Acer vs ASUS Laptops: Which Brand is Better?

Acer vs ASUS LaptopsIf you’re considering getting an Acer or ASUS laptop, in this guide, we’ve compared the two laptop brands to help you determine which option is best for you.

There are a lot of good laptop brands out there. For Windows users, though, Acer and ASUS are two of the best brand options. They both have a huge variety of options across a lot of different price points. So, whether you’re looking a budget-friendly Chromebook, a high-end gaming laptop, or a lightweight business laptop, both Acer and ASUS will have options that will work for you.

Company Backgrounds

About Acer

Acer LaptopsAcer is a Taiwan-based hardware and electronics company that was founded in 1976. Originally named Multitech, Acer offers a wide range of products, selling everything from laptops, tablets, and desktops, to accessories like monitors, projectors, keyboards, and mice.

They are perhaps most well-known for their laptops and monitors and their Predator line of gaming products is incredibly popular.

About ASUS

ASUS LaptopsASUS is also a Taiwan-based computer and electronics company. They were founded in 1989. Like Acer, ASUS also offers a wide range of products. However, their product lineup surpasses Acer’s. Along with selling laptops, tablets and desktops and peripherals like monitors, keyboards and mice, ASUS also sells motherboards, graphics cards, routers, headsets, and smartphones.

They are often considered to be among the top brands in most of the categories they offer products in, but especially so in their laptops, monitors, motherboards, and graphics cards. And, like Acer’s Predator lineup of products, ASUS also has their own gaming-specific lineup, called ROG (or Republic of Gamers.)

Best Laptop Options for Each Brand

If you just want a quick look at some of the best laptop options from each brand, the two tables listed below will give you our picks for the top Acer laptops and the top ASUS laptops across a range of categories.

Top Acer Laptops

Here are our picks for the top Acer laptops across five different categories: extreme gaming, for work, the top value option for work or casual use, the best budget gaming option, and the best Chromebook option. This isn’t an end-all-be-all list, but rather just a quick showcase of some of the top laptop options from Acer.

NAME SPECS RATING
GAMING
Acer Predator Triton 500

Predator Triton 500

  • 15.6″ 1080P
  • i7-9750H
  • RTX 2070
  • 16GB RAM
9.2/10

Check Price

WORK
Acer Swift 5 Thin & Lightweight Laptop

Swift 5

  • 15.6″ 1080P
  • i7-8565U
  • 16GB RAM
  • 512GB SSD
8.7/10

Check Price

VALUE
Acer Aspire E

Aspire E

  • 15.6″ 1080P
  • i5-8250U
  • 16GB RAM
  • 256GB SSD
8.5/10

Check Price

BUDGET
Acer Predator Helios 300 GTX 1660 Ti

Predator Helios 300

  • 15.6″ 1080P
  • i7-9750H
  • GTX 1660 Ti
  • 16GB RAM
8.9/10

Check Price

CHROME
Acer 15.6 HD WLED Chromebook

Chromebook

  • 15.6″ Screen
  • Intel Celeron
  • 4GB RAM
  • 16GB Flash
8.2/10

Check Price

Top ASUS Laptops

Here are our picks for the best ASUS laptops across five different categories: extreme gaming, for work, the top value option for work or casual use, the best budget gaming option, and the best Chromebook option. This isn’t an end-all-be-all list, but rather just a quick showcase of some of the top laptop options from ASUS.

NAME SPECS RATING
GAMING
Asus ROG Strix Hero III

ROG Strix Hero III

  • 17.3″ 1080P
  • i7-9750H
  • RTX 2070
  • 16GB RAM
9.3/10

Check Price

WORK
ASUS ZenBook 14 Ultra-Slim Laptop

ZenBook 14

  • 14″ 1080P
  • i7-8565U
  • 16GB RAM
  • 512GB SSD
8.7/10

Check Price

VALUE
ASUS Vivobook S15 Slim and Portable Laptop

Vivobook S15

  • 15.6″ 1080P
  • i5-8265U
  • 8GB RAM
  • 256GB SSD
8.4/10

Check Price

BUDGET
Asus FX504 Thin & Light TUF

FX504 TUF

  • 15.6″ 1080P
  • i7-8750H
  • GTX 1050 Ti
  • 32GB RAM
8.7/10

Check Price

CHROME
ASUS Chromebook C202SA-YS02 11.6

C202SA-YS02

  • 11.6″ Screen
  • Intel Celeron
  • 4GB RAM
  • 16GB Flash
8.0/10

Check Price

Acer vs ASUS: Rated in Five Categories

To help you get a good idea of the differences between Acer laptops and ASUS laptops, we’ve broken down this guide into five different categories: performance, price, design, product variety, and customer support.

Performance: It’s A Tie

Performance is a tough one to judge, simply because both ASUS and Acer have a wide range of laptops available. Both brands offer high-end gaming and workstation-level laptops. Both also have budget-oriented options as well.

Both currently offer some extreme gaming laptops. For instance, ASUS’ ROG G703GX lineup and Check Price lineup are currently some of the most powerful gaming laptop options currently around. Those two options represent the extreme end of the spectrum, though, and are options that will run you at least ~$3,000. But, both are worthy options and will offer similar performance depending on the specs you choose.

Asus ROG G703GX Review w/ RTX 2080! $3499! Worth it? Here's My Honest Review!

Even when you drop down to more moderately-priced options and different categories of laptops from ASUS and Acer, the performance differences won’t be significant. Both Acer and ASUS offer cheaper Chromebooks that will perform on par with each other, both have moderately-priced laptops that will work well in a work setting, and both offer versatile 2 in 1 laptops as well.

So, it’s tough to say that Acer outperforms ASUS, or that ASUS outperforms Acer. The reality is that each have suitable options at various price points.

Price: Slight Edge to Acer

While both ASUS and Acer offer competitive prices on their laptops, and while both companies have better-priced options that each other at different performance levels, overall, I think Acer narrowly edges out ASUS in terms of the price-to-performance you get.

But, again, this is only when you consider the entirety of each brands’ laptop offerings. There are instances where ASUS offers the better price-to-performance than Acer. As an example, for both of the extreme gaming laptop options we listed above, the ASUS ROG G703GX lineup is priced significantly better than Acer’s Predator Triton 900 lineup on a hardware-for-hardware basis. And, while that mostly is due to the fact that the Predator Triton 900 lineup comes with a touchscreen display and the G703GX lineup does not, the price difference is still big enough to where the G703GX is probably the better buy.

On the lower-end of the price scale, though, Acer has some really well-priced options. Their Acer Predator Helios 300 laptop comes in at under $1,000 and offers an Intel Core i7 processor, a 144Hz 1080P display, and a GTX 1060 GPU. It’s easily the best value gaming laptop on the market right now.

Acer Predator Helios 300 (2019) Review: The Best Budget Gaming Laptop?

When you move down to the lower-end of the price scale, Acer’s Aspire lineup and ASUS’s VivoBook lineup are great budget-friendly options, and both Acer and ASUS have worthy Chromebooks as well. However, Acer seems to slightly edge-out ASUS on the price of their lower-end models.

And, so, ultimately, when you look at the two brands as a whole and when you consider the entirety of their laptop lineups, Acer seems to have the slight edge in terms of price-to-performance.

Design: Slight Edge to ASUS

Design is another category that is going to vary depending on the price range you’re looking at. However, when you look at both brands’ entire lineup, ASUS has the edge in terms of design. And, I think that’s part of the reason why Acer edges out ASUS in the price-to-performance department—it’s because ASUS spends a bit more on the design of their laptops and, as a result, their laptops are priced a bit higher on average.

That’s not to say that Acer doesn’t have well-designed laptop options. In fact, when you compare the Acer Aspire lineup to the ASUS VivoBook lineup, neither seem to have a ‘superior’ design. And, at the higher-end of the spectrum, when you compare the above-mentioned Predator Triton 900 lineup to the ROG G703GX lineup, both have excellent designs.

However, when you look at the both brands entire lineups, on the whole, ASUS has a bit more robuts of designs, and, on average, offers slightly better cooling setups. Of course, as we’ve mentioned above, there are exceptions to this at different price points.

Product Variety: It’s a Tie

When it comes to product variety for both Acer and ASUS laptops, it’s a tie. Both Acer and ASUS offer an enormous range of laptop options. From extreme budget-friendly laptops, to Chromebooks, to well-priced systems for casual use, to mid-range gaming laptops, and all the way up to high-end desktop-replacement gaming laptops.

Customer Support: Edge to ASUS

One area where ASUS is a consensus winner over Acer is in their customer service department. Both companies offer decent customer service and technical support, but Acer does get more complaints on average than ASUS does.

That’s not to say that ASUS doesn’t get complaints. They do as well. In fact, it’s rare that any electronics-driven company won’t have its fair-share of complaints on its customer service deparment.

However, in the overall picture, ASUS is considered to have the better support department.

Both companies offer plenty of support resources on their website, though, and both offer competitive warranties on their products.

Acer vs ASUS: Which Laptop Brand is Right for You

It’s probably not a good idea to conclude this post by saying that Acer laptops are better than ASUS laptops and vice-versa. The reality is that each of these two laptop brands offer such a wide range of laptops at various price points, that it will really come down to how much you have to spend and the kind of system you’re looking for.

If you want a very general opinion on which laptop brand you should buy, you could follow these two points:

  • Choose an Acer laptop if you’re budget-restricted or you want more performance for your money
  • Choose an ASUS laptop if you have a more extreme budget

This, of course, is a very general rule of thumb. The reality is that, the difference between the ASUS and Acer laptops that meet your needs and budget will be small and you’ll need to do your due diligence in determining which option is right for you.

Hey, I’m Brent. I’ve been building PCs and writing about building PCs for a long time. Through TechGuided.com, I've helped thousands of people learn how to build their own computers. I’m an avid gamer and tech enthusiast, too. On YouTube, I build PCs, review laptops, components, and peripherals, and hold giveaways.

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