As Chromebooks continue to mature, device manufacturers have also started to incorporate a wider range of components. This year, Acer is announcing its first AMD Ryzen-based offering on the Chromebook Spin 514.
The Acer Chromebook Spin 514 comes with an AMD Ryzen 3000 C-Series processor with Radeon graphics. AMD announced in September 2020 which was launching better processors for Chromebooks, and this is the Ryzen 3000 C-Series. So far, not much has been said about which Chromebooks would receive this processor update, but it’s no surprise that Acer comes with one. It was just a matter of time!
Starting at just $ 480, Acer’s Chromebook Spin 514 is poised to be one of the best performing and most durable Chromebooks in its segment. It’s because it’s equipped with up to an AMD Ryzen 7 3700C CPU, which is a 4-core / 8-thread processor with 2.3 GHz base clock (4.0 GHz boost), 6 MB cache, 10 1400 MHz Radeon cores and 15W TDP. It’s a big step up from the A6 and A4 processors introduced by AMD for Chromebooks at CES 2019.
There is also 16 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage, and Acer says the Chromebook Spin 514 has “military-grade” durability thanks to its sandblasted aluminum chassis (available in silver, gray and green), which has been tested to withstand to falls from four feet.
Acer also included a 1920 x 1080 IPS touchscreen with Gorilla Glass on the front, along with useful features, including a backlit keyboard and a low-resolution, but still usable HD webcam. However, although Acer says it has reduced the setting of the Chromebook Spin 514 to 6.1 mm, its 78% screen-to-body ratio does not strike me as impressive.
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The Chromebook Spin 514 comes with a decent selection of ports, including two USB 3.2 Type-C ports (both support video output and charging), a microSD card reader and even an optional HDMI port on select models. You also get support for Bluetooth 5, dual stereo speakers and dual microphones to better handle video calls. Unfortunately, unlike many other new laptops to be launched at CES 2021, the Chromebook Spin 514 will have to settle for 802.11 ac wi-fi instead of support for Wi-Fi 6.
Finally, thanks to a closer partnership with Google, along with standard Chrome OS stuff, such as support for running Android apps, the Chromebook Spin 514 is also certified by the Google Assistant Lab, so Google’s integrated AI helper must be able to better understand your questions and commands.
The standard Chromebook Spin 514 is due to start selling in North America in February starting at $ 480, with the higher specification Chromebook Enterprise Spin 514 expected to be available in late March for $ 780.
And if you want to see more new gadgets and devices from CES 2021, click here to read our full coverage.