Overall, the design of the Acer Chromebook Spin 514 is smart and professional, if a little unexciting. This means this is certainly a laptop that you can carry around with you without worrying about it getting damaged. This is a hefty Chromebook, but it feels sturdy, thanks to its metal chassis which has been put through rigorous military-grade durability tests (MIL-STD 810H in particular). The size also allowed Acer to fit in more powerful components, which we’ll talk about more in a bit. These extra ports mean you’re able to plug in peripherals, or hook the Acer Chromebook Spin 514 up to a TV or projector, without needing an extra dongle, which you do with most other Chromebooks. Also, on the higher end models with Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 CPUs, you also get a full-size HDMI port – which is pretty much unheard of in a Chromebook. On the right hand side you also get another USB-C port and USB 3.0. The extra size also means Acer can fit in more ports than you’d usually see in a Chromebook, so on the left-hand side you get a USB-C port, a full-size USB 3.0 port, audio jack and microSD card reader. It feels great to use, and the addition of Android apps, which have been specially designed for touchscreens, makes this a brilliant 2-in-1 device. Thanks to the large 14-inch screen, and the ability to run most Android apps in Chrome OS, you then have a large, and powerful, Android tablet in your hands.
The screen can be flipped backwards, allowing you to use it in ‘tent mode’, which is handy for watching media (that 1080p resolution comes in handy here), or if you flip it all the way back, the Acer Chromebook Spin 514 turns into a tablet-like device. The 1080p 14-inch screen is also large enough to work on multiple apps at once, with the higher resolution really helping to give you more workspace.
As this is a Chromebook primarily pithed as a productivity machine, the fact that it’s comfortable to work on is a boon. During our time with the Acer Chromebook Spin 514, we typed out a few short documents with ease. While people that want an easily portable Chromebook may want to look elsewhere, the larger size allows for a comfortably sized keyboard that feels great when working. It certainly looks and feels more like a traditional laptop.
Coming from a compact Chromebook like the Pixelbook Go, the Acer Chromebook Spin 514’s size (12.7 x 8.88 x 0.68 inches/322.6 x 225.5 x 17.35mm) and weight (3.42 pounds/1.55kg) may come as a surprise. The Acer Chromebook Spin 514 subverts expectations in many ways, and with the design, it shows that Chromebooks don’t necessarily need to be thin and light devices.
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