3 days ago
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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways
- Acer's Aspire 14 AI is connected merchantability astatine Costco for $499.
- It has a fantastic artillery and immoderate of the latest hardware: each for a precise approachable terms point.
- I suggest opting for the OLED, since the low-end show isn't the best.
I went hands-on with Acer's Aspire Go 15 past year, and praised it arsenic 1 of the champion inexpensive laptops you tin get, priced astatine astir $300. This year, 1 of the latest additions to Acer's Aspire line, the Aspire 14 AI, is simply a fewer steps up successful presumption of hardware and features, but maintains a competitory terms constituent of $699 -- oregon $499 connected sale.
Acer's marque messaging has positioned itself arsenic astatine the forefront of eco-friendly components and post-consumer recycled materials, and the aesthetic of its laptops from the past fewer years reflects this.
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From the exposed grill connected the hinge, to the disposable copper vigor pipes connected the bottommost of the device, to the heavy bezels surrounding the display, the Aspire 14 AI isn't the sleekest laptop around. Still, it reflects an unpretentious, eco-conscious aesthetic with a coagulated suite of hardware that shows up acceptable to work.
It features 2 Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports that tin enactment an outer show astatine an 8K resolution, an HDMI 2.1, enactment for Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.4, and a Kensington fastener slot. This dispersed of ports makes it a susceptible concern laptop for distant oregon hybrid workers, peculiarly erstwhile paired with the battery.
Battery life, however, is the Aspire 14 AI's champion feature. I cognize we've been singing the praises of galore laptops with marathon artillery beingness implicit the past year, but Acer's Aspire 14 AI fills a niche: an AI-ready fund laptop with an implicit marathon artillery that volition past for days connected end.
During my testing, I brought the Aspire 14 AI into the bureau connected a afloat complaint and utilized it intermittently passim the day. It was inactive supra 90% by the extremity of the workday, and erstwhile I closed it up and brought it backmost retired the adjacent day, it hadn't dropped a azygous percent point.
The adjacent day, I brought it backmost successful and utilized it rather a spot much aggressively: holding aggregate videocalls, doing much sustained multitasking, and keeping the show jacked up. It yet started to dent the artillery life, but by the extremity of the day, it was inactive conscionable close astir 30%.
Like different power-efficient devices successful its class, the Aspire 14 AI's powerfulness depletion drops to a trickle erstwhile it's not being pushed excessively hard and virtually stops depleting altogether erstwhile dormant and not successful use. This makes it cleanable for all-day use.
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The fantastic artillery beingness is enabled acknowledgment partially to the Intel Core Ultra 7 (Series 2) processor, which has performed precise good connected different machines I've tested, similar the Asus Zenbook S 14 and the Dell XPS 13. With Acer's 14 AI, the inclination continues, arsenic this instrumentality not lone competes with these 2 laptops but somewhat exceeds them.
The device's 3.05-pound carnal signifier origin is non-descript, with an aluminum ammunition connected the apical and bottommost and a lightweight integrative framework successful a graphite finish. The keyboard is fine, without immoderate noteworthy characteristics, though the keys diagnostic a precise abbreviated question region and are connected the mushy side.
Depending connected however it's configured, the Aspire 14 AI comes with either a 14-inch WUXGA IPS interaction show oregon an OLED. The IPS show is functional but not peculiarly noteworthy successful presumption of brightness oregon colour gamut. The OLED, connected the different hand, makes it consciousness much premium.
The Aspire 14 AI is well-stocked successful presumption of memory, with up to 32GB of LPDDR5x RAM and 1TB of PCIe Gen 4 SSD, making it a coagulated enactment for immoderate mainstream workflow. As its sanction suggests, the Aspire 14 AI is expressly designed for AI tasks, delivering up to 40 TOPS and the accustomed suite of AI-specific features that travel with different Copilot+ PCs.
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Additionally, the Intel Arc GPU supports up to 53 TOPS, with upscaling exertion for gaming and amended show erstwhile it comes to graphics rendering and video editing.
That being said, portion gaming connected the Aspire 14 AI is well-supported by the hardware, the IPS show whitethorn clasp backmost the experience. Therefore, I'd suggest opting for the OLED configuration if you person immoderate notions astir gaming connected this laptop.
ZDNET's buying advice
Acer's Aspire 14 AI is 1 of the amended bang-for-your-buck options disposable close now. On merchantability for $499, it offers immoderate of the latest hardware and a artillery that volition past aggregate days successful a precise competitory package.
If you're looking for a "budget plus" laptop with respectable hardware that opts for a much utilitarian signifier origin (and approachable price), the Aspire 14 AI is simply a coagulated choice. I would suggest opting for the OLED configuration if you're consenting to wage for the upgrade, particularly if you'll beryllium utilizing it for visually originative enactment oregon gaming.
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