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00:00Hey, how's it going? Dave2D here. So this is the Acer VX15, and this was one of the
00:11more interesting laptops that I saw at CES this year, and it's because it's a new entry-level
00:15gaming laptop. So this is a really good performer for not that much money. It starts at $800,
00:22but the $1,000 configuration gives you, in my opinion, the best bang for your buck. The
00:26cheaper loadouts will have less RAM, smaller storage, and a weaker CPU, but the big difference
00:31is the weaker video card. So the performance improvement of the 1050 Ti over the regular
00:361050 is quite noticeable. It's about 20-25%, so if you can afford it, go for the Ti. With
00:43the 1050 Ti, you can easily break 100 frames per second on light games like Overwatch at
00:471080p on high. Ultra graphics will still average around 60 frames per second. Something heavier,
00:53like Dishonored 2, you're looking at around 45 frames per second at 1080p on high. You
00:58can still break 60 frames per second if you drop the graphics to medium. So it's only
01:02really heavy stuff, like Witcher 3, that'll bog this card down. It's still playable, but
01:06you'll need to drop your graphics quality or lower the resolution. Now, all these are
01:10done on the 1050 Ti. If you can only pick up the 1050, those numbers will be about 20%
01:15less. So if you want to see a more comprehensive video that shows all these cards and what
01:19they can do, I made a benchmark video. I'll link that below. Now, with good performance
01:23like this, you need to have a good cooling system. And to get inside to take a look,
01:27there's a bunch of screws, and you have to pop off the bottom panel with a little force.
01:31Nothing too bad. Inside, we're looking at two heat pipes and two fans. They're quiet
01:36on idle and are relatively quiet on load as well, but they do a good job cooling the components.
01:40There's no real thermal throttling going on, even when running benchmarks, and the temperatures
01:44in the keyboard area are comfortable when playing games. Okay, back to the inside. We
01:49get two memory slots, so you can go up to 32 gigs of DDR4, and you have your M.2 SSD.
01:54The stock one is a SATA drive. You also have space for a two and a half inch drive. There's
01:59no cabling or mounting hardware included, but Acer will supply these to you if you want.
02:03The battery down here is 52 watt hours. With average use, I'm getting around four hours
02:08of battery life. That's with a screen at 250 nits. Watching videos, it'll break five hours.
02:14So the battery life isn't long enough to bring this device out for the day without a charger,
02:17and it takes around two hours to charge it up. As for the external aesthetic, it has
02:22a similar design language to the Predator laptops that they make, with that red angular
02:26exhaust. Personally, I don't love the design. It's definitely more gamer-oriented, but I
02:30don't think it's too gaudy. The build quality is decent. I mean, Acer isn't really known
02:35for building laptops with a ton of aluminum or premium materials, but they did a respectable
02:39job with the plastics. The bottom panel is plastic, the keyboard area is plastic, but
02:45very rigid. They have a bunch of these reinforcement spines down below. The hinge design is okay.
02:51It looks cool, it helps give the laptop a cleaner aesthetic, but from my experience,
02:56laptops that use this kind of central hinge design tend to wear it quicker, and hinges
03:00can start to get floppy after a couple of years. I don't know about this one. I mean,
03:04it seems really solid, but I don't know about the long term. The top panel has these red
03:09accents. I don't think they light up, at least I could never get them to light up, but it
03:13has this brushed texture, like this faux brushed metal thing that Acer does. I've always
03:17liked this. The screen flex isn't too bad. You have to torque it pretty hard to do this.
03:22Alright, so the display, when you're not twisting it around, is decent for the price. I mean,
03:27keep in mind this is a budget-oriented laptop. It's a 1080p, non-touch screen. My unit has
03:33an IPS panel. I believe it's a retail unit, but there are some units out there with TN
03:38panels. You should try to get the IPS panel if you can. It gets reasonably bright and
03:42has good contrast. Color gamut, though, isn't great, and the viewing angles could be better
03:47for an IPS panel, but for a gaming laptop, this does the trick. If you're curious, this
03:52is what the webcam looks and sounds like. The keyboard is pretty average for this price
03:58point. The layout's not bad, once you get used to the number pad on the right. Keystrokes
04:01have a good amount of travel, and there's red backlighting. The keys feel a little mushy,
04:06though. I wish there was a bit more resistance, or just responsiveness to each key. The trackpad
04:11is better. I'd say it's above average. It feels a little cheap. I mean, it's got this
04:15really smooth plastic that I don't love, and the button mechanics aren't the best. There's
04:19just not a lot of travel when you click down, but it's a solid trackpad because it uses
04:24Windows Precision Drivers, very accurate tracking, and gesture detection.
04:28Okay, the speakers. In terms of their actual audio quality, they're not amazing. They're
04:32laptop speakers that don't have much bass, but they face the user, and they're loud enough,
04:37or at least louder than the fans, that I could rely on them for positional audio in games
04:41without using headphones.
04:42One last thing, the port selection is average. HDMI, three USB A's, one USB C that doesn't
04:48support Thunderbolt 3, an SD card slot, and an audio jack. My only knock, and this is
04:54a minor one, is that the majority of the USB ports are on the right side, so if you have
04:58a bunch of stuff connected, it can get in the way of your mouse movements.
05:01Alright, so the VX15 is Acer's first entry into that whole $800 gaming laptop market,
05:07and with this one, you're getting a full plastic build with decent build quality.
05:11The screen is an IPS panel. Not great for an IPS panel, but I'm content. You're not
05:16going to get a much better screen at this price.
05:18The keyboard is not bad, but I wish it was a bit more responsive. The trackpad is accurate
05:23and doesn't skip around, that's pretty important. Inside, the Kaby Lake CPUs and the GTX 1050
05:29or 1050 Ti deliver really solid performance at this price point, but try to spring for
05:33the Ti if you can.
05:35The RAM and the storage are all pretty easy to access and are readily upgradable, and
05:39the battery down here is 52 watt hours, and it comes up a little short. We're looking
05:44at around 4 hours of realistic use. So, I think this is a good laptop for the money.
05:48You're getting incredibly good performance for current titles at 1080p. I mean, I don't
05:53know how far that'll carry you into the future, but I'd expect at least a couple years of
05:56solid gaming performance at 1080p, 60 frames per second. I mean, you'll have to play with
06:01the graphics slider. Now, there's one issue that kind of pops up to me, and it's the battery
06:08life. And at this kind of aggressive pricing, you can't have everything, right? They're
06:11going to make some compromises, and for this particular laptop, it's the battery life.
06:15So if that's really important to you, then you might have to look at other options. But
06:19I know some of you are interested in like a more direct comparison between this one
06:23and the Dell Inspiron 7567. I will be doing a more kind of nitty-gritty comparative video
06:28between those two, and I'll likely try to introduce a third laptop into that mix because
06:32there's a third device out there that's similarly priced that should be coming in very soon.
06:38That's the end of this video. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Thumbs if you did, subs if you
06:41loved it. I'll see you guys next time.