Acer reckons “owning a laptop isn’t just a convenience – it’s a necessity.” Of course Acer would say that, it’s just launched a brand-new laptop and they aren’t going to buy themselves. But it does also have a point — owning a laptop has become a necessary crutch for most students and “young professionals” as Acer calls ’em to get by in this world.
Considering the heavy marketing towards the country’s younger demographic, it makes sense that this thing is cheap. Or, let’s say, cheap for Acer. The company has organized a partnership with Game to sell the devices exclusively on the store’s shelves and through its online retail store. Don’t ask us why, we’re not marketers. Ask us something we do know, like the price, and you’ll be far happier. It starts at R6,000.
Does anyone have a lite?
“A laptop is a serious investment that must balance performance, value and price,” says Lesego Bobbi Nyamane, Marketing Manager at Acer Africa. “Acer makes among the most powerful and specialised laptops on the market — we take that experience and distil it into a laptop that delivers real value and performance without cutting corners. The Acer Aspire Lite 14 shows that we are listening and designing our laptops to meet our customers’ expectations.”
There will be two models to choose from once they go on sale with the biggest disparity between the two being the processors lodged firmly inside them. The cheaper of the two costs R6,000 and comes packed with an Intel Processor N100 that appears to be a great contender when it comes to everyday tasks but could struggle when confronted with anything heavier. It’ll see you through a lecture and can probably handle Netflix as well. But probably not at the same time, we’ll have to see for ourselves if one ever shows up here.
Stretch that budget to R8,000 and you’ll be getting in with Intel’s Core i3-N300 — a slight upgrade with four extra E-cores, but not much else. It’ll handle a little more on its plate before it starts to complain.
Read More: Acer Nitro 16 review — The closest thing to ‘budget’ you’re likely to find
The only other difference between the two is the amount of storage at your disposal. Stick with the cheaper of the two, and you’ll get a 256GB PCIe SSD. That’s doubled in the other model. Everything else — from the 14in 16:10 WUXGA display to the “up to” 8GB of DDR5 RAM capabilities are identical. You’re really only paying for the extra processing power.
As for the rest, the 14 Lite sports an FHD webcam, Wi-FI 5, Bluetooth 5, a single 3.5mm headphone jack and all the other ports that make this thing worth using in 2024 — USB-C, HDMI, MicroSD, and DisplayPort.
The Acer Aspire Lite 14 will be launching next week exclusively in Game stores and through its website.
2 Comments
R11 000, slightly more than the more expensive of the two Aspires – R8000 – buys you, eg, a Vivobook 15 Go OLED (yes, OLED) Ryzen 5 16GB. Other decent machines are available for less.
R8000 for an 8GB 14 inch i3 basic processor is not worth it. If this Aspire is intended for students, Acer ought to know first year students become 3rd and 4th years. Long before then this model would be obsolete for their needs. Best use for it is middle and high school, doing the family budget and some streaming.
A couple years ago a former model C school in Cape Town (how else to describe it) issued iPad 10s (previous generation) to pupils and teachers. They paid for it, deducted monthly, no interest. Each cost R5-6000. A teacher there told me many pupils already have the latest, expensive gadgets. This well-off school might not be representative of its peer group, but they would demand the best money can buy like Apples.
My point is if you’re a tech company targeting this cohort – who else can buy expensive tech – you cannot market to them a product with decade-old technology, not when they really desire at least middle range products.