This was posted 9 years 10 months 23 days ago, and might be an out-dated deal.

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Dick Smith (Online / Some Stores) ACER Aspire 15.6" ES1-512-C0GA W8.1 Notebook $299

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Dick Smith (Online / Some Stores) ACER Aspire 15.6" ES1-512-C0GA W8.1 Notebook $299
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ricodbn on 30/01/2015 - 14:18 dicksmith.com.au (2160 clicks)
Last edited 02/02/2015 - 23:47 by 1 other user

Good deal for a basic 15" machine with an optical drive. Next Acer 15 inch in store was 399 and was lower spec.

Key Features

  • 15.6" HD Widescreen Display
  • Intel® Celeron® 2840 Processor (Dual Core, Up to 2.58GHz)
  • 4GB RAM
  • 500GB HDD
  • Intel® HD Graphics
  • Windows® 8.1

Other Features

  • DVD-Super Multi Drive
  • Wireless 802.11b/g/n
  • Bluetooth
  • HD Camera
  • Battery Life - Up to 5 hours (based on MobileMark® 2012 test results)
  • SD Card Reader
  • 1 x USB 3.0 Port
  • 2 x USB 2.0 Ports
  • 1 x HDMI Port
  • 1 x VGA Port
  • 1 x RJ45 Port
  • 2.4kg

Edit: "Temporarily" out of stock

Computing 15.6inch Acer Computer Laptop

Related Stores

Dick Smith / Kogan
Dick Smith / Kogan
Marketplace

closed Comments

  • Make it so on 30/01/2015 - 14:46
    +3

    At least it has enough RAM to allow some multi-tasking…

  • Geekomatic on 30/01/2015 - 14:52
    +8

    For those interested, a CPU review:

    http://laptoping.com/intel-celeron-n2830-n2820-specs-benchma…

    • ricodbn on 30/01/2015 - 15:16
      +1

      Thanks. Was sceptical but this assures me that it will meet my purpose- burning photos to CD and the odd letter.
      Anyone suggest an option for office suite or similar? Haven't bought a computer for 5 years.

      • battler on 30/01/2015 - 15:25
        +4

        LibreOffice - free and compatible with MS.

        • ricodbn on 30/01/2015 - 16:34

          Thanks. Appreciated.

      • bchliu on 30/01/2015 - 17:24
        +3

        Kingsoft WPS Office. The most compatible office out there for any existing documents. Free to use for home.

        • ricodbn on 03/02/2015 - 16:44

          Thanks

      • Steptoe on 30/01/2015 - 19:43

        http://www.freeoffice.com/

        • ricodbn on 03/02/2015 - 16:44

          thanks.

  • krum on 30/01/2015 - 15:11

    Is it worth it just for skype and internet usage or would a chromebook be better suited?

    • Make it so on 30/01/2015 - 15:13
      +13

      I think this is more universably useful than a Chromebook.

      • krum on 30/01/2015 - 15:13

        Thanks mate, looks that way. Only concern I have is over the CPU might be a bit too slow.

        • mr kindface on 30/01/2015 - 15:15
          +6

          I've got a similar spec'd laptop, it'll be fine for anything like that

        • krum on 30/01/2015 - 15:16

          @mr kindface: Cheers.

      • bchliu on 30/01/2015 - 17:26

        Depends on what the buyer wants. Chromebook is light and thin for portability. This is like carrying weights in comparison.

    • ricodbn on 30/01/2015 - 15:16
      +3

      This will do the job. My 5 year old does Skype and basic computing without a hitch. HDMI on this so can connect to tv.

      • combatant on 30/01/2015 - 16:52
        +20

        Your 5 year old must be pretty advanced. Got any other kids?

        • abacus on 30/01/2015 - 18:38
          +8

          6 year old is a Professor at UNSW.

        • cannedhams on 30/01/2015 - 19:34
          +1

          I got a 7 on my last assignment by bribing her with a Curly Wurly bar.

    • whats up skip on 30/01/2015 - 16:06
      +1

      I am not sure that it would be fast enough for 720p Skype. If it is, then I suspect only just and it may have to reduce quality to do it.

    • bargaino on 30/01/2015 - 16:57
      +2

      Is it worth it just for skype and internet usage or would a chromebook be better suited?

      Chromebook does not have Skype. You need to install crouton for the Linux version of skype on a chromebook.
      So windows might be easier.

  • fantombloo on 30/01/2015 - 15:49
    -1

    Got excited then lost me at Celeron.

    • [Deactivated] on 30/01/2015 - 16:37
      +5

      For $299?

    • imcold on 30/01/2015 - 17:00
      +8

      I think nowadays Celeron is really a meaningless tag. And doesn't really mean extra slow as it did umm 3-10 years ago.

      • bargaino on 30/01/2015 - 17:10
        +7

        The very first celeron was stupidly slow, due due lack of secondary cache, and was a flop. (Back in the day when people actually bought CPU chips retail.)
        The next model the 300A was twice as fast, and a huge hit after people discovered it could easily be overclocked by 50%. 450MHz dude!

        • scotty on 30/01/2015 - 23:02
          +1

          Dual Celeron 300 overclocked to 450MHz on an Abit BP6 — good old days :) Sold that kit on eBay a few years ago to a dude collection dual CPU boards.

        • Charity on 31/01/2015 - 06:31

          smart people still build their own computers.

          dummies go to dick smith.

        • AMLagonda on 31/01/2015 - 14:05

          I had a 1000mhz Celeron back in the day, was bloody awesome :) and cheap lol this was on a aftermarket slot card in a Abit motherboard lol

      • ricodbn on 30/01/2015 - 17:11

        Check the videos on the review.

      • bchliu on 30/01/2015 - 17:30
        +4

        Celerons and Atoms are almost the same chips these days and perform pretty much the same overall. Biggest diff is Atoms are slower clock, quad core and the Celeron are faster clocked dual core. All are Silvermont based.

  • cannedhams on 30/01/2015 - 17:10
    +3

    I do realise that this is a cheap machine; however even for basic tasks the CPU is still likely to frustrate you at least occasionally.

    This CPU lags behind not only a 2nd-generation i5 but also a first generation i5 (the i5-750 for example).

    I remember I could play TF2 on my old lappy with an i5-430M processor without any slowdowns, apparently with this processor it is playable at 30fps most of the time but it does chug from time to time.

    • Joxer on 30/01/2015 - 17:34
      +2

      I doubt this would play it at 30fps though, really it's probably half the speed of your old i5 430M. It's barely better than an Atom.

    • edfoo on 30/01/2015 - 18:02
      +2

      Do you mean i3 or i5? It is obviously going to be slower than i5 CPUs. Celeron should be compared more to i3, not i5.

      • cannedhams on 30/01/2015 - 19:31
        +3

        The passmark for the first 1st-gen i3 (i3-330M) is 1808. The passmark for this CPU is 1067:-

        http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Celeron+N2840+…

        I don't know how this compares with real world results, but I would still expect an old first gen i3 cpu to outperform this one.

        • edfoo on 30/01/2015 - 20:41

          Thanks for the cpubenchmark link. I just compared to the cheap $200 Dell Inspiron i3 laptop I bought from last year's Big W sale. It contains i3-2350M CPU, the PassMark score is 2638, that's two and a half time faster than this Acer laptop. I am so happy :D

        • cannedhams on 02/02/2015 - 19:27
          +1

          @edfoo: bloody hell, I would have leapt on that one. Great deal.

    • DrStinge on 01/02/2015 - 10:19

      The target audience for this really isn't gaming. It's made for word processing and browsing which it will be more than adept at.

      • cannedhams on 02/02/2015 - 14:21
        +2

        To be honest, it will still chug if you have multiple browser tabs running 1080p YouTube videos and the like.

        Just trying to put this in perspective. Its slower than a six year old midrange CPU, and by some distance. Its bloody slow.

        • DrStinge on 02/02/2015 - 14:35
          +1

          Truth. However 1x720P video will be fine.

  • zaphy on 30/01/2015 - 19:44
    +1

    Bought this 2 days ago. Runs fine for basic browsing etc - I quite often have a dozen tabs open in Chrome, doesn't seem to bother it. Haven't tried any multimedia or games yet. Runs very quiet (fanless model?) and most of the ports are at the back, which is handy to keep cords out of the way.

  • seraphim2017 on 30/01/2015 - 19:58
    +1

    I bought the lenovo g50 with the quad core version of this for the Mrs last week (the N3540). perfectly fine for email Skype office etc. came with bloat ware power director 10 and the processor handled a 720p video EDIT, so not bad. stuck an old Samsung 830 ssd in and it flies! these new celerons and Pentiums are quite impressive for what they are.

    • nuchalis on 31/01/2015 - 12:11

      Was it easy to switch to the SSD? I've never used one, but I see them cheap here sometimes and like the idea…

    • ozhunter68 on 03/02/2015 - 01:25

      The N3540 is an Intel Pentium in a different class. The Passmark score is close to double, hence real world use is a lot faster. For $50 to $100 extra, in my opinion this is well worth it.

      For anyone who wants to do some multitasking and use a computer to the full, this is a good starting performance. This CPU coupled with 4 GB ram and preferably a SSD, would run smooth for everyday regular use, today, and for a few more years to come.

  • ycon on 31/01/2015 - 08:25

    What's the res?

    • Gdsamp on 31/01/2015 - 23:20
      +1

      Budget laptops of 15.6" screen size tend to be 1366x768.
      I don't think this would be any different.

  • Northroo1 on 31/01/2015 - 11:10

    Betta Electrical have a 15.6 inch Hewlett Packard laptop for $249, similar specs but only 2 Gb of ram.
    http://www.betta.com.au/hewlett-packard-15-6-notebook-k1c53p…

  • ajwatts on 31/01/2015 - 13:06

    I was planning to buy a Kogan Atlas X1510 ($329) next week for uni. I'm not knowledgeable enough to recognise a major difference in specs here (except obviously this an optical drive, the Kogan doesn't). Are there any smarty techy ITy people out there keen to show their chops by explaining how one is drastically inferior to the other? :)

    • scrimshaw on 31/01/2015 - 14:07
      +2

      The Kogan uses a quad core processor, this one is dual core. Kogan also claims 9.5 hours battery life, which is about twice this. The Kogan laptop is lighter @ 2.1KG too, making it a better unit overall in terms of hardware.

      There is a known issue with the wireless AC chipset in the kogan unit (check whirlpool forums) which causes the connection to drop out on power saving mode. Putting the laptop in Max performance profile fixes the issue.

      • ajwatts on 02/02/2015 - 19:42

        Thanks! :)

      • ozhunter68 on 02/02/2015 - 23:45

        Great rap up there Scrimshaw.

  • [Deactivated] on 01/02/2015 - 03:31

    i dont really suggest at 300 bucks to buy these, just get soemthign second hand off gumtree - it will last longer even though its used.

    • Make it so on 04/02/2015 - 15:38
      +1

      Seriously? Have you ever found second-hand laptops to be competitively priced?
      And a used laptop of unspecified brand, age and history will last longer than this? Sorry, I think that is very bad advice. Laptop hard drives in particular do not last. And you would have no warranty.

      • [Deactivated] on 04/02/2015 - 23:34

        this will be useless to most people as soon as they install something on it. if you buy a gumtree machine or something get one that is in warranty that is selling for cheap. an ivy bridge machine on higher spec and used carefully can go the distance. i've gotten 2 laptops from gumtree @ 50% of RRP, they were well worth it and got me through high school and uni.

        hard drives are dirt cheap and easily make up for the price. h

        but to answer your questions.

        seriously? yes. you gotta wait and be patient.

        have i ever found second hand laptops to be competitively priced? yes. some people might need money quick and sell for lower., once again a bit of patience and compromise. its not like you have a choice in the matter if you're waiting for an ozbargain deal anyway, since what chance will a machine be exactly your preference. hundreds of laptops get posted on ebay/gumtree everyday while on ozb its a few times a week.

        • ozhunter68 on 06/02/2015 - 16:34

          I think that you both have valid points here. Most people are time poor, can't wait for days or even weeks to get something now because they are busy and time poor. I agree, that with patience you can find something better for price, but unless you know a thing or two about computers, can be risky. You need to make sure that laptop is running clean and not corrupted too, software wise. Some people prefer new with 12 months warranty, for whatever that's worth anyway. Whether buying new or second hand, try to do your research, and think a year or two ahead.

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