Acer Chromebook Plus 514: Reddit's Honest Verdict

With M1 Macbook airs being sold for $600 new now - I don't see any utility at all for a $700 chromebook.

I feel the same. I have a windows laptop for work and I hate how long it takes to do anything!

I 100% agree with you. If you could get a good Chromebook at $300-400 I'd say it could make sense, but the Chromebooks available at that price point feel super cheap. At $700 it has to be a premium device and have something that sets it apart (like the Pixelbook) but it'll still be ultra niche when you have Apple laptops in the same price range.

I am in IT. I started using Chrome OS for all my personal stuff over 10 years ago. I work for a tech startup and I abandoned my company issue Windows PC a couple years ago. I do everything on my Chromebook. Natively, Android, Linux... I have everything I need.

I had one of those (Costco at a higher price). The processor and memory are good for a lot of tabs of browsing, streaming, etc. The case is plastic, but seemed really durable thick quality.

I would go with the Acer because not only does it use a newer processor, it also has more storage and still remains cheaper. I've used an older version of the Acer 514 on one of my friend's a few years ago and it was a smooth experience overall. I'm pretty sure you're going to be happy with this one.

The acer is $249 at costco. With a usb c dock it works great with the tv as external monitor. I really like it.

Get the Acer 514 mediatek version. It has an arm processor that's compatible with most apps and a way better battery life than the ryzen version. And there's no fans which means it's silent.

512GB SSD, that's a steal.

On sale 11/18-12/2, I'll be purchasing one!

I'd rather have 16GB RAM but 512GB SSD at $249 — my brother ordered one immediately!

If you're okay with buying used, you can get some well-specced 16gb former corporate units on that budget.

I have had this for close to a year and overall have been pretty happy with it. It's fairly powerful as far as budget Chromebooks go. I can even run steam and play basic games from it (not streaming but actually installing and launching from the Chromebook). The battery life sucks though. Just with basic browsing and emails it lasts maybe 5 hours. The ryzen is powerful and has integrated graphics for smooth media and light gaming, but if you need long battery life then get a different chip.

I bought the intel version of this laptop a few weeks ago when it was on sale for $180. I use it for only 3 things. Reddit, youtube and email. It works great at all three. It's hard to find a cheap laptop at this price that will have a touch screen and 8 GB RAM. The 8 GB Ram is the most important. I had a 4 GB laptop before this and it would slow down when I had a few tabs open in a browser. Now, it's smooth. I like the 14 Inch size too.

If you live in USA I highly recommend checking out Best Buy's chromebook section with Clearance filter over Amazon. Far better prices with a return window. $200 for a Mediatek Kompanio 520 is an awful deal when they are often below $70 at Best Buy. I cannot recommend any eMMC device for over $100 anyways; that storage degrades quickly. There are even 12th gen 8GB i3 Chromebooks (Avoid N300 series which lack p cores) for under $200 at Best Buy.

got one....can't beat it....real workhorse....great price.....

Acer Chromebook Vero 514 is what you are looking for… 300$ @ Amazon… I3 1215u, 8 gb of ram, 128 gb SSD, backlight keyboard and military grade case… Its just a Beast for its price. It falls within the Chromebook Plus Category due to its power. I am ultra happy with mine.

I had a high end Acer Chromebook, served me well several years until the battery went bad and I couldn't find a replacement. I specifically purchased that Acer Chromebook because it was easily upgradable but that's useless if you can't find the parts for it. Expensive lesson. I bought a MacBook Air on sale for around the same price and now I have a real computer with better build quality and parts for apple are easy to find.

I just bought at Costco for a total of $285. Thank you.

I like mine as well, but I don't do anything that's resource-intensive. I'm mainly using it for Google Docs. Yes, the battery life always puts a smile on my face. That being said, there's a good chance that you could experience the known dead battery issue. The power button won't work to start it and the keyboard reset combo may or may not work. This is according to what I and at least 2 others on this sub have experienced with this particular model.

I stumbled upon this thread by chance and read your post, thinking to myself, 'I wrote that,' but then I realized, no, I didn't write it, but I could have signed it. Yes, even the timing fits. At the beginning of the pandemic, I started working full-time with ChromeOS from home, and my work Windows laptop slowly aged in its bag.

There are many different Acer 514 versions (10 in fact), some Intel, some AMD, and even a Mediatek ARM model. The earliest was released in 2017 and reached its original AUE in June 2024. Please be more specific, i.e. exact Acer model numbers (or exact CPU model numbers).

It's on sale for $200 as of today. I just ordered one.

Chrome Unboxed did an unboxing this morning of the new model.

I had actually purchased one on Amazon with Intel core I3-N305 as the processor. The 2024 model and the 2025 models are just a little better than the 2023. But as far as I can tell the 2023 also is good on updates until 2033.

I have that one. I got it on the Acer recertified store on Ebay. I love it. I bought it black Friday weekend. I think it's a great price and the storage is expandable. The one I received has build date on the bottom as June 2025. So it's not old either. Love that it has the two year warranty. It's touch screen and has a back lit keyboard. I have had Acer laptop and a small chromebook in the past. They never quit on me, just got outdated.

Acer sells these on their Ebay refurbished store, got one for slightly above $200, it's great. Appeared new with four battery cycles. The plastic build takes a bit of acceptance compared to my Macbook Air M2 but it does everything well. The only thing that could be better is Firefox via Linux lags a bit compared to my Mac.

I got it. It's a cool device for on the go work. Light, good battery (5h), decent screen, touch screen. For what I do it's perfect. Mind you the speakers are worthless.

You're comparing the MSRP of a device at launch with a 5-year-old device at a heavy discount. That's silly. And I love how Apple users tend to forget that you don't even have a freaking touch screen on those machines. I've been using a touch screen on every device I've had for well over a decade it's a non-starter to even look at a device without a touch.

I'd rather it be $349 and have 16GB ram.

I recently bought new chromebook - Acer Chromebook 514 with MediaTek Kompanio 828. I love it... especially fantastic battery life - feeling like it runs far more than 15 hours for lite work, consumes less than 1% for a day of sleep (with lid closed.) USB-C cable charging is everywhere in my home. Considering my usage pattern - usually random lite work on dinner table or bed, battery life is important to me. It's also fast enough for my purpose. Only thing I don't give 5/5 stars is speaker. It would be better if it's a bit louder. That's the only con I found.

Just bought one and 2 days later it wouldn't start with a full battery. It's the wife's and she was away on business. Amazon had her hold the power and refresh button and it worked.

So now that I have had this Acer Spin 514 for 4 years I thought I could sum up my experience with it. This was my first Chromebook ever and still is my only Chromebook but also my only computer which I could never believe before. It has nice and sturdy feel to it, touchscreen, good feeling keyboard and overall seems to be good build quality at least for the price. Keyboard backlight is something that I have been missing all the time.

I think that we have 3 in my family, including the one I'm using RN. Solid Chromebook.

Yeah that's a good deal and a good machine. She will be happy!

The '-3H' and '-4H' parts of the model numbers indicate the generations - 4 is newer than 3. You can look up the models on the Google AUE page to check when the AUE date is.

It meets a common high school computer requirement that mandates use of Chromebooks. So this is just the premium version of that.

Has anyone who bought this Acer Chromebook Plus 514 at Costco been able to see the Chromebook perks (e.g. Google One AI Premium 12 months) in the Chrome browser? I see a blank space shaded in light grey where the perks should display.

If you're into upgradeability, you should check on Framework when your next upgrade comes to pass.

Gee, that's a good deal.

I bought this laptop off costco online. Does anyone find the screen not as bright as you want it to be? Had another chromebook before this one... an acer spin 514 and recalled it was a lot more brighter. This one is 250 nits only right? But since it's IPS it is good but not bright enough?