemanding games.

The Aspire line of notebooks initially represents the segment of affordable devices from Acer. This implies a medium configuration with a simple graphics card and no fast screen. Design without frills, no RGB lighting and other attributes of gaming devices – a practical working option.

Acer Aspire 7 A715-42G (NH.QBFEU.00A)

We got a laptop based on an AMD Ryzen 5 5500U processor with 8 gigabytes of DDR4-3200 RAM. The GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card is responsible for the graphics. A 512 GB NVMe SSD is used. Supports Wi-Fi 6 and wired Ethernet (which some thin models get rid of). There are three full-length USB Type A and one Type C, which allows you to connect a wide range of peripherals without additional hubs. There is an HDMI port for image output. All this is packaged in a case with dimensions of 363x255x23 mm and a weight of 2.15 kg. The laptop is equipped with a 15.6-inch screen with a resolution of 1920×1080.

Among the additional features worth noting is the presence of a backlit keyboard and a fingerprint scanner. Also, our version is offered without an operating system. For the domestic consumer, this is not a problem and even allows you to save a little on the purchase.

Full specifications are presented in the tables.

Other configurations of the Acer Aspire 7 A715-42G are possible. The top models are built on the AMD Ryzen 5 5700U and use 16 GB of memory, while the cheapest option has a 256 GB drive.

Contents of delivery

The laptop comes in a simple cardboard box. The sticker contains all the main characteristics of the device.

It is completed with a power supply unit with an appropriate cable, there is a set of various documentation.

The ADP-135NB B power supply is designed for a load of 135W.

Appearance

The design can be called simple, but in combination with the “charcoal black” color, the laptop looks solid.

The case does not have any bends, bright elements, etc. The case is made of plastic, so the screen cover can sag.

At the back there are wide slots for blowing hot air. A long copper radiator is visible through the holes.

At the bottom there are slots for air flow. All openings are located strictly above the fans and radiators. A large rubber nub at the top lifts the case for airflow and secures the laptop to the work surface.

On the left side of the case are HDMI ports, USB 3.2 Type C and two regular USB 3.2, there is a LAN port and a Kensington lock slot if you fix the laptop with a cable in the workplace.

On the right side, there is a USB 2.0 port and an audio jack. The cable from the power supply is also connected here. Closer to the edge are additional holes for blowing air.

The screen opens 180 degrees.

The working surface is made in the same color scheme as the outer case, the frame around the screen is made of ordinary black plastic.

Above the screen is a webcam and several microphones.

Island-style keyboard with membrane switches. There is a digital block, which is useful when working with tables and in a number of other tasks.

The power button is located in the corner of the main keyboard.

The white backlight makes it comfortable to work in dark environments.

The touchpad with buttons is made in the form of a single panel. In the corner of the touchpad is a built-in fingerprint sensor.

Screen

The Acer Aspire 7 has a 15.6-inch matte screen with anti-reflective coating.

The IPS-matrix AU Optronic B156HAN0.1 is used with a resolution of 1920×1080, a frequency of 60 Hz.

The sRGB color space is measured at 58% and Adobe RGB at 41%. The color temperature is close to the optimum level of 6500K.

Brightness adjustable from 21 to 257 cd/m², contrast ratio at 900:1.

The average deviation coefficient DeltaE is about 5 units, the maximum deviation is 22.

This is the standard level for a mid-range laptop. An IPS matrix with average characteristics is used, and you will get better color reproduction only in more expensive models. Good viewing angles, no flicker at high brightness settings. An ordinary user will be completely satisfied with such a screen. For work with graphics and video editing, it is rather weak.

Internal organization

Let’s look at the internal layout of the laptop. The bottom of the case has many anchor points to avoid warping.

Inside, everything is done according to the standard scheme for Aspire. The main board has a large corner cutout for a large cooling system. The battery is located at the bottom of the case.

Heat is removed from the processor and video card by three heat pipes with two radiator blocks – one oversized radiator and one standard size. This design is blown by two fans. Given the characteristics of the laptop, such a cooling system should be very effective.

A 50 Wh battery is installed.

The board has two slots for RAM. Our version of the Acer Aspire 7 A715-42G in the NH.QBFEU.00A configuration has one DDR4 stick from SK Hynix.

An NVMe M.2 drive is installed. SKHynix HFM512GD3JX016N 512 GB, which runs on a PCI-E x4 bus.

The Wi-Fi 802.11ax and Bluetooth 5.1 wireless network is provided by the Intel AX200NGW controller.

Sound speakers are located in the lower corners of the case.

The full specifications of the laptop are presented in the screenshot of the HWiNFO utility.

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500U processor has six cores and 12 threads. The base frequency is 2.1 GHz with an increase in frequencies in Boost mode up to 4 GHz (maximum 4050 MHz). Average TDP at 15W with a maximum value of 25W. The AMD Ryzen 5 4500U on the previous version of the Zen architecture had similar characteristics, but processed only six threads. DDR4-3200 memory operates in single-channel mode with delays of 22-22-22-52. Installing a second bar will allow you not only to expand the RAM, but also to increase the overall performance due to the dual-channel mode.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 video card is responsible for graphics processing. This is an analogue of the desktop version of the GeForce GTX 1650 on the TU117 GPU with 896 stream processors. This is the simplest Turing architecture chip without support for ray tracing and DLSS mode. Equipped with modern GDDR6 memory with an effective frequency of 12000 MHz. The amount of memory is four gigabytes. In 2D mode, the system switches to processor-integrated Radeon graphics.

It is worth noting that NVIDIA also has a GeForce GTX 1650 Ti with a fully unlocked TU117 GPU for 1024 stream processors in its arsenal. And in the list of available options for the Acer Aspire 7 A715-42G there is a configuration with such a video card.

Cooling System Efficiency and Noise Level

Now let’s talk about the temperature regime. The laptop was tested in a room with a temperature of 25 ° C.

To recreate a long gaming load, a 3DMark Time Spy stress test loop was launched.

At startup, the processor temperature peaked at 78 °C, after stabilization of the frequencies, the operating temperatures dropped to 65 °C. Depending on the load, the frequency of the CPU cores rose to 3.4 and 4 GHz. That is, the processor confidently provides high performance in the game mode. The GPU frequency was varied in the range of 1700–1785 MHz at a temperature of 62°C.

Let’s evaluate the cooling capabilities under extreme load in the AIDA64 stress test, which simultaneously loaded the processor, graphics and memory.

At first, the processor starts at maximum frequencies, reaching peak temperatures of 88 ° C. Gradually, the frequencies are reduced to the range of the range of 3.2-4 GHz at operating temperatures above 70 ° C. Good result for extreme load.

Case heating is negligible.

The laptop is cooler and quieter than the gaming laptops we usually review in our reviews, but the configuration of the Acer Aspire 7 is also weaker.

Overclocking GeForce GTX 1650

Acer Aspire laptops do not have software fan control. But the cooling system has a clear margin and the ability to cool a hotter video card. Therefore, we experimented a bit with overclocking the GeForce GTX 1650.

In our case, we managed to increase the GPU frequency by 150 MHz, raising the base value from 1380 to 1530 MHz, and Boost Clock from 1515 to 1665 MHz. The memory worked at frequencies up to 13300 MHz.

Such overclocking ensured the graphics card’s Boost stabilization at 1785 MHz in the 3DMark stress test. The fan speeds were automatically increased, which even lowered the operating temperatures of the components, and the Ryzen processor began to show frequencies at 4 GHz more often.

Everything looks good, but in reality, after a long load, performance could fall at some point. So there is a possibility of overclocking the video card, and the cooling system is able to provide it, but you need to monitor the stability of the system.