When I created a 3D character with the Acer Nitro 16S AI, I hadn't expected it to cause such a shift in my thinking.
For the past few years I've reviewed dozens of the best laptops for graphic design as well as drawing and digital art from brands including Acer, MSI, ASUS, and Lenovo, and I was seriously starting to wonder if I'd witnessed the end of the all-rounder laptop.
With its RGB lighting, NVIDIA GPUs, and edgy aesthetics, MSI has focused almost exclusively on developing high-end laptops for gamers. Lenovo has continued doing their thing for students and general business users.
Acer and ASUS have slapped AI branding on pretty much every single one of their laptops but often to the detriment of sufficient hardware to serve high-performing creatives.
Laptops have either been too expensive and over-powered or too cheap and gimmicky. That sweet spot between the two has been severely neglected... until now.
With the Nitro 16S AI from Acer, our benchmarks showed impressive performance across the board, a reality that I experienced during hands-on testing.
Cinebench results showed mid-range results for rendering; AI image and video resizing was slightly above middle; and editing in Photoshop went without a hitch. Even video encoding was fast enough for occasional video editors and content creators.
The laptop didn't blow me away with lightning-fast performance, but what it did do was keep going, no matter what workflow I threw at it. That might not sound super sexy, but in this day and age there's a lot to be said for a laptop that can deliver results in every application.
As someone who, on any given day, edits video, colour-corrects footage, edits photos, writes copy, browses the web, watches videos, and processes audio, I am encouraged by what Acer has produced. And if you're a jack-of-all-trades creative or content creator, then I think you should be encouraged too.
With evolving working habits in the creative industry, I'd like to see more of these types of laptops. Greater competition will drive innovation, keep costs down, and ultimately give users the performance they need to get the job done.
