Acer Aspire 5 vs HP 15.6 Touchscreen laptop (Core i5-1035G1 vs Core i5-10210U)

Lets take two popular budget laptops on Amazon and pit them against each other. On one hand we have the new Acer Aspire 5 Slim series laptop and, on the other hand is HP Notebook 15 2020 edition. Both these laptops will fight a grueling 5 round match. Who will emerge victorious and who will go home a loser? Let's find out!

Round 1: CPU

Both these laptops are powered by Intel’s 10th generation CPU. But just because Intel calls them “10th generation” doesn't mean they come from the same family. Intel has really muddled the water with their 10th generation naming convention. So let's take a look at this chart to sort things out.

Acer laptop is powered by Intel Core i5-10210U processor which belongs to Comet Lake family, while HP laptop is powered by Core i5-1035G1 processor from Icelake Family. Icelake family CPU are built using Intel's latest 10nm process technology while Cometlake CPU are built using the older 14nm process technology. For some bizarre reason, Intel decided to name both these CPUs as their 10th generation. Now both these CPUs have 4 cores and 8 threads. They also have the same exact cache amount of 6MB. Both CPUs operate at the same thermal envelope of 15 watt TDP.

But the similarity ends here. The main difference between these 2 CPUs is the clock frequency. Intel has been optimizing their 14nm process node for the last 5 years. So while Intel can squeeze out faster clock frequencies on their older 14nm process, the current 10nm CPUs have slower clock speed. This is true for both the base clock frequency as well as the turbo clock frequency. For e.g., the IceLake processor’s base clock frequency is only 1GHz as opposed to Comet Lake which is clocked at 1.6 GHz. Similarly Icelake’s Turbo clock frequency is 3.6 Ghz which is much slower than 4.2 Ghz from Cometlake. So does that mean Intel's newer 10nm Icelake chip is slower than older 14nm CometLake chip?

Well, to answer this question we will need to take a look at some benchmarks. Let's start with the single thread benchmark. Icelake CPU in the HP laptop scores 2392 points while the Comet Lake CPU in Acer laptop scores 2294 points. So, that's a 4.3% performance win by Icelake over Cometlake.

This is really interesting because Icelake processor is clocked at 1Ghz, yet it managed to beat CometLake processor clocked at 1.6 GHz. So why is the slower clocked Icelake processor faster than Cometlake? The answer is Intel’s new microarchitecture in the Icelake CPUs. Remember, CometLake is still recycling the older Skylake Architecture from 2016. So, these processors are very different from each other when it comes to their microarchitecture.

Now let's take a closer look at the overall performance of these processors by incorporating the multi-threaded benchmarks. Icelake CPU scores 8806 points while CometLake scores 8521 points. So that's a 3.3% overall performance win by Icelake CPU. Honestly that's not very impressive. One would expect a newer microarchitecture CPU from intel to be faster. I think Intel needs to bump up the clock speeds of their Icelake CPUs. Anyway, the HP Laptop still wins this round. It was a very narrow victory but after 1st round HP leads Acer by 1-0

Round 2: RAM and SSD

Acer Aspire 5 comes with 8 GIG of DDR4 RAM and 256 GIG of PCIe NVMe SSD. HP on the other hand comes with 16 GIB of DDR4 RAM and 512 GIG of PCIe NVMe SSD. So that's double the RAM and double the storage. This gives HP an advantage over Acer especially when it comes to running productivity software like Microsoft office suites and various photo and video editing softwares. More RAM also allows opening multiple tabs in Chrome browser without any slowdown.

BTW if you want to increase the RAM on Acer laptop, it's very easy. All you need to do is open the back of the laptop by removing about dozen screws & prying open the back plate. This will give you direct access to memory DIMM slots. Acer laptop has 1 DIMM slot available for memory upgrade. Interestingly Acer has soldered the existing 4 GIG RAM to the motherboard. So this soldered RAM cannot be removed. But you can add an additional 8 GIG or 16 GIG RAM in the available DIMM slot. If you chose to do that, you will end up with either 8+4 i.e 12 GIG RAM or 16+4 i.e 20 GIG RAM. Upgrading the RAM will dramatically improve the performance of Acer Aspire 5 laptop. BTW you can also increase storage by adding another SATA3 SSD in Acer laptop. I will throw a link in the description below of compatible memory module as well as SSD that will work with Acer Aspire 5 laptop. Also checkout my video where I show how you can upgrade RAM and SSD on your Acer laptop, its linked in the description below. But since HP laptop comes with double the RAM and double the SSD storage, it wins the 2nd round and takes a solid 2-0 lead over Acer

8GB RAM upgrade
16GB RAM upgrade
500GB SATA SSD
1TB SATA SSD
2TB SATA SSD
500GB M.2 SSD
1TB M.2 SSD
2TB M.2 SSD

Round 3: Display

Both laptops have a large 15.6 Inch screen. But the similarity ends here. Acer has a full HD screen with 1920 by 1080 resolution. HP on the other hand comes with only 1280 by 720 resolution screen. Thats 720p! I can't believe, HP wants to sell a 15.6 inch laptop running at only 720p resolution. In the year 2020, that should be criminal! Seriously, even mid-range android phones now come with 1080p screen.

At least the screen on both these laptops use IPS panel. Even though HP screen is lower resolution, it is touch enabled. Acer on the other hand does not offer touchscreen display. The display on both these laptops is plenty bright outputting about 200 nits of brightness. The colors look bright and punchy, and both laptop screen support wide viewing angles. But I will give this round to Acer, simply because 720p screen on a 15.6 inch laptop just doesn't cut it. I don't know what HP was smoking when they made this decision. So Acer wins round 3, and now the score reads 2-1 in favor of HP

Round 4: Keyboard & Trackpad

Both these laptops come with full size keyboard. The keys don't feel mushy and provide good tactile feedback. Acer keyboard supports backlighting which is missing in HP laptop. I am a huge fan of backlit keyboard, because they allow you to type in any lighting situation. That's great for students taking notes in the classroom or conference-room where it may be dark during slide-show or power-point presentations. The trackpad on both these laptops are large and supports multi-finger gestures. This round is a close one, but I will have to declare Acer the winner because of its backlit keyboard. So after round 4, the scores are now tied at 2 all

Round 5: Price

OK so now we are in the 5th and final round. And it's all about the price. Which one of these two laptops give the best bang for bucks? The prices fluctuatte so please check on the link below to find the current price.

Currently HP laptop is about 60 dollars cheaper than Acer. But is it a better value, that's the more important question. For an extra 60 dollars, Acer is giving you a full HD IPS panel, but it's skimping on RAM and SSD storage. HP on the other hand doubles the RAM and SSD, but cuts corner by giving an inferior 720p display. So this is going to be a tough round, on the one hand we have got better display and keyboard, on the other hand we have more RAM and SSD. I think I will have to go with Acer Aspire 5 laptop and award it the winner of round 5.

Conclusion

My reasoning is simple, you can easily upgrade the RAM and SSD on Acer laptop, but you are stuck with 720p screen on HP, that cannot be upgraded. In my opinion the screen quality is very important when picking a laptop. After all that's what you will be looking most of the time. So that means Acer Aspire Aspire 5 comes out from behind and wins this contest 3-2. HP has made a great laptop for the price and I really like the 16GB RAM and 512 GB SSD configuration. I also like the fact that it has a slightly faster and newer Intel processor. But HP really dropped the ball on screen quality. If the screen size was 12 or 13 inches, then 720p resolution might have worked. But for a 15.6 inch laptop selling at 500 dollar price point, 720p a tough sell.

So what do you guys think? Would you prefer Acer Aspire 5 or the HP laptop? Please let me know in the comment section below.

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