Acer Aspire 4520

The laptop market in India has exploded of late, with manufacturers trying to outdo each other in the price wars. This has translated into keen competition and, as a consequence, the price-performance ratio has improved drastically.

Yes, powerful laptops are now available at prices unimaginable even months ago. And one of the main players who's been leading the charge is Acer. The company has introduced a whole slew of budget laptops in various price ranges that offer great specifications on paper when compared to products from other companies.

One of the biggest worries people have when they consider an Acer product is its design and usability. This is an issue that had become so worrisome that a lot of people have often overlooked Acer’s products due to the needlessly bad reputation they acquired from such hearsay.

This was at the back of our minds when we started this review and thankfully we were proven wrong. The Acer 4520 is an amazingly well-designed laptop in all respects. To start with, its body is nicely constructed with nice thick plastic. The hinges are solid and even with a fair bit of rough use didn’t creak or become loose.

Another great aspect of this laptop is its size and shape. A normal 14 inch laptop is quite thick and there is often a lot of wasted space. This is not so on the 4520. It’s quite compact, sports a surprisingly slim top panel, and soft rounded corners that give it a classy appearance.

The color scheme is, to put it simply, very sober. The lid and underside of the laptop have a basic black matte finish, while the area around the keyboard sports a pale porcelain look.

Moving on to the LCD panel, the 4520 sports a 14.1 inch screen with a native resolution of 1280x800, offering a decent amount of screen space. The LCD panel is quite exceptional as it offers excellent sharpness and has great brightness, color, and contrast levels, thanks to Acer’s Crystalbite display optimization.

In a similar vein, the keyboard offers great tactile feedback, well-spaced keys, and an ergonomic layout. The only thing that seemed to be a little substandard was the trackpad, which was a bit too smooth and a little too large, leading to a lot of mis-clicks. However, this is a strict case of YMMV (your mileage may vary). We had Sharon, our news editor, use the laptop for a few hours and she had absolutely no problem with it.

In terms of peripheral connectivity, the laptop is certainly not lacking. It offers a full range of options, ranging from four USB slots to a card reader and more. For further details please see the specifications table at the end of the review.