During the current Black Friday sales period, the Acer Aspire 14 AI laptop is available at a significant discount, marked down by $250 from its usual $700 price to just $450. This early deal, which is being offered through Costco, presents an excellent opportunity for budget-conscious buyers interested in acquiring a modern AI-capable laptop at a very affordable price. However, it’s unclear how long this promotional pricing will last, so customers eager to take advantage of this deal should act quickly.
When first reviewed in April, the Acer Aspire 14 AI was already notable for being the most affordable PC equipped with Microsoft’s Copilot Plus AI capabilities, retailing at $700. Now, six months later, the early Black Friday markdown has made it the cheapest Copilot Plus PC currently available, significantly enhancing its value proposition for shoppers looking for a capable AI laptop without breaking the bank.
A common challenge when shopping for budget laptops is that many models priced around $500 tend to be older devices with outdated components. These older laptops often lose value as their technology ages, resulting in a shorter effective lifespan and less satisfying performance. The Acer Aspire 14 AI, however, defies this trend by combining a wallet-friendly price with up-to-date hardware specifications. It features a contemporary Intel Core Ultra Series 2 processor, known by its codename “Lunar Lake,” which offers solid performance suitable for everyday computing tasks, along with excellent battery life and competitive AI processing power. Furthermore, the Aspire 14 AI comes equipped with more RAM and storage capacity than most budget laptops, boasting 16GB of RAM and a roomy 1TB solid-state drive (SSD), which is notably generous for this price range. These specs contribute to its standing as one of the best budget laptops of 2025.
While the laptop market is still waiting for a truly transformative AI application that would make having a dedicated AI CPU essential, owning a machine like the Aspire 14 AI means being prepared for when that moment arrives. The laptop’s Intel Core Ultra 5 CPU includes a specialized neural processing unit (NPU) capable of performing up to 40 trillion operations per second, meeting the minimum requirements for Microsoft’s Copilot Plus PC platform. This NPU allows the laptop to handle AI-related tasks more efficiently by offloading them from the main CPU and GPU. Examples of such tasks include taking Windows Recall snapshots, blurring backgrounds during video calls, and generating live translations. By delegating these workloads to the NPU, the laptop keeps its primary processors free to focus on the user’s main activities, resulting in smoother overall performance.
Future-proofing is a critical consideration when purchasing any laptop, and it is especially important for budget models where the risk of buying outdated technology is higher. Many low-cost laptops are discounted simply because they are older models with previous-generation components, often sold off to make room for newer inventory. The Aspire 14 AI stands apart in this regard by incorporating current-generation hardware, ensuring that users get a product that will remain relevant and capable for a longer period.
In performance testing, the Acer Aspire 14 AI held its own against more expensive Copilot Plus PCs. Its scores on application, graphics, and AI benchmarks were comparable to those of pricier competitors, showing that it can deliver respectable performance despite its lower price tag. While its integrated Intel GPU is not designed for serious 3D gaming—a common limitation shared by most Copilot Plus laptops lacking dedicated graphics cards—the Aspire 14 AI is well-suited for typical productivity tasks and AI workloads.
Another common downside of budget laptops is the use of cheap, flimsy plastic in their construction, leading to devices that feel fragile and poorly made. The Acer Aspire 14 AI avoids this pitfall by featuring aluminum panels on both the top and bottom, with only the keyboard deck made of plastic. The keyboard deck itself is solid and rigid, lacking the flex and bend often experienced in thinner plastic designs used by many budget competitors. This sturdy build quality gives the Aspire 14 AI a more premium feel, one that can easily be mistaken for a higher-end model such as those from Acer’s mainstream Swift series.
The most compelling aspect of the Aspire 14 AI is its combination of a modern CPU that delivers sufficient power to function as a primary laptop, rather than just as a secondary or backup device, and an efficient design that enables exceptional battery life. The laptop can run for nearly 19 hours on a single charge, making it highly portable and convenient for users who