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For many of you that have been interested in the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 and its powerful, long lasting MediaTek Kompanio Ultra but wanted a convertible, Acer has recently released a Chromebook that solves this for you.
Instead of the traditional clamshell laptop, Acer launched the new Chromebook Plus Spin 514 with many of the same perks you get in Lenovo’s excellent device – except it adds pen support and a convertible chassis. And right now, for the first time ever, it is on sale for $100 off!
Why I love this device
We have a full review coming soon (promise), but I can spoil it a bit for you right now: the new Spin 514 is flat-out fantastic to use. It takes everything I love about the Kompanio Ultra platform—the silent fanless design, the speed, the absurd battery life—and puts it into a premium, aluminum-clad convertible chassis. Here are some of the main perks:
- Smooth screen: It packs a 14-inch WUXGA (1920×1200) touchscreen with a 120Hz refresh rate. Once you try 120Hz on a Chromebook, it is impossible to go back.
- Performance Beast: Paired with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, it chews through tabs and runs Android apps better than any chip we’ve ever tested.
- Battery Life for Days: Just like the Lenovo, we are easily seeing two full workdays of use on a single charge.
- Versatility: It supports USI pen input (great for notes) and has a fantastic keyboard and trackpad.
A small trade-off
Is it perfect? Of course not. While the screen is high-refresh, it isn’t OLED like the Lenovo and it only hits 300 nits of max brightness. To be fair, it hasn’t bothered me one bit, but I do enjoy extra screen brightness for the handful of times I might need it. Additionally, the upward-facing speakers are very mediocre. After using the Lenovo for a while, I got used to awesome audio and I do miss that quite a bit.
All told, however, those are pretty minor gripes for a device that is currently sitting at just $599. Most everything else about this Chromebook is superlative, and getting a Chromebook that is this powerful, attractive, and long on battery life for this sort of price is wild. Don’t miss you chance!
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