The Acer Aspire V5-573PG-9610 ($999.99) is a midpriced desktop-replacement laptop that offers a touch screen, great multimedia performance, and a battery that will last for hours. With a discrete Nvidia graphics processor, multiple built-in speakers, and all-day battery life, the V5-573PG-9610( at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) is a capable system, but it won’t blow your socks off in terms of performance or features. Ultimately, it’s a pretty good laptop at an okay price, but there are better options available.

Design
For a 15-inch desktop replacement laptop, the V5-573PG-9610 is pleasantly slim and light. Measuring 0.90 by 15 by 10.1 inches (HWD) and weighing 4.85 pounds, it’s significantly lighter than both the 5.6-pound HP Envy TouchSmart 15t-j100 Quad Edition and the 5.68-pound Editors’ Choice Asus N550JV-DB72T($1,799.99 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window).

The Power button is located on the left edge of the laptop, which is a little awkward—it’s not very intuitive to find, and it’s positioned in such a way that it’s easy to accidentally press the button and put your system to sleep when you merely want to pick it up and carry it across a room.

The chiclet-style keyboard sports
Acer’s usual layout, with the Enter key and the Backslash key combined into a larger L-shape. There’s a numeric pad on the right, with keys that are slightly narrower than those found on the keyboard proper. Typing is fairly comfortable and quiet, but some may find the spacing of the keys to be a bit wide. The touchpad is fairly large, with a finish that matches the brushed aluminum of the palm rest.

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The 15.6-inch display has a 1,366-by-768 resolution, which is lower than we expected at this price—both the Asus N550JV-DB72T and the HP 15t-j100 Quad Edition offer 1080p (1,920-by-1,080). However, the screen supports 10-finger touch, a must for a Windows 8.1 machine, and the display has a sturdy hinge that holds up well against taps and touches, while still being easy to open and reposition. With four integrated speakers and Dolby Home Theater v4 software enhancement, the sound quality is good enough to enjoy a movie or show without headphones, and it produces enough volume to fill the room.

Features
The V5-573PG-9610 is equipped with two USB 2.0 ports and an SD card slot, along with a single USB 3.0 port, an HDMI output, and a compact Ethernet port. A Kensington case lock slot provides some physical security, and you get 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 + HS for wireless connectivity.

Most of the ports are on the rear of the
laptop instead of the right and left sides. While this allows for a slimmer design, it’s also a bit inconvenient having to reach around the back of the laptop just to plug in an HDMI cable. On the back of the system there is one more small connector, Acer’s proprietary Converter Port, which can be used for VGA, USB, or Ethernet via an Acer Converter Cable ($34.99, sold separately). It’s an odd offering, since it will only be useful if you need a VGA output or an extra USB port since you already get an Ethernet port. The laptop packs a 1TB hard drive, which offers plenty of room for storing your files, but doesn’t quite have the performance-boosting pep offered by a solid-state drive (SSD) or flash memory cache.

As with most Acer systems, this one comes with its share of preinstalled apps and programs. There are proprietary apps, like Acer Docs and Acer Remote Files (file syncing and sharing), and month-long trials of Norton Internet Security and Microsoft Office 365. You’ll also find the Start page filled with apps like StumbleUpon, Spotify, Music Maker Jam, Netflix, and Hulu Plus. There are several apps for ebooks and news, like Kindle Reader, Zinio Reader, and NewsXpresso. These apps all offer some utility, but then there’s the bloatware, like a few sample games from WildTangent, and shopping links to sites like Ebay and Amazon. One app that’s typically bundled in with these systems is Evernote, which happens to be one of the more useful preinstalled apps, yet it’s curiously absent here. Acer covers the V5-573PG-9610 with a one-year warranty on parts and labor.

Performance
The V5-573PG-9610 is outfitted with an Intel Core i5-4500U processor, the same 1.8GHz CPU seen in the Gigabyte U24T-CF1( at Amazon)(Opens in a new window), paired with 8GB of RAM. This combination offers solid performance, and led the V5-573PG-9610 to adequate scores in our benchmark tests. It should be noted, however, that systems with an SSD instead of a standard hard drive delivered a significant performance bump. For example, in PCMark 7, the V5-573PG-9610 scored 2,846 points, while the similarly equipped Gigabyte U24T-CF1 scored 4,992 points, which can be attributed almost entirely to the difference in storage (the latter system has a 128GB SSD, as well as a 750GB HDD). The V5-573PG-9610 never really wowed us in performance results, but overall, the laptop should is solid for basic use.

Also well-equipped for entertainment use, there’s an Nvidia GeForce GT 750M graphics processor. Thanks to the discrete GPU, the V5-573PG-9610 can tackle moderate graphics demands like video streaming, though not so much for gaming. It ran Heaven at 32 frames per second, just over the playable threshold, but only with all the details settings dialed down. You might be able to enjoy a game of League of Legends on this system, but not much more.

Where the V5-573PG-9610 does its best is with battery life. With a 4-cell, lithium-polymer battery sealed inside the chassis, it yielded 9 hours 17 minutes in our rundown test, outlasting competitors by several hours. The Asus N550JV-DB72T, for example, lasted just 4:02, and the Gigabyte U24T-CF1, with all of its hardware similarities, was the closest competitor, with 6:19. That’s long enough to take you through a full day of work or school, and the battery life alone may be enough to justify buying this laptop.

Conclusion
A year ago, a desktop-replacement laptop with touch capability would be enough on its own to earn high marks. With so many to choose from today, the Acer Aspire V5-573PG-9610 fails to pull to the front of the pack. It offers average performance, a fairly standard collection of features, and a lower-resolution display. At this price we expect better, and the Editors’ Choice Asus N550JV-DB72T delivers better performance, a higher screen resolution, and similar entertainment capability, for less than $100 more.