Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 Review

Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714

MSRP $ 699.00

Pros

• Attractive price
• Quick yield
• Excellent battery life
• Solid construction quality
• Good IPS screen

Cons

• A little thick and heavy
• Very few configuration options

With the entire talk of new Apple chips sets, Qualcomm, Intel and AMD, and its impact on the current state of laptop computer technology, it could be easy to forget that Windows and Macos are not the only games in the city. He Best chromebooks Executing Google’s Chrome operating system is still quite viable, and that platform has seen its own transition to AI functions with Chromebook Plus.

Acer’s Chromebook Plus Spin 714 is the last iteration of an alignment that specifically added “Plus” to the name to identify it as able to execute Chromebook Plus. If he likes Chrome for his simplicity, safety and performance in low -end hardware, then he will like Chromebook Plus Spin 714.

Specifications and configurations

While Acer could launch other chromebook plus spin 714 configurations, there is only one available at this time. It has an Intel Core 5 Ultra 115U, 8 GB of RAM, a 256 GB SSD and a 14 -inch FHD+ IPS screen for $ 699.

That is an attractive price for a laptop that will provide a very good performance given the light nature of Chrome OS. However, it is not a purely budgetary laptop. For that money, you must agree with any limitation of the platform and be willing to look beyond other laptops of Windows equally affordable such as the Asus Zenbook 14 That is the same price and looks fantastic OLED exhibition.

Design

The Chromebook Plus Spin 714 is very similar to a large amount of 2 in 1 of 14 inches today. That is, it has a gray chassis with minimalist lines and some chrome edges that looks good and does not occur as ostentants, which makes it a fairly conservative but still attractive design. You will know that it is a Chromebook Plus thanks to the moderate logo on the lid, but otherwise, this could be a Windows machine in regard to appearances.

It is also reasonably well constructed, with an aluminum chassis that is the smallest flexible on the cover and the keyboard cover. With respect to the latter, it is not worse than the Apple Macbook Air that also had a lid that will bend a little under pressure. The hinge is soft enough to allow to open the lid with one hand, but that makes it a little wobbly in the modes of clam, tent and media. However, the table mode is fine.

The upper bezel and the lower chin are a bit thick, which makes the depth a little more than a clam with smaller bezels around it. And, it is a bit thick to 0.78 inches, while many 14 -inch laptops are much thinner. As a reference, the Macbook Air 13 is incredibly thin to 0.44 inches, but another 2 in 1 of 14 inches such as the HP omnibook Ultra Flip 14 (0.59 inches) are also thinner. The weight of 3.21 pounds is fine, although it is a bit heavy to hold as a tablet.

Tactile keyboard and panel

The keyboard is quite good, with large keys and a lot of keyboard space. The switches are light and agile, which I like very much. I would classify it near the best keyboards, such as HP Omnibooks and Apple Magic Keyboard.

The tactile panel is more mundane, as a small mechanical version. It works well, although your buttons clicks are a bit clear and strong. The screen is enabled with touch and pen, although the pen is optional and was not sent with my review unit. Chrome has a good support for the pen, and the touch screen is good for Android games.

CONNECTIVITY AND WEB CAMP

The connectivity is very strong, including rapid ports Thunderbolt 4, which are unusual in Chromebooks and Ports Legacy. Wireless connectivity is also reasonably updated.

The webcam is a high -resolution version of 1440p, and admits several characteristics of Chromebook Plus based on the functions of Google AI Gemini. I mention the here because many of them depend on the webcam. But, in reality there are a lot of characteristics of Chromebook Plus that has the Chromebook Plus Spin 714. In a way, Chromebook Plus is Google’s response to the Copilot+ PC AI initiative of Microsoft. The difference is that Chromebook Plus laptops does not seem to require a fast neural processing unit (NPU), which Chromebook Plus Spin 14 does not possess.

I found that the diverse features work well, and that includes the webcam. Until now, AI seems more a novelty, so I will not spend too much time in Chromebook Plus.

Performance

My Chromebook Plus Spin 14 review unit uses an Intel Core Ultra 5 115U, a Lake Meteor Chipset with eight nuclei (two performance and six efficient threads) and 10 threads, running 15 watts. It is not a fast chipset, and as mentioned, it does not have a NPU like Intel Lunar Lake, Apple Silicon and the Qualcomm Snapdragon X chipset. If Windows 11 was executed, it would not be a very fast chipset.

However, Chrome is much lighter. Although their capabilities have expanded, including the ability to execute Android applications, it remains an operating system based on the web. Given the 8 GB of Chromebook Plus Flip 14 RAM, which is a lot for Chrome OS, its real life performance is very good. He only obtained 1,599 in the test of a single Core of Geekbench 6 and 5,482 in the multiple core test, and those are not very good. But the chipset is more than quick enough for good performance in Chrome OS. We cannot execute our complete set of reference points in Chrome OS, but I feel comfortable that most users will like the performance of Chromebook Plus Flip 14.

Intel integrated graphics are not the best, but you can still run most Android games quite well. And that is the limit of the games on the laptop unless I go with something like the transmission service of Nvidia’s Geforce Now. In that case, you will get a very good game performance to the limits of the subscription you buy and the speed of your Internet connection.

Battery life

The Chromebook Plus Flip 14 has a 53 -watt battery and a FHD+ IPS screen. The combination must provide a decent battery life.

In my tests, the laptop achieved about eight hours in our web navigation test and 14.5 hours in our video loop. Those are good results that promise most of the work of a day that executes typical tasks. It is not as good as some of the best laptops in Windows and Macos today, but it is good enough.

Show

The FHD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS screen of 14.0 inches is acute enough in the size that the text is not too pixelated. If you want the most acute text, you will probably want it to be a higher resolution. The brightness was very good and the colors seem dynamic and reasonably precise. It does not have the colors and black ink of OLED panels, but will please the users of productivity and the media.

I can’t use my colorimeter to try Chromebook screens, but I have no subjective problems with this. The audio, provided by a pair of ascending shooting speakers, was also good but not great.

A solid chromebook for a decent price

Some users do not need the complexity and broad compatibility of Windows 11 and macOS, but a simple tablet like an iPad or an Android tablet will not be enough. That’s where Chromebooks enter, and Chromebook Plus Spin 714 is a solid addition.

It is fast enough and has a good enough battery life, with a screen that is not spectacular but that is good enough for most uses. At its price of $ 699, it is low enough to make it a good budget option. It is an easy 2 in 1 convertible to recommend.