Acer Aspire 5vsMSI Sword 15

We compare these two popular phones to help you decide which one fits your needs and budget better.

Acer
Acer Aspire 5
Aspire 5

Quick Stats

The Acer Aspire 5 offers decent everyday performance but struggles with gaming due to thermals and frame drops frequently.
The Acer Aspire 5 boasts dramatically improved exterior build quality with a solid and premium feel overall.
The Acer Aspire 5's display is a major letdown with poor brightness and color accuracy.
The Acer Aspire 5 boasts a premium build with advanced features like fingerprint scanner and dual speaker setup.
MSI
MSI Sword 15
Sword 15

Quick Stats

The MSI Sword 15 delivers smooth gameplay due to its powerful 11th Gen i7 and RTX 3060 performance capabilities.
The MSI Sword 15's build quality is underwhelming and feels cheap due to its predominantly plastic construction.
The MSI Sword 15's display is serviceable for everyday use and gaming, but lacks color accuracy.
The MSI Sword 15 features a powerful combination of processor, graphics, and display capabilities.
Key Differences

No significant specification differences found between these devices.

Rank
Acer Aspire 5
#713
MSI Sword 15
Winner
#709
Scores by Category
Rankings
Connectivity
Acer Aspire 5
#606
MSI Sword 15
#380
Winner
Display
Acer Aspire 5
#557
Winner
MSI Sword 15
#767
Performance
Acer Aspire 5
#578
MSI Sword 15
#449
Winner
Build
Acer Aspire 5
#365
Winner
MSI Sword 15
#800
Features
Acer Aspire 5
#174
Winner
MSI Sword 15
#808

Note: Lower rank number indicates a better position in category.

Specifications Comparison
Specification
Acer Acer Aspire 5
MSI MSI Sword 15
up to 40GB
up to 64GB
up to 8000GB SSD + up to 2000GB HDD
up to 8000GB SSD + up to 2000GB HDD
Intel Core i7-1165G7
Intel Core i7-11800H
NVIDIA GeForce MX450 (GDDR5, 25W)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti (Laptop, 60W)
1x 2280 M.2 NVMe slot See photo
1x 2280 M.2 NVMe slot See photo

Note: Highlighted specifications show differences between the two devices.

Pros and Cons

Acer Aspire 5

Strengths

Acer Aspire 5 has dramatically improved exterior build quality with a premium and sturdy feel.
The laptop's trackpad is respectable and the keyboard is essential for general productivity.
The fingerprint scanner is a great addition to the device.
The dual speaker stereo setup is loud enough to give you the immediate surrounding noise levels you would want.
Despite some thermal issues, the laptop still performs pretty well with day-to-day activities like web browsing, watching videos, or crunching up a word document.
It's one of the first mid-range laptops out there rocking intel's 12th gen hardware.
The battery life may be disappointing, but it's not unusable, and you'll get about eight hours on a single charge.

Weaknesses

No specific cons listed for this device

MSI Sword 15

Strengths

The machine has an 11th gen i7 and an rtx 3060, making it a powerful laptop for gaming and other demanding tasks.
The keyboard is very familiar to the reviewer, who has owned previous MSI laptops, although they find the keys slightly condensed.
The trackpad is perfectly fine for web browsing, despite having some flex when pressing the keys.
The 144Hz IPS display provides a good viewing experience, with adequate brightness even in daytime use.
The laptop's internal components are well-cooled, with two downwards-facing speakers and a 52 watt hour battery providing a good balance of performance and power management.

Weaknesses

The build quality is fairly cheap, with most of the material being used as plastic and plenty of flex in the chassis.
The IO ports are limited, with no ports on the back and only a headphone jack, microphone combo, usb 3.2 gen 1 type a and type c port, hdmi out, and gigabit ethernet available.
The battery life is extremely disappointing, with inconsistent results ranging from one to three hours even while doing the same task.
The webcam is relatively naturally lit, but appears fairly fuzzy and may not be suitable for serious video conferencing or content creation.
The laptop gets fairly loud while gaming, which may be a problem for users who prefer quiet computing.
Read Full Reviews

Acer Aspire 5

The Acer Aspire 5 is a mid-range laptop that impresses with its improved exterior build quality, feeling more premium and sturdy than its predecessors. The device boasts a respectable trackpad and keyboard, as well as essential features like a fingerprint scanner and dual speaker stereo setup. However, it falls short in terms of battery life and thermals, which continue to be issues despite minor improvements over the years. Despite this, the Aspire 5 delivers good performance, making it one of the first mid-range laptops with Intel's 12th gen hardware.

MSI Sword 15

The MSI Sword 15 is an intriguing laptop that boasts impressive specs, including an 11th gen i7 processor and an RTX 3060 graphics card. With its 16GB of RAM and 500GB NVMe drive, it's clear that this machine is geared towards gaming and demanding tasks. However, its all-plastic construction raises concerns about build quality and durability. Battery life also appears to be a major issue, with inconsistent results ranging from one to three hours even under light usage.

Need help choosing?

Read our detailed reviews to understand which device is better for your specific needs and budget.

Read Acer Aspire 5 ReviewRead MSI Sword 15 Review

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