November 12, 2008 5:09 pm GMT

Acer eMachines e520: Rock this world!

by Gary Illyes


I was thinking a lot why did Acer buy eMachines, a relatively small firm which always had problems keeping its business profitable. Then a few months ago they released their first notebook, the eMachines e510.

Today I got the next notebook which they released, the Acer eMachines e520 and finally I understood that Acer uses eMachines to manufacture cheap yet extremely good notebooks.
Guess the marketing team doesn’t have too much imagination that’s why they changed only one number in the notebook’s name. But the performance of the two notebooks is extremely different. The eMe510 is a good notebook, cheap and has quite good performance. The eM-e510 got even better. The tests I made a real-life tests, not benchmarks. Benchmarks are good for memory and hard disks, but in my humble opinion how a whole system performs can’t really be measured with benchmarking software but with real-life, real production-software tests.

Visually pleasing

Infamous PC manufacturers don’t use too much plastic because they think it doesn’t look good enough. The eMachines e520 even though has a case made completely of plastic, it does look good. The finish is high quality and the silver/alu finish of the inscriptions makes the laptop beautiful. It looks cool when you first look at it.
The 15.4″ WXGA high-brightness LCD has an extremely wide view-angle, the output is easy to read even in very bright environment.
The arrangement of the buttons is very well thought. The keyboard is standard 88\89 keys input device, there is integrated numeric keypad. The touchpad worked perfectly even when it was dusty or even when it was wet. There are only two buttons below the touchpad which kinda makes navigation weird when you are used with 3 button mouses.


The eMachines e520 and multimeda processing

The eM-e520 came with Windows Vista Home Premium already installed. Since Vist uses more memory than XP, I thought HD video playback and playing will be under the acceptable limit. I was wrong.
The first test was watching a true HD movie. Miraculously, the playback was flawless.
Playing was also very pleasing. I installed this time 3 games, World of Warcraft, The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and F.E.A.R.
All the above were played without any issue, the transactions were flawless even when the details were set to high. OK, F.E.A.R. was a bit slow in high detail mode, but still playable.
The high performance can be conferred to the specifications of the e520 notebook. The model I got had 4 gigabytes of RAM which is more than enough for most of the games I tested the notebook with. The video card is an Intel GMA X4500MHD which has integrated HD decoder and can use up to 384 Mbytes of system memory (Shared).
The processor of the eMachines e520 is not the best, an Intel Celeron M575 working at almost 2 GHz and with 1Mbyte of cache, but is seemingly enough for most of the jobs which a standard user usually performs.

eM-e520 and Operating systems

As I said, the eMachines e520 came with Windows Vista Home Premium already installed. This time I phoned the eMachines support before downgrading to XP, and they told me that they don’t support Windows XP at all, nor they want to help me. Great, I thought.
As always with AHCI enabled hard drives, you have to switch to IDE mode before you can install XP. After you switched to IDE mode, installing any OS is straight forward. In eMachines e520’s case XP will find a very limited number of drivers for the hardware, but after connecting to the internet, I could find every missing driver on the eMachines support website.

Verdict on eMachine e520

The 6 cell batteries lasted more than 3 and a half hours while the notebook was used for office work and more than 2 hours when viewing a HD movie.
The notebook’s price is $500 + VAT where I live, that makes its price quite acceptable. If we take in consideration that we can watch HD movies on the eMachine e520, play resource-heavy games on it and it also has an almost 4 hours battery-life, I’d say the eMachine e520 rocks!

Drivers for the Acer eMachines e520

If you’re sick of searching for XP drivers for the eMachines e520, the official support website of eMachines provided them here: http://support.emachines.com/em/driver/nb/e520.html. If you click the link, you will find both Vista and XP drivers, and additionally the users’ manual in PDF format for the eMachines e520.


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Comments

35 Comments on " Acer eMachines e520: Rock this world! "

  1. Dick on Wed, 24th Dec 2008 11:15 pm  

    Good review. But what’s the point of putting XP on computers these days? That OS is obsolete, people have to learn to move on.

  2. methode on Thu, 25th Dec 2008 7:58 am  

    Hi Dick,

    There are several reasons of why people want XP as OS instead of Vista. These are some of the reasons I’ve heard since Vista appeared, each is quite plausible:
    1. XP is less resource heavy
    2. the OEM version is cheaper
    3. fewer compatibility issues
    4. they got used to it

    Also don’t forget, that most of the blogs and review websites wrote an extremely bad opinion about Vista which also contributed to Microsoft’s failure to make people switch from Vista.
    Will see how the world will react on Windows 7.

  3. james on Fri, 2nd Jan 2009 2:23 am  

    Im using this laptop right now, i must say i 100% agree with everything you have pointed out. Although i only use this laptop for college work, VB studio and other things along those lines, ive yet discovered no problems with this laptop.

    The hard drive is big enough to cope with all your resource hungy programs and the RAM at 1GB is enough to cope with everything ive threw at it so far.

    I beleive the RAM is DDR2 correct me if im wrong or if you talked about this above. Im retty sure the RAM can be upgraded at your local IT shop.

    Id reccommend this laptop to anybody and having a 5 year guarentee and under £250 its a bargin.

    5/5 — my rating on the above artical and the laptop.

    James x

  4. methode on Fri, 2nd Jan 2009 8:50 am  

    Hi James,

    Thanks for your comment. You are right: the eMachines e520 has support for dual-channel DDR2 RAM and it’s capable to manage up to 2Gigs of it.

    Cool you have 5 year guarantee in the UK, I got only 3 years, but knowing myself I believe the poor thing won’t manage to actually ‘live’ 3 years.

    The only annoying thing I observed so far is that the keyboard doesn’t likes coffee… just kidding.

    Thanks again for commenting.

  5. Hannky on Sun, 4th Jan 2009 9:03 pm  

    Everything what has been mentioned in this article is really true, i should say it’s a really good I must say perfect review about emachines article. Firstly I bought E510 laptop at really good price, then after recomending to my friend he bought this computer, I dont know how this computer runs on a operating system Vista, but I know it is perfectly runing on a windows XP operating system. Xp drivers for Acer emachine e510 downloaded from http://www.driver7.com/laptop-drivers/acer-emachines-e-510-xp-drivers, saw there is drivers for windows Xp http://www.driver7.com/laptop-drivers/acer-emachines-e620-xp-drivers Glad 100% with my purchase of such a cheap andvery good in performance Laptop.

  6. Alexander on Sun, 18th Jan 2009 12:25 am  

    I’m really curious about this notebook running Half-Life 2,as long as people say that it’s a very scalable game,but I can’t find any benchmarks or reviews of Celeron 575 in the web. Could somebody help me?

  7. methode on Sun, 18th Jan 2009 6:22 am  

    Hello Great Alexander :),

    Revisit in a day or two and I write a review about the Celeron 575.

  8. Alexander on Tue, 20th Jan 2009 5:42 pm  

    Thanks!

  9. touna on Mon, 2nd Feb 2009 9:53 am  

    I just bought an acer emachines E520, too, and the only thing I can complain about is that the aerator turns on almost every single minute, even if the notebook is still cold.

    Du u have an explanation for this? Thanks for any hint…

  10. methode on Tue, 3rd Feb 2009 2:27 pm  

    That’s specific for almost all the emachines notebooks. That’s the way they are, didn’t debug too much why because usually these fans are silent enough

  11. Alexander on Tue, 3rd Feb 2009 3:58 pm  

    So,what about M575 review?

  12. methode on Tue, 3rd Feb 2009 4:36 pm  

    I had to order from Germany because in my country I couldn’t find one standalone. It should arrive in any day.

    Sorry for the wait, but that’s.

  13. Alexander on Tue, 3rd Feb 2009 7:46 pm  

    ok, I believe I can wait a bit more:-)

  14. Alexis Watson on Mon, 9th Feb 2009 6:08 pm  

    We have just bought an E520 laptop for my grand-daughter for her birthday next week. We are trying to set it up but the touchpad doesn’t seem to work. If we attach a mouse that’s OK. Is there something we have not enabled that would allow the touch pad to work? There seems to be no sensitivity to the touchpad at all? Please help!

  15. methode on Mon, 9th Feb 2009 7:33 pm  

    Hello Alexis,

    First of all, I’d like to know what type of OS did you install. In Windows 7 and Windows Vista you will have to install the correct drivers to make the touchpad work.
    Secondly, there are special buttons assigned to the function keys (you know, F1, F2, F3 etc.), one of ‘em is for disabling the touchpad. If you press the Fn and the function key which shows (in blue) a little window(ish something) both together, that should enable/disable the touchpad.

    Let me know if you need further info.

  16. Alexis Watson on Mon, 9th Feb 2009 9:37 pm  

    Thanks very much for the info on the touch pad. My husband followed your instructions and the laptop is working fine. My grand-daughter will be extremely appreciative, as are we.

  17. ashleamoo on Thu, 5th Mar 2009 8:35 pm  

    what is the soundcard?

  18. methode on Thu, 5th Mar 2009 8:50 pm  

    A Realtek with native HD audio support

  19. rajiv on Wed, 11th Mar 2009 7:50 am  

    hi i just bought a laptop acer e machine e520 but my trouble is i cant install motorola drivers for mobile phones in vista and i want to knw if it is provided with integrated bluetooth plz help

  20. Moeketsi on Thu, 12th Mar 2009 3:02 pm  

    no, it does not have intergrated bluetooth. but you need to download your motorola drivers from motodev web just google it.

  21. rajiv on Sat, 21st Mar 2009 6:09 am  

    i would like to know if emachine e520 has integral webcam because i cant find any trace of its folder

  22. Sebas on Mon, 23rd Mar 2009 12:32 am  

    @methode

    Thanks a lot man I was just going to throw the laptop through the window, and then I saw your post about what could be the cause of the touchpad issue. After I pressed Fn + F7 it started working

    THANKS A LOT… :D

  23. rony9 on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 9:49 am  

    Hi, I want to buy a laptop and I decided on this e520 (450$ incl. taxes, so really cheap). One question though… does it supports dual view, so connect it to a monitor and extend the desktop? Many thanks

  24. Gary Illyes on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 10:23 am  

    Yup

  25. Dougal on Thu, 2nd Apr 2009 7:04 pm  

    I want to buy either the eMachines E620 or e520 but, I am not entirely sure of the difference other than the slight technical spec of the processors. Is it the relative release dates of the individual models that is the defining factor, ie; is the e620 youger and thus the better machine to buy? Thanks, your reviews have been very helpful. Keep up the good work.

  26. Dougal on Thu, 2nd Apr 2009 7:13 pm  

    Is it easy to install more RAM? Thanks…

  27. Gary Illyes on Fri, 3rd Apr 2009 5:15 am  

    Yes it is relatively easy. You just have to open a lid on the back of the notebook and the RAM modules are revealed.
    Note though, that while the e520 supports up to 4gigs of RAM, the e620 supports only 2 gigs.

    I’ve also replied to your email, check it please.

  28. sandra on Fri, 3rd Apr 2009 10:40 am  

    @methode

    I bought a new laptop and couldn’t get the touchpad to work. Googled the problem, and read the answer here in the comments. So thank you! =]

  29. Alexander on Mon, 6th Apr 2009 9:10 am  

    It seems to be the only review of this notebook avalible in the web!
    I’m using it for already two months and I’m really glad I saw this review before buying it because it’s mostly impossible to find anything about any of components of this machine.
    Methode,thanks a lot for your reviews and tests(Celeron 575,eMachines e520).
    For those who are going to buy it but still have doubts:GO AND GET IT!!!

  30. moeketsi on Fri, 10th Apr 2009 5:48 am  

    hi. can WWAN be installed on emachines e520? thanks

  31. lights on Thu, 23rd Apr 2009 10:39 am  

    I have bought a emachines e520 and i am using a wireless mouse however after a few weeks after buying it my touch pad has stopped working.

  32. Cristian on Mon, 1st Jun 2009 9:21 pm  

    thank you for this note: “you have to switch to IDE mode before you can install XP.”
    i searched allot on net about this:)
    thanks,
    cheers!

  33. Bill lister on Mon, 6th Jul 2009 5:31 pm  

    I am a new proud owner of the E520,and read your comments about upgradeing the RAM,(Mine currently standard at 1gig),i noticed in one of your reply`s you state the e520 supports up to 4gigs of RAM,another states its more than capable to manage up to 2gigs of it.I am thinking of upgradeing so which is better to upgrade too,and is it really simple and is anything else needed to be upgraded when this is completed,….awaiting ur reply…thanks.

  34. Kane on Tue, 24th Nov 2009 4:28 pm  

    Hahaha “Cool you have 5 year guarantee in the UK, I got only 3 years, but knowing myself I believe the poor thing won’t manage to actually ‘live’ 3 years.” ahaha mine didnt last 10 months. Getting it fixed soon though, ive got the emachines e520 (broke) and it’s really good for most things, but i have a problem, i play a game like world of warcraft, you might have heard of it, called Runescape, does it play well with 4G of ram? ive only got 1gG and i’ll probably get 4, Thanks

  35. g3orge13 on Sat, 6th Feb 2010 7:05 pm  

    Check out here the gaming benchmarks on this Laptop. (This is not a spam message-Please do not delete this)
    http://g3orge13blog.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/acer-emachines-e520-the-gaming/

    Give this message to other persons that owns this and wants to play games/find out fps.

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