One of my favorite Acer-made Chromebooks over the past few years has been the oft-forgotten Acer Chromebook 514. Now, don’t get this particular 514 confused with others – there have been a bunch of them over the years with different processors, features, etc. The one I’m referring to is one of the few Chromebooks to come with the MediaTek Kompanio 828 and though I initially thought little of this unassuming Chromebook when it arrived in the office, my review time with it changed that perception very quickly.
The Acer Chromebook 514 flat-out delivers where it matters: overall user experience. Even at its standard price point, the balance of battery life and performance make it such a pleasure to use. It has a sturdy aluminum lid, a sleek design, and a lightweight profile, making it highly portable, too. The lack of fans (thanks to the ARM processor) gives the Chromebook 514 a fanless, solid feel and the backlit keyboard and huge Gorilla Glass trackpad offer an experience that rivals much pricier Chromebooks.
The Acer 514’s screen also exceeds expectations. Though its 250 nits of brightness may sound average, the 1080p IPS touchscreen’s anti-glare surface helps it to perform better than expected in all sorts of lighting conditions.
And when it comes to performance, the MediaTek Kompanio 828 processor hits the sweet spot. This mid-range chip can handle multi-tasking smoothly while delivering on some truly impressive battery life. I’ve often hit 12+ hours of use on a single charge, making it one of my absolute favorite weekend warrior Chromebooks. I can use it when needed and never have to think about finding a charger.
Still available, just cheaper
We recently had a new Chromebook arrive in the office that had me reminiscing about the Acer Chromebook 514, so I got it out from the storage room to remind myself why I loved this Chromebook so much. And that led me to look into whether or not you could even buy this one anywhere at this point. It turns out Acer’s store is the only place to find it, and they are running a huge sale on it right now.
Normally $399, you can get the Acer Chromebook 514 from Acer’s store for only $249 right now, making it one of the absolute best deals around. The only one now available comes with 4GB of RAM (not the 8GB we tested), but for the type of work you’ll be doing on this sort of Chromebook, I don’t think that will make a huge difference. With this device, it’s all about portability, comfort of use, and ridiculously-long battery life. All those things are still on the table with the version now on sale, and it even has an AUE date of 2029, too, meaning you can expect updates for another 6 years from now.
As we always say, you might want to move fast on this one if you are interested in a more-standard clamshell Chromebook on a budget. For the money, it’s tough to think of a device that’s better than this one if you really prize solid performance paired with crazy-long battery life. Throw in the comfy keyboard and stellar trackpad and you have a Chromebook that is a wildly-great deal for $249. Though the deal may not expire soon, I have no idea how many of these units Acer has lying around, so don’t wait too long.
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