Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 Review: The New Chromeos Sweet Spot

In nan past fewer years, I’ve felt for illustration Chromebooks person deed a plateau. ChromeOS is simply a quirky but mature level astatine this point, and Google has continued to adhd smart and useful features connected a regular basis. But nan hardware has felt beautiful stagnant, pinch a fewer exceptions. Most Chromebooks astatine this constituent are utilitarian devices that get nan occupation done but animate small excitement, and I’ve recovered astir Intel-based Chromebooks don’t get maine done a time of activity earlier nan artillery dies.

But earlier this summer, Lenovo released a caller Chromebook pinch nan ARM-based MediaTek’s Kompanio Ultra 910 chip, alternatively than nan accustomed Intel fare. And now Acer is doing nan aforesaid pinch nan latest Chromebook Plus Spin 514, a laptop that Acer says should get up to 17 hours of artillery life — a fig that only this exemplary and nan aforementioned Lenovo tin hit. Previously, nan MediaTek-powered Chromebooks disposable ran connected weaker mobile chips that didn’t person astir capable power, but nan Kompanio Ultra 910 is simply a wholly different beast. The combo of capacity and ratio nan Spin 514 offers makes it 1 of nan champion Chromebooks I’ve utilized successful a while.

Hardware design

The Chromebook Spin 514 feels for illustration galore Acer laptops I’ve tried complete nan years (CP514-5HN is nan identifier for this peculiar model, but we’re conscionable going to telephone it nan Spin 514 from present connected out). It’s coagulated and well-built while still besides emotion reasonably utilitarian. It doesn’t rather deed “premium” laptop standards, but it’s connected nan nicer extremity of nan Chromebook spectrum. I’m a instrumentality of nan metallic colour strategy arsenic opposed to nan alternatively dull grey astir Chromebooks travel in, and nan laptop’s lid has a nicely chamfered and polished edge, giving it immoderate ocular flair.

It’s besides a comparatively slim (0.61 inches) and ray (3 pounds) laptop. It’s not pushing nan envelope, but it’s besides much svelte and portable than a batch of cheaper Chromebooks. “Almost premium” isn’t a bad spot to be. The aforesaid goes for nan keyboard and trackpad — they’re some freely and comfortable, and nan keys person plentifulness of clicky travel. It’s not nan champion keyboard I’ve ever used, but 1 that I’m happy to pat distant connected for hours astatine a time. The 1,920 x 1,200 touchscreen is bright, crisp and colorful, rather pleasant to look astatine for agelong sessions. However, it besides has beautiful ample bezels supra and beneath nan display. Again, almost premium.

The Spin 514 has coagulated connectivity options, arsenic well. On 1 broadside you’ll find 2 USB-C 3.2 ports and a headphone jack, while nan different broadside goes old-school pinch 2 USB-A 3.2 ports. I wish that location was 1 of each connected each broadside truthful that you could plug successful a charger connected nan near aliases nan right, but alas. My only existent quibble is that if you’re utilizing a show pinch nan laptop plugged into power, some USB-C jacks are taken up. An HDMI relationship would person been adjuvant for that communal scenario.

As nan sanction implies, nan Spin 514 has a 360-degree hinge that lets you usage it successful a tablet mode, pinch nan touchscreen arsenic nan main input. I’ve agelong believed these convertible laptops aren’t really offering immoderate useful solution for nan immense mostly of people, and I still consciousness nan aforesaid way. But nan hinge feels great; Acer has a ton of acquisition successful this department. And nan USI 2.0 stylus I had connected manus worked without immoderate request for pairing aliases setup, which was convenient. If you’re nan benignant of personification who would return advantage of that, nan Spin 514 does nan trick.

Overall, nan Spin 514 lands conscionable astir wherever I’d expect for a $700 laptop successful position of hardware quality. It’s utilitarian successful a bully measurement — location were nary awesome letdowns successful my testing speech from nan speakers, which person very small bass and sound alternatively harsh erstwhile listening to music.

Configurations and performance

Before diving into really nan Spin 514 worked for me, a speedy connection astir configurations. The type I tested retails for $700 and will beryllium sold done Best Buy. This setup has nan aforementioned MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910 alongside 12GB of RAM and 256GB of retention space. Acer itself will waste a $750 exemplary pinch a 2,880 x 1,800 show and 16GB of RAM, but it should beryllium different identical to nan exemplary I’m testing.

ChromeOS runs good capable connected nan various Intel chips that are commonly used. One of my longstanding favourite Chromebooks, nan Lenovo Ideapad 5i, still uses a Core i3 from early 2023, and it gets nan occupation done. But nan move to MediaTek’s ARM-based Kompanio Ultra 910 has raised nan capacity bar, arsenic nan Spin 514 is astir apt nan astir responsive Chromebook I’ve tried. There’s nary a hint of slowdown aliases hiccups that still hap connected Intel-based models if you person excessively galore windows aliases apps open. Tabs seldom request to beryllium reloaded and popular backmost up quickly connected nan uncommon juncture that they do. Music aliases video playback ne'er skipped sloppy of what other I was doing, and Android apps for illustration Lightroom worked swiftly and smoothly arsenic well.

Perhaps much importantly than really it performs coming is nan truth that nan Kompanio Ultra 910 should support nan Flip 514 emotion snappy and powerful for years to come. There’s conscionable much room for this spot to grip expanding capacity demands complete nan years. Benchmarks from nan Android type of Geekbench 6 thief exemplify this: nan Spin 514 scored 2,526 connected nan single-core CPU test, 7,687 connected multi-core and 18,020 connected nan GPU test. For comparison, Acer’s recently-released Chromebook Plus 514 pinch an Intel Core 3 spot scored 1,150, 4,407 and 5,932 respectively. I don’t deliberation that benchmarks for illustration Geekbench are a be-all end-all of anything, but it’s astatine slightest 1 metric to exemplify nan benefits of moving distant from Intel.

I’ve agelong groused astir nan comparatively mediocre artillery life connected Intel-powered Chromebooks, and this is different spot wherever nan MediaTek spot helps retired tremendously. The Spin 514 looped video playback successful my trial for conscionable complete 14 hours earlier moving retired of battery. My regular workflow of tons of Chrome tabs, various chat apps, YouTube Music, Todoist and a fistful of Android apps decidedly utilized much resources, but I could still get done a afloat activity time pinch artillery to spare. That’s not thing I’ve said astir galore Chromebooks recently. The only caveat is that artillery life will almost surely return a deed if you opt for nan exemplary pinch nan higher-resolution display.

ChromeOS and Gemini

I wrote a batch astir nan ChromeOS and Gemini acquisition past twelvemonth erstwhile I reviewed Samsung’s Galaxy Chromebook Plus, and fundamentally everything I said past applies here. But to recap: ChromeOS is rather mature and unchangeable astatine this point, and Google has built successful a batch of smart features complete nan years to make it much than “just a web browser” arsenic it was referred to previously. Of course, ChromeOS is still a chiefly web-based system, pinch Android applications giving you entree to things you mightiness not find successful nan browser. There are besides plentifulness of web apps that are good optimized for ChromeOS, and Google Docs has a broad offline mode astatine this point. ChromeOS besides pairs nicely pinch Android phones and adds features for illustration shared notifications and streaming of immoderate apps straight to your laptop.

Of course, Gemini is besides a large portion of nan equation — but if you’re not a large instrumentality of AI tools, it’s besides rather easy to ignore. There are small prompts astir nan OS, but thing that really drags your attraction distant from what you’re moving on. And if you do want to dive into what Gemini is each about, a Chromebook for illustration nan Spin 514 is simply a bully action because you get 12 months of Google’s AI Pro plan for free. That usually costs $20/month and provides 2TB of Drive retention on pinch Gemini 2.5 Pro successful hunt and nan Gemini app, Gemini successful Gmail and Google Docs, entree to nan Veo image- and video-generation instrumentality and more. Given that 2TB of Google Drive retention costs $10/month connected its own, this is simply a coagulated perk. But it’s besides worthy remembering that erstwhile that twelvemonth ends, you’re connected nan hook to salary for that scheme yourself.

Pricing and last thoughts

My only existent quibble pinch nan Spin 514 is its price. At $700, we’re pushing nan apical of what anyone should walk connected a Chromebook. While nan much powerful spot and agelong artillery life will beryllium worthy it for immoderate people, Acer itself is providing immoderate beardown title pinch its modular Chromebook Plus 514 which came retired this summer. It has an Intel chip, truthful artillery life and capacity aren’t astatine nan aforesaid level arsenic nan Spin 514, but it’s besides virtually half nan value astatine $350. If you’re only going to beryllium distant from a charger for a fewer hours astatine a time, it’s difficult not to urge that instrumentality instead. I’ll beryllium publishing much specifications astir that laptop successful our guideline to nan champion Chromebooks very soon if you want to cognize more.

So while this mightiness not beryllium nan Chromebook I’d urge to everyone, it is simply a beardown contender for nan champion premium Chromebook you tin buy. If you’re looking to usage this laptop each day, each day, it whitethorn beryllium worthy shelling retired nan other rate for nan improved performance, artillery life and longevity you’ll get from nan Spin 514.