Acer Aspire 1551 11.6" Notebook Review

Performance with Half-Life 2 Episode 2 and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Gaming Performance

To touch on gaming performance, we chose two games that draw moderately on system resources, Half-Life 2 Episode 2 and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. We then ran a pre-recorded demo of each at a resolution of 1280x800. The resulting performance achieved is indicated in frames per second in the graph below.

Here's where the $499 Eee PC 1215N looks like a far better choice. The Ion 2 on that machine helps it handle 3D games, while the Acer Aspire 1551 here doesn't fare so well. We were able to crank the details all the way down, and set the resolution levels as low as they would go in order to get a semi-playable experience on these titles, but it's not enjoyable. Nor is it recommended. The 1551 isn't a gaming machine. But it's a netbook, after all. The Radeon HD 4225 IGP is plenty capable of handling HD multi-media, but not so much 3D games. It shouldn't come as a surprise, but if you had any lingering doubts, let these figures drown those out.