Best Acer laptop 2023: Our top 6 expertly-reviewed picks

Looking for a top-tier all-rounder that doesn’t demand a luxury price tag? The Acer Swift Go 14 is the best overall laptop the manufacturer makes.

On the inside, the Swift Go 14 offers a hefty amount of power that defies its size and weight. The Intel Core i7-13700H onboard means that this device towers above rivals that focus on lower-wattage chips to accommodate a thin-and-light body. The result is sustained power wherever you use this laptop, making it ideal for working on the go. This is a top-notch pick for intensive productivity tasking.

Aside from its surprising power, this laptop stands out for its stunning OLED display, which you get despite its reasonable price. The 14-inch 1800p OLED panel offers a solid size for multitasking as well as plenty of details from that QHD+ resolution. The OLED technology means the colours pop and the colour accuracy is excellent. Workers considering this laptop will also be pleased to see a 1440p webcam, making you look crisp and clear in those morning video calls.

One downside of a more powerful chip can often be reduced battery life but we managed to get just under a solid 10 hours from the Acer Swift Go 14. That’s backed up by speedy 100W charging too, for topping you up when you’re caught short.

Reviewer: Andrew Williams
Full Review: Acer Swift Go 14 review

Chromebooks offer an interesting proposition that can be ideal for workers or students, and the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 (2023) is the perfect example of that. It packs a lot more power than most Chromebooks can handle, with our model sporting a 12th-generation Intel Core i5-1235U. This makes it ideal for productivity workers, with our reviewer noting that it’s more comparable to a mid-range Windows machine than its Chromebook siblings. 

The endurance of the Chromebook Spin 714 is also very impressive; in our battery benchmark, it managed to last for 11 hours and 6 minutes, with real-world use proving that it can last up to two working days, depending on usage. 

A weight of 1.4kg makes this wonderfully lightweight for a 14-inch laptop and ideal for taking it to and from the office. Its convertible design also means that it can be used as a traditional clamshell laptop as well as a tablet when in the tent configuration, giving it a lot more versatility than other laptops. 

Turning towards the display, the Full HD (1080p) panel provided decent detail and excellent colours thanks to the IPS panel hidden inside. Acer claims that the Chromebook Spin 714 covers 100% of the sRGB colour space, meaning that it will display all mainstream colours without fault. We found that it produced generally vibrant images and the 16:10 aspect ratio makes it much better equipped for modern workloads than its predecessor. 

All in all, if you’re looking for a Chromebook that can handle productivity workloads with enough endurance to make it through the workday without a charger, the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 (2023) is one of the best choices out there. So long as you’re happy with the £799/$729 price tag, you can’t go wrong here. 

Reviewer: Reece Bithrey
Full Review: Acer Chromebook Spin 714 (2023) review

The Acer Chromebook Plus 515 is one of the first in a new series of ChromeOS laptops launched in 2023. Google decided it was time Chromebooks were held to a higher standard, and this Acer lives up to the hype.

With new Chromebook Plus laptops, you’re getting a minimum spec, including at least 8GB RAM and a 1080p IPS display, that ensure solid productivity performance at a reasonable price. With this Acer Chromebook Plus 515 model, its 12th generation Intel Core i5 chips and 256GB SSD team up with those other specs to make for a speedy machine. For less than £500, and with the assistance of the lightweight ChromeOS, you’ll able to do plenty of productivity and multitasking at a budget price.

Despite its low cost, we were particularly impressed with the build quality of this Acer. Cheap laptops, and Chromebooks in particular, can feel almost toy-ish. But, this budget Acer machine offers up professional and stylish looks. Acer hasn’t shirked on quality features either, with a pleasingly large trackpad and a backlit keyboard onboard.

The display and sound experience don’t let this value laptop down either, with a 15.6-inch panel that offers plenty of room for multitasking and solid viewing angles. The sound is surprisingly strong too, offering a loud sound that manages to remain distortion-free at those high levels. You also get up to 10 hours of battery life, which is ideal for a full work day and beyond.

Reviewer: Josh Brown
Full Review: Acer Chromebook Plus 515 review

It doesn’t come cheap but this powerhouse gaming laptop from Acer sure does pack a punch. The Acer Predator Helios 16 (2023) is our top gaming laptop pick from the brand.

This Acer gaming laptop has had almost everything thrown at it in terms of raw gaming power and the results are excellent. Our review sample came equipped with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080, Intel Core i9 13900HX, 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD. A beastly combination. With these specifications, we saw the Acer manage well over 100fps in Ultra settings across our Horizon: Zero Dawn and Borderlands 3 gaming tests at 1080p. It even fell just short of 60fps at 1600p in the extremely demanding Overdrive RTX mode in Cyberpunk 2077. It’ll cost you beyond £2,700/$2,500 but it offers top-tier modern AAA gaming.

The high quality isn’t just reserved for the raw power though, it comes equipped with cutting-edge display technology too. You get a 16-inch 240Hz Mini-LED panel, making it an amazing all-rounder for luxurious visuals and high FPS gaming. We described the colour as “spectacular” in our full review and were mightily impressed by the detail on offer from the 2560 x 1600 resolution. Overall, it is a stunningly immersive gaming experience.

If you’re at all tired of overly flashy gaming laptop design, then this is a strong pick for you. The Predator Helios 16 is restrained with its RGB use, but it is there if you want it. The keyboard itself offers a quick and crisp action, ideal for portable gaming.

Reviewer: Stuart Andrews
Full Review: Acer Predator Helios 16 (2023) review

The Acer Nitro 5 (2023) series has long been a top pick in the value gaming laptop arena. The most recent addition isn’t comfortably the best as some previous iterations have been, but it remains well worth your consideration and the best value gaming laptop Acer makes.

Across its models, the Nitro 5 aims to offer some 1080p gaming performance for a reasonable price. With our 12th Gen Intel Core i5 and RTX 4050 specced option, we managed to get impressive results. The Nitro 5 hit around 60fps at Ultra settings across Returnal and Cyberpunk 2077, along with hitting over 100fps in first-person shooter Rainbox Six: Extraction. With Nvidia’s impressive DLSS technology turned on, we were able to get up to 98fps in Cyberpunk 2077 as well. It’s great results for a device which will cost you around £1,000/$1,000.

The display itself is a well-rounded option, with its 15.6-inch size, 1080p resolution and 144Hz refresh rate. It’s a sensible combination that works well for gaming but doesn’t offer stunning brightness and accuracy for media consumption and creative work.

Despite being top-notch for the last several years, the chunky and red-accented design of the previous Nitro 5 models may not have been for everyone. With the 2023 model, it has been slimmed down a tad and made slightly more boxy. There’s also a new blue and red design on the lid too. It’s not game-changing but it makes for a stealthy and inoffensive-looking laptop. The port selection is ideal, with Thunderbolt 4 and HDMI 2.1 headlining its best options. We were impressed by the keyboard, though it may not be clicky enough for some serious gamers, with a quiet and comfortable typing feel.

Reviewer: Stuart Andrews
Full Review: Acer Nitro 5 (2023) review

The Acer Chromebook Vero 514 is a solid Chromebook that offers a gorgeous design. The chassis is composed of PCR (post-consumer recycled) plastics that create a speckled grey and green design across the entire body. Not only does this help the Chromebook Vero 514 stand out from the crowd, but it also makes it one of the most eco-friendly options on this list. 

The company claims that it used recycled ocean-bound plastics for the trackpad, with the aforementioned PCR plastic making up 30% of the chassis and 50% of the keycaps and audio speakers. The laptop packaging is even made of recycled paper, cardboard and other natural fibres. 

Turning towards the performance, we thought that this offered a lot of grunt for a Chromebook. It packs an Intel Core i3-1215U, which allows it to feel especially nippy for the light computing tasks ChromeOS is designed for. While this laptop is not as powerful as some other Acer devices, like the Acer Swift X (2022), it’s ideal for those who don’t have particularly heavy workloads, like students or those with jobs that require Word processing applications. 

It features a 14-inch screen with Full HD (1080p) resolution. It is also a touchscreen display, meaning that you can easily scroll through documents and files using just your finger. Our tests showed it to offer up excellent viewing angles, and thanks to the IPS technology, it has a solid brightness with a quoted level of 300 nits. 

And when it comes to the battery, the Chromebook Vero 514 is no slouch; it managed to last 11 hours and 28 minutes in a video loop test when the brightness was turned down to half. This is more than enough juice in the tank to get you through an entire working day without needing to worry about a charger and makes it an ideal laptop to take on the go, especially since it only has a weight of 1.4kg. 

All in all, there are more Acer laptops on the market if you’re after something that packs a lot of power. But if you’re interested in a device that can get you through a standard working day, and want to help save the environment in the meantime, the Acer Chromebook Vero 514 is definitely the laptop for you. 

Reviewer: Reece Bithrey
Full Review: Acer Chromebook Vero 514