Acer Aspire P3 full Review

Acer has upped its
game in recent years,
and it's easy to forget
that just two years ago
the Taiwanese giant
made its money
peddling identi-kit
budget laptops by their
millions. The company
has since turned around
its reputation and is
responsible for the
glorious Acer Aspire S7
- one of finest
Ultrabooks out there -
and has also got chins wagging about the Acer
Iconia W3 - the world's first 8-inch Windows 8
tablet - as well as the Acer Aspire R7 and Acer
Aspire P3.
The devices hit at a busy time, with most
manufacturers releasing their second bite at the
Windows 8 cherry, with Samsung finally throwing
its weight behind the new OS with its Ativ range,
Sony doing impressive things with the Vaio Duo
13, and Asus about to revamp its VivoBook
operation.
The first of the new slew of Acer devices to hit
the shelves is the Aspire P3, a Windows 8 slate
with keyboard docking station which is not unlike
last year's Iconia W5. It's another attempt to
woo buyers by offering the convenience of a
tablet but the usability of a full-blooded laptop, a
challenge that every manufacturer of Windows-
based hardware has attempted without success.
The reason for the
continued struggle is
that the inconvenient
constraints of that
thing called "physics"
mean that every feature
requires a compromise.
Downsizing to make a
tablet-laptop portable
means you sacrifice comfort, but adding the
components necessary for powerful computing
adds weight, and miniaturising everything costs
money. The result has been a series of
cumbersome devices featuring confusing docks,
which weigh the same as a laptop and cost a
ruddy fortune.
Acer has managed to answer one of these
complaints immediately with the Aspire P3. The
£529 (around US$820 / AU$900) asking price for
the entry-level model is a fair deal, and makes it
one of the best value devices on the market.
Surface RT is cheaper, but while that has enjoyed
a price cut to just £250 / US$350 / AU$390
recently, the Windows RT operating system
means it's in a lower division to the full Windows
8 Acer Aspire P3 altogether.
Despite the low price, the Acer Aspire P3 tablet
itself is actually very well made. At 900g
(1.98lbs) - or 1.25kg (2.76lbs) with the keyboard
attachment - it's certainly heavy compared to
the 670g (1.48lbs) iPad 4, but there's USB and
HDMI ports, a good quality feel and great looks.
Our only complaint is the chunky design,
measuring 258.5 x 167.5 x 18.7mm (10.2 x 6.6 x
0.74 inches), especially since Samsung is
boasting that its Ativ Tab will boast a better
spec in a case that's about 33% lighter.
With a good price and excellent build quality, can
Acer solve the usability question and pack the
Aspire P3 with a good enough spec to make this
a killer tablet?
Specifications
With the entry-level Acer Aspire P3 model
retailing for just £529 (around US$820 / AU
$900), compromises will have to be made
somewhere. The first result of Acer's frugality is
found at the machine's heart.
Costs have been saved by using a previous
generation, entry-level processor. The Intel Core
i3 3229Y is the chip of choice, which is only a
dual-core chip (with four threads) clocked at a
mediocre 1.4GHz. It's one of the lowest powered
Intel Core processors you'll find, but it's head
and shoulders above some of the Atom
processors you'll find.
Elsewhere there's 2GB
of RAM, which is the
minimum you'd need
for a good experience,
and graphics are
handled by the onboard
Intel HD 4000 chip,
which is the norm on
hybrid tablets or
Ultrabooks.
The 60GB SSD drive
supplied is also minimal, and raises questions
about whether the Acer Aspire P3 could be used
as a primary machine for your business or family.
With just 60GB available and no SD card slot,
storage is minimal here, and when we started the
Acer Aspire P3 up for the first time, we were told
that only 21GB was free to use - which is a
perilously small amount.
The screen is also mediocre, with the 11.6-inch
panel packing a 1366 x 768 resolution. Most of
the Aspire P5's more expensive competition now
ships with Full HD 1920 x 1080 screens, and
when the display is 11 inches across you do
notice the difference.
As well as the impact on clarity and picture
detail, the Acer's panel also lacked vibrancy, and
colours looked pale and washed out - although
the high 400nit brightness does help. Those
wanting to use their tablet for movies or picture
editing might want to consider spending more.
If you don't believe us about the cost-cutting
theme yet, the supplied cameras are further
evidence. The rear camera is just 5-megapixels,
which we'd consider to be a decent omission.
However, the front-facing camera which is used
for Skyping and video calling only supports 720p
video, which will be sufficient for occasional
users, but again, you will notice the impact.
The Acer Aspire P3 packs in a 5280mAh battery,
which is par for the course on modern tablets.
We'd be expecting around five hours of use from
a battery cell that size, so check the Performance
section of this review to see how it fared.
As well as the entry-
level Core i3 model that
we reviewed, an Intel
Core i5 version of the
Acer Aspire P3 is also
available, priced at
£699.99 / US$899.99 /
AU$1,199 with 120GB
of SSD storage and
4GB of RAM. There's also a Core i3 version with
a 120GB SSD and 4GB of RAM available for
£629.99 / AU$999 (around US$980).
US customers get an Intel Pentium processor on
their entry-level Acer Aspire P3, plus 60GB SSD
and 2GB of RAM, for US$599.99.
While the price is right, however, Acer hasn't
done such a good job with the dock. While many
keyboard accessories connect to the laptop
physically and even work as an extra battery to
aid longevity, the Acer Aspire P3's keyboard is
simply built into the case and works using
Bluetooth.
This is doubtlessly a cost-cutting exercise, but it
makes the keyboard a sticking point for us, for a
multitude of reasons, which we'll outline.
Firstly, it's thin and uncomfortable, flexing
heavily even on hard surfaces and often mis-
registering key presses. Then there's the way it
holds up the tablet, propping up the screen at a
steep angle that there's no way to adjust and
very hard to balance on your lap. Think that's
our only gripe? We haven't got started yet.
Acer says the battery will last a week, but if you
forget to long-press the power button to turn it
off you get a couple of days. If it gets low on
battery, you need to dig out a small cable to
charge it from the tablet, which in turn will need
to be charged. The Bluetooth connection is prone
to dropping, because it's Bluetooth. There's no
trackpad on the keyboard, which would still be
handy for documents and working in older
programs even if you have a touchscreen.
As you can see we didn't really like the keyboard,
and we didn't even get on to saying how difficult
it is to remove the tablet from the bendy plastic
case or how boringly corporate it looks.
Performance
Benchmarks
Cinebench: Open GL: 7.07fps. CPU: 1.11pts
3D Mark: Ice Storm: 20,449. CloudGate: 2358.
Fire: 354
Battery Eater: 250 mins
The Acer Aspire P3's Intel Core processor was
never going to set any records in our testing
labs, and a score of just 1.11 in Cinebench
backed this up. This is one of the lowest scores
we've seen from an Intel Core-based chip, and is
a direct result of both the lack of cores the low
clock speed. These two factors combine to make
for disappointing performance.
Benchmarks mean little without real-world
testing, but we did feel the lack of raw speed all
over the Acer Aspire P3. It wasn't stuttery -
something those who own older Windows laptops
might have experienced - but there's a general
lethargy across the whole operating system,
which regularly keeps you waiting.
Apps take a long time
to open, and menus
would often sit for a
couple of seconds
before springing into
life. One of Windows'
virtues is its ability to
run well on lesser
hardware, and while the
experience rarely
missed a beat, some
users might be frustrated by the loading times.
Graphics power on the Acer Aspire P3 is pretty
much non-existent. All of the graphics and pixel-
pushing is left to the onboard Intel chip, and with
barely enough power to keep things running
smoothly the Intel HD 4000 graphics chip was
hardly likely to ace our frames per second tests.
Most of our renders chugged along at around
10fps, dropping to below 3fps for anything
resembling an intense modern PC title. If you
were wowed by the idea of a Windows PC in a
tablet form for playing games on the train, you
will seriously need to rethink your expectations.
However, for most people, the Acer's graphics
capabilities will be sufficient. Games from the
Windows Store still played well, not that there's
a huge selection to choose from, and 1080p
video didn't miss a beat during extensive
playback. A light smattering of app-based games
and the occasional movie or TV show rented
from the Windows Store is all most users will
need.
With low power often comes savings in battery
life, and this is one area the Acer Aspire P3
prevailed. A score of 250 minutes in our tests,
which involve looping high-def video and
simulating office tasks, show it's got the
stamina.
This is the kind of battery life we'd expect from
newer fourth generation Intel PCs, so to find it on
this third generation tablet is pleasing. It means
you're getting next generation longevity for less,
but the pay-off is the pedestrian speeds.
Verdict
Overall the Acer Aspire
P3 is a decent Windows
8 tablet that will suffice
for those looking for a
portable tablet that
runs Microsoft Office,
their favourite programs
and can support
external displays and
USB devices.
With its bulky build, poor keyboard and mediocre
performance it's another Windows 8 hybrid that's
neither suited to replacing your existing laptop,
nor providing an exciting entertainment
experience that might rival Apple's iPad.
However, if the benefits of Windows 8 are what
you're looking for in a secondary device, the solid
build and good price make the Acer Aspire P3
worth consideration.