Acer Aspire V3-571 review

The V3-571 has a 500GB hard disk that provides plenty of space for work, software and media. If you need to add external storage, there’s one USB3 and two USB2 ports on the sides, as well as a memory card reader that supports most common high-capacity formats. A DVD-RW drive rounds out your storage options. The V3 also has a Gigabit Ethernet port, dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for connecting it to your network.

Its 15.6in LCD screen is particularly good, although the glossy finish can produce distracting reflections if you’re viewing dark screens in a brightly lit room, the brightness, pure white tones and intense colours of the display make up for that. If you want to connect an external monitor, TV or projector, HDMI and VGA ports are both available. The integrated speaker is fine for system sounds and spoken audio, but it’s not very loud, has no discernible bass and very muddy rendition of mid-range tones, so you’ll need external speakers if you want to listen to music.

With its powerful processor, plenty of RAM and a surprisingly long battery life, the V3 is great value at just £471 and it wins a well-deserved Best Buy award.