Choosing between the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 and the Gigabyte Aero 17 comes down to balancing cost, performance, and portability. If budget is a primary concern and you need a laptop for general use with good portability, consider the Acer. This device offers a fanless operation, which means it'll be quiet, but it's geared more towards basic tasks and won't excel in 3D, machine learning, or intensive gaming. On the other hand, if your work involves engineering, graphic design, or gaming, and you're willing to invest more, the Gigabyte Aero 17 provides a powerful CPU, superior graphics, and a high-quality display suitable for these demanding tasks, but it's less portable and has shorter battery life. 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 Gigabyte Aero 17
Very good for general use
Very good for engineering and design
Good for gaming and AI
Good for software development
Very good for content creation
Excellent overall display quality
Very good overall build quality
Good speakers
Very good keyboard
Key differences
General Use
6.5/10
8.1/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2160
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
250.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
368.0 nits
8.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
5.5 Hours
6.2/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
8.1/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
6.6/10
The Gigabyte Aero 17 is very good for general use, while the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 is only fair.
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 offers less processing power and memory compared to the Gigabyte Aero 17, leading to adequate but more limited performance for general use, while the latter provides robust performance suitable for more demanding tasks. Additionally, the Gigabyte Aero 17 boasts a superior screen with higher resolution and color accuracy, but it is also heavier and has a shorter battery life, making the Acer more portable and longer-lasting on a single charge, albeit with less impressive display capabilities.
Gaming and AI
5.8/10
7.9/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.8/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2160
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
No
10.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
6.5/10
The Gigabyte Aero 17 is good 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
8.8/10
3.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.8/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Gigabyte Aero 17 is very good for engineering and design, while the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 is poor.
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14, with an Intel i3 processor, less RAM, and a basic integrated graphics chip, is less suitable for demanding engineering and design applications compared to the Gigabyte Aero 17, which is equipped with a higher-end Intel i7 processor, more RAM, and a powerful dedicated Nvidia RTX graphics card, making it very capable for such intensive tasks.
Content Creation
7.0/10
8.4/10
3.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2160
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
The Gigabyte Aero 17 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
9.1/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2160
6.2/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
The Gigabyte Aero 17 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
9.2/10
14.0in
SIZE
17.3in
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2160
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
250.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
368.0 nits
The Gigabyte Aero 17 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 an adequate display for daily activities and productivity tasks, but its resolution and brightness may not be as high, which affects its crispness and visibility under bright conditions. The Gigabyte Aero 17 showcases a high-resolution screen with superior brightness and a wide color range suited for professionals in engineering and design who require precise color accuracy for their work. However, both laptops have displays with limited refresh rates, which are less than ideal for gaming and 3D applications where smoother motion and responsiveness are key factors.
Battery
8.0 Hours
5.5 Hours
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has 8 hours of battery life. The Gigabyte Aero 17 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
17.3in
3.3 lbs
WEIGHT
5.7 lbs
0.7in
THICKNESS
0.9in
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has very good portability, while the Gigabyte Aero 17 has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
6.2/10
8.0/10
The Gigabyte Aero 17 has very 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
$2,071
$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
$3,500
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has a price of $418 and the Gigabyte Aero 17 costs $2,071.
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."
"Not only is the Aero 17 a very good laptop for gamers but also for content creators. With the upgrade to the Intel Core i9-11980HK, Gigabyte particularly improved the system performance. In addition, the hardware package is rounded by the extremely fast SSD and 32 GB of working memory in dual-channel mode. Compared to the predecessor, the battery life is reduced only moderately, and the 4K display also basically keeps its good qualities."
Get a great deal on the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 or the Gigabyte Aero 17
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 Gigabyte
Gigabyte is a Taiwanese computer hardware manufacturer. While Gigabyte mainly focuses its business on desktop hardware, Gigabyte is known for its value-oriented G series laptops, thin and light Aero series, and performance-oriented Aorus series. Gigabyte laptops offer a strong value proposition to compete with mainstream alternatives.
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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