It’s been more than enough for me to do my job for two weeks - research, writing, communications, light photo-editing, and lots of Twitter - without eating my battery alive the way the Core i5 in my Acer Chromebook Spin 713 does.Īnd battery is the name of the game for the Acer Chromebook 514. It handles a couple dozen tabs at a time with grace, and Android apps run decently, but I wouldn’t try anything too strenuous in the Chrome OS Linux container. (Three fingers left or right to swap tabs is a godsend when you have 10-20 tabs open at a time.)Ĭall the MediaTek Kompanio 828 Goldilocks, because it sits right in the middle, with the low-power mediocrity of the Celeron, budget MediaTeks, and Snapdragon 7c on one side, and the overpriced power of the Intel Core and AMD Ryzen series on the other. Similarly, the Gorilla Glass-covered trackpad is smooth, and the large size makes gestures and right-clicks blissfully simple, even three-finger gestures like accessing the Overview screen or swapping tabs. This backlit keyboard is as predictably average as they come, with even backlighting, typical key travel and typing feel - so Acer didn’t screw anything up nor did it take anything over the top. The touchscreen itself is responsive and has a matte “non-glare” coating, which helps make the screen easier to read in some environments, but it also means that if you’re working with a bright light source behind you - say a bay window or a skylight - the screen can sometimes become unreadable until you kill the lights or change locations.Ī non-touchscreen version of this laptop could save you $50, but between it being easier for app interaction and the general usefulness of multi-touch displays, it easily earns that upgrade. I understand the appeal of keeping them better separated, but that front frame also means dust and debris can get stuck around the edges of the screen in a way all-glass screens can’t.

The 14-inch screen on the 514 is surrounded by a plastic frame, recessing the screen ever so slightly and keeping it raised away from the keyboard that you will absolutely cover in skin oils and grease.

Cb514