I Recommend This Budget Acer Laptop at Full Price, and It’s an Even Better Value at $200 Off

Important points of CNET

Laptop prices are rising – and the more they increase, the better the Acer’s Aspire 14 AI will look.

• Acer Aspire 14 AI is available $500 at Costco.
• The Intel Lunar Lake CPU offers excellent performance for price and long battery life.
• The display and design will not surprise you.

When I reviewed it in April, it cost $700 at Costco and was the cheapest Copilot Plus PC I’ve reviewed. Fast forward 2 months, and now at $500 at Costco, it’s the cheapest Copilot Plus PC I’ve seen, and it’s a huge value.

Acer cuts right corner to reach such a low price for the Aspire 14 AI and offers a balanced laptop with the latest components. This is not a budget laptop with outdated parts. It features the latest Intel Core Ultra Series 2 processor (codenamed Lunar Lake). It offers competitive applications and AI performance, has excellent battery life and a design that is not too different to Acer’s expensive Swift laptop. The no-frills packaging of the Aspire 14 AI will be one of the best budget laptops of 2025.

My experience with Acer Aspire 14 AI

I’m still waiting for the killer AI app to make the laptop AI CPU mandatory, but I’m happy to know that there’s a machine built when it arrives.

Thanks to the Intel Core Ultra 5 CPU with neural processing devices capable of 40 trillion operations per second, the Aspire 14 AI hits the minimum requirements of Microsoft’s Copilot Plus PC platform. Its AI processor can offload AI workloads – always recall Windows, blur the background of video calls, create live translations, and appear on NPU.

Proof of the future is always worth it on a laptop. Especially in budget models that are not always given. You need to be careful when shopping for low-cost laptops. This is because many products are older models with previous generation components that are discounted to clear stock of new units.

In tests, the Aspire 14 Ai was hung on a more expensive co-pilot and a PC I tested. Application, graphics and AI benchmark scores were not far from those of more expensive competitors. The integrated Intel GPU is not much offered in the 3D gaming way, but the same can be said for Copilot Plus PCs as we haven’t encountered it yet with dedicated graphics.

With Aspire 14 AI, you avoid budget laptop traps that involve buying machines with outdated or soon-to-be postponed parts. It also skips through the creaking plastic monster youkai. While many budget laptops have flimsy plastic enclosures, the Aspire 14 AI has an aluminum top and bottom panel that only has a plastic keyboard deck. The keyboard deck is rigid and does not bend or bend like the thin plastic that is common in other budget models. It’s a well-built laptop and you need to look closely to tell it apart from one of Acer’s mainstream Swift laptops.

specification

• CPU: Intel Core Ultra 5 226V
• Memory: 16GB LPDDR5-8533
• Graphic: Intel Arc 130V
• Storage: 1TB solid state drive
• Display: 14 inch 1,920×1,200 pixel touch IPS LCD
• Ports: 2x USB-C Thunderbolt 4, 2x USB-A USB 3.2 Gen 1, HDMI 2.1, Combo Audio
• Networking: Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3
• Weight: 3.05 lbs
• Battery life: 18 hours 56 minutes
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Home

CNET Buying Advice

The biggest part of the Aspire 14 AI is getting the latest CPU that provides the performance needed to function as a primary machine, rather than just a cheap and powerful second system. Additionally, the efficient Intel Core Ultra CPU allows the Aspire 14 AI to run for almost 19 hours on a single charge, providing future prevention with AI capabilities.

The uninspired design and MEH display are the only items that scream “budget laptops.” The rest of the package is more mainstream than budget, including 16GB of RAM and a spacious 1TB SSD. I usually look at 8GB of RAM and a 256GB or 512GB SSD when I buy a $700 laptop.

If you’re happy to use a little more, I have some other Capillows and PCs that you need to check. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 is the winner of its smooth, sturdy design and fantastic tactile touchpad, while the Asus Zenbook A14 boasts an ultra-lightweight yet strict enclosure with a luxurious OLED display. Plus, both offer even better battery life than the Aspire 14 AI.