The latest Chromebooks powered by AMD C series Ryzen APU technology offer capable alternatives for devices with Intel technology and for those who don’t like options. That said, our initial practice with some Ryzen 5 Chromebooks gives us the indication that Intel’s Comet Lake CPUs are still the king of the hill when it comes to raw power, but that’s okay. If Chromebook manufacturers can offer the same great features and build quality, but switching from an Intel to an AMD and that saves a substantial amount of money for consumers, it’s a victory.
Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll see these huge price differences between AMD and Intel devices, and a new list from Best Buy reinforces my theory. Recently, we took Acer’s new Chromebook Spin 514 for a test drive and, although it may be a well-built machine with adequate power, it didn’t impress me more than devices like the Spin 713 or even the Lenovo Flex 5. The model we tested it was the Ryzen 5 with 8 GB of RAM and yes, it is powerful enough for business users, but it did not perform as well as the 10th generation Core i5 from Intel and this is a problem because I almost guarantee that the 514 we tried will have a price above the Spin 713.
Anyway, back to the Best Buy list. This morning, Best Buy soon added a list of the Ryzen 3 Acer Chromebook Spin 514. It comes with a weak 4 GB of RAM and a mere 64 GB of storage. Now, I know this is enough for casual users who simply surf the web, check their bank accounts and watch YouTube, but let’s take a look at the price. The model currently listed on Best Buy has a suggested retail price of $ 479.99. That’s a decent bit of change less than the Spin 713, but at the same time, there’s a lot of compromise going on here.
First, let’s talk about these processors. Benchmark scores aren’t everything, but they give us a good measure of what to expect from a device. AMD’s Ryzen 3 is not sloppy and comes very close to the 10th generation Core i5 when it comes to single-core scores. The problem is that AMD has two cores and four threads. Intel is swinging four cores and eight threads. As a result, the Intel CPU more than doubles the multi-core speeds in Geekbench 4 tests.
In addition, this specific model on offer at Best Buy boasts only 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of eMMC storage. Now, we argue that most users will not notice any difference between the eMMC and the NVMe offered by the Acer Spin 713. Still, the Spin 713’s storage is faster and comes with 128 GB. Just saying. RAM, however, is big business. Premium Chromebooks must have 8 GB of RAM. I understand that this is probably the low-cost middle tier for this device, but remember, it costs almost $ 500. For that price, you can get a Core i3 Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 with 8 GB of RAM, 128 GB storage and some accessories now on Amazon.
In addition, the Spin 713 has that 3: 2 screen that is very bright and super crispy. The 514 is not a bad screen, but it is 16: 9 and does not have the pop you find on the Spin 713. You will receive a backlit keyboard and USI compatibility with any Chromebook, but the 514 with AMD technology is a hard sell, my opinion, when you can often buy the Spin 713 or HP x360 14c for just $ 529. Even with the retail price of $ 629, I would have to recommend the Spin 713 instead of this 14 ″ AMD model from Acer. Hopefully, when the more robust models arrive, they will be more in line with the prices we are seeing on Lenovo’s ThinkPad C13 Yoga at a discount. For now, I will have to go over the Acer Chromebook Spin 514 consumer model. Regardless, the Ryzen 3 version of this Chromebook is scheduled to launch on March 21 at Best Buy and you can check the details below.
Acer Chromebook Spin 514 at Best Buy