Acer Chromebook 14 CB514-1H
Almost incredible value, but as with Acer’s other budget Chromebook it has too many compromises
SCORE ★★★☆☆ PRICE £292 (£350 inc VAT) from uk-store.acer.com
The latest version of the Acer Chromebook 14 makes a big first impression for a £350 laptop. With its aluminium keyboard surround and matching lid, it looks a whole lot more expensive than that asking price, while the slim bezels make it noticeably smaller and neater than many other 14in Chromebooks (including Acer’s own previous generation models). Take a closer look, though, and things aren’t quite so promising. The aluminium feels thin in places, while there are some rough edges where the keyboard surround meets the rest of the body. It’s not bad for a budget laptop, but
please don’t expect a MacBook Air at netbook prices.
This mix of pleasant surprise and sudden disappointment continues. On the upside, the screen is a 14in, Full HD IPS panel, which reaches a credible maximum brightness of 280cd/m2 and has surprisingly accurate colour, with an average Delta E of 1.94. Yet it can only cover 61% of the sRGB gamut and, subjectively, images and video look drab. The audio has its good points, with a spacious
sound and some high-end detail, but it’s also tinny and harsh, especially at high volumes. Plug in some headphones if irritation and earache don’t appeal.
Luckily, the ergonomics shine on many levels, with a highly responsive keyboard and a large, accurate touchpad. What’s more, connectivity is exactly what you’d expect from a recent Chromebook, with two USB-C ports for charging or connecting storage and peripherals, as well as two old-school USB-A ports.
Sadly, just when you think things are going well for Acer, along comes poor performance to spoil the day. There’s no getting around the fact that this 14in laptop is slow. It even feels slow when you have a bunch of tabs open, despite Acer including 4GB of RAM. No surprise, then, that it was in the bottom two in every one of our tests.
There’s a little compensation, though, in the superb battery life – over eight hours of video playback in our tests – and the fact that it stays cool without any fan noise. Yet while the Chromebook 14 gives you a lot for precious little, we’re left feeling that Acer has splashed out on style while making too many sacrifices on the specification. Even on a Chromebook, that’s a big mistake.