Acer Aspire Vero 16 Laptop Review – With Intel Core Ultra 7 155H

The Acer Aspire Vero laptop range is aimed at people who want to make more environmentally conscious buying decisions.

The Vero range incorporates 30% post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic, reducing CO₂ emissions by approximately 21%. They are also designed to be easy to disassemble, upgrade and service.

I reviewed the first Acer Vero back in 2021 and was impressed with the overall concept. While the eco-friendly build is a nice feature, for me, the main selling point of the Vero range is the serviceable design.

The Aspire Vero 16 is the latest model. It is one of the most affordable options with the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, which makes it appealing for anyone looking for a decent mid-range laptop for work and general use.

Specification

Specification	Acer Aspire Vero 16
Operating system	Windows 11 Home
RAM	16 GB DDR5
Processor	Intel Core Ultra 7 155H Processor – 12-core – 1.2 GHz / 4.8 GHz – 12 MB cache
Storage	1 TB SSD
Resolution	Full HD+ 1920 x 1200p
Screen size	16″
Mouse/trackpad	– Anti-glare – LED backlighting – 100% sRGB colour
Screen type	IPS LCD
Touchscreen	No
WiFi	Intel WiFi 6E – 2×2
Ethernet	No
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 5.3
Ports	– Thunderbolt 4 x 2 – USB 3.2 x 2 – HDMI 2.1 x 1 – 3.5 mm jack x 1
Disc drive	No
Memory card reader	No
Keyboard	Backlit membrane keyboard with numeric keypad
Mouse / trackpad	Multi-touch trackpad with gesture control
Camera	Quad HD webcam
Other features	Microphone
Battery type	3-cell Lithium-ion
Battery life	Up to 10 hours
Audio software	DTS Audio
Speakers	Dual speakers
Colour	Grey
Weight	1.8 kg
Software	Full version of Microsoft Office not included Full version of anti-virus / internet security not included – Microsoft 365 (30 day trial) – Acer Care Centre – Acer Product Registration
Dimensions	16.55 x 359.45 x 247 mm (H x W x D)
Manufacturer guarantee	1 year
Box contents	– Acer Aspire Vero AV16-51P 16″ Laptop (NX.KV7EK.00D) – Power adapter – User documentation

Features

The Acer Aspire Vero emphasises environmental sustainability and serviceability in its design and production. Here are the key features related to these aspects:

Environmental Features

• Use of Recycled Materials: The Aspire Vero’s chassis incorporates 40% post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic, which contributes to a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to using 100% virgin plastic.
• Reduced E-Waste: The design includes a 52% reduction in printed circuit board material, helping to minimise electronic waste.
• OceanGlass Touchpad: This touchpad is made entirely from ocean-bound plastic, providing a sustainable alternative while maintaining a glass-like texture.
• Paint-Free Chassis: By eliminating paint, the Aspire Vero reduces the impact of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on the environment.
• Recyclable Packaging: Up to 90% of the packaging is made from recycled paper, and it can be reconfigured into a laptop stand, promoting reuse.
• Recycled Accessories: The laptop bag and keyboard sheet are made from 100% recycled polyester, reducing energy consumption during production.

Serviceability Features

• Extended-Life Design: The laptop is designed for easy disassembly using standard screws, facilitating repairs, upgrades, and recycling efforts.
• Durability: It features a rugged cover and durable hinge capable of withstanding significant force and drop resistance, ensuring longevity and reduced need for replacements.

These features highlight Acer’s commitment to reducing environmental impact and enhancing the serviceability of the Aspire Vero.

Design and Ports

The Aspire Vero 16 adopts a unique design philosophy centred on sustainability. Unlike many modern laptops, which focus solely on sleekness, this device incorporates recycled materials into its chassis. Specifically, Acer uses 40% post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic in the laptop’s build, reducing CO2 emissions by about 21%. This approach is not just about materials but also about ensuring a product lifecycle that contributes less to e-waste.

The Vero 16’s paint-free chassis further enhances its environmentally friendly design, minimizing the impact of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The packaging, largely composed of recycled paper, can even be repurposed as a laptop stand—a creative nod to reuse, though this feature may not appeal to everyone.

The overall appearance is attractive enough for a laptop; it is a bit more exciting than a boring black laptop, and it retains good build quality. The serviceable design does add some bulk, it is by no means a massive laptop, but chunkier and heavier than others.

The laptop offers a reasonable selection of ports. With two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB 3.2 ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack, most users will find their connectivity needs adequately met. The inclusion of Thunderbolt 4 is a standout feature, particularly given the laptop’s mid-range price point. A decent Thunderbolt dock can provide all the connectivity you want, including multi-gig Ethernet, multiple external monitors, and additional USB ports.  

There is no Ethernet port, which has become the norm for most consumer laptops. However, I feel like this appeals to business users as much as consumers, and it would have been a welcome addition.

Serviceability

As much as I want to be environmentally friendly, it isn’t a significant factor in my buying decisions. I’d certainly opt for an environmentally friendly product over something else if the price is similar, but I don’t tend to seek out this feature.

What would influence my decision to buy a laptop is serviceability. My Huawei Matebook 13 has soldered RAM and an integrated WiFi module, so I can’t update these at all. Additionally, it has two USB-C ports but only one can provide power, and that port is now almost broken. Even though it is four years old, it is a perfectly good laptop, rendered almost useless due to its poor serviceability.

I don’t normally open laptops nowadays because their slim, ultraportable nature makes it hard to upgrade components, but with the Vero, I felt it was a necessity.

Flipping the laptop over reveals standard Philips head screws, which have a big enough head that any cheap electronics screwdriver set will open it up. The only other tool you could do with is one of the plastic prying tools to unclip the bottom from the chassis.

Opening the laptop up reveals that the vast majority of the components can be easily removed and replaced.

There is one significant component that is not visible in my photos: the RAM. At first, I thought it may have been under the motherboard, but Acer has confirmed this is soldered. While this is quite annoying and against the serviceable philosophy of the Vero range, the issue appears prevalent for almost all laptops with a Intel Core Ultra CPU. The reason for this is due the pefroamcne of the RAM, SODIMM slots are already not capable of following the newest CLs with frequencies. The solution to this is to either solder the RAM or use LPCAMM2, but there are very few laptops with LPCAMM2. This Vero was launched back iin March 2024 and the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 was the first laptop to launch with the LPCAMM2 memory standard in April 2024.

Thankfully, Acer and other brands have at least provided enough RAM for the majority of people and RAM rarely goes bad. It is unlikely anyone buying a sub £1k laptop with a Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and no discrete GPU would need 32GB RAM or more.

The other issue is that the USB-C ports for power are on the motherboard, and if this break, then it will be difficult to repair; replacing the motherboard would be expensive and removing and resoldering new USB-C ports is beyond the skill of most people (certainly myself).

Beyond that, everything looks very easy to replace. You have easy upgrades for WiFi and a spare M.2 slot for additional storage.

The battery is very easy to replace, the display hinges should be easy to fix, and I suspect the display panel should also be relatively easy. The motherboard also looks easy enough to remove.

Display

The Vero 16 features a 16-inch Full HD+ IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1200p. It delivers 100% sRGB colour coverage, making it suitable for tasks that require accurate colour representation, such as light photo editing and media consumption. The anti-glare coating also makes it easier to work in bright environments or near windows.

Compared to some competing models, such as the Asus Vivobook S 15 with its 3K OLED display, the Vero 16’s screen is less vibrant and lacks the higher refresh rates that gamers or creators might prefer. However, for general productivity and entertainment use, the display is perfectly adequate, providing a comfortable viewing experience with good brightness and contrast levels.

Keyboard

The Vero 16’s keyboard is a backlit membrane type with a numeric keypad. A numeric keypad is a welcome addition for users who frequently work with numbers. Key travel is comfortable, and the typing experience is decent for extended sessions. However, the membrane design doesn’t offer the same tactile response as mechanical or higher-quality scissor switches found in more premium models.

The multi-touch trackpad, branded as an OceanGlass touchpad, is made from ocean-bound plastic and offers a surprisingly smooth experience. The glass-like texture ensures precise tracking, though some users might find it a bit on the larger side, which could lead to accidental inputs during typing. Gesture control works well, adding to the laptop’s overall usability.

The trackpad also has a small fingerprint scanner built into it for Windows Hello.

Performance

Powered by the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, the Aspire Vero 16 provides solid performance for everyday computing tasks. The 12-core CPU, with a clock speed ranging from 1.2 GHz to 4.8 GHz, handles multitasking well, whether it’s browsing with multiple tabs open, working on documents, or running light creative applications. The 16 GB of DDR5 RAM supports these tasks effectively, providing enough memory to switch between applications without a noticeable slowdown.

The integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics are suitable for basic multimedia tasks, streaming, and light gaming, but they are not intended for heavy-duty graphics work or gaming. Users seeking higher graphical performance may want to look at options with discrete GPUs.

Benchmarks

Benchmarks show good performance

3DMark Time Spy

• Acer Aspire Vero 16: 2120 (CPU: 1917 GPU: 5342)
• Acer Swift Go 14 (2024): 3413 (CPU: 6261 GPU: 3160)
• Acer Swift Edge 16: 2856 (CPU: 6875 GPU: 2589)
• Acer Swift 5 2022: 1596 (CPU: 6212 GPU: 1411)
• Acer Aspire Vero: 1607 (CPU: 4493 GPU: 1444)
• Acer Swift 3X: 1890 (CPU: 4408 GPU: 1717)
• Matebook 13: 1276 (CPU: 2673 GPU: 1169)

PCMark

• Acer Aspire Vero 16: 5594 (Essentials: 9578 Productivity: 7750 Digital Content: 6398)
• Acer Swift Go 14 (2024): 6100 (Essentials: 8775 Productivity: 7771)
• Acer Swift Edge 16: 4878 (Essentials: 8541Productivity: 7614)
• Acer Swift 5 2022: 4991 (Essentials: 8631 Productivity: 6451 )
• Acer Aspire Vero: 5030 (Essentials: 9279 Productivity: 6812 )
• Acer Swift 3X: 5014 (Essentials: 9468 Productivity: 6846 )
• Matebook 13: 3970 (Essentials: 8759 Productivity: 7224 )

3Dmark: Additional Tests

• 3Dmark CPU Profile (Max threads/ 16 / 8 / 4 / 2 / 1)
  • Acer Aspire Vero 16: 2810 / 2764 / 2429 / 1957 / 1406 / 903
  • Acer Swift Go 14 (2024): 5369 / 5018 / 4269 / 3005 / 1799 / 943
• Storage Benchmark:
  • Acer Aspire Vero 16: 2222
  • Acer Swift Go 14 (2024): 1958
• Steal Nomad Light Score:
  • Acer Aspire Vero 16: 1688
  • Acer Swift Go 14 (2024): 2536
• Steel Nomad Normal:
  • Acer Aspire Vero 16: 329

Battery Life

The Acer Aspire Vero 16 comes with a 3-cell Lithium-ion battery that offers up to 10 hours of usage. In real-world scenarios, the battery life varies significantly depending on the workload. Light tasks like web browsing and document editing can bring it close to the advertised figure. However, more intensive tasks such as streaming videos, video calls, or running CPU-heavy applications will reduce battery life to around 6-7 hours.

Compared to competitors, the battery performance is on par, though it doesn’t stand out as exceptional. The Asus Vivobook S 15, for instance, has a similar battery life, while the HP Envy X360 tends to fall short, especially in convertible mode. The Vero 16’s battery life is sufficient for a typical workday but might require a midday charge for power users.

Windows and Acer Software

The Vero 16 runs Windows 11 Home, which is standard for consumer PCs. Again, I feel like this would appear to business users, so Windows 11 Pro would have helped it stand out from competing options. Mini PCs from Geekom come with Windows 11 Pro, so it seems feasible to include this at this price point.

One of the biggest issues with Acer laptops is the bloatware. Some of it is fine and useful, but Acer Jumpstart is used for adverts, and you will get nagged about installing games, which, in my opinion, is unacceptable.

They also install the trial of McAfee. It is debated whether this is a good antivirus or not, but it is notorious for spamming you with popups and I’d strongly recommend uninstalling it. A lot of people on Reddit claim McAfee is hard to uninstall, but I had no problems.

Other software that is installed includes:

• Evernote
• ExpressVPN
• Dropbox

Admittedly, Windows 11 has so much bloatware nowadays that it can be hard to tell who added what.

Price and Alternative Options

The Acer Aspire Vero 16 has an RRP of £899, but at the time of writing, it was available for £849 on Currys, which makes it the equal cheapest 15”/16” laptop on Curry’s featuring the Intel Ultra 7 155U.

The Asus Vivobook S 15  (S5506MA) is the same price, which has the advantage of a 3K 2880 x 1620p 120Hz OLED display and a lighter build, albeit without the green credentials.

The HP Envy X360 is more expensive at £899,has a similar LCD display but is a convertible. It also benefits from WiFi 7 but has less storage and is slightly heavier.

Acer then has the Acer Swift Go 16”, which is a similar spec as this but with a 3200 x 2000p 120Hz OLED display for £1200. This is also lighter but doesn’t have the same green credentials as the Vero.

The Framework Laptop is by far the most serviceable laptop on the market and can come pre-built or with the option to assemble it yourself, and you can even upgrade it. For example, you can buy a GPU module. However, the base DIY model costs £1400 and comes with the Ryzen 7 7840HS, no RAM(£80 for 16GB), no storage (£109 for 1TB NVMe), no OS (£120 for Home, £220 for Pro), no power adaptor (£79), no USB (£9 per module), no HDMI (£19). If you add all these components with 3x USB-C, 1x HDMI, and 1x USB-A the final price is a whopping £1851. It actually works out cheaper to get the pre-built. I love the concept, but the price eliminates any benefit of a modular laptop (other than avoiding e-waste).

Overall

My overall opinion of the Acer Aspire Vero 16 is much the same as my original Vero. If it didn’t have environmental and serviceable features, it would be decent but unremarkable.

Ignoring those features then, the Asus Vivobook S 15  appears to be a better buy, being the same price, with a significantly better display and a lighter design.

The serviceability is the stand-out feature for me. This laptop should realistically outlive most of the other competing options, significantly reducing the cost per use / total cost of ownership. This makes it ideal for general use and work laptops where you don’t need to keep up with the latest and greatest hardware.

Due to this, I feel like the Vero range could compete well in the business laptop industry. I now work in IT support, and many SMBs would appreciate affordable maintenance rather than having to replace laptops every few years as they become uneconomical (or impossible) to repair.

The problem here is the lack of Windows 11 Pro and all the bloatware. No respectable MSP or IT department would allow a laptop to go to a client with the additional software installed.  For general consumers, this is less of issues; it isn’t that difficult to uninstall all the unwanted software.

Overall, minor gripes aside, it is hard not to like the Acer Aspire Vero 16. Acer is doing something different than most competing brands. Most of the tech industry has moved towards planned obsolescence, and it is refreshing to see a brand do something different that has genuine benefits for consumers.