For general use, the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 is a great choice with its versatile 2-in-1 design, adequate performance, and excellent battery life, making it highly portable. It's also more budget-friendly. However, if you're into intensive tasks like gaming, 3D rendering, or machine learning, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D offers superior performance with its high-end processor and top-tier graphics card, albeit at a higher price point and with a bulkier design that's less portable. The Asus also boasts a higher quality display for fast motion and engineering tasks, but keep in mind it's not a touchscreen and has a shorter battery life compared to the Acer. 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 Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D
Very good for general use
Excellent for engineering and design
Excellent for gaming and AI
Good for software development
Very good for content creation
Very good overall display quality
Good overall build quality
Good speakers
Very good keyboard
Key differences
General Use
6.5/10
8.1/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
250.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
350.0 nits
8.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
3.0 Hours
6.2/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
8.1/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
5.6/10
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D is very 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
9.2/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.9/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
10.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
6.5/10
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D is excellent 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
9.1/10
3.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.9/10
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D is excellent 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
8.2/10
3.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D 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
7.9/10
3.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
6.2/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D is 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
8.3/10
14.0in
SIZE
17.3in
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
250.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
350.0 nits
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D 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.
PerfectRec’s screen quality scores take into account various important factors that are relevant for different use cases.
Battery
8.0 Hours
3.0 Hours
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has 8 hours of battery life. The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D has 3 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
Poor
14.0in
SIZE
17.3in
3.3 lbs
WEIGHT
6.6 lbs
0.7in
THICKNESS
1.1in
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has very good portability, while the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D has poor portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
6.2/10
7.4/10
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D 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
$3,500
$0
$1,000
$2,000
$3,000
$4,000
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has a price of $418 and the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D costs $3,500.
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 Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D
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 ASUS
ASUS, a Taiwanese electronics brand, is one of the largest personal computer vendor by market share. The majority of their laptops are targeted towards personal use or gaming. Their most popular product lines include the budget-friendly VivoBook, more premium ZenBook, and their TUF and ROG gaming laptops, the latter of which has a reputation for excellent gaming performance.
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
380
Laptops evaluated
48,640
Laptops stats compiled
13
Proprietary Laptops ratings developed
109,395
Recommendations made
23,703
Consumer hours saved
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.