Customer Ratings & Reviews

Bought this thing 6-weeks ago, darn thing freezes at the drop of a hat.

Not really in love with it. Loved my goggle Chromebook more. But for the price it's just okay.

WiFi Connection kept dropping... it would work for a minute and then the connection would drop..and then it would connect...and kept repeating. I tried multiple troubleshooting ways and nothing helped... I do like the backlit keyboard but that's it... I returned this a day after purchase.

Screen broke within a week of purchasing it. The computer arrived, we opened it up and logged into it. We got things going on it for my sons school. Then shut it off, wrapped it back in the protective foam and placed it back in the box, and then placed the box in a safe place. About 5 days later, we took it out of its box and turned it on, the screen went black and would not turn on. The computer was running but nothing on the screen. Returned to Best Buy and there was no replacement or ability to fix the screen. I had high hopes for this computer but now I am wondering if the quality of this computer is really there. Also, bought it on Best Buy’s sale and now would have to pay full price to purchase again.

This is a premium feeling device, which I find to be rather awkwardly positioned. Looking around the $500 price point, you can get a better spec’ed Windows laptop, which is going to be much more powerful and versatile since you can install software that’s not from an app store. That being said, let’s actually go over this device. Body (positives): This is a premium feeling laptop shell. It is all metal which feels very nice and cool to the touch. There is a tasteful polished beveling to the edges which enhances this and adds some visual interest while also making sure there are no sharp edges. The keyboard feels nice, and each key has a very minor concave shape which provides a nice feel when typing. Body (negatives): The screen enclosure is very slightly smaller than the main body/keyboard enclosure. This, coupled with stiff hinges, makes it actually quite difficult to open this laptop. If you’re not moving around too much, this may not be an issue, but it is worth noting. Also, the “acer” logo on the back of the screen enclosure is raised, rather than etched into the metal, which makes me think it is actually just a sticker that will peel off at some point. Ports (all positives!): This has all the ports you could want, including 2 USB-C ports that will allow you to connect a hub and added monitors, and 2 USB 3.0 ports for anything else on the go. There is even a micro-SD card reader built in – and the obligatory headphone jack. Screen (all positives!): This has a beautiful screen. I’d say it is on par with high-end laptops (similar to my HP Spectre that I use daily). The bezels are slim all the way around, though a little fatter at the bottom than I’d expect on a premium modern laptop. Video playback is beautiful. Sound (all negative!): There are speakers. That’s about all I can say. They are very tinny sounding and somehow always sound like they are pointing away from you, no matter how you position the laptop. If you want to use this for media, invest in some headphones. Camera (all positives!): The camera appears to be very sharp on this laptop. This also lets you see that the graphics work very well (on top of the smooth video playback) as there is no fuzzing or distortion even with reasonably fast movement. Who is this good for?: Chromebooks are good for two or three sets of people, broadly speaking: (1) students who don’t need anything beyond web-browsing and basic document editing for school, (2) tech people interested in the sandboxed security and an easier way to code in Linux than Windows can offer, and (3) people who aren’t comfortable with computers and just want a simple point-and-click interface to get to what they want and are intimidated by even looking at the file explorer on a Windows or Mac machine. For the student, this is a high-end feeling machine, but if they get interested in video or audio editing, or anything requiring more specialized software, this isn’t going to work in the long run (better to get a Windows or Mac machine that will have more RAM and storage anyway). For the Techie, they know what they want and probably already have it. For the profoundly not-tech-savvy, this is a nice machine for browsing the web, having video calls, etc. But, if they are interested in even uploading photos from a device that doesn’t automatically upload them to Google Photos, things will get very complicated. Add to this the premium appearance and price, and you’re looking at a very small subset of the population that this seems targeted toward.

ZERO STARS!! Won’t connect to WIFI. I’ve contacted Acer,tried all their troubleshooting, but apparently wifi card is bad. I have to pay to ship this to Texas, then wait weeks for it to be fixed. I’m furious because this was a gift, and it’s failed after 10 days!! I can’t return it to Best Buy which is what I’d like to do, but it’s past the 15 (yes only 15) day return window. I got solid a new but defective Chromebook and now have to spend more money and time to get it fixed. My last Acer Chromebook functioned perfectly for years. (This was my 3rd Acer) This company has lost a previously loyal customer.

Thought it would be good for the price. Being originally $500… but I would never have paid that for this below average laptop. They should probably drop the price on this thing another $50

We've had this for 4 months and it's already broken. Save your money.

Was hoping for much better. In FB, kept freezing. Screen also would just suddenly go black. Very unexpected as I have a much older chromebook that works just fine.

Bought this in July and had loved it, now 4 months later it has shut down two days in a row. The first time it took two hours to get it to turn on again. Initially thought it might be a low battery. Then after charging all night it shut down and would not turn on and am not sure if it will. Looking like Im stuck with a computer that won't turn on.

I have used many Google Chromebooks in the past as part of my profession, but the Acer Chromebook Spin 514 is the best (in it's price range) I have used thus far. It is based on the AMD Ryzen chipset which provides plenty of power for the Google apps and others that run on the Chromebook. The screen, while a bit on the reflective side, is Gorilla Glass making this a tough notebook. Actually, the whole thing is Mil-Spec'd for toughness, so I have no issues tossing it in my briefcase without worry. The screen is a touchscreen, but the touchpad is very responsive also, so you have the best of both worlds. The display is full HD at 1920x1080 dpi. It comes complete with 2 USB Type C ports, 2 USB Type A ports, headphone jack, Kensington lock port and a Micro-SD card slot. It charges by the supplied USB C charger, which at 15 watts is pretty quick. The Spin 514 can be used as a normal Chromebook, in tent (display) mode, or as a rather hefty tablet. With built-in AMD graphics I have had no issue with any apps I have loaded. The Spin 514 has 4gb of system memory and 64gb of storage. As I stated before, it also has a micro SD slot which I have a 128gb card in, so no issues with storage. The Acer Chromebook Spin 514 is an overall excellent Chromebook, a great step-up from the vanilla, basic Chromebooks on the market and used in some schools. It is versatile and allows for much more robust work to be accomplished. Highly recommended.

I've had a few ChromeBooks over the years and anyone shopping for one will notice one thing pretty quickly - there isn't really a price spectrum so much as there are generally low end and high end ChromeBooks. For a laptop which is browser/cloud based, it's very difficult to justify the expense of the high end offerings. However, the low end ones seem outdated (processor, quality, and feature-wise) from the moment you purchase. Yes, there are a few affordable ones here and there that offer some nice features, and you can find some on sale from time to time, but there really aren't any that sit in that mid price point and are something you'd be proud to carry around. This ChromeBook is different. It has high end build quality you'd find on laptops twice the price. It's processor is great, especially on the Chrome platform, it screams. It has everything else you normally expect now - USB-C charging, plenty of ports, touchscreen, etc. I really like this and think that it should be a price point and market that could push ChromeBook adoption beyond a few Google geeks like me and every classroom in America.

Very nice looking laptop and fast, but the wifi would not stay connected even right next to the modem. We returned it unfortunately.

Sometimes it takes 10-30 seconds for screen to come up after opening. My other Cromebooks started as soon as I opened.

Could not download Hay Day on thus computer and it had the same specifications as the HP i replaced it with

I wish I had used more heavily after buying, as my return window has passed. All I use this for is web browsing and streaming via Netflix and such. Every time I open it takes a long long time to start responding. I would've thought this processor could handle minimal web browsing.

Chromebooks are popular because they are easy to use, fast, inexpensive, and have all day battery life. They are this way because they run a fundamentally lightweight OS that is basically just Google's Chrome browser. Because of this, there are a LOT of inexpensive Chromebooks out there, often with 11" screens. If you have kids in school, you've likely come across these, especially in the last few years (and especially during the pandemic). But what if you want something a bit nicer than those? Some manufacturers have gone overboard, with super high resolution screens that sap the battery life advantage Chromebooks have, along with power hungry processors that Chrome OS will never use fully. (And these have Windows Ultrabook-like prices, to match). Here I think Acer, with the Spin 514, has really done a great job of giving you everything extra that makes a nicer Chromebook a superior experience, without larding it up with "extras" that look good on a spec sheet, but only serve to detract from a Chromebook's advantages over other platforms. The Spin 514 is a 14" touchscreen Chromebook convertible that has a 180 degree hinge that allows for easy conversion to tablet, tent, or laptop mode. The chassis is metallic and sturdy, and I felt the hinges seemed beefy enough to sustain constant folding. This Spin 514 is powered by a Ryzen 3 3250C, a new AMD APU launched late last year seemingly intended for premium Chromebooks. It’s a dual-core, four-thread design with a configurable 12-25W TDP, but AMD lists typical TDP of 15W. Most likely this is what Acer is using for this as they give the base clock as 2.6Ghz, which matches AMD’s 15W specs, so presumably the boost clock is 3.5Ghz. The Ryzen APU also has 3 Radeon graphics cores serving as the onboard GPU, most likely based on AMD’s older but still capable Vega architecture (I don’t believe any Navi-based APUs are slated until later this year at the earliest.) The rest of the internal hardware is rounded out by 4GB of DDR4 RAM along with 64GB of eMMC storage. While eMMC is not the fastest interface, especially compared to PCIe-based SSDs, and 4GB would no longer cut it on a Windows machine, these haven’t hindered the user experience at all. It feels just as fast and responsive--for my uses--as another Chromebook I have with 8GB RAM and a PCIe SSD. In short, the hardware is there to provide the snappy, fast-booting Chromebook experience that’s made them so popular. I would caution, however, that if you do move beyond basic web tasks and productivity software, you might hit some limitations with the 4GB RAM. At 14” and 1080p resolution, I think this is the sweet spot for the screen size and pixel density. (I'm not sure, but I assume it is scaled somewhat to allow for easier reading of text, which is common with smaller screens.) It’s an IPS panel as well, so the viewing angles are pretty good as well. I also found that the 14” size mattered more to me than the 13.3” screen I’ve typically used on a Chromebook--it’s not much on paper, but the subjective experience was somehow large to me than before. Overall, Acer did well with the screen and I think most will be quite happy with it. I also like the feel of the keyboard and trackpad. I’ve found it a pleasure to type on, as I’m a fairly heavy Google Docs user. Having a backlit keyboard is a nice touch as well--a non-backlit keyboard is a deal breaker for me now on anything but the most budget-minded devices. Connectivity was fairly generous as well--two Type C USB ports (either can be used for charging) and two Type A. They are not the newest USB spec, however, so they are limited to the 5Gbps speed. Given that there’s only 64GB of internal storage, I doubt many users will be moving large files between this device and external storage to notice the difference. (I generally find large amounts of internal storage to be of limited utility on a Chromebook--they’re built clearly with the cloud in mind. Only if you load up tons of Chrome apps--or Android apps as well in this case--might this ever be an issue.) Overall, I have really enjoyed using this Chromebook. Because of the larger screen and nice feel of the keyboard, it’s largely supplanted my other Chromebook that has higher specs, but only a 13.3” screen. I don’t do game streaming or play any games--that’s what I have a gaming PC for--but for content consumption and basic productivity (what I think Chromebooks are ideal for, for the vast majority of consumers), it’s really just about perfect. The only thing I’d like is perhaps to have 8GB of RAM. It’s really well built, has a nice screen, good keyboard, and has the flexibility to change between laptop to tablet modes. Recommended.

Keys do not work all the time ,You have to cut the computer completely off and restart it so that the keys work properly

Works for the Simple Tasks I Purchased it for…Recommend

Pay the extra money and buy the Spin 713. It will be worth it.