Intel has just launched the Alder Lake-N processors and a duo of ACER Aspire 3 laptops are some of the first platforms to feature the Core i3-N305 octa-core processor, after the introduction of the MSI Cubi N ADL mini PC last week.
Both models are equipped with 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD, but the Aspire 3 A314-36P-360X comes with a 14-inch display while the Aspire 3 A315-510P-3905 features a 15.6-inch display both at Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution.
ACER Aspire 3 “Alder Lake-N” laptop specifications:
- SoC – Intel Core i3-N305 octa-core processor @ 1.80 GHz / 3.80 GHz (Turbo) with 32EU Intel UHD graphics @ 1.25 GHz; TDP: 15W
- System Memory – 8 GB LPDDR5
- Storage – 256GB NVMe SSD
- Display
- A314-36P-360X -14-inch TN LCD display with 1920×1080 resolution, LED backlight
- A315-510P-3905 – 15.6-inch IPS LCD display with 1920×1080 resolution, LED backlight
- Audio – HD Audio, stereo speakers, microphone, 3.5mm audio jack
- Camera – 1280 x 720 front-facing camera
- Video Output – HDMI port
- Networking
- Dual-band 802.11b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0
- A315-510P-3905 only – Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port (TBC because I can’t find it on the photos)
- USB – 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port
- Input Devices – TouchPad and keyboard
- Misc – Kensington lock slot, TPM
- Battery – 3-cell Li-Polymer battery
- Power Supply – 45W
- Dimensions & Weight
- A314-36P-360X – 32.7 x 21.6 x 1.9 cm | 1.4 kg
- A315-510P-3905 – 36.3 x 23.9 x 1.9 cm | 1.7 kg
The ACER Aspire 3 Alder Lake-N laptops ship with Windows 11 OS. The laptops will offer a significant boost in CPU and GPU performance compared to a laptop based on a Jasper Lake processor such as the Pentium Silver N6000 with, for instance, more than double the GPU performance in 3DMark using the Core i3-N305 processor.
We did not have any clear pricing information for Alder Lake-N systems so far, but we now do, as ACER sells the Aspire 3 A314-36P-360X laptop for $479.99, and the Aspire 3 A315-510P-3905 for $499.99
Via Liliputing
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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NEVER buy laptop with half sized arrow keys and cramped/merged keys (enter).
I’m writing this comment from such laptop 😐
I don’t get this half sized arrow keys either. Had real problem buying laptop few months back with normal sized ones. But enter key is still smaller than what I’m used too. But now I got it already 🙂
I had never seen such a horrible enter key! What a shame! It’s obvious it was designed by someone exclusively using an external mouse! On my previous thinkpad, the up and down arrows were similarly merged, and were causing me to fail to recall commands on the shell command line very often, I was so pissed off that I recut the up arrow to keep some distance between the two. On the current one it’s still annoying but a bit less pronounced. I’d not say it’s good, it’s just bearable.
But what’s unbearable is hardware vendors focusing 100% of their design on the look and 0% on the feel 🙁 Human-machine interfaces are utterly important and that’s now where they constantly fail.
I’m working on an ACER laptop with the exact same layout.
I never noticed because I’m using an external wireless keyboard.
I have half-sized arrow keys and I got used to them. I miss the numpad sometimes. But it’s 11.6-inch so I have literally no room to complain.
Nice design, especially if using metal case. But bad price.
A ~$500 price competes with better-spec’d Alder Lake laptops that are on sale in the USA. Various i5-1235U (2+8 core) options like Acer Aspire Vero Laptop: 14″ FHD, i5-1235U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD (16342390 on Slickdeals).
They could make an argument about battery life but you could just tune your better Alder Lake laptop to use less power.
Alder Lake-N is Intel’s AMD Mendocino moment.
Even Mendocino isn’t Atom-level performance.
If you use Ryzen 3 5300U benchmarks as a stand-in for Mendocino and take the Pentium Silver N6005 and double the cores and increase IPC, then they should be similar. Even the graphics performance should be similar based on Alder Lake vs. Zen 4 desktop iGPU comparisons. For multi-threading comparisons, you compare the 8-core i3-branded Alder Lake-N to 4-core Mendocino, and 4-core Alder Lake-N to 2-core Athlon-branded Mendocinos.
We still need to see more benchmarks and reviews for both of them, and one of them could come out on top. But from a casual look they both seem to compete with the same performance and around the same price points. Maybe with a +$100-200 rare/stupid tax for AMD since they mentioned $700 laptops.
But can it run Linux?
i3N is a really poor move for Intel, marketing Atoms as Intel Core. But they didn’t stop there on the road to marketing ruin. Nope. Intel’s marketing department thinks it’s better to sell dual and quad-core Atoms that used to be marketed as Pentium or Celeron, as “Processor”.
So “Intel Processor” will literally mean “The weakest instruction set, the lowest clocks, and the lowest number of cores.” You’ll walk into a retailer and tell them you’re looking for an entry-level laptop and you want an Intel processor. They’ll look at you with alarm and say, “You don’t want an ‘Intel Processor’! At least get a real i3 or an i5, or maybe go with AMD.”
Do most people even use retailers anymore, or do they just order online?
A lot of people would love to choose AMD, but AMD can be expensive, out of stock, and the mobile launches are more like paper launches. For example, Rembrandt was hard to get and it took forever to show up in certain product lines. AMD didn’t even announce Phoenix-U at CES this year. Phoenix-HS only so far.
Luckily for Intel, AMD angered everybody with its own mobile naming scheme change this year. AMD’s scheme is objectively better for enthusiasts who know the decoder wheel details in their head and can figure out what a Ryzen 5 7535U is after a few seconds of thought, but ordinary people will be confused about it. There will be casual tech users buying Cezanne 3.0 on accident when they wanted Phoenix. Most of the press heat has been taken off Intel, and Raptor Lake naming is mostly the same as Alder Lake. Bad, but consistent, for now.
> Do most people even use retailers anymore, or do they just order online?
How could you order any laptop online when you want to use the thing as laptop? Since quality of display/keyboard/trackpad matter most. Then there’s battery life.
Those things need a CPU too of course. But why would anyone sane in his mind base his laptop buying decision on the CPU?
You can look at reviews, or return it if you don’t like it. I see people returning or cancelling laptops over price changes.