There are many different brands out there for you to choose when you’re looking for a new laptop. The expensive brands like Dell and Apple are often peoples first option, but they aren’t the only options out there.
When you look through the market, you’ll see the premium laptops that I’ve mentioned. Then, you might come across an Acer laptop. It has the same specs as the Macbook – 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage etc – but it’s often 30 or 40% lower in the cost than the Macbook. But why?
Well, this leads us to ask the question; is Acer a good brand? And how can they afford to make a laptop with similar specs for half the price?
Is Acer a good brand?
The correct answer is that Acer is not the best brand out there, but it’s not particularly bad either. It isn’t as good as more premium brands like Apple or Dell, but there are still some great Acer laptop models being released over the past few years.
Whilst Acers do come under some criticism due to their lower cost materials, that doesn’t mean to say that you should overlook them completely. No, in fact, the brand itself is actually okay, as long as you order a good model of laptop and you don’t expect too much from it. Have a look here at the best Acer laptops available.
If you’re only spending a few hundred on a new laptop, then it’s never going to take your breath away with its amazing features. But if you do your due diligence, then you can easily find a decent Acer laptop. But as I mentioned, you do need to do your research.
Pros
Cons
Price
It’s probably not news to you that Acer make the cheapest laptops on the market out of the top 6 brands. Whilst other brands seem to focus on the premium end of the market, Acer have settled nicely into making low costing yet still acceptable quality laptops.
Sometimes, you’ll see an Acer laptop with the same specs as a more expensive brand, for a much lower price. So, price is an area where they excel.
Design
Although I’ve never been blown away by an Acer laptop, they are made to be pretty sturdy products. They’re not the most beautiful out there, but some people prefer simplicity as opposed to ergonomics.
You’ll be able to find different variations of Acer laptop depending on what you’re looking for. They make everything from business laptops all the way to casual notebooks. So, they aren’t badly designed laptops.
Range
There isn’t a wide variety of different Acer laptops out there. They have the Aspire range, the Swift range, and then some gaming laptops like the Predator and the Gemstone series. If you compare this to the other Asian brands, this is very little selection.
They also have a pretty good selection of Chromebooks for you to choose from as well. They can be the best choice if you’re looking for something well made and easy to use.
Hardware
The good thing about Acer is that they’ll source some of the cheaper parts in comparison to other brands and use though, so you don’t have to pay the maximum price. So whilst the new Macbook Air still uses an i3 processor, with an Aspire you can get an i5 processor or even an i7 processor for a cheaper price.
This is typically the case with brands like Acer, as you’ll be able to get similar specs for an overall cheaper price.
Customer Service
I’m the biggest critic of companies customer service/support out there, and Acer are pretty poor. However, this is the case for the majority of laptop brands out there, so it’s not only them that have bad customer service. But, just make sure that you get a decent warranty with your laptop, because they’re not the most helpful bunch.
If you need to get in touch with their customer service, then you can still do this online pretty easily. However, most laptop brands aren’t inclined to help you if you don’t have a warranty in place.
Innovative
Another area where I’d like to see a little more from Acer is in their creation process. Outside of the Aspire and Swift series, which in themselves are pretty standard and boring, there isn’t much out there from Acer (excluding gaming laptops). So, a new line, maybe targeted at a more premium audience, wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Acer might have listened to me in this regard, as they’re actually making collaboration laptops with premium car brand Porsche. They seem to be very well designed, but time will tell whether they’re a success with the current market.
Well Known Acer Models
Acer Swift
I’ll start by looking at the Acer Swift range, specifically the Acer Swift 3. This is one of Acer’s most recent releases, and it’s a really good example of what they’re all about.
In short, the Swift 3 has a long battery life, good usability and a pretty a strong build quality all-round. It manages to take on more high end premium laptops from competitors like Dell, Apple and HP – but at a fraction of the price.
You can typically find it between 50-70% of the price of the Macbook or Dell XPS, but it’s not only 50% as good as these laptops. I’m not arguing that it’s superior, but it can do everything that most people require. So whilst it’s not quite as good as the high end laptops mentioned, it’s a much lower price, giving excellent value for money.
The base model comes with an i5 processor, but this can be upgraded to a newer Intel Core i7 processor if you want to extend the lifespan of your laptop a little. Overall, I think it’s pretty excellent value for money when you consider what it offers.
Acer Nitro
It’s also worth mentioning the Acer Nitro series. Though the Predator range is designed to suit those looking for a premium gaming laptop, the Nitro is targeted at those dipping their toes into the online gaming world.
The Acer Nitro series is immediately identifiable by its red backlight, which most people either love or hate. If you like the look of RGB lighting in general, then it’s likely that you’ll appreciate the design of the Nitro.
Most people would do well to invest a little more in their setup. But if you’re just getting started, it could be a good idea to check this series out.
Conclusion
All in all, I don’t think it’s really fair to say that Acer are a good brand, but I also don’t think it’s fair to say that they’re a bad brand either. If you know what you’re looking for, then you can find some good deals amongst the selection of Acer laptops that are out there, especially in the Aspire and Swift series.
