Chromebooks have steadily improved over the years, increasing in power and usability. However, their price has also increased — some Chromebooks are even neck and neck with the cost of full-blown Windows-based laptops. Still, Chromebooks are the de facto choice of schools across the U.S., from where I am in California to where my sister teaches second grade in Ohio.
The Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514, despite having a mouthful of a name, has surprised me in more ways than one. While reviewing the device, I noticed that it became my primary workstation, and there are only a few scenarios where I truly missed my older MacBook Pro. In addition to this, my junior high-aged daughter was also using it for homework. Turns out, the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 is a great family workstation, even if it feels a bit bulky and unrefined at times.
Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514
The Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 is a midrange Chromebook running ChromeOS with an Intel Core 3 processor and 8GB of RAM that also includes a tablet mode and touch screen. This is more than enough power for a teen’s homework and moderate-to-light family use. But at this price, the build quality leaves something to be desired, even if the performance is more than adequate.
- Powerful enough for moderate tasks
- Touchscreen is responsive
- Decent battery life and charges fast
- ChromeOS is light and quick
- Build quality is a lot of plastic
- Trackpad performance and quality feels like an afterthought
- Very thick as a tablet
- Screen brightness struggles in some bright locations
Price, availability, and specs
It’s all here
The Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 has enough power for everyday tasks. It has a touchscreen, the ability to transform into a (really thick) tablet, 128GB of base storage, and enough ports to keep most people happy. Though, with this bulky design, an Ethernet port would have been nice; it’s essentially all that’s lacking in the I/O department.
At north of $500, it had better feel speedy and worth it. Luckily, it does — even with just 8GB of RAM and an Intel Core 3 processor. You can find the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 on Amazon, Walmart, and other online retailers — usually on sale. It comes in a silver/gray option that looks right at home with every other laptop on the market.
What’s good about the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514?
Speedy, decent internal hardware
Coming from a MacBook Pro that’s a few years old at this point, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I’ve used Chromebooks in the past, and I know my kids use them in school daily. I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 performed its tasks, even with just an Intel Core 3 under the hood. This is a testament to ChromeOS and how lightweight it is, for sure.
I have used this laptop to write all my reviews since it came in. Mass photo editing was the only issue I experienced where I didn’t find a decent workaround. I shoot on pro systems like the Canon R5 and normally use Adobe Lightroom to edit my work. There just isn’t a browser-based system that gives me an ideal workflow when working in bulk.
That being said, I can imagine using this for pretty much everything else. Writing doesn’t require a lot of computing power to begin with, but in my everyday job, there’s a lot of research required — which means a lot of browser tabs. Even under that heavy workload, I didn’t notice much of a slowdown compared to my main workstation. Color me impressed.
In addition to how I, an adult person, was using it, my tween daughter was thankful to have a familiar system to help her with her homework at night. Up until now, she’d been using her iPad plus a keyboard to handle her schoolwork, and the efficiency and know-how that comes with using something she also works with daily at school is not just ideal, it feels necessary.
The battery life and charging speeds are also decent. The battery gave us around 6 to 7 hours at full brightness and tons of tabs, which is on par with the Asus CX54 Chromebook Plus. I know that isn’t technically an all-day life (or even the advertised 10 hours — but with the battery saver on, the laptop estimated ~12), but with how we used it in our house, it was more than enough. Topping it off also takes just a bit over an hour; the device went from 25% to 100% in about 45 minutes. Plus, if you compare this to what I’m getting from my aging MacBook Pro, it feels really good.
Related
Review: The Asus CX54 Chromebook Plus has plenty of power, but not in the battery
Asus nailed just about everything else
What’s bad about the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514?
Rough around the edges
In a lot of the advertising for the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514, you’ll see talk about how durable and robust it is. I suppose “robust” is a good word for it because, compared to other modern laptops, you can tell immediately that this isn’t a high-end workstation based on its build quality. Now, I didn’t specifically test its durability, but I wasn’t exactly precious with it either. Beyond some fingerprints here and there, it held up to daily use.
It’s just as plastic as it can be, you know? Typing on it is fine, but it’s not a joy. The trackpad is also fine but has a big clunky click to it, the speakers lack depth, and the screen’s brightness tops out under 400 nits. I found myself trying to turn up the brightness every so often just to find it was at its maximum.
Speaking of the screen, it just doesn’t have the clarity I’d want from a daily workstation, but for a kid or teen doing homework or someone that needs a basic home computer, it’s passable; I’ve seen worse.
Overall, it just doesn’t feel refined. Though the touch screen works well, I just didn’t use it much in tablet mode and had to force myself to do so. It’s just handier as a laptop in general.
Should you buy it?
The Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 is in an interesting position, price-wise. At over $500 (you can sometimes find it on sale for the mid-$400 range), it’s not cheap. Luckily, the performance is worth the sale price tag. Build-quality-wise, you can spend a little more and get something that feels better with the Asus CX54 Chromebook Plus. You could also consider Samsung’s Galaxy Chromebook, which recently earned our AP Editor’s Choice award.
Then, there are many options for Chromebooks in the $200 range on Amazon, specifically from HP and Lenovo, which might be ideal if it’s only used for homework. However, if you’re sharing the workstation, the extra power, RAM, and storage space is probably worth it here, despite the clunky plastic build quality — which isn’t a deal-breaker.
Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514
The Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 is a midrange Chromebook running ChromeOS with an Intel Core 3 processor and 8GB of RAM that also includes a tablet mode and touch screen. This is more than enough power for a teen’s homework and moderate-to-light family use. But at this price, the build quality leaves something to be desired, even if the performance is more than adequate.
