Acer Aspire 5735Z Review Discussion

The Acer Aspire 5735Z is a low-priced mainstream notebook with a 15.6”, 16:9 aspect ratio display. It retails for less than $500 and has reasonable build quality, a full keyboard with number pad, and decent battery life.

Read the full content of this Article: Acer Aspire 5735Z Review

Related Articles:

• Acer Extensa 4420 User Review
• Acer Aspire One Review
• Acer Aspire 6920 Review

 

i have to agree that the build quality on acers current generation seems to be much better than that of the past... very solid

as for dealing with the weird resolution, ive moved my taskbar to the side giving me a 1280x768 working space (taskbar is 86pixels wide).... almost the same as a 1280x800 screen with the taskbar (usually between 25-30pixels high) on the bottom

 

A work mate has this, the resolution was abit disappointing but overall its a neat machine.

 

It looks to be a very nice affordable laptop. It would be interesting to see how it does in the long run.

 

Didn't you just buy HP DV5t last fall? Man, I envy you.
Thanks for the review.

 

Fullsize KB is a nice touch. Very low price for having what is essentially a core 2 duo. And I thought the new dell inspiron 15 at $599 was a good deal, this beats even that!

 

Nice to see an Acer review come in once in a while . . .

Good keyboard, good screen, decent build, certainly a bang for buck machine

I know WEI isn't THAT reliable, but I'm sure surprised Intel's GMA 4500 gets a WEI score equivalent to my 8400GS (64MB) . . .

Anyway, great review, as usual!

 

Great review, as usual. This seems to be a great laptop given how appealing the price tag is. Is this price still available?

 

I've been looking for a budget laptop for a while and this laptop has so far been my top contender. I just got a question about the screen. I was just wondering how much glare (reflection) you get from natural light? Since i plan to be on the go most of the time.

 

http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/41009.jpg

The screen seems to be matte in this pic, not glossy, so glare shouldn't be a problem. Though it might be glossy. I guess Chaz can clear this up for us.

 

For $399.99 you just can't go wrong with this laptop, it's as cheap or cheaper than most netbooks, the processor isn't bad and certainly performs better than an Atom processor, and you get all the essentials you need in one notebook package. Now, if it breaks I wouldn't want to deal with Acer support and I definitely don't want to know what happens if this is dropped on the floor, you just have to be careful and it'll be a worthwhile $399 investment.

 

It's actually a glossy screen; we blurred the screen out in that picture.

Thanks for the great comments, they mean a lot to me.

I am flat-out impressed with this machine's value factor. For $400 . . . as Andrew said, it's basically impossible to go wrong if you're in the market for a basic machine.

 

Indeed. Below is what the reflections look like in the original image. Very distracting ... if you happen to have a strong light source in the perfect position to reflect back at you.

 

lol, behind the scenes editing... it helped the review I'd say

 

Not our original intention ... we just didn't want to advertise for a lamp manufacturer in the middle of a laptop review.

 

I'm actually impressed with the price/performance of this laptop. It seems to be perfect for college students on a budget who don't mind the larger size. Weight is actually rather decent for a 15.6.

 

hmm, that reflection looks strangely like a dorm or hotel room setting. Although the mattress is surprisingly clean for that type environment.

 

I'd definitely be giving this one a look when I return to Canada for my studies this spring. Here's hoping Acer would use Nvidia's Ion chipset(?) for non-Atom notebooks.

 

I was actually stuck in a hotel writing this review, and it was incredibly difficult to find a suitably-lit part of the room to take pictures. I ended up going into the lobby to take the side pictures, and the three-quarters, well, it was a major headache.

 

nice cheapo machine

 

yup, nice machine for that price. only thing, I personaly dislike is super-widescreen - very little vertical space for serious text editing.
I hope this is end of screens going wider and wider (I liked old "standard" 4:3 ratio).

 

Unfortunately, word from within the industry is that this is only the beginning. Don't blame the notebook manufacturers because it's the display panel manufacturers/fabricators who are to blame.

At some point after the initial transition to widescreen, display manufacturers realized that they could cut more screens out of a single sheet of glass if they made the screens wider. Now the display manufacturers are trying to figure out the widest possible "acceptable" ratio ... they want the screens to be as wide as possible so they can make more screens for the least possible cost, but they realize that they can only make the screens so wide before consumers stop buying them.

Take a look at the screen on the Sony VAIO P if you want some idea of what future notebook screens are probably going to look like.

 

Doubt the 16:9 disease will stop just like that, we might as well just get used to it. Non tech-savy will just;

"Look! HD screen!"

And I think non tech-savy > tech-savy in terms of population. Of course manufacture will satisfied the majority first (Not to mention cutting down the cost).

[EDIT]

Dang I need to translate my thought to words faster.

 

Good review. Seems like a nice, solid budget-based contender

 

Nice review, I'll have to keep this one in mind for anyone I know who wants a cheap but good laptop. Probably better than those cheap Compaq laptops that they also sell at Best Buy, heh.

 

i bit the budget bug, buying a very similar machine - the hp g60 series, with the same 15.6" 16x9 glossy display and numeric keypad. i paid 499 after rebate.

turion x2 2ghz
integrated nvidia 8400m
3 GB ram
160gb HD
DVD R/W
built in cam
a/b/g wifi
vista home premium

so far, no complaints after 2 months of usage.

 

Now the question is... this or the EEE PC if I were to go for a netbook?

 

Pretty sick price for a netbook with core 2 duo.

 

Too bad my netbook doesn't come with a higher resolution and a 4500MHD video card...

 

I wouldnt really refer to it as a Netbook.

Netbook is more of a miniature notebook which is mainly designed for wireless/internet use and general applications whilst keeping the size and price to the minimum.

We dont want people pulling out a 20" HDX dragon and calling it a netbook.

 

for the price range this is a stunning looking notebook....

 

Wait a minute... WHAT? Hmm, I didn't even notice the screen size. I guess I was thinking Aspire One.

 

My XPS M1730 is a netbook too

 

Great laptop! I was thinking about buying the ver with 320GB HDD and 4GB of ram (just because I need the extra hdd space). But I also notice that there is the AS5735-6999 which has a T3400 core. The only difference between that and T3200 is the Bus/Core ratio which gives T3400 a higher clock of 2.16 GHz.

By the way... I've also searched for some XP drivers for this laptop (just in case I might buy it), because it surely runs XP faster than vista with such specs. I did find some useful info here (might come handy to someone)

LE: I've already seen in shops a ver of this latop with T6400 and 500GB HDD for 800$. I'm not really sure if it's worth the price, since the T3200 is running for 600$ with a 320GB HDD. I mean for the processor I suppose that there is an option to upgrade the processor yourself for that amount with a P8400? just curious...is it possible?

 

I have owned this laptop since nov. 08 and have been pleasantly suprised how capable the machine is. My friend bought a netbook for $100 more than I paid and now is jealous of it. My only caveat is there isn't support from Acer and the GL40 is not made for upgrading. Other than those I love it.

 

What do you mean there isn't support from Acer?

 

Maybe the area he is living at Acer doesn't offer support.

Or maybe hes referring to Acer's sucky Drivers/support?

 

Does any of you know if it's possible to replace the cpu in this laptop with a P8400 and how would it be done? Did anybody tried? or is it a to low-cost notebook to be of interest to anyone..

The platform is motevina, I think, since it has the Intel GL40 chipset and the 4500MHD integrated graphics, so theoretically it should work

 

yes, it should be possible look for the user manual online sometimes they actually show you how to go inside the notebooks and replace/change things.

P8400 is a good processor to i have one very good for lots of work and regular browsing

 

It's not possible to upgrade the 5735Z to a Core 2 Duo . . . the GL40 chipset doesn't support Core 2 Duos. See here, a user tried to put in a P8600 and it didn't work (last post):
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=314561

The GL40 chipset does not support 1066MHz FSB speeds:
http://www.intel.com/Products/Notebook/Chipsets/GL40/GL40-overview.htm

As I noted in this review, the Pentium Dual-Core processor is basically an older Core 2 Duo with half the cache (T5750), it's fast enough for just about anything.

 

thanks for the reply!

 

I bought mine brand new with a shady Linux distro pre-installed and I was surprised to see that on the Resource DVD I found Windows XP drivers so the first impulse was to install an old XP I had. Not too happy with the results and I gave a shot to Windows Vista Ultimate SP1. Well... It works smoothly, performing well the required office tasks and I can even watch movies on the go. The battery life is quite good.

 

I currently have an Acer Aspire 5100 which seems like a lower model than the one you've got. Mine has 1GB of RAM and only around 100GB of hard disk space, although I think mine could have been custom built.

 

Vista runs extremely well on this machine, it is very fast. It runs even better if you use the Vista tune-up guide here on NBR:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=166532

 

i was wandering. i was thinking about buying this laptop ( by the way nice review). And i was wandering because all i want to use it for is to go on the internet and world of warcraft. so do you believe it would be good enough because WOW only needs a minimum of 1GB of RAM to run. So will it be good enough

 

Yes its quite powerful enough to run WoW at great settings.

If you want even better performance, you can easily increase your RAM to 3-4gb.

 

My friend bought the one which comes with the amd processor and the ati3200 gpu. Pretty and and pretty solid physically due to the gemstone design. Definitely perfect for the university student.

 

my 5375z has the 250gb hdd, pentium T3400 2.16 GHz, 667FSB, 1M L2 cache,802.11b/g/draft-n WLAN.
been using it for a month now and love it, good battery life,nice clear bright screen,low fan noise,and build qualty has come on leaps and bounds from some of the older acer laptops.

love it, now looking in to cpu and ram upgrade

Phil

 

The RAM upgrade is possible; however I don't think the GL40 chipset will support a regular Core 2 Duo.

 

was looking in to the GL40 chipset and 4gb ram is the max.
but cpu will have to do some reading/research.

the 5735z is a no frills laptop and is great for some games and a few online games.
it has one down side the touchpad buttons are very loud, but you can live with that.

EDIT: there is talk that a few 5735's have a GL45 chipset Socket P Intel® Core™2 Duo processor with FSB
667/800/1066 MHz
would like to know the mobo numbers for them