By Acer’s latest addition to the Plus family, the Chromebook Plus Spin 514, is attempting to make a name for itself in a crowded field of midrange laptops with similar designs. Initial thoughts? This Chromebook is incredible. A versatile 2-in-1 design, lively performance, and a 120Hz touchscreen that seems more high-end than its price tag indicates are all included.
MediaTek’s Kompanio Ultra 910 chip, which it contains, offers strong performance without completely draining the battery. On paper, it covers all the essentials when you include the newest Chromebook Plus AI additions. The true query, though, is whether it truly excels. Let’s investigate.
Specification
I am aware of two different arrangements. The device I tested was running MediaTek’s latest Kompanio Ultra 910, which came with 256GB of UFS storage and 12GB of RAM—a strange combination, don’t you think? The 14-inch touchscreen operates at a steady 120 Hz and measures 1920 x 1200 pixels at 16:10. Although the model you may purchase includes a 5MP camera, my device had a 1080p webcam, thus video calls should appear slightly sharper.
The top-tier model, which will retail for $749.99 on the Acer shop starting on September 4th, has a 14-inch 2880×1800 display (60Hz) and 16GB of RAM. On September 19th, Best Buy will debut the entry-level model, which I reviewed here, for $699.99.
- Number of model: CP514-5HN-K6DY
- Immortalis-G925 GPU; MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910 CPU
- 12GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS storage
- Display: 14-inch 1920×1200 touchscreen with compatibility for the USI 2.0 pen, 16:10 aspect ratio, and 120 Hz refresh rate
- 1080p webcam
- Ports: 3.5 mm headphone/speaker jack, two USB Type-C ports, and two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports
- Wi-Fi 7 for networking
- Measurements: 313 W x 232 D x 15.5 H
- Three pounds in weight
- Cost: $699.99
 AI stuff
I gave the Plus Spin 514’s on-device Smart Grouping feature—which you can access by pressing F4—another go and found it to be somewhat useful. I had YouTube and Discord open on my play deck, and Slack, Docs, and Gmail open on my business deck. It made it easier for me to keep work and play completely apart.
It works well when I have a lot of tabs open, but on days when I don’t have as many tabs open, it seems a bit excessive. Would I regularly utilize Smart Grouping? No.
Display and speakers
It’s enjoyable to utilize the 14-inch 1920×1200 touchscreen. The blacks exhibit remarkable depth even in darker situations, such as those in Netflix’s Wednesday, and the colors are vivid and rich. It’s not as excellent as 4K, but it’s still sharp and colorful enough for viewing movies and reading email. In essence, it’s a pleasant improvement above a typical 1080p screen. Additionally, it has Gorilla Glass on top, so scratches are not an issue.
The two upward-firing speakers have a startlingly high volume. While cooking, I generally turn on a playlist, and despite all the frying and bubbling, I managed to hear Chappell Roan’s voice rising above the din.
Performance
Given that MediaTek’s new Kompanio Ultra 910 chip powers both the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 and the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14, it seems reasonable to compare the two devices. Although they appear to be comparable on paper, Acer has a slight advantage due to the benchmarks.
The Spin 514 achieves 27.9 in Speedometer 3.1, while Lenovo achieves 25.2. In Basemark online 3.0, the difference is much greater (1,662 versus 1,151), suggesting that the Acer manages online programs and many tabs a little more deftly.
Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 Laptop with Google AI – 14″ WUXGA 1920×1200 IPS Touch Display Intel Core 3 ProcessorÂ
Lenovo comes out on top in Kraken (407 ms vs. Acer’s 428.2 ms) and Jetstream 2 (344.875 vs. 318.747), which gauges how well it runs WebAssembly and JavaScript code, respectively. You won’t notice a change for the majority of people.
The Acer has a little more wiggle room when it comes to standard apps like YouTube and Google Docs. Although the Spin 514 operates a bit faster, both laptops do a good job of managing the Kompanio chip.
Why, however, are these two laptops acting differently when benchmarked while having nearly similar specs? It boils down to a few factors, but I believe the Lenovo’s OLED panel and the Acer’s chassis size are the primary offenders. OLEDs limit performance by increasing processing demands and power consumption. Because of its size, the Acer, which is larger than the Lenovo, is better at handling heat. Additionally, the Lenovo boasts a fanless design, whereas the Acer also includes an active cooling fan.
Battery life
Since CrXPRT 2 is no longer functional, I was unable to run the battery benchmark that we often employ. Additionally, I was unable to locate an appropriate substitute in time for this evaluation. I simply used the laptop as usual till it died, therefore I logged the number based on actual usage. I penned up this review in a Google Doc, watched YouTube videos, wrote emails to my freelancers, spoke with colleagues on Slack, and more.
The Plus Spin 514 lasted about 15 hours on a single charge when the brightness was reduced to about 80 percent. That is nearly identical to Acer’s original figure of 17 hours and sufficient for a full workday. However, because I do lighter things in my daily routine, battery life may differ. Just remember that using a lot of tabs during the day may cause it to deplete more quickly.
Conclusion
When it comes to combining functionality and style, the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 excels. It feels more robust than you might anticipate, and the screen and speakers are far more powerful than those found in most midrange Chromebooks. The properties of AI? Cool, but superfluous.
Furthermore, the Acer just seems like the faster, more adaptable choice when compared to Lenovo’s Chromebook Plus 14, which also runs the same Kompanio Ultra 910 CPU. Lenovo is perfectly capable of handling the fundamental tasks, but if you’re more of a multitasker, Acer offers you more flexibility.
