The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 is a budget-friendly option, lighter and offers longer battery life, making it more suitable for general use with its touchscreen and fanless operation. It is equipped with modest performance capabilities, appropriate for everyday tasks like browsing, office applications, and streaming. Conversely, the Lenovo Legion 5 17" costs more but delivers substantially higher performance due to a more powerful processor and dedicated graphics card, ideal for intensive gaming, 3D rendering, machine learning, and engineering applications. It has a larger screen with a higher refresh rate but is heavier and has shorter battery life, which decreases its portability. 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 17"
Good for general use
Good for engineering and design
Good for gaming and AI
Good for software development
Good overall display quality
Good overall build quality
Good speakers
Very good keyboard
Key differences
General Use
6.5/10
7.2/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
250.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
305.0 nits
8.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
4.5 Hours
6.2/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
8.1/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
5.8/10
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" is good for general use, while the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 is only fair.
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 provides a fair general use experience with a basic Intel i3 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a smaller 14-inch screen, contributing to its portability and longer battery life with fanless operation, but lesser storage and a less powerful processor compared to the Lenovo. On the other hand, the Lenovo Legion 5 17" offers good general use capabilities with a higher-end Intel i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a larger 17.3-inch screen with a higher refresh rate, resulting in a heavier laptop with shorter battery life, but more responsive performance and better screen quality.
Gaming and AI
5.8/10
7.4/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.5/10
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
6.5/10
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" is good for gaming and AI, while the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 is poor.
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 offers only integrated graphics and a standard refresh rate, which limits its capability for smooth gaming and 3D applications, whereas the Lenovo Legion 5 17" comes with a powerful dedicated graphics card and a high refresh rate display, enhancing gaming and 3D performance with better visuals and fluid motion. Additionally, the Legion's larger screen size and higher resolution contribute to a more immersive experience and possibly sharper image quality.
Engineering and Design
5.9/10
7.6/10
3.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.5/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" is good for engineering and design, while the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 is poor.
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 is less suited for engineering and design because its processor and onboard graphics are less powerful, impacting tasks that require greater computing power, and it has a smaller, lower resolution screen. Conversely, the Lenovo Legion 5 17" offers a more robust processor and a dedicated Nvidia RTX graphics card, which are crucial for demanding engineering software, plus a larger screen that enhances visual workspace, albeit at the cost of reduced portability due to its greater weight and size.
Screen Quality
6.2/10
7.3/10
14.0in
SIZE
17.3in
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
144Hz
250.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
305.0 nits
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" has a better screen than the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, and content creation.
For general use, the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 offers a display that provides adequate clarity and brightness, making it suitable for everyday tasks such as browsing and document editing, but the Lenovo Legion 5 17" delivers a better viewing experience with greater detail and visibility. In engineering and design fields where precise color representation is critical, the Lenovo's superior color gamut support means more accurate color rendering, which is essential for professional photo editing, graphic design, and CAD work. However, for gaming and 3D applications where smooth motion is key, both laptops fall short due to less optimal refresh rates, though their decent resolution and panel types might suffice for casual gaming and entry-level 3D work.
Battery
8.0 Hours
4.5 Hours
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has 8 hours of battery life. The Lenovo Legion 5 17" has 4.5 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
Poor
14.0in
SIZE
17.3in
3.3 lbs
WEIGHT
6.5 lbs
0.7in
THICKNESS
1.0in
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has very good portability, while the Lenovo Legion 5 17" has poor portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
6.2/10
7.4/10
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" 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
$1,200
$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 has a price of $418 and the Lenovo Legion 5 17" costs $1,200.
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" and Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 are both good for content creation.
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
7.0/10
3.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
6.2/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers Lenovo Legion 5 17" 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 Lenovo Legion 5 17" 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 Lenovo Legion 5 17 is a current-gen 17-inch gaming laptop and equipped with the latest AMD CPU and a powerful GPU, that manages to reach its full potential. The AMD Ryzen 5 5600H is a very good choice for this laptop and able to maintain its performance level for long periods of time. Our test model only falls behind consistently in a direct comparison with its competitors that are often equipped with eight cores and 16 threads. Despite this, the Legion 5 17 leaves an excellent impression and is almost able to keep up with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 mobile GPU in synthetic benchmarks."
Get a great deal on the Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 or the Lenovo Legion 5 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 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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