Bloatware is only half of the problem that I mention. The hardware components they use are also cheap. I don't mean 'cheap' in the sense of 'good value', I mean 'senselessly cheap' and 'bad value'.

They use the worst 1366x768 TN panels in 15" laptops when the marginal cost of even using a bad TN panel is essentially negligible.

This leads to Acer being fairly profitable when they sell enough machines, but this hasn't been the case for a few years.