Acer Chromebook 514 Plus: A Budget-Friendly Chrome OS Evolution

Acer Chromebook 514 Plus (Quick Look) - Unapologetically Low-Budget

At a fraction of the cost of a gaming laptop, this Acer Chromebook offers a great amount of functionality in a lightweight package. "Hello everyone and welcome to another Gamereactor Quick Look. I've been really sort of adamant about making sure that people know for years now that Chromebooks, at least for a very particular sort of mindset, works really well already." "You might know them if you're kind of a power user that uses either Mac OS or Windows that are more fully flexible and so just run a wider range of programs more readily. But these are the sort of computers that you get in schools, for instance, that they are so low power, low key, and poorly made in most respects that it just doesn't really make sense for regular users to go and buy them." "But there are actually a lot of reasons why you would want to, mainly because you can do so much now just through the nature of a browser. Just take AI, for instance, the way we use ChatGBT and DeepL. Take web apps that install programs directly as semi sort of shortcuts within your browser but actually live on as sort of apps within your computer ecosystem." "Take game streaming such as downloading the Android version of GeForce Now and then just gaming from there. There's a lot of things that you can do with very simple functionality and that might be the reason why you would want a lighter, more flexible OS like Chrome OS." "And if you want to use Chrome OS, you might end up buying something like this. This is the Acer Chromebook Plus 514 and it kind of proves, at least to some degree, how far Chromebooks have gotten over the course of at least the last few years. We just got this sent to us by Acer." "That is why this little piece of paper is still inside. But the main thing that you might criticize Chromebooks for is still very much apparent. These are low budget machines for a lot of different reasons. So this is just around 500 euros, depends on configuration, of course." "And for that, well, what you do get is something that is very lightweight. This weighs around 1.43 kilograms, but it is also unapologetically plastic. So that might be a reason why you would want to buy something like a MacBook Air. But just remember that a MacBook Air, even like an M2 MacBook Air, will set you back twice as much." "And it also, like Windows computers, says something out of the box unless you specifically tell it to shut up. No, the point is that it is plastic, make no mistake. But there is a lot of subtlety here that I think was kind of lost when Chromebooks started to hit the market." "So the profile isn't too thick. It is incredibly lightweight. You might think because of the thickness that it weighs a lot more than it does, but it really doesn't." "And because it's Chrome OS, it rarely gets warm to the touch and it rarely makes a sound from the fans in these exhausts here around the back. So that is two good things already there. Inside this particular Chromebook, you get a low-power LPDDR5 RAM." "It comes with Wi-Fi 6E and naturally SSD. So you'll get fast storage, fast internet speeds, and pretty okay RAM as well. Inside this, there is an Intel i3 CPU with integrated graphics. So you won't really..." "It's not a lot, obviously, but it's not like a low sort of Celeron processor, something ancient that they used to throw in Chromebooks just a few years ago. You get a full HD webcam right here with a physical slider, which is very nice for a lot of people." "You get a built-in microphone, fine speakers, and some cool ports here around the side as well. So here we have two USB Type-Cs. Oh, no, that's a Kensington lock right there." "You get a USB Type-C, USB Type-A alongside a battery indicator here on one side. And on the other side, you get USB Type-A microSD card slot alongside an additional USB Type-C. So really, really good, actually. The screen itself is, again, it's nothing particularly special, but it is 16 by 9, meaning you get a bit of a chin." "But it is 1080p, which is very nice, an IPS display. So it should really do most of the things that you need a basic laptop to do. And you could get this brand new with all the warranty that comes with that for €500, which isn't that bad, to be honest."

巨集碁 Chromebook 514 Plus（快速流覽）- 毫無歉意的低預算

這款 Acer Chromebook 的成本僅為遊戲筆記型電腦的一小部分，在輕巧的包裝中提供了大量的功能。 "Hello everyone and welcome to another Gamereactor Quick Look. I've been really sort of adamant about making sure that people know for years now that Chromebooks, at least for a very particular sort of mindset, works really well already." "You might know them if you're kind of a power user that uses either Mac OS or Windows that are more fully flexible and so just run a wider range of programs more readily. But these are the sort of computers that you get in schools, for instance, that they are so low power, low key, and poorly made in most respects that it just doesn't really make sense for regular users to go and buy them." "But there are actually a lot of reasons why you would want to, mainly because you can do so much now just through the nature of a browser. Just take AI, for instance, the way we use ChatGBT and DeepL. Take web apps that install programs directly as semi sort of shortcuts within your browser but actually live on as sort of apps within your computer ecosystem." "Take game streaming such as downloading the Android version of GeForce Now and then just gaming from there. There's a lot of things that you can do with very simple functionality and that might be the reason why you would want a lighter, more flexible OS like Chrome OS." "And if you want to use Chrome OS, you might end up buying something like this. This is the Acer Chromebook Plus 514 and it kind of proves, at least to some degree, how far Chromebooks have gotten over the course of at least the last few years. We just got this sent to us by Acer." "That is why this little piece of paper is still inside. But the main thing that you might criticize Chromebooks for is still very much apparent. These are low budget machines for a lot of different reasons. So this is just around 500 euros, depends on configuration, of course." "And for that, well, what you do get is something that is very lightweight. This weighs around 1.43 kilograms, but it is also unapologetically plastic. So that might be a reason why you would want to buy something like a MacBook Air. But just remember that a MacBook Air, even like an M2 MacBook Air, will set you back twice as much." "And it also, like Windows computers, says something out of the box unless you specifically tell it to shut up. No, the point is that it is plastic, make no mistake. But there is a lot of subtlety here that I think was kind of lost when Chromebooks started to hit the market." "So the profile isn't too thick. It is incredibly lightweight. You might think because of the thickness that it weighs a lot more than it does, but it really doesn't." "And because it's Chrome OS, it rarely gets warm to the touch and it rarely makes a sound from the fans in these exhausts here around the back. So that is two good things already there. Inside this particular Chromebook, you get a low-power LPDDR5 RAM." "It comes with Wi-Fi 6E and naturally SSD. So you'll get fast storage, fast internet speeds, and pretty okay RAM as well. Inside this, there is an Intel i3 CPU with integrated graphics. So you won't really..." "It's not a lot, obviously, but it's not like a low sort of Celeron processor, something ancient that they used to throw in Chromebooks just a few years ago. You get a full HD webcam right here with a physical slider, which is very nice for a lot of people." "You get a built-in microphone, fine speakers, and some cool ports here around the side as well. So here we have two USB Type-Cs. Oh, no, that's a Kensington lock right there." "You get a USB Type-C, USB Type-A alongside a battery indicator here on one side. And on the other side, you get USB Type-A microSD card slot alongside an additional USB Type-C. So really, really good, actually. The screen itself is, again, it's nothing particularly special, but it is 16 by 9, meaning you get a bit of a chin." "But it is 1080p, which is very nice, an IPS display. So it should really do most of the things that you need a basic laptop to do. And you could get this brand new with all the warranty that comes with that for €500, which isn't that bad, to be honest." "If you're not a Chrome OS person, that's completely fine, but it's nice to see added competition in this space. And I do think the Chrome OS has come a long way. So we'll get this under the microscope for a full review very soon."

The Acer Chromebook 514 Plus shows how far ChromeOS has come

When you're looking for a laptop, you might be wanting some serious power. But, if you're someone who makes the most of their internet connection with things like AI tools and gaming through cloud streaming, you might want to save some money and get yourself something like the Acer Chromebook 514 Plus. For around 500 Euros, you get a functional machine that's incredibly lightweight. Its power is fairly weak inside the machine, and it's unapologetically low budget, but if you just want something to carry around and use for lightweight tasks, you might want to check this Chromebook out. If you want some more detailed specs and a look at the machine, check out our latest Quick Look below, and keep an eye out for our review: