Acer Aspire R14 R5-471T review – a premium 14-incher

33 Comments

  1. David

    December 2, 2015 at 12:05 am

    I’m currently trying out this unit and I’m very impressed.

    What was your opinion of the DC power port? It seems a little small and flimsy and might be subject to being easily damaged.

    Would the USB type C port also serve as a power input? Acer doesn’t say it does but it’s my understanding that Type C ports have this capability.

    Don’t forget this unit comes with a $50 Microsoft Store credit. I’m gonna use it for my son’s Xbox. The credit has to be used in 90 days I’m told.

    The graphics driver has crashed/recovered several times in the week I have used my unit. Acer has provided an updated driver and it has only happened once since. This seems to be an issue with windows 10 and the new Intel 520 graphics and is not just Acer.

    • Andrei Girbea

      December 2, 2015 at 7:44 am

      Well, I have nothing to say about the DC-IN port. Yes, a bit flimsy, but should be fine overall.

      I’m pretty sure there’s no way to power this via the USB 3.1 slot. That’s the case on some implementations. I haven’t tried it to be frank, but this is not a Thunderbolt 3 connector.

      Haven’t encountered any crash, but it’s been about 2 weeks since I’ve sent this back, so that driver probably came out afterwards.

  2. Nilay

    December 13, 2015 at 11:20 pm

    In your final verdict you mentioned,
    “So in conclusion, if you want a good-quality convertible and only have around $700 to spend, the Acer Aspire R14 R5-471T is the best option available at the time of this post”

    What about i7 version? Would you recommend buying this over any other for ~ $900? MU-MIMO WIFI, USB Type C, SSD are some of the good features I couldn’t find anywhere.

    Does this support waking up using voice commands to cortana? This one is apparently designed in collaboration with Microsoft.

    • Andrei Girbea

      December 17, 2015 at 9:03 am

      Do you actually need the i7? You’ll struggle to find that CPU for under $1000 on most units, so yes, this Aspire is still a good option in that case. But there might be others as well, especially if you look for discounts and deals.

      Should work with Cortana just fine, but i haven’t tried it, to b frank, so i’m not sure it does… Sry

  3. Sergio

    February 18, 2016 at 8:02 am

    I have the one with i5 and I have only had it 5 days and have had about 9 error messages about graphics driver crashing. Then today I was working on homework and it gave me an error message and completely shut down on its own 2 seconds later. I love the feel and look plus features but I’m only 5 days in and already it’s crashing. Is there any know fixes yet or is the Intel HD Graphics 520 mixed with Windows 10 just doomed from the start?

    • Oleg B

      March 21, 2016 at 12:07 am

      Had the same problem. What fixed it for me was going to the device manager and updating the drivers for the graphics. Completely fixed it for me.

  4. Mike Chase

    February 24, 2016 at 3:31 pm

    Bought an Acer Aspire R14 as a replacement for my Toshiba satellite laptop. This laptop runs about twice as fast as my Toshiba and has far less complications (and I paid about $200 less for the Acer). Connectivity is amazing (and I really, really mean that) compared to my Toshiba. I have bigger hands, so the keyboard is definitely a struggle for me. Other than the keyboard and lack of upgrades like laptop cover or keyboard cover, I would say this is a fantastic laptop for the money. As a college student, this laptop was a smart buy.

  5. botham

    May 12, 2016 at 12:30 pm

    please check if this supports a digitizer pen / active stylus or is it just a capacitive stylus capable. I have to buy something which supports a digitizer pen / active stylus for my son’s school. Thanks in advance.

  6. Armin

    June 5, 2016 at 4:27 pm

    I want to like this product for its design and features. Initially, in February 2016, I was excited and for a few weeks it worked well. Since then, it has been back once to Acer to fix the constant display driver crashes and blue screens that make this thing so unreliable and me paranoid because I may lose work any second in my office because it shuts down. It is now on its second repair trip – never mind that my business is without computer for over 5 weeks in total. Not acceptable, this is one lousy product that I cannot recommend

  7. Beelizebub

    August 1, 2016 at 2:32 pm

    The i5 is on sale for $640 now on NewEgg & am seriously considering it but that bottom bezel really bothers me. Why is it soooo huge? I don’t expect it to be like Dell’s Infinity Edge but wow. Otherwise, this looks like a really good buy price-wise & I like the overall look (black instead of silver).

    • Alice

      August 30, 2016 at 2:18 am

      Yeah, when I went to Best Buy to see it in person I was really intimidated too by the big bezels. But I had no other choice than to buy this laptop, so I did. When I was using it, I didn’t really notice the big bezels since my eyes were glued to the actual screen and got used to it quickly. So, I still think you should get it, but if it really bothers you, you can always return it within 15 days.

      • Cheryl

        November 25, 2017 at 7:46 pm

        I got the Core i7 at Best Buy and really liked it until it stopped working 1 year and 4 months after I bought it-last week. A diagnostic at Microcenter revealed a burned out mother board. That is really not an acceptable life-span for a new laptop.

  8. Alice

    August 30, 2016 at 2:12 am

    I got this for high school, and I’m typing on it right now; it’s a great all-rounder. I do have to agree with you, though, they keyboard is a little shallow but I did get used to it quickly. But instead maintaining accuracy and losing speed, I maintain speed but lose accuracy, reason being is because since I’m from Canada, which requires us to use a bilingual keyboard which has a small left shift key. =/ I have the one with the i5 btw. Other than that, I’m really loving this laptop, and also the screen is bright enough for me, and the 360-degree hinge is handy when you want to show your friends something.

  9. Yip Kin Hei

    September 5, 2016 at 2:39 am

    Very nice lap top after used for a week ( my version is the chipset I5-6200u ). It’s not possible to get this spec with this px strange

    Pros
    -Fast, very fast due to the SSD
    -Battery is good, general use for 4-5 hrs w/o charging
    -the temperature is just a little warm when using
    -No noise
    -Mon quality is okay with touch screen.

    Cons
    -Too small key for the shift button
    -The track pad is not user friendly for the scroll up/down function (need to fingers to touch the right side of track pad
    -The brower software is not very stable, either IE or Chrome, sometimes will be hold when want to start a new tab/cancel a original tab.

    Actually, the three above drawback is all the drawback aldy. Actually, to buy one set of wireless keyboard/mouse can fix these issue.

    Hope that Acer can update the software to fix the browser issue in the near future.However, even this issue can not solve eventually, this lap top can also bring you very good using experience.

    • Alice

      September 5, 2016 at 3:34 am

      I have the one with the i5 too! I’m from Canada, which requires us to use a bilingual keyboard which has a small left shift key. =/ Yeah I agree that the small shift key sucks. But I actually really like this laptop.

  10. prabhs

    September 6, 2016 at 11:38 pm

    my lap top acer aspire r14 hybrid convertible had 80% charge but when i went out downstairs and came back to room it went to sleep mode and didnt turn on even after i tried charging it there is no reponse i tried holding power button but nothing worked could some one help me please???

    • Ivy

      September 7, 2016 at 10:32 pm

      Hi, I have the same laptop too! Usually, when I leave it for a minute or two, my laptop will go to sleep. I think this is part of the Windows 10 wake problem, because it takes longer than usual to turn on from sleep. Try mashing a bunch of keys or just rapidly click your trackpad and see if it will wake up since it should detect that input, If not, I suggest you bring it to your nearest Acer repair center (you should have a one year warranty from Acer) or a laptop repair center to fix the issue. Hope this helps!

  11. vaseem thakur

    September 7, 2016 at 7:10 pm

    Hi Andrei! Thanks for the wonderfully written review. I’m planning to buy a new laptop which is convertible. I really like this laptop but i am hesitant to buy an acer product. Can you please tell me if its a safe deal?

    • Andrei Girbea

      September 8, 2016 at 12:30 pm

      As long as you have warranty, I don’t see why not. Each laptop can have issues or even break, regardless of who makes it, but warranty should take care of any issues.

  12. ken

    September 14, 2016 at 11:56 am

    I just bought this new gadget of mine 2 weeks ago on a reduced price of £445 since this is the display model/last piece and John Lewis are disposing their old previous laptops, and all I can say is that this machine is truly awesome specially of your sick and tired of using conventional laptop.
    You wont regret of buying this gadget to play…

    • Yip kin hei

      September 17, 2016 at 12:12 pm

      agree, the long battery is good to be use as tablet indeed

  13. O

    September 19, 2016 at 4:48 am

    Thanks for the review. I’m looking at this model with the i7, 8Gb RAM, and 256 SSD and the Lenovo Flex 4 14″ with same specs. They are close enough in price where that’s not a deciding factor. I was kind of leaning towards the Lenovo because the memory is DDR4 and upgradable to 16 vs the Acer being DDR3L and you can’t add to the 8GB max that it comes with.. Also have the option of the AMD Radeon R5 M430 2GB with the Lenovo for only a few dollars more, but I’m not sure if that’s really worth it over the HD 520
    Any thoughts?

    • Andrei Girbea

      September 19, 2016 at 7:39 am

      1. Do you play games? If not, the Radeon chip isn’t worth getting imo
      2. Having 16 Gigs of RAM might be useful in certain situations, but 8 is enough for everyday tasks imo, and should be for a while.

      I don’t have any hands-on impressions of the Flex 4, you should read some reviews or see what people have to say about it on the forums. The Acer R14 has been around for a while and at least you can find out in advance about any of its hidden flaws. Touch choice though and I just can’t give a proper conclusion, since my experience with the Flex 4 is null. Sry.

  14. ken

    October 13, 2016 at 5:51 am

    Gents,
    Any body experiencing system hang???
    It happened on my machine while playing music on groove player and surfing the internet and right after installing the windows update (KB3194798) and security update for adobe flash player.
    I have no recourse but did the force shutdown by pressing the left side start button for 5 seconds.

    I have no idea what is the cause, is it the memory ram or hard disk or the Procie (i5- 620U)..any body can give good explanation on this?

  15. Monte Mallin

    November 1, 2016 at 10:10 am

    I'm sold on this laptop, except for one thing. I live and die by the keyboard. I write a lot for my livelihood. A LOT. Are the keyboard problems that have been described manaageable, or am I going to go crazy?

    I know I can get it and return it within 30 days, but any feedback would be appreciated. And yes I plan to check it out myself in the next couple days. Still want to hear what you think.

    Thank you!!

  16. Jerry

    January 17, 2017 at 9:27 pm

    If this comes with a 1 year factory warranty, do i need to sign up for geek squad coverage. This is my first computer purchase as I have only used a company-issued computer in the past.

  17. YIP KIN HEI

    January 18, 2017 at 10:49 pm

    Pls advise whether this laptop is DLNA certified, as I can't stream the screen onto the smart TV with DLNA function

  18. sroz

    February 13, 2017 at 10:48 pm

    bought 20 days ago. design charge cap is 49725 mwh bt it has only 465350Mwh full charge cap. It gets reducd over every full charge. Any suggestions?

  19. John Sheehan

    October 26, 2017 at 12:53 am

    Hi In your evaluation of Acer you mention Back-Lit Keyboard . Could you tell me how to turn this

    feature on . Thanks in anticipation John Sheehan

    • Andrei Girbea

      October 26, 2017 at 4:22 am

      CTRL F9/f10 did it on my unit. If you'll have a look at the pictures you'll see that F9/f10 get the keyboard control as a secondary function.

  20. paul revere

    November 11, 2017 at 9:17 am

    overall, love it
    PROS
    – very, very affordable
    – exceptionnal screen / vivid colors (Acer upgraded drivers)
    – sturdy feel (aluminum)
    – keyboard touches feel confortable to me (just enough travel)
    – 14 inch is perfect screen size for me
    – very good performances
    CONS
    – *** non-upgradable memory *** — windows 10 takes up 1,6Gb with nothing running except the OS, so I find myself quite limited because of that — processor could take up more tasks, but not enough memory…
    – half arrow keys (common feature on many laptops today; I hate it)
    – a few bugs that may or may not have been resolved with latest updates — ghost touches when touch-screen is on, repeating keys on keyboard (can be fixed through in w10)
    (final note: The 8gb memory limit is the biggest disadvantage for me; I have found out later that Dell specializes in making laptops that can be easily upgraded, so next time I may want to spend a few more bucks and buy a Dell instead… Overall though I am still very satisfied with the R14-r5-471t…)

  21. Skyman

    January 12, 2018 at 10:55 pm

    I have this system and really enjoy it. I want an Acer Active Stylus for it. The NV STY1A.005 was recommended for it. However all it does is drive my system nuts. First question is how do I remove the driver it installed (what the name of it is)(is it 'Acer Hover')? Second do you know of an Active Stylus that works with this system? R5-471T-78VY.

    Thanks for any help you can provide?

  22. Yousif Haroon

    August 22, 2021 at 9:05 pm

    how i can use the function keys for my spire R5-471T

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