For everyday tasks, the Acer Aspire Go 14 offers solid performance at a budget-friendly price, with a decent screen for general use and excellent battery life, making it a great portable option. However, it falls short in gaming and intensive tasks due to its less powerful processor and lack of advanced features like a high refresh rate screen or ray tracing capabilities.
On the other hand, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 is a powerhouse designed for high-performance activities such as gaming, 3D rendering, and machine learning, thanks to its top-tier CPU and GPU. It also boasts a high-quality, fast-refresh rate screen with superior color accuracy, which is ideal for engineering tasks and fast-motion content. Its premium build and additional features like a fingerprint reader and Thunderbolt support come at a higher price and reduced portability due to its weight and size.
Choose the Acer for everyday use and portability on a budget, or the ASUS for superior performance and display quality in a heavier, more expensive package. 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 Go 14
Very good portability
Good battery life
Good keyboard
Advantages of the ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16
Good for general use
Very good for engineering and design
Very good for gaming and AI
Very good for content creation
Excellent overall display quality
Very good overall build quality
Best in class speakers
Key differences
General Use
6.7/10
7.9/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
280.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
627.0 nits
9.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
4.5 Hours
7.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
6.5/10
8.2/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
7.3/10
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 is good for general use, while the Acer Aspire Go 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
3.5/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.9/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
8.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
6.2/10
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 is very good for gaming and AI, while the Acer Aspire Go 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
6.2/10
8.8/10
4.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.5/10
3.5/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.9/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 is very good for engineering and design, while the Acer Aspire Go 14 is only fair.
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
7.1/10
8.2/10
4.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.5/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 is very good for content creation, while the Acer Aspire Go 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
7.0/10
7.7/10
4.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.5/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
7.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
6.5/10
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 and Acer Aspire Go 14 are both good for software development, though the ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 is somewhat better.
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
6.7/10
9.0/10
14.0in
SIZE
16.0in
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
280.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
627.0 nits
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 has a better screen than the Acer Aspire Go 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
9.0 Hours
4.5 Hours
The Acer Aspire Go 14 has 9 hours of battery life. The ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 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
Good
14.0in
SIZE
16.0in
3.2 lbs
WEIGHT
4.6 lbs
0.7in
THICKNESS
0.8in
The Acer Aspire Go 14 has very good portability, while the ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 has good portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
7.4/10
8.5/10
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 has very good build quality, while the Acer Aspire Go 14 has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$350
$1,842
$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
The Acer Aspire Go 14 has a price of $350 and the ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 costs $1,842.
"The ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 is not yet as optimised as its predecessor. Compared to the previous gen, performance and efficiency have improved significantly. What's more, the wonderful, Mini-LED Nebula display is a contender for the main highlight and almost manages to put the CPU and GPU in the shade. We already found its predecessor to be a well-rounded and well-optimised gaming machine. Generally, but not unequivocally, that also applies to the new Asus M16. Similar to most of the current, new laptops, we are dealing with a double generational leap in terms of the CPU and GPU. However, this change doesn't always run smoothly."
Get a great deal on the Acer Aspire Go 14 or the ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16
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.
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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.
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