CHROME TRUTHS: Acer Chromebook Plus 514

Acer's laptop goes beyond the Chromebook basics and performs well in most areas, without really excelling

£399.99 acer.com

As well as aiming to be one of the best Chromebooks around, the latest version of Acer's 514 Chromebook has the Plus label attached, putting it at the vanguard of the new Chromebook Plus scheme, a badge of quality for Google ChromeOS laptops.

Chromebook Plus is a certain benchmark that laptops have to reach to get the premium label attached to them, and that benchmark includes having at least a 1080p HD screen. The Acer Chromebook Plus 514 goes better than that, with a 14-inch, 1,920 x 1,200 display that's sharp and reasonably bright: it does the job for watching videos and working on documents.

As for the rest of the design of this laptop, it's all rather straightforward. We like the two-tone texture effect on the laptop lid, the bezels around the screen are reasonably thin, and the Acer logo (outside and inside) is subtle enough. It has a weight and a plastic feel that tells you this isn't a top-tier laptop, but it also feels solid.

In terms of connectivity there's one built-in HDMI port, one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port, and two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C ports that's a good amount of connectivity options, and Wi-Fi 6E is supported too. Above the display there's a 1080p webcam (another Chromebook Plus requirement), and in our testing it maintained a picture that was reasonably sharp and clear in a variety of lighting conditions.