You’ll also want to be sure that you don’t need more when it comes to performance as this laptop won’t be able to cope with very heavy workloads or large games. What you should decide is whether Chrome OS will have everything you need, remember there’s some software that you won’t be able to download - like the Adobe Creative Suite. You won't be blown away by how it performs but it will do its job reliably. It has a comfortable keyboard, large trackpad and a vibrant screen that doesn't cause too much eye strain. The Acer Chromebook 514 is a cheap laptop that is well suited to those who don’t need anything too complicated. On the other hand, to access all of your folders and files you’ll need to be connected to the internet, and you won’t be able to download all of the apps you would be able to on another type of PC because you just have what's available on the Google Play Store to choose from. You get quick access to Google’s apps like Google Docs or Google Assistant, and you won’t need to worry about backing up your files as it’s all stored on a cloud. On the one hand, it’s all incredibly easy to use and it’s simply laid out. When it ran out of juice, it took just over an hour and a half to recharge it from empty to 100% so you won't be waiting around for ages to get it back up and running.Ĭhrome OS is the brain of the laptop, and that comes with some plus points and some downfalls.

That’s not amazing but it’s not bad either.

I downloaded and played an HD video over two hours and in that time the battery level dropped by 26% which suggests it would have lasted just over 7.5 hours in total. In my experience, it did last a fair amount of time but not the entire workday. This is not a laptop I’d recommend for any type of gaming though.Īcer claims that the 3,920 mAh battery will give you about 12 hours of use. The Acer Chromebook 514 will happily handle streaming and word processing as well as online shopping or scrolling through social media. That was further proven by its Geekbench 5 benchmark scores which were on the low-end of things with 279 in single-core and 1,028 in multi-core.įor most people, or for students, the lack of power won’t be a big problem. It’s more of a slow and steady laptop than a speedy powerhouse. Performance-wise you’re unlikely to be blown away by the Acer Chromebook 514, it uses the Intel Celeron N3350 with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

Acer 514 14 chromebook review