We have seen several exciting premieres from brands that have never released laptops before in recent years. The brightest are Huawei and Honor with their MateBook and MagicBook. Now realme has its own “beech”. Considering the incredible success of realme gadgets in the market in less than a year, the company managed to capture about 10% of the smartphone market, the expansion of the range was entirely expected. How good will laptops be?
See detailed review: Realme Book i5
Manufacturers of equipment are increasingly protecting the environment. So Acer does not stand aside. Aspire Vero the most “green” laptop. It is made from recycled unpainted plastic with no synthetic materials. This approach reduces the amount of harmful emissions and reduces the user’s carbon footprint. In addition, the model received an 11th generation Intel Core processor, 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. Let’s see how the eco-friendly gadget shows itself in work.
See detailed review: Acer Aspire Vero
General Info
| Realme Book i5 | Acer Aspire Vero | |
| Released | 25 October 2021 | October 5, 2021 |
| Brand | Realme | Acer |
| Model | Book i5 Gen11 | AV15-51-75QQ |
| Dimensions | 228.96 x 307.21 x 14.9 mm | 363.4 x 238.5 x 17.9 mm |
| Weight | 1.38 kg | 1.80 kg |
| Colours | Real Blue, Real Gray | Volcano Gray |
| Processor | Intel 11th Gen i5-11300H (4.4GHz) | Intel Core i5-1155G7 |
| Display | 14 inch | 15.6 inch |
| Resolution | 2160 x 1440 pixel | 1920 x 1080 px |
| Graphics | Intel Iris Xe Graphics | Intel Iris Xe Graphics |
| RAM | 8 GB LPDDR4x | 8 GB LPDDR4X |
| Storage | 512 GB | 512 GB PCIe NVMe SSD |
| OS | Windows 10 Home (64-bit) | Windows 10 Home |
| Network | Wi-Fi 5/WI-FI 6 | Intel Wireless Wi-Fi 6 AX201 |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.2 | Bluetooth 5.1 |
| Audio | Dual HARMAN Speaker | Stereo Speakers with Acer TrueHarmony |
| Numeric keypad | No | Yes |
| Battery | 11 hours / 54Wh | 7 hours / 65Wh |
| Type | Laptop | Laptop |
| Detailed Review | Realme Book i5 | Acer Aspire Vero |
Design & Features
realme Book is a compact 14-inch laptop, it weighs 1.4 kg and is made of aluminium and plastic. On the left are two USB-C ports. The connector closest to the edge is Thunderbolt 4, which looks like USB-C, but allows you to display an image on a monitor. The second connector is a regular USB-C for data transfer. You can charge your device using both connectors.
The usual USB 3.1 standard and a 3.5 mm jack for connecting wired headphones are on the right side. Unfortunately, there is no card reader and HDMI port, so you will have to buy an adapter if you need to transfer photos from the camera’s memory card. The laptop’s lid opens almost to the end, namely 180 degrees. Externally, the laptop looks very stylish; there are no complaints about the design.
The performance of the laptop is excellent. Realme was not greedy and installed a very nimble Intel 11th Gen i5-11300H (4.4GHz) of the Tiger Lake generation. You can play games and work. If you are a fan of football simulators, FIFA 22 will go to medium graphics settings at FULL HD resolution (1920 x 1080) and high graphics in HD resolution. Moreover, in the same HD resolution, you can run The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and GTA V. Realme Book are still intended not for games but office tasks. The laptop copes with them very confidently. The RAM is 8 GB; adding another slot to bring its number to 16 is impossible. But replacing an SSD drive and putting more instead of 512 GB is possible, but the average user is unlikely to do this.
The resolution of the 14.2-inch display is 2160 by 1440 pixels; the screen brightness is 400 nits. There are no complaints about the color reproduction. The screen bezels on the left and right are thin, slightly larger at the bottom and top. The screen refresh rate is 60 Hz.
The battery life of the laptop is good. He can work 11 hours of video playback in FULL HD and about 8.5 hours when surfing the web, conferences in Zoom, working with presentations and text documents. Fast charging is also supported: a complete 65 W power supply will fully charge the laptop in 1 hour and 15 minutes, and you can charge it up to 50% in 30 minutes.
The keyboard has an excellent key travel and is backlit. It supports three different brightness modes – low, medium and brightest. The backlight does not dazzle when you look at the keyboard; the touchpad is also made with high quality – nothing backlash and does not creak.
The operating system on the laptop is Windows 10 Home, which is upgraded to the 11th version in a couple of clicks.
The laptop comes pre-installed with Microsoft Office Home and Office 2019, so you don’t have to buy a license for a conditional Microsoft 365 to work with documents. There is a Connect function; when “over the air” you can transfer files from your phone to your computer and vice versa. In addition, you can open applications from your smartphone right on your laptop and view incoming notifications on your laptop screen. Of course, all the “magic” works only if you have a realme smartphone, but it’s very stupid to find fault with this. Similarly, pairing is now working for Apple, Honor, Huawei and other manufacturers.
Acer Aspire Vero is equipped with the current quad-core Intel Core i7-1195G7 processor with a maximum frequency of up to 5 GHz, integrated Iris Xe graphics, 16 GB of dual-channel LPDDR4 memory and a fast 512 GB SSD. The laptop runs on Windows 11 out of the box – conveniently, you don’t have to spend time updating the system.
Aspire Vero has gone to great lengths to reduce the amount of polymers in landfills or the ocean when creating a laptop. Acer claims that recycled materials in the model result in a 21% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to conventional laptops since reusing plastic uses less fuel than manufacturing new.
The body and front of the laptop are made from 30% recycled plastics, while the keyboard is made from 50% recycled plastic. The screen is 99% reusable, and you can make a stand out of a cardboard box in a couple of minutes.
The 15.6-inch laptop has an IPS panel with Full HD resolution and a 16:9 aspect ratio. The display received a matte surface with an anti-reflective coating, successfully resisting the sun’s rays. The brightness of the backlight is approximately 250 nits – not too much by today’s standards, but enough for use at home and in the office. The screen is well calibrated and has a uniform backlight over the entire area. Working with documents, spreadsheets, watching videos and photos is a pleasure.
The built-in stereo speakers are responsible for the sound. They have a decent volume margin and do not distort the sound even at maximum values. There are a pair of noise-cancelling microphones that help you comfortably transmit speech during online business meetings.
The model was equipped with a battery with a capacity of 48 Wh. If you set the screen brightness to medium values, then the battery will last for 6 hours in a typical office usage scenario. Looped FHD-video in this mode plays just over 8 hours. Not a record, but with Aspire Vero, you can feel comfortable away from the outlet.
Conclusion!
Of course, judging a laptop without knowing its price is incorrect. The realme Book’s closest competitors are Huawei MateBook 14 2021 with a Core i5 processor and very similar other characteristics (but with 16 GB of RAM), for which they ask about 1000 USD. Slightly more democratic Honor MagicBook 14 2021. Ideally, to successfully break into the market, realme should offer a price of about 800 USD.
In terms of cost, the option from ASUS will be a little more profitable; however, the SSD will be half as much. The model from Huawei is significantly more expensive, but Honor fits into the range indicated above in terms of cost. So we meet another serious-minded player with good business laptops, and there, who knows, it will suddenly come to the gaming segment.
Acer Aspire Vero is an attractive mid-range model. The use of recycled and unpainted plastic has reduced the environmental impact of laptop manufacturing. The environmental friendliness of the model did not affect the reliability of the design and performance. The novelty works quickly has a wide range of ports and loudspeakers. And the unusual design will be appreciated by users who are far from the “green” theme.
Aspire Vero will even allow you to play if we are not talking about some demanding games of recent years. At the same time, the model cannot boast of any very advanced screen characteristics or impressive battery life.
