Is This The Most Promising Chromebook Yet? This Acer Has Specs That Almost Rival My Macbook

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Acer announced nan caller Chromebook Plus Spin 514 astatine IFA successful Berlin this week. 
• It's nan brand's first exemplary pinch a MediaTek Kompanio processor, an ARM-compatible chipset. 
• It features a 2-in-1 convertible shape facet pinch a 14-inch, 2800x1800 solution touchscreen show and up to 17 hours of artillery life.

Acer announced a fistful of caller laptops astatine IFA this week, but its caller Chromebook Plus mightiness beryllium 1 of nan astir interesting. The Chromebook Plus Spin 514 is simply a bladed and ray instrumentality moving Google's ChromeOS and an ARM-compatible MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910 processor for top-end artillery longevity. 

Sound familiar? The Lenovo Chromebook Plus came retired earlier this summertime pinch nan aforesaid spot and was 1 of nan astir enjoyable Chromebooks I've used, pinch awesome artillery life and an OLED display, it's clear that brands are testing nan waters pinch really premium consumers are consenting to spell for a laptop that can't tally Windows aliases MacOS. 

Also: Finally, a 16-inch Windows laptop that I wouldn't mind putting distant my MacBook Pro for

The Acer Spin 514 swaps retired nan OLED show for a 2.8K WQXGA+ IPS touchscreen pinch stylus support (sold separately), going nan convertible tablet/laptop way instead, while keeping nan value constituent astatine $699, nan apical extremity of what astir group would see applicable for a Chromebook. 

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The soul specs are similar. The Spin 514 features an Arm Immortalis G925 MC11 GPU and comes pinch a 60Hz aliases 120Hz refresh complaint option, nan second capping retired astatine 300 nits of brightness. For memory, it's loaded pinch 16GB of LPDDR5X SDRAM and up to 256GB of UFS 4.0 section storage.

16GB of representation connected a Chromebook allows for a soft personification acquisition crossed Google's suite of apps, pinch swift footwear times and responsive multitasking, truthful it's reasonable to expect nan Spin 514 will execute similarly. Paired pinch nan MediaTek Kompanio, Acer says you tin expect up to 17 hours of artillery life connected 1 charge. 

Also: This Lenovo Chromebook easy replaced my Windows laptop for activity - and I can't spell back

Physically, nan Spin 514 looks for illustration a emblematic Acer device, pinch upward-firing speakers connected either extremity of nan keyboard and a emblematic metallic aluminum chassis. The show features Acer's signature 360-degree design, connecting some halves of nan laptop, and nan full point weighs 2.99 pounds. 

Acer's creation artistic tends to plaything much toward nan utilitarian broadside (not a bad thing), and nan Spin 514 fits that measure well. The starting unit value of $699 does request immoderate comparisons, however, arsenic this value constituent has go progressively competitory complete nan past year. For example, you tin get a 13-inch MacBook Air M3 for astir nan aforesaid value connected sale. 

Also: The champion Chromebooks for students successful 2025: Expert tested and reviewed

Still, nan Spin 514 is an charismatic Chromebook pinch 16GB of RAM and an alternatively extended action of ports -- particularly for a Chromebook. You get 2 USB-C ports pinch up to 10Gbps speed, DisplayPort support and powerfulness transportation successful each, 2 USB-A 3.2 ports connected nan right-hand side, and a headphone jack. There's besides a Kensington fastener slot, making it a coagulated endeavor choice. 

The Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 will beryllium disposable successful North America successful October, starting astatine $699.