The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has no clear advantages over the Apple MacBook Air 13 (2024).
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Air 13 (2024)
Good for general use
Good for engineering and design
Very good for software development
Very good for content creation
Good overall display quality
Best in class overall build quality
Excellent portability
Excellent battery life
Best in class speakers
Best in class keyboard
Key differences
General Use
6.5/10
7.9/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1664
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
250.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
486.0 nits
8.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
15.0 Hours
6.2/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
10.0/10
8.1/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
9.4/10
The Apple MacBook Air 13 (2024) is good for general use, while the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 is only fair.
PerfectRec’s General Use Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for general productivity, web browsing, streaming, video calls, and running a wide variety of apps and programs.
Gaming and AI
5.8/10
6.5/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
4.2/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1664
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
60Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
No
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
No
10.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
10.0/10
The Apple MacBook Air 13 (2024) is only fair for gaming and AI, while the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 is poor.
PerfectRec’s Gaming and AI Score strongly emphasizes graphics processing capability, while also taking into account other factors that impact suitability for gaming and AI work.
Engineering and Design
5.9/10
7.7/10
3.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
4.2/10
8.0 GB
RAM
8.0 GB
The Apple MacBook Air 13 (2024) is good for engineering and design, while the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 is poor.
PerfectRec’s Engineering and Design Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for graphic design and 3D rendering work.
Content Creation
7.0/10
8.0/10
3.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1664
8.0 GB
RAM
8.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Apple MacBook Air 13 (2024) is very good for content creation, while the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 is good.
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.
Software Development
6.9/10
8.1/10
3.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
8.0 GB
RAM
8.0 GB
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1664
6.2/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
10.0/10
The Apple MacBook Air 13 (2024) is very 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.
Screen Quality
6.2/10
7.6/10
14.0in
SIZE
13.6in
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1664
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
60Hz
250.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
486.0 nits
The MacBook Air 13 has a better screen than the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 for general use, AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
PerfectRec’s screen quality scores take into account various important factors that are relevant for different use cases.
Battery
8.0 Hours
15.0 Hours
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has 8 hours of battery life. The MacBook Air 13 has 15 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
Excellent
14.0in
SIZE
13.6in
3.3 lbs
WEIGHT
2.7 lbs
0.7in
THICKNESS
0.4in
The Apple MacBook Air 13 (2024) has excellent portability, while the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has very good portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
6.2/10
10.0/10
The Apple MacBook Air 13 (2024) has best in class 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
$999
$200
$400
$600
$800
$1,000
$1,200
$1,400
$1,600
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has a price of $418 and the Apple MacBook Air 13 (2024) costs $999.
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."
Get a great deal on the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 or the Apple MacBook Air 13 (2024)
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.
About Apple
Apple, an American technology company, is one of the world’s largest company in terms of market capitalization. Their MacBook laptops feature a slim, minimalistic design, class-leading battery life, and premium display and speaker quality. In 2020 Apple switched from using Intel processors to their own silicon chips which have excellent performance and efficiency. The macOS operating system is the second most widely used OS, after Windows.
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.
By the numbers
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23,703
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About the laptop team
Joe Golden, Ph.D
CEO and Laptops Editor
Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
Jason Lew
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Jason is a staff expert and software engineer that has been making laptop recommendations for 7 years and moderates one of the largest laptop subreddits.
Chandradeep Chowdhury
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Chandradeep is a staff expert and software engineer and expert in televisions and monitors. He’s been making monitor recommendations for ten years.
Craig Russell
Laptops Expert
Craig is a UK-based laptops expert. Craig works in IT, where he recommends and supports laptops and PCs for clients and has been recommending laptops on Reddit for five years.