In a market where all laptops are water and land, with noticeable differences only on the hardware side, Acer has decided to come up with something really interesting. Aspire Vero is the first laptop (as far as I know) made from recycled plastic. And that deserves our attention.
Aspire Vero does not surprise us with its top specifications, although it is not bad in this regard either. Vero comes packaged in a 100% recyclable cardboard box and soy ink. So even the packaging part was designed to make everything as eco-friendly as possible.
We could talk for hours about the design of the laptop. I find it incredible how well Acer has managed to shape that plastic. Initially you wouldn’t say it’s recycled plastic but just normal plastic with a certain pattern. It’s a hard plastic, it doesn’t feel premium to the touch, but that’s not the point.
Acer tried to give it a nice shape through those combs, and the colorful pieces you see on your laptop are pieces of plastic. Does it bother you? Not at all. I came across lower quality plastic on similar products and that was not recycled.
Besides the fact that it comes in a recyclable package and it itself is a laptop made of recycled plastic, Vero is also easy to maintain. The back cover can be easily removed for a future upgrade. There are 11 star screws that can be removed immediately, pull the cover and you’re done, you have access to the entire motherboard.
And the cooling system has a generous slit under the screen where hot air is removed. Only pluses so far in this regard. We also have pluses on the connectivity side where we find the classic USB 3.0, USB Type C, LAN, audio jack and a proprietary power port. It also has a fingerprint sensor integrated in the trackpad, a good and very precise one.
It’s a square laptop that was inspired by other more popular laptops in this regard (you know who I mean) but that’s not a bad thing. It doesn’t even matter anymore. All that matters is that we have an environmentally friendly laptop and I would love to see more such models. I would always use a laptop made of recycled plastic, even if the touch is not as premium as one made of the finest materials, as long as I know that the impact on the environment is small or not at all.
There is not much to say about the technical data. It uses an Intel Core i7-1195G7 processor, 16GB RAM, 1TB NVMe SSD, has a 15.6 inch IPS Full HD screen and a 48Wh battery. And the video card is an integrated Iris Xe. It is not a beast, but it is strong enough for more intense usual tasks. It’s ideal for busy office work, but it can’t run Adobe Photoshop, Premiere or DaVinci like a laptop with a dedicated video card.
The screen looks great. It is not the brightest, but it has good colors. It is a good quality IPS. And the speakers are not bad either, they are decent for such a laptop.
The battery lasts a long time if you use it correctly. I also got 6 hours of autonomy, so it’s good in this regard as well. The keyboard is simple, nothing fancy. It is well spaced, slightly noisy but very ok otherwise. I didn’t really like the trackpad, they could work on it better.
Tests could not be performed due to the operating system. Being a sample, it ran a beta version of Windows 11 and I couldn’t upgrade, and the tests would have gone very badly.
However, you have to believe me that it is a high-performance laptop. And if you’re thinking of buying it, I highly recommend it. It’s more expensive than a “polluting” laptop, but hey, if you love nature you make a financial sacrifice.
According to Acer, Vero’s chassis is made of 30% recycled plastic (PCR), which is why CO2 emissions for the production of this part have been reduced by 21%. The keyboard contains 50% PCR plastic, and the 100% recyclable Aspire Vero packaging, recognized by numerous international awards, can be re-used as a laptop stand. Also, the screen is 99% recyclable.
It costs around 900 euros and was also available at Altex. I don’t know when it will be out of stock.
