A sturdy system that excels at productiveness

Chromebooks have all the time match a distinct segment mould the place restricted specs could make you query if you can purchase or skip — how does it profit you in case you already personal a laptop computer or a helpful pill that gives all of the apps you want? I’ve contemplated the identical query for a while. At first, Chromebooks have been hardly ever as much as par with common low-end laptops: they have been too sluggish to carry out menial duties and could not deal with the load of dozens of tabs opened in your browser.

As somebody who wants at the least twenty tabs break up between three (browser) home windows to get work finished, Chromebooks weren’t for me. However after seeing the evolution of Chromebooks over the past ten years, I used to be curious if a contemporary Chromebook may get the job finished.

With Google’s introduction to Chromebook Plus, there’s loads new to debate. One among these fashions contains the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 I am reviewing immediately, a cost-saving possibility (for skilled productiveness) that may put older generations of Chromebooks to disgrace. So, let’s discover how a contemporary Chromebook Plus mannequin delivers with the Acer Chromebook Plus 515.

Pricing and availability

Often on sale at an inexpensive worth

Acer Chromebook Plus 515

Acer Chromebook Plus 515 affords the most important bang to your buck whereas championing a brand new normal in efficiency. Productiveness is boosted by all of the promised Plus options launched by Google, with only a few drawbacks on the premium {hardware} by Acer.

Professionals

• Temporal noise discount was nice
• Improved efficiency
• Audio system are upward-firing

Cons

• No backlighting keyboard
• Solely 250 nits of display screen brightness
• Boring design

US prospects will probably be blissful to study that Acer affords the Chromebook Plus 515 (128GB mannequin) for under $400, and you’ll even discover it on sale for $300 periodically at Finest Purchase. It is one of many first Chromebook Plus fashions that hit the market after Google’s Chromebook Plus lineup announcement.

Canada additionally sells the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 (256GB) for $570 at Finest Purchase, but it surely typically can go as little as $450, slashing greater than $100 off the unique worth. Sadly, the 256GB mannequin is not obtainable within the US. Nevertheless, exterior the interior storage dimension variations, each carry the identical Twelfth-generation Intel chip (i3-1215U) and 8GB RAM, with no different adjustments.

Design

A protected design even when it’s just a little boring

The metal grey coloured chassis is a smooth (even when considerably boring) design selection, encased by a recycled plastic shell cowl. It packs a 15.6-inch IPS show at 16:9 with slim bezels, although these solely apply to the fitting and left sides of the display screen. The general clamshell Chromebook design appears fairly normal, however I want there was extra originality, just like the rather more interesting two-tone lid of the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus.

Sadly, this Acer Chromebook would not include a contact show, however Acer will (finally) provide fashions that include touchscreens.

Associated

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus overview: Boring however nonetheless the most effective Chromebook

That is the embodiment of “if it ain’t broke, do not repair it.”

Acer’s handiwork with the Chromebook Plus 515 is nothing to sneeze at. It affords sturdy (plastic) dealing with (independently verified MIL-STD-810H7 military-grade), making certain portability and sturdiness. Urgent down on the keyboard felt agency, and the massive trackpad was comfy to make use of. The person keys are well-spaced out, so typing for an prolonged interval felt intuitive and clean, similar to my desktop. Nevertheless, I want this specific mannequin included a backlit keyboard, which appears like a big miss, even when it was finished to save cash.

The inner audio system’ sound high quality is fairly normal, missing in bass like most laptops; it wasn’t distinctive, but it surely wasn’t poor. The audio system are upward-firing, so the amount output was by no means a problem regardless of my setting.

Total, the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 design is ok sufficient to get the job finished. Not horrible, however not superb — Acer did not exit of its strategy to make this one stand out on {hardware} alone. However that is possible the trade-off wanted to maintain the worth right down to afford all of the premium Chromebook Plus specs included.

Show

A number of extra nits certain would not damage

The default brightness is just too dim. I typically wanted to crank up the Chromebook’s brightness (it carries as much as 250 nits) to see my display screen, even when indoors. The anti-glare coating did not make a lot distinction when sitting subsequent to a window panel. After all, the draw back to maximizing brightness is that your battery will drain faster — typically, that trade-off could seem impractical, particularly when working away from an influence supply.

Pulling up movies from Netflix was an okay expertise; I watched Blue Eye Samurai to see first-hand how darker/washed-out colours would show at default brightness. As anticipated, it was nothing to write down dwelling about: the colours have been noticeably extra muted, and I used to be always hitting the brightness key to regulate the image. However hey, at the least streamed content material matches the 16:9 display screen, one thing that may’t be mentioned for these 16:10 Chromebooks on the market.

For video calls, I examined the Chromebook’s FHD 1080p webcam and shutter. The webcam shutter is a pleasant add-on, but it surely feels fairly pointless. Most calls finished over Google Meet and Zoom will embrace a button to show off your digicam, the place reaching above your display screen to manually flip it off felt awkward and inconvenient (you’ll hear a slight clicking noise whereas turning it off if unmuted). After all, an area shutter is rather more safe than trusting software program, so there’s a profit to manually sliding a little bit of plastic.

Total, the video conferencing expertise is great; noise cancellation is noticeable, because it removes any buzzing and clock-ticking noise within the background. The AI enhancement for lighting and background blur improved the face-to-face interplay, tidying up any uneven shadowing across the face. I examined in two totally different settings: a darkish room subsequent to a lamp and an exceedingly shiny house (with loads of pure mild shining by means of). The AI enhancements proved higher within the latter. Sadly, the auto-face publicity and corrected lighting possibility couldn’t repair the glare on my glasses when sitting subsequent to a desk lamp.

Battery life

Sufficient energy to gasoline a full day of productiveness

The Chromebook Plus 515 has a good battery life at round 10 hours at 50% default brightness, precisely as marketed by Acer. My use is a mixture of net searching, Netflix, YouTube, and navigating Android apps for work. Alternatively, in case you crank up the brightness and play YouTube all day, you will notice the battery dipping decrease (to round 7-8 hours). In any other case, the Chromebook affords sufficient preventing energy to final a full work or college day.

The Acer Chromebook is provided with two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Kind-C ports for charging. It solely takes an hour to cost to 50% or near an hour and a half to completely rejuvenate. So you will not undergo from an excessive amount of downtime, which is sweet to see.

Software program

Google brings the products with its Chromebook Plus options

As anticipated from a machine working ChromeOS, the software program is fairly barebones. Nevertheless, Google goals to repair this by bringing unique options to those Chromebook Plus machines. One of many extra thrilling choices is Magic Eraser, an AI-enhanced picture enhancing instrument that was beforehand locked behind Pixel telephones. The aim of this instrument is to take away objects or folks out of your photographs.

Utilizing Magic Eraser required putting in the instrument (78MB) within the Google Pictures Android app. Fortunately, it solely took a couple of minutes to make use of it after loading up considered one of my footage in Google Pictures. The AI auto-suggested a elimination, which I ignored and opted to manually redraw on one other space; it is a nifty instrument that I can see serving to customers with fast touchups, a sore spot on Chromebooks that also lack the complete variations of Adobe’s suite.

One other cool perk of Chromebook Plus is the included File Sync characteristic. File Sync permits anybody to entry information saved from Google Drive whereas offline. However in case you personal an excessive amount of Google Drive cupboard space in comparison with your Chromebook’s inner storage, the File Sync characteristic could trigger some undesirable errors. Fortunately, it’s straightforward to toggle the File Sync characteristic on and off, and it solely takes a couple of clicks to bin outdated information to make room for brand spanking new ones. Total, File Sync is a superb addition for many who’ve tailored to a working nomad way of life.

It is a promising begin from Google to convey these instruments to Chromebook Plus, sprucing a sore spot with its software program. Whereas the benefit of selecting ChromeOS is getting away from all of the bloatware Home windows brings to many laptops, the fundamentals, like picture enhancing, are nonetheless wanted in a world the place you possibly can advance your productiveness by merely dabbling right into a extra feature-rich OS.

Efficiency

Lastly, a tool that does not take a look at your endurance

That is the place Google bolsters the concept of buying Chromebook Plus fashions: you get loads of efficiency for a fraction of the worth you’d get from a high-end Chromebook. To this point, the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 has finished nicely with all the pieces marketed by Acer and Google with out slicing any corners. It is rocking an i3 chip, and fashions vary as much as an i7 (although this can be overkill, relying in your wants). However in case you’re buying a Chromebook for work/productiveness, shopping for one outfitted with i3/i5 will (greater than) suffice.

I’ve examined Nvidia GeForce Now’s recreation streaming, loading up Genshin Influence, a recreation identified to push even the most effective Android gaming telephones to the brink. Surprisingly, the expertise was comfy, with no noticeable stutter, regardless of the very fact I used to be streaming. The sport by no means froze or crashed. Though I would not advocate buying this Chromebook solely for taking part in video games, it nonetheless held its personal, with streamed video games becoming the complete display screen similar to streamed video content material.

Total, the Chromebook Plus 515 packs a large punch at an incredible worth, supporting loads of productiveness with out having to fret about sluggish efficiency. You possibly can’t go incorrect right here in case you’re paying for the system from a solely efficiency angle.

Competitors

Tight competitors, however Acer nonetheless sails forward for the informal person

Do not forget that $400 is just not a nasty deal in case you’re paying for a efficiency improve. Nevertheless, it is best to not depend your chickens earlier than they hatch, as Google additionally affords a full line of aggressive Chromebook Plus fashions with comparable specs.

Level clean, it is robust to beat the Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus, although this monster of a Chromebook does come at a barely steeper worth at $500. Nevertheless, these models can typically be discovered beneath $400 throughout a sale. Because the Lenovo additionally carries the Chromebook Plus label, the software program and efficiency will probably be almost similar. However Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus affords a 2-in-1 convertible ({hardware}) design and a barely brighter show at 300 nits. Battery life and cost time are additionally comparable, so Acer is not slicing any corners with practicality. Nevertheless, the 2-in-1 removable configuration provides the Lenovo Flex 5i an edge over the Acer Chromebook Plus 515, making it a hard buyer to beat out.

One other sturdy contender is the Asus Chromebook Plus Cx34. Nobody can argue the $400 worth level is worthy of a pickup (particularly in case you are on a price range). It packs a barely smaller show for many who could not wish to go as massive as 15 inches, and at 14 inches, it additionally proves lighter and extra sensible for frequent backpack journeys. However in any other case, each laptops go head-to-head with design and specs. So that you’d in all probability wish to snatch the one being supplied at a greater worth at any time when one goes on sale.

Associated

Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 overview: Productiveness on level

Subtly candy software program and durable {hardware} make for a reliable laptop computer

HP additionally helps a Chromebook Plus mannequin with the HP Chromebook Plus 15.6 inch (HP additionally has the HP Chromebook Plus x360 14 inch, however the $700 price ticket would not make it a good comparability). You possibly can choose this one up for $500, so that you’re taking a look at a barely dearer different providing the identical specs. Nevertheless, the HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch features a comparatively crisp 144Hz refresh fee and 9ms response time that the Acer Chromebook would not have. That is a helpful perk for gaming, however there are a lot higher Chromebooks mendacity round for gaming.

Must you purchase it?

Google’s Chromebook Plus initiative appears fairly promising when paired with the Chromebook Plus 515. This laptop computer is a chief instance of all the pieces you want that will not allow you to down in convention calls whereas managing your day-to-day duties. The battery life will final a complete working day, and it solely takes an hour and a half to succeed in full cost. But it surely would not come with out trade-offs: Acer brings in a barely boring design whereas leaving out some essential {hardware} concerns (lack of a backlit keyboard in some fashions, no touchscreen in others, for instance).

Given the competitors for a Chromebook Plus mannequin between Lenovo, HP, and Asus, you possibly can’t go incorrect with the Acer Chromebook Plus 515, particularly when you will discover it on sale for beneath $400. Whereas Chromebooks nonetheless undergo from the barebones ChromeOS when in comparison with any Home windows PC, Google’s new line of Chromebook Plus fashions fully revamps the productiveness use case of the OS — which suggests any hybrid distant workplace employee or pupil can knab a reliable Chromebook with out the effort of finding out specs throughout a number of manufacturers. And an incredible place to start out, for my part, is with the $400 Acer Chromebook Plus 515.

Acer Chromebook Plus 515

Acer’s first Chromebook Plus mannequin is a comfortably massive 15.6-inch clamshell that will lack a touchscreen however has all the ability and productiveness to maintain up with you and your workload from now till June 2032. With a Twelfth Gen i3, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage, you have got all of the core specs you want, in addition to massive, up-firing audio system and a 1080p digicam to your Zoom calls. (However please, be sort and put on headphones.