Head-to-head · Best Budget Laptops Under $700

Acer Aspire 14 AI vs Acer Aspire 5

Which is the better buy? Side-by-side on rating, price, strengths, and watch-outs — with the published ratings we averaged to get there.

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The short answer

Acer Aspire 5 comes out ahead by a clear margin (4.1 vs 3.7). Acer Aspire 5 is best for: Budget-first buyers who need a capable, no-frills 15.6-inch Windows laptop for basic productivity at the lowest possible price. Read the strengths below before deciding.

Ranked #4 in Best Budget Laptops Under $700

Acer Aspire 14 AI

3.7

2 sources$656as of Oct 10

The Aspire 14 AI is Acer's lower-cost Copilot+ laptop, sold here with an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V, 16GB of memory and a 512GB SSD. PCMag and PCWorld each rated it 3.5 out of 5, and each recorded about 17 hours in its battery test. Both faulted the display, which PCWorld measured at 327.6 nits and 64 percent of the sRGB color space. PCWorld's verdict calls it "a capable, utilitarian laptop that shouldn't disappoint those who need a productivity machine." Both outlets tested a 1TB touchscreen configuration; the linked listing is the 512GB model, which Amazon lists without a touchscreen.

Strengths

— 17 hours 14 minutes in PCMag's battery test and just over 17 hours in PCWorld's 4K video test
— Two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB-A ports, HDMI and a headset jack
— 16GB of memory with an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V processor

Watch-outs

— Display covers just 64 percent of sRGB (PCWorld) and 45% of Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 (PCMag)
— Backlit keyboard is hard to read, per PCMag
— Basic looks and feel, per PCWorld

$656 · Check Price on Amazon Full review →

Higher ratedRanked #3 in Best Budget Laptops Under $700

Acer Aspire 5

4.1

1 source$499as of Jul 1

The Aspire 5 is the budget anchor: a genuinely cheap 15.6-inch laptop that covers the basics well, with a Ryzen 5 5500U and a surprisingly likable IPS display. PCWorld called it "a great budget option for most people," and Notebookcheck praised its quiet, cool operation. The soldered 8GB RAM and small SSD are real limits, but for the price it delivers the essentials.

Strengths

— One of the lowest prices for a capable 15.6-inch Windows laptop
— Runs quiet and cool with a slim, light chassis
— Wi-Fi 6, backlit keyboard and a full port selection at a budget price

Watch-outs

— Older Ryzen 5000-series platform rather than the latest chips

$499 · Check Price on Amazon Full review →

How they stack up

Acer Aspire 14 AI

PCMag's and PCWorld's 17-hour battery results put it ahead of the roughly 13 hours PCWorld measured on the Apple MacBook Neo, and behind the 25-plus hours PCWorld measured on the HP OmniBook 5 14. Its IPS panel covered 64 percent of sRGB in PCWorld's testing, against an OLED panel on the OmniBook 5 14. It carries 16GB of memory, double the 8GB in the MacBook Neo and the Acer Aspire 5.

Acer Aspire 5

It is the lowest-priced laptop on this page. It gives up the HP OmniBook 5 14's OLED screen and battery life and the 16GB of memory in the Acer Aspire 14 AI, and it has a plastic build where the Apple MacBook Neo's is aluminum.

Specs side-by-side

Spec	Acer Aspire 14 AI	Acer Aspire 5
Model	A14-52M-51S1	—
Processor	Intel Core Ultra 5 226V	—
Graphics	Intel Arc 130V	AMD Radeon Graphics
Memory	16GB LPDDR5X	—
Storage	512GB SSD	256GB NVMe SSD
Display	14-inch 1920 x 1200 IPS	15.6-inch FHD (1920x1080) IPS
Ports	2x Thunderbolt 4, 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm combo audio	—
Wireless	Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3	Wi-Fi 6
Webcam	1080p with Windows Hello facial recognition	—
Weight	3.07 pounds	—
OS	Windows 11 Home	Windows 11 Home
CPU	—	AMD Ryzen 5 5500U (6-core)
RAM	—	8GB DDR4
Keyboard	—	Backlit

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