Acer’s efforts to create a green PC environment made of PCR materials started off with the Aspire Vero laptop last year and the company has now released its second-generation Vero laptop with a new and improved design, upgraded performance, and more. We take a look at the new Acer Aspire Vero (AV14-51 2022 Edition) laptop.
Design
Acer’s introduction of the Vero series laptop started off with a laptop that featured a unique chassis in Cobblestone Gray color. With the new generation, the company brought in more chassis color options called Starry Black and Mariana Blue, and our review unit came with the latter option. The new chassis colors actually represent a meaning about different environmental issues.
The Cobblestone Grey color option, as the prime color option, represents the building blocks for sustainability. The Starry Black actually is meant to remind us of how the skies will look if air pollution overtakes the atmosphere and hides the stars, and the Marana Blue is to help us consider the Mariana Trench of our oceans.
Similar to the first generation, most of the parts of the new Acer Vero laptop’s chassis are made of 30% PCR material, and this includes the top and bottom cover, the bezels of the screen, and also the operating surface. The main display features a 14-inch IPS panel that offers great viewing angles. And the color temperatures appear to be slightly on the cool side when viewing a white background.
While many laptop manufacturers are offering laptops with high refresh rates, the new Vero laptop still uses a 60Hz refresh rate panel which might be a deal-breaker for a few users. But since the Vero is all about preserving the environment, I guess having a 60Hz panel is fine and helps to keep the battery life longer. That said, the screen also offers 100% sRGB color gamut coverage. Acer has also included a feature called the Acer TNR (Temporal Noise Reduction) that helps to produce high-quality visuals during low-light conditions. There is also a Full HD webcam that is located on the top screen bezel with support for HDR recording.
The new Vero doesn’t fall short of connectivity options and the majority of them are located on the left side. This includes a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, a full-size HDMI port, a USB 3.2 Type-A port, a headphone jack, and two LED indicators for battery charging status and SSD loading, respectively. The USB-C port has support for Thunderbolt 4 connectivity with up to 40 Gbps bandwidth.
On the right, there is another USB 3.2 Type-A port and a Kensington lock. While the USB-C port is also used for charging the laptop, there were instances when I wanted to use a USB-C flash drive and the power was running low, I was only left out with the option to use the USB-C for charging the laptop first. We hope that laptop manufacturers make it a practice to include at least two or more USB-C ports for future models.
The working space of the Vero laptop comes with the same kind of keyboard that is made of 50% PCR keycaps. Acer mentions that the use of these PCR keycaps helps to reduce the carbon impact. The keyboard is fun to use and it gave me a pleasant typing experience while I wrote the review. Acer mentions that the OceanGlass touchpad is made of ocean-bound plastics that help to remind us that we need to act now to reduce the plastic waste disposals on the seas.
And just as in the previous version, the keyboard also features the colored “RE” keys that symbolize the “Reduce, Reuse & Recycle” message for the public. The chassis is made of scrap materials and is also paint-free to lower the negative effects of VOCs. The device weighs about 1.5kg.
Acer also mentions that the laptop is easily repairable and upgradable, thanks to the use of standard screws on the bottom panel. There are also two speakers located on the bottom panel. The packing of the laptop is also eco-friendly and is made of 90% recycled paper and the laptop bag and keyboard sheet are made of 100% recycled polyester.
Specs & Features
Inside the chassis of the new Vero laptop is the Intel 12th generation i7-1255U 10-core processor, featuring 12-threads and also max Turbo speeds up to 4.70 GHz. The main memory consists of 16GB LPDDR4 and a 1TB Micron MTFDKBA1T0TFK SSD with Windows 11 Home installed.
The iGPU used here is the Intel Iris Xe GPU with 96 EUs and 768 ALUs. The performance of the system is snappy while I used the laptop for editorial work, checking emails, editing excel sheets, surfing the web, etc. The 16GB RAM is quite sufficient for most of the daily tasks. The laptop also houses a 3-cell Lithium Polymer (Li-Polymer) battery that is designed to offer up to 17 hours of battery life.
Acer has included an application called the Vero Sense that helps you choose the battery mode you need- Eco+ for the best battery performance, Eco mode that is also for longer durations, Balanced mode that priorities on both longevity and performance, and Performance mode for faster but shorter durations.
During our time with the laptop, we were able to use the system for almost a day while we watched some video streaming, editorial work, and more. Other features include Bluetooth 5.2 and IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax WiFi connectivity. Take a look at the benchmark tests we performed on this machine.
Benchmarks
Verdict
Acer’s second-generation Vero laptop does bring a lot of design improvements, new color options, and upgraded performance as compared to previous versions. And this shows that Acer is quite successful and the Vero line-up will expand further. The 14-inch IPS display is brilliant and the company also offers a 15-inch model. The FHD webcam also has support for HDR.
The majority of the chassis is made of 30% PCR material and the laptop weighs 1.5kg. The device comes powered by 12th-generation Intel processors, along with 16GB LPDDR4 RAM and a 1TB speedy SSD with Windows 11 Home installed. The Vero Sense application helps to optimize battery life and performance. And the laptop comes with a 3-cell Lithium Polymer (Li-Polymer) battery that can last up to 17 hours of use.
