Get the brand-new Acer Chromebook Plus 514 for just $249

This is silliness. Seriously, for a new Chromebook that just came out a few weeks ago to hit this sort of price point makes almost no sense whatsoever. Even if we were talking about a device I didn’t care for, I’d be blown away; but this isn’t that sort of situation. Instead, this frankly-ridiculous deal is for a device I’ve been daily driving for nearly two weeks at this point and I can 100% guarantee you that it performs FAR better than this current $249 price tag would lead you to believe.

The Acer Chromebook Plus 514 isn’t some stellar, stand-out Chromebook that breaks the mold in a bunch of ways. Instead, it’s a refinement of what Acer’s been doing for years, and it proficiently does its job while keeping a few surprises in it’s back pocket as well.

Are there corners cut? Of course! This device has an MSRP, daily price of just $349, so you should come into this already knowing a bit about what to expect. It only has one real superlative, but all the other parts of this device make up a very competent whole, and for this sort of money, it is pretty astonishing what you get.

What you get for $249

The all plastic chassis isn’t as rigid as an all-metal device, but it isn’t off-putting, either. For its weight and size, the rigidity is more than adequate and Acer didn’t do anything wild with the design – so it looks good on a desk. The 14-inch 16:9 touchscreen is 300 nits with an antiglare coating, so it performs quite well. The keyboard – while not backlit – has been really accurate and enjoyable to type on. And the OceanGlass trackpad is good, not great, but perfectly serviceable.

With upward-firing speakers, you get nice stereo separation, but not a ton of bass. The webcam is 1080p and pretty good at handling various lighting situations, and the internals are enough to handle my workload without issue. An Intel Core i3-N305, 8GB of RAM and a whopping 512GB of storage make this a device that can get a ton done even with a 120Hz QHD screen attached.

And yes, I said 512GB on the storage. This particular superlative is maybe a strange one for some of you, but for those looking for a ton of extra storage on their device, you’re getting all you want on this one. And it includes a microSD card slot for even more room if half a terabyte isn’t quite enough for you to stretch out in.

And right now, you can get all of this at Costco for just $249. It makes absolutely no sense, but that’s where we are right now. While not the most pristine Chromebook Plus model out there, I’ve enjoyed my time withe the new 514 (review coming soon) and though it’s about time to move on to other Chromebook Plus models for review, I’m really shocked at how good Acer made this device for this price point. But don’t miss the deal if you are in the market – I have no idea how long Costco keeps their devices marked down like this.