As Chromebooks continue to mature, device manufacturers have also begun to incorporate a wider variety of components. This year, Acer announces its first AMD Ryzen offer in the Chromebook Spin 514.
The Acer Spin 514 Chromebook comes with an AMD Ryzen 3000 C-Series processor with Radeon graphics. AMD announced in September 2020 that it releases better processors for Chromebooks, and this is the Ryzen 3000 C-Series. So far, not much has been said about which Chromebooks would receive that processor upgrade, but it’s no surprise that Acer would come up with one. It was only a matter of time!
Starting at just $ 480, the Acer Spin 514 Chromebook is poised to be one of the best-performing and most durable Chromebooks in its segment. That’s because it is equipped with up to an AMD Ryzen 7 3700C processor, which is a 4-core / 8-wire processor with 2.3 GHz (4.0 GHz boost) base clock, 6 MB cache, 10 Radeon cores at 1400 MHz and 15 W TDP. It’s a massive step up from the A6 processors and AMD A4 introduced for Chromebooks at CES 2019.
There’s also 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and Acer says the Spin 514 Chromebook has “military” durability thanks to its sandblasted aluminum chassis (available in silver, gray and green), which has been tested to withstand falls on all fours.
Acer also included a 1920 x 1080 IPS touch screen with Gorilla Glass in the front, along with useful features, including a backlit keyboard and a low-resolution but still useful HD webcam. However, while Acer says it has reduced the frames of the Chromebook Spin 514 to 6.1mm, its overall screen-to-body ratio of 78% doesn’t seem so impressive to me.
G / O Media may receive a commission
The Chromebook Spin 514 comes with a decent selection of ports, including two USB 3.2 Type-C ports (both support video output and upload), a microSD card reader, and even an optional HDMI port on some models. You also get support for Bluetooth 5, dual stereo speakers, and dual microphones for better video call management. Unfortunately, unlike many other new laptops that will debut at CES 2021, the Chromebook Spin 514 will have to comply with the Wi-Fi 802.11 needle instead of supporting Wi-Fi 6.
Finally, thanks to a closer partnership with Google, along with standard elements of the Chrome operating system, such as support for running Android apps, the Chromebook Spin 514 is also certified by the Google Assistant Lab, so the AI assistant Google Integrated should be able to better understand your questions and commands.
The standard Spin 514 Chromebook is set to go on sale in North America in February for $ 480, with the higher-spec Chromebook Enterprise Spin 514 expected to be available later in March for $ 780.
And if you want to see more new gadgets and devices from CES 2021, click here to read our full coverage.