Last year, Google has introduced a new “Chromebook Plus” label that ensures Chromebooks meet certain hardware requirements, giving them a certain quality threshold and, importantly, a starting price of $400. It was quite successful. Chromebooks from companies like Acer and Lenovo offer good value for money – functional, affordable hardware that gets the job done.
Acer’s Chromebook Plus 514 (model CB514-4H/T) is another laptop that achieves this goal. This particular model name doesn’t roll off the tongue, but it does indicate that this is the Intel model, not to be confused with the AMD-based Chromebook Plus 514 (CB514-3H/T) that the company released last year brought onto the market in autumn. It’s a bit confusing, and it doesn’t help that there’s also the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 with the same name, which is close in price but has a larger screen and a slightly different processor.
Photo: Daniel Thorp-Lancaster
Despite slight differences in port selection and screen ratio between the Intel and AMD variants of the Chromebook Plus 514, you can expect them to perform largely the same. Doing the heavy lifting for this device is a powerful 13th-generation Intel Core i3-N305 processor, which is on par with other Chromebook Plus models and is a nice improvement over Chromebooks of years past. Combined with the 8GB of RAM and a 512GB solid-state drive in the CB514-4HT-359X configuration that Acer sent me for this review, you have a pretty fast machine for school and work. This model is just $350 at Costco, and oddly enough, the 128GB model is more expensive at $380 at Amazon.
Chrome OS is designed to be lightweight and the Core i3-N305 processor handles most tasks easily. My daily ritual of writing in Google Docs while simultaneously watching YouTube videos with several other tabs open never felt sluggish or unresponsive. The battery life held up, allowing me to get through an eight-hour workday with usually an hour or two of battery life left.
Despite using the cloud, edits in Google Photos are very responsive. I had a lot of fun tweaking my (many) cat photos using the built-in editor, and video editing was almost instantaneous. However, keep in mind that this depends heavily on the speed of your internet connection to download photos and videos from your cloud storage, so your experience may vary.
I’ve never been drawn to using touch on laptops, but the Chromebook Plus 514’s 14-inch touch panel has grown on me. Chrome OS is easy to touch and the smooth, matte display feels comfortable under your fingertips (plus it doesn’t leave fingerprints). During my week of testing, I constantly searched for better choices when editing photos in the Google Photos app or scrolling through YouTube more precisely.
My only disappointment is that this is not a convertible laptop. The ability to swivel the screen to turn it into a quasi-tablet would make touch controls more comfortable (and fun), so the clamshell design is a bit limiting. On the plus side, the hinge allows the back of the display to expand downward slightly when opened, allowing it to rest at a more comfortable angle on your table or lap.