Medion Akoya E14308 in the test: super cheap Aldi notebook!

But you offer a notebook in a format that is quite suitable for travel. Because the Medion is not a large 15.6-inch device and not a measly 12-inch device – with its 14-inch display it is a good compromise and at around 1.5 kilograms it is also very light. This is made possible by a mix of materials: the display cover is made of high-quality aluminum, and the manufacturer has framed the base with the keyboard and technology in light plastic. The workmanship is okay – there are no sharp edges, large gaps or creaking noises when pressing on the case.

The device does not offer a brilliant display. After all, the Aldi notebook shows content such as films, documents and websites in Full HD with 1920×1080 pixels quite sharply on the almost 36 centimeter screen diagonal. This is not a matter of course in the current times with major delivery bottlenecks for electronic components for a notebook costing 349 euros. However, the Medion’s colors are distorted and pale – the latter is due to the anti-reflective coating. The Akoya doesn’t get on your nerves with annoying reflections, but the reproduction doesn’t look that brilliant.

The Medion doesn’t break out in hectic work: While it still handles Internet and office applications at a sufficient speed, users need a lot of patience when it comes to complex photo editing. There are two main reasons for this:

• Processor: The heart of the Akoya E14308 is the entry-level Athlon 3020e processor from AMD. According to the manufacturer, this two-core is a particularly economical model – AMD specifies it with a TDP of only 6 watts. The clock frequency is 1.2 gigahertz, a single core can work at 2.6 gigahertz for a short time. The performance is comparable to Intel’s Celeron CPUs, so it doesn’t uproot trees.
• Random access memory: The main memory (RAM) is also quite tight at 4 gigabytes (GB). But that is typical for notebooks in this price range. The small RAM also slows down the speed because the processor has to swap out data to the SSD when the 4 gigabytes are full. That costs time – and speed.

Shortcoming: The main memory cannot be expanded, the manufacturer Medion has soldered it firmly to the motherboard. The memory of the built-in SSD is also not particularly large at effectively 119 gigabytes. In addition, data is exchanged between the motherboard and the processor using a slow SATA connection instead of a fast PCI Express interface. After all, users can easily exchange the SSD for a model with more memory (picture above) if necessary – 1 terabyte models were already available for 85 euros at the time of the test.

Good for that: The built-in components don’t develop much heat, so thundering fans don’t have to protect them from overheating by forced ventilation – the Medion works silently. Shortcoming: The components and the display are not exactly squeamish with the energy stored in the 45-watt-hour battery: With full display brightness, the Medion had to be refueled after around four and a half hours at the socket. Values ​​that are twice as high are now considered good battery runtimes. The charging time also proved to be long at three hours and 43 minutes. Many models can do this in under two hours.

Many notebooks are stingy with ports. Okay, they are not lavish with the Medion either, but they are versatile: It offers a headset connection, separate monitors can be connected to the notebook either via HDMI or USB-C, and external SSDs can be plugged into the latter, among other things. There is also a USB 2.0 port for printers, keyboards and mice. Also good: The Akyoa has a memory card reader for microSDs.

For example, photos and videos can be transferred from the smartphone and tablet to the Aldi notebook. Too bad: The Medion still connects to the network via the older WLAN-ac and not via the current WLAN-ax (also called Wifi 6). Good: Despite the narrow display frame, the Akoya’s webcam is at the top and not at the bottom of the screen like some other Aldi notebooks. So there are no involuntarily funny shots of one’s own likeness. The webcam can also be deactivated using a mechanical switch.

The Medion Akoya E14308 was not completely convincing in the test: The work speed is not particularly high, the battery life is moderate, and the memory is scarce. However, the price tag only says 349 euros. And customers can’t ask for more in return. The Akoya is compact, pleasantly light and works silently – the almost ideal travel companion for internet and office tasks. However, the battery life is short.