Apps bundled with the Acer Aspire VX 15

The Acer Aspire VX 15 comes with Windows 10 Home installed. The model that we tested also came with a few software bundles:

• Acer Care Center - shows you detailed system information, including device serial number, but it also lets you test the hard drives, the battery, and the network connections. You can also use it to tune up your operating system by doing things like optimizing startup apps or deleting junk files. It's also the place where you can find support information for your laptop.

• Acer Quick Access - an app which controls the so-called Acer Signature Features. One of the features is Bluelight Shield, which reduces the blue light emitted by the screen in order to protect the user's eyes. The other feature present on this model is Power-off USB charging which controls whether connected USB devices receive power even when the laptop is off or hibernating.
• Acer Power Button, which, as its name suggests, controls the behavior of the Power button.

The Acer Aspire VX 15 gaming laptop that we received in testing bundled a few additional tools and most of them were quite useful.

Performance in benchmarks

The Acer Aspire VX 15 is a gaming laptop, so we couldn't write a review about it without also including a benchmarks section. The first thing we checked was to see how fast Windows boots on this laptop. To do that, we installed BootRacer and did a couple of measurements with it. The average result we got was of 20 seconds. Obviously, its SSD drive is the one we should thank for such a fast boot time.

The next benchmark app that we ran was PCMark 8. We started with its Home accelerated tests, which are designed to measure the average performance offered in average daily activities like Office work, browsing the web, light image editing or video chat. Although these are not tests relevant for gaming situations, even gamers spend time online, chatting with friends, or editing in-game screenshots. The Acer Aspire VX 15 got 3704 points in this tests, a score which shows that it definitely has enough power to fulfill any basic computing needs.

Gaming laptops like this one, are also bought by photo and video-editing professionals. Why you may ask - and the answer is that gaming laptops tend have more powerful hardware than a regular notebook. Both photographers and videographers need that power for editing their work. To get an idea of how well the Acer Aspire VX 15 performs in this area, we also ran the Creative accelerated tests from PCMark 8. The average score we got was of 4844 points, which is a very good result.

We've seen how the Acer Aspire VX 15 handles everyday computing situations, so now it was time to take a look at the gaming capabilities it offered. First, we ran the benchmark tests offered by 3DMark Vantage, which is designed to assess the gaming performance of your device when using DirectX 10. When using the Performance preset, the Acer Aspire VX 15 obtained a score of 27919 points. It's a very high score, and it's due to the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1050 Ti video card.

We also ran 3DMark Vantage using its Extreme preset - in this case, the Acer Aspire VX 15 got 17752 points. It's a very high score - any game that uses DirectX 10 will run flawlessly on very high settings.

In the latest 3DMark benchmarking tests, the Acer Aspire VX 15 managed to get a score of 2393 points in the Time Spy benchmark test (this shows performance in games that use DirectX 12), 6579 points in the Fire Strike benchmark test (this shows performance in games that use DirectX 11), and 18165 points in the Sky Diver benchmark test (this also shows performance in games that use DirectX 11). All these are very good results, demonstrating that the Acer Aspire VX 15is a powerful gaming laptop that will fluently run any modern game, on high settings.

We used the Acer Aspire VX 15 to play more than a few games. We played BioShock: Infinite, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Tomb Raider, DIRT Showdown, Metro: Last Light, and League of Legends. We always used high or ultra video settings and all of them played well, with no stutter or lag. Thanks to its seventh generation Core i7 Intel processor and to its powerful NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1050 Ti graphics card, the Acer Aspire VX 15 can run any game with ease.

On the highest video settings possible, the benchmark tool offered by Tomb Raider managed to render an average of 60.9 frames per second with a minimum of 44.0 fps.

We also ran the benchmark tool offered by BioShock: Infinite. Acer Aspire VX 15 managed to render 104.97 fps in average, with a minimum of 25.37. The settings were all set to high.

In the benchmark tool from Dirt Showdown, the Acer Aspire VX 15had an average fps of 74.93, and a minimum of 55.99 frames per second.

Then, in the benchmarking utility offered by Metro: Last Light, this gaming laptop got 27.69 fps on average, with a minimum of 10.64 frames per second. Everything was set to very high.

Earlier in this review, we mentioned that the Acer Aspire VX 15is equipped with a solid state drive built by Hynix, with a storage capacity of 512 GB, and a hard disk drive from Toshiba, with a storage capacity of 1 TB. In order to assess their performance, we used CrystalDiskMark. As you can see below, the results we got were very good for the solid state drive (on the left). The hard disk drive is not impressive (on the right), but it doesn't need to be impressive, as its purpose is to store data. Games should go on the SSD drive.

The cooling system does a very good job at keeping the laptop cool. In order to test it, we ran FurMark to stress the video card. After an hour or so, the highest temperature we recorded was 159.8 degrees Fahrenheit or 71 degrees Celsius, which is a very good result.

We also used Powermark in order to see how long the Acer Aspire VX 15 can run on battery. While using the Balanced test, which uses an even split between web browsing, word processing, video and gaming workloads, the laptop managed to hold on for 4 hours and 32 minutes, which is a very good result for a laptop this powerful.

When running the Entertainment test from Powermark, which focuses on video and gaming workloads, the battery life decreased to 3 hours and 55 minutes. This is still a very good result. However, if you run demanding games, expect this time to get even lower.

All the benchmarks we've run and all the games we've played show the same thing: Acer Aspire VX 15 is a gaming laptop that offers very good performance. It is able to play any modern game on high or ultra quality settings. Also,itsautonomy is quite good for a gaming laptop.

Pros and cons

There are many good things to say about the Acer Aspire VX 15:

• The build quality is above average and, although it's not exactly original, this laptop does look good
• Packs powerful hardware, including the new Intel Core i7-7700HQ processor, the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1050 Ti video card and a fast 512GB solid state drive from Hynix
• The cooling system is very efficient
• The keyboard is illuminated
• The battery will keep you running more than you would expect from a gaming laptop
• The laptop's price is not prohibitive, as it is the case with many powerful gaming laptops

On the other hand, there are also some negatives:

• The display quality is below our expectations - a screen with a TN panel is a cheap option that helps the price of the laptop stay down, but it also means very poor viewing angles and a low brightness
• The lid feels fragile and can twist easily
• It has no optical drive, although this might not be a problem for some users

Verdict

The Acer Aspire VX 15 gaming laptop is a powerful machine that can run any modern games at high settings, in Full HD resolution. Sure, the case is all plastic and the TN display is not the best you could get, but these are probably the only important flaws of this device. The negatives are far outweighed by all the good things that this laptop has to offer: a top of the line processor, a powerful video card, more than enough RAM and a large and fast solid state drive. The performance you get is above what you would expect for a similarly priced laptop and the build quality is definitely better than you would expect. Also, the autonomy is good for a gaming laptop. Overall, Acer Aspire VX 15 is a very good choice for gamers who don't want to spend too much money on a laptop that can run modern games on high quality settings. We were definitely impressed by the value offered Acer Aspire VX 15. At a similar price, it is difficult to find better performing alternatives.