Since thin is (perpetually?) in, Acer’s Aspire V5 is worth a look. When Acer released the Aspire V5, this laptop was billed as the thinnest in its class. Now, six months later, Acer’s V5 still holds its own. For some reason, Acer doesn’t have a top reputation for building reliable systems. But, this is not a forward thinking mentality. The fact is that Acer has been creating some great laptops lately. The Aspire V5 is one of the company’s great ones. This laptop also retails for $500, which is another good reason to give the V5 a try. Here’s what’s inside:

Under the Acer Aspire V5’s Hood (or Casing)

The Acer Aspire V5 has a 1.7GHZ Core i5 processor (Ivy Bridge); and 6GB of RAM; 500GB of storage. When tested, the V5 did perform rather well. While this isn’t the fastest laptop on the market, it is one of the thinnest and least expensive. Keeping that in mind, read and write speeds of 104MB and 95MB, respectively, aren’t bad at all. The Aspire takes approximately fifty seconds to boot, and it isn’t a major workhorse, so this is not the machine you’ll want if you are into video editing or any other kind of editing.

But, if you’re just looking for an inexpensive, thin, reliable, laptop that you can use to surf the Internet and send the occasional email, the Acer Aspire V5 should be one of the ones you look at. Speaking of looking, the Aspire V5 also has some very nice design features.

The V5’s Design Is Inspiring

Aside from the fact that the V5 is thin, this laptop also has a nice appearance. Leading the way appearance-wise is the V5’s island keyboard layout. If you spend a lot of time typing, you know just how important a good keyboard layout is. Well, Acer has spent some time creating soft keys that work well and are soft to the touch. While not quite a MacBook Pro keyboard, the V5 isn’t trying to be a MacBook. This is a simple system for someone who just wants to type comfortably. That said, you do have to keep in mind that this is an 11-inch laptop.

When size has been compromised for weight and appearance, some things are going to feel different. Eleven inches isn’t large by any means. Some users might find the V5’s keys to be slightly crowded, though this reviewer didn’t have any problem typing out something of length. It may also be hard to view an 11-inch screen all day long if you are used to something larger. Again, this is really a personal preference. Sound-wise, the Aspire V5 isn’t going to blow any roofs of. Then again, most laptops come with sub-par speakers, so it’s hard to fault Acer here.

When All Is Said and Done

A cost effective, packed, 11-inch, super thin, laptop is what you’ll get with the Acer Aspire V5. There are definitely worse systems on the market. There are also some that stack up quite well to the Aspire V5. Really, though, this laptop is what you want if you are looking to save some coin and carrying around something light at the same time.