The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 is versatile with its convertible design and touch screen, making it a good fit for everyday tasks and media consumption, and it's more portable due to its smaller size. The Acer Nitro 5 15, on the other hand, is tailored for gaming and performance-heavy applications with its stronger graphics and processing power, making it less portable but better equipped for demanding tasks. If you prioritize work and play on the go, go for the Aspire 3 Spin 14. If gaming or intensive tasks are your main focus and you're less concerned about portability, the Nitro 5 will serve you better. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14
Very good portability
Good battery life
Advantages of the Acer Nitro 5 15
Good for general use
Good for engineering and design
Good for gaming and AI
Good for software development
Good overall build quality
Good speakers
Very good keyboard
Key differences
General Use
6.5/10
7.6/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
250.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
262.0 nits
8.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
5.5 Hours
6.2/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.0/10
8.1/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
6.3/10
The Acer Nitro 5 15 is good for general use, while the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 is only fair.
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 offers moderate performance with its basic CPU and RAM, combined with a competent yet lower-tier screen. In contrast, the Acer Nitro 5 15 provides enhanced performance with a higher-grade CPU and double the RAM, alongside a more color-accurate screen, but with reduced battery life and portability due to its larger size and added weight.
Gaming and AI
5.8/10
7.5/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.3/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
144Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
10.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
7.5/10
The Acer Nitro 5 15 is good for gaming and AI, while the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 is poor.
The Acer Nitro 5 15 is better suited for gaming and 3D applications because it includes a higher-end Nvidia RTX 4050 GPU and a screen with a higher refresh rate of 144Hz, which are both very important for smooth and detailed graphics performance.
Engineering and Design
5.9/10
7.9/10
3.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.5/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.3/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Acer Nitro 5 15 is good for engineering and design, while the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 is poor.
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has lower performance components such as a basic Intel i3 processor and integrated graphics, making it fair for engineering and design use where a modest CPU, GPU, and lower RAM may limit complex tasks. The Acer Nitro 5 15 includes a more potent Intel i5 processor, a dedicated Nvidia RTX graphics card, and more RAM, providing a good experience for engineering and design tasks that require more processing power and better graphics performance.
Content Creation
7.0/10
7.5/10
3.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.5/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Acer Nitro 5 15 and Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 are both good for content creation, though the Acer Nitro 5 15 is somewhat better.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Screen Quality
6.2/10
6.9/10
14.0in
SIZE
15.6in
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
144Hz
250.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
262.0 nits
The Acer Nitro 5 15 has a better screen than the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 offers fair screen quality for general use due to its adequate resolution and brightness, but may not provide the vivid detail or high brightness desired for more demanding visuals. When it comes to engineering and design, its fair screen quality is limited by a narrower color range, lacking the extensive color gamut professionals seek for precise color work. For gaming and 3D, the Spin 14's low refresh rate makes it less suitable, as it cannot smoothly render fast-moving images, while the resolution and panel type are sufficient but not ideal for these applications.
Battery
8.0 Hours
5.5 Hours
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has 8 hours of battery life. The Acer Nitro 5 15 has 5.5 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Very Good
Fair
14.0in
SIZE
15.6in
3.3 lbs
WEIGHT
5.5 lbs
0.7in
THICKNESS
1.0in
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has very good portability, while the Acer Nitro 5 15 has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
6.2/10
7.2/10
The Acer Nitro 5 15 has good build quality, while the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has only fair build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$418
$780
$200
$400
$600
$800
$1,000
$1,200
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has a price of $418 and the Acer Nitro 5 15 costs $780.
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers Acer Nitro 5 15 to be good for software development, while the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 is only fair.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
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How the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 and the Acer Nitro 5 15 compare to other laptops
Olivier Martin, Ryan Lim, and Yannick Khong | November 2023
"The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 is okay for school use. It feels reasonably well-built, and its compact design makes it easy to carry around. The battery lasts around seven hours of light use, so you only have to plug it in for a short time to get through a typical school day. The overall user experience is so-so; the display looks sharp but dim, and the touchpad is fairly responsive, albeit small."
"The Acer Nitro 5 is a fast QHD gaming notebook. The Nitro 5 is a well-balanced gaming laptop for just under US$ 2400. A Core i7-12700H CPU and a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU enable QHD gaming at high to maximum settings, accompanied by fast PCIe-4-SSD (1 TB) and 16 GB of RAM. Acer delivers a solid QHD gaming notebook with the Nitro 5 AN515-58. However, the laptop is not completely free of shortcomings. The CPU and GPU can work at consistently high clock rates. The laptop heats up noticeably under load, but not excessively. Noise development is on the usual class level. Once again, however, Acer needs to improve the fan control."
Get a great deal on the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 or the Acer Nitro 5 15
About Acer
Acer is a prominent Taiwanese electronics brand which makes a wide range of laptops, with multiple product lines catering to personal use, gaming, and business use. They are renowned for having exceptional value for money, as they frequently offer good specifications at a lower price than other manufacturers.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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