For everyday tasks, the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 offers excellent value with its budget-friendly price, solid performance, and versatile 2-in-1 design, making it a strong contender for general use. Its touchscreen and compact form factor enhance portability, though it may struggle with demanding applications due to its modest hardware.
In contrast, the Lenovo Legion 5 16 (2024) is designed for high performance, boasting a powerful processor and dedicated graphics card, which makes it ideal for gaming, 3D rendering, and machine learning tasks. It has a larger, higher-resolution display without a touchscreen, which is great for immersive experiences but less so for battery life and portability. Its advanced cooling system and robust build quality come at the cost of increased weight and size.
If you prioritize portability, versatility, and cost-effectiveness for general use, the Acer is the way to go. However, if you're looking for a machine that can handle intensive tasks like gaming or engineering workloads, and you don't mind a bulkier device with a midrange price, the Lenovo Legion 5 16 is the better choice. 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 Lenovo Legion 5 16 (2024)
Very good for general use
Excellent for engineering and design
Very good for gaming and AI
Very 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 1600
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
250.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
500.0 nits
8.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
3.5 Hours
6.2/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
8.1/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
6.6/10
The Lenovo Legion 5 16 (2024) 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
8.5/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.5/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
10.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
6.5/10
The Lenovo Legion 5 16 (2024) is very 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
9.0/10
3.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.5/10
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
The Lenovo Legion 5 16 (2024) 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 1600
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Lenovo Legion 5 16 (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
8.0/10
3.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
6.2/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
The Lenovo Legion 5 16 (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
8.7/10
14.0in
SIZE
16.0in
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
250.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
500.0 nits
The Lenovo Legion 5 16 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
3.5 Hours
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has 8 hours of battery life. The Lenovo Legion 5 16 has 3.5 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
16.0in
3.3 lbs
WEIGHT
5.6 lbs
0.7in
THICKNESS
0.9in
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has very good portability, while the Lenovo Legion 5 16 (2024) has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
6.2/10
7.4/10
The Lenovo Legion 5 16 (2024) 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
$1,280
$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has a price of $418 and the Lenovo Legion 5 16 (2024) costs $1,280.
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 Lenovo Legion 5 16 (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 Lenovo
Lenovo is a Chinese technology company, and one of the largest personal computer vendor. They are well known for a variety of technology products, including laptops. Their consumer series include their entry level IdeaPad and LOQ series and mid-to-high-end Yoga and Legion series. On the business-oriented side, their series include their entry-level ThinkBook series and mid-to-high-end ThinkPad series. Lenovo laptops offer strong performance for reasonable prices, and are often on sale.
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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Staff Expert & Software Engineer
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