Acer Aspire 7 and Aspire 5 to be Powered by Latest AMD Ryzen Processors at CES 2021 Acer's new Acer Aspire 7 and Aspire 5 notebooks powered by the latest 3rd generation Intel® Core™ processors will be available for the first time at CES 2021.

Acer's decision to adopt AMD for these updates continues the trend of manufacturers moving away from Intel. But do Acer's latest laptops have a chance to make our Best Laptops list? Let's find out.

The Acer Aspire 7 (A715-42G) went on sale in North America in March, starting at $749. In Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, it will appear in February for 899 euros.

The Acer Aspire 5 (A515-45) will also appear in North America in March with a starting price of $549. In Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, it will be available in February for 699 euros. [Acer did not offer entry-level specs, but the Aspire 7 and 5 appear to be quite fast and offer a lot of storage. Spec-wise, the Aspire 7 has a faster GeForce GTX 1650 GPU, while the Aspire 5 has an AMD Radeon RX 640. [Both laptops have USB-C ports and Wi-Fi 6.

Frustratingly, Acer did not provide a battery life estimate, which lowered expectations for the laptops. The closest Acer came in its presentation was to state that these laptops are for "more orthodox users who place particular emphasis on performance, display quality, weight, and battery life."

The Acer Aspire 7 is not ultra-portable. Weighing 4.7 pounds, it is not that heavy if you need to change locations, but it is the kind of laptop that is likely to be left in one place most of the time. [A new keyboard shortcut (Fn + F) lets you switch between silent, normal, and performance cooling modes.

The Aspire 7's 15.6-inch Full HD panel doesn't have the slimmest bezels, but Acer is working on it, slimming the bezels to a screen-to-body ratio of 81.6%. Colors should appear more accurate thanks to Acer's ExaColor and Color Intelligence technologies. According to Acer, the latter dynamically adjusts gamma and saturation in real time.

Those looking for a slimmer design will opt for the Aspire 5, which is 0.7 inches thick. Acer also aims for style points with a sandblasted aluminum cover.

Like the Aspire 7, the Aspire 5 has a 15.6-inch Full HD panel. Also, Acer's added Blue Light Shield technology should help mute light spectrum radiation.

While not the flashiest laptops, the Acer Aspire 7 and 5 caught our attention for what Acer has accomplished under the hood. If this performance means that these affordable (if not cheap) laptops can offer some value, especially in battery life, then Acer has done it again.

We can't wait to review the Acer Aspire 7 and the Acer Aspire 5.