Read Mashable’s hands-on impressions of the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514.
The Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 is the best, most well-made Chromebook I’ve ever tested. However, it’s also the most expensive Chromebook I’ve ever tested and overkill for most people needing a simple, web-based laptop. As such, I’ve reserved it for splurgers (unless you can find it on sale — then it’s my top pick).
TL;DR: This is the Chromebook that will convert any remaining Chromebook skeptics among us.
The Chromebook Plus Spin 514 is a hybrid laptop fueled by an ultra-efficient new MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910 processor. (It’s only found in one other model, the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14, which we’re in the process of reviewing.) It’s technically not the fastest Chromebook we’ve ever tried, but with a Geekbench 6 multi-core score of 7,187, it’s right up there with the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE, which beats it by just 6 percent.
The Chromebook Plus Spin 514 doesn’t have any competition when it comes to battery life. It survives for over 18 hours per charge, making it the longest-lasting Chromebook we’ve ever tried. In fact, it outlasts 87 percent of the laptops in our entire testing database, including the 14-inch M4 Apple MacBook Pro. That’s bonkers.
The Chromebook Plus Spin 514 looks and feels nicer than a Chromebook has any right to. It has a polished aluminum exterior that comes in a pretty platinum silver finish with subtle holographic accents. At 0.61 inches thin, it’s sleeker than all of the other models on this list. Its smooth touchpad and clicky keyboard are both satisfying to use (minus the hollow-sounding space bar). Its hinge does wiggle a bit when you adjust it, but it holds sturdy when you flip its 1200p touchscreen around into tent mode. Nothing about it screams “cheap.”
Notably, that touchscreen has a premium 120Hz refresh rate. I haven’t encountered that spec on any other Chromebooks save for the aforementioned Chromebook Plus 516 GE. It makes fast-moving graphics in games and videos look buttery smooth.
While I recognize that $699 is expensive for a Chromebook, I do think the Chromebook Plus Spin 514 is priced fairly for all it offers, including its future-proofing. It comes with that fresh processor, a generous 12GB of RAM, and it supports WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 (the latest wireless connectivity technologies). If you can make the investment or find it on sale, it’ll make a fantastic daily driver for years to come.
Lastly, I should add that the Chromebook Plus Spin 514 comes with two exclusive features: a tab-sorting tool called “smart grouping” and an AI image editor in the Gallery app. I wouldn’t buy it for those alone, but I did find smart grouping useful in testing. (The image editor’s results were very crude and fake-looking.)
