Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 Review: The ChromeOS Sweet Spot for Performance & Battery Life

Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 review: The new ChromeOS sweet spot

For a while now, I’ve felt like Chromebooks have been stuck in a rut. ChromeOS itself is a fantastic, mature platform that Google keeps improving with smart features. But the hardware? It’s largely felt stagnant, with few exceptions. Most Chromebooks do the job but don’t inspire much excitement, and honestly, many Intel-based models often run out of juice before my workday is done.

However, things are changing! Earlier this summer, Lenovo launched a new Chromebook featuring MediaTek’s ARM-based Kompanio Ultra 910 chip, a departure from the usual Intel processors. Now, Acer is following suit with their latest Chromebook Plus Spin 514. Acer claims this laptop can deliver an impressive 17 hours of battery life – a figure previously only met by that Lenovo model. While older MediaTek Chromebooks were often underpowered, the Kompanio Ultra 910 is a whole different beast. The performance and efficiency of the Spin 514 make it one of the most compelling Chromebooks I’ve used in ages.

Hardware design

The Chromebook Spin 514 (identifier CP514-5HN, but let’s just call it the Spin 514) feels very much like many Acer laptops I’ve encountered over the years. It’s robust and well-built, though still quite practical. It doesn’t quite reach “premium” laptop status, but it definitely sits at the nicer end of the Chromebook spectrum. I appreciate the silver color scheme; it’s a refreshing change from the often-dull grey of other Chromebooks, and the lid’s chamfered, polished edge adds a nice touch of visual flair.

This laptop is also fairly slim (0.61 inches) and light (3 pounds). While not groundbreaking, it’s certainly more svelte and portable than many cheaper Chromebooks. “Almost premium” feels like the right description here. The keyboard and trackpad follow suit – both are spacious and comfortable, with keys that offer satisfying, clicky travel. It’s not the absolute best keyboard I’ve ever used, but it’s one I’d happily type on for hours. The 1,920 x 1,200 touchscreen is bright, sharp, and vibrant, making it pleasant for long viewing sessions. My only minor gripe is the fairly large bezels above and below the display. Again, almost premium.

The Spin 514 also boasts solid connectivity. On one side, you’ll find two USB-C 3.2 ports and a headphone jack, while the other side offers two old-school USB-A 3.2 ports. I wish there was one of each on both sides for more flexible charging options, but that’s a small quibble. My only real complaint is that if you’re using an external monitor while charging, both USB-C ports get taken up. An HDMI port would have been very useful for this common scenario.

As its name suggests, the Spin 514 features a 360-degree hinge, allowing it to convert into a tablet mode with the touchscreen as the primary input. I’ve always been skeptical about how useful these convertible laptops are for most people, and that feeling hasn’t really changed. However, the hinge itself feels excellent – Acer clearly has a lot of experience in this area. Plus, the USI 2.0 stylus I tested worked instantly without any pairing, which was convenient. If you’re someone who values this functionality, the Spin 514 delivers.

Overall, the Spin 514 meets my expectations for hardware quality in a $700 laptop. It’s utilitarian in a good way, with no major disappointments during my testing, aside from the speakers which lack bass and can sound a bit harsh when playing music.

Configurations and performance

Before diving into my experience with the Spin 514, a quick note on configurations. The model I tested costs $700 and is available at Best Buy. It features the MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910, 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. Acer will also offer a $750 model with a higher-resolution 2,880 x 1,800 display and 16GB of RAM, but it should otherwise be identical.

ChromeOS generally runs fine on the various Intel chips commonly found in Chromebooks. My long-standing favorite, the Lenovo Ideapad 5i, still uses an early 2023 Core i3 and handles daily tasks well. However, the shift to MediaTek’s ARM-based Kompanio Ultra 910 has significantly elevated the performance bar. The Spin 514 is arguably the most responsive Chromebook I’ve ever used. There’s virtually no slowdown or hiccups, which can sometimes still occur on Intel models with too many open windows or apps. Tabs rarely need reloading, and when they do, they pop back up instantly. Music and video playback never skipped, no matter what else I was doing, and Android apps like Lightroom ran swiftly and smoothly.

Perhaps even more crucial than current performance is the Kompanio Ultra 910’s promise for the future. This chip offers more headroom to handle increasing performance demands down the line. Android Geekbench 6 benchmarks illustrate this well: the Spin 514 scored 2,526 on single-core, 7,687 on multi-core, and 18,020 on the GPU test. For comparison, Acer’s recently released Chromebook Plus 514 with an Intel Core 3 chip scored 1,150, 4,407, and 5,932 respectively. While benchmarks aren’t the only measure, they clearly demonstrate the benefits of moving away from Intel in this instance.

I’ve often complained about the mediocre battery life of Intel-powered Chromebooks, and this is another area where the MediaTek chip truly shines. In my video playback test, the Spin 514 lasted just over 14 hours. My typical daily workflow, which involves numerous Chrome tabs, various chat apps, YouTube Music, Todoist, and a few Android apps, naturally consumed more power. Still, I comfortably got through a full workday with plenty of battery to spare. That’s a rare feat for a Chromebook lately. The only potential downside is that opting for the higher-resolution display model will almost certainly impact battery life.

ChromeOS and Gemini

I’ve previously discussed the ChromeOS and Gemini experience when I reviewed Samsung’s Galaxy Chromebook Plus last year, and essentially everything I said then still applies. To recap: ChromeOS is remarkably mature and stable today. Google has thoughtfully integrated many features over the years, making it much more than “just a web browser.” Of course, it’s still primarily web-based, but Android applications fill in the gaps for things you might not find in a browser. There are also many web apps optimized for ChromeOS, and Google Docs now has a comprehensive offline mode. ChromeOS also integrates seamlessly with Android phones, offering features like shared notifications and the ability to stream some apps directly to your laptop.

Gemini, Google’s AI, is also a significant part of the equation – but it’s entirely ignorable if you’re not interested in AI tools. While you’ll see small prompts throughout the OS, they’re never intrusive. If you do want to explore Gemini, a Chromebook like the Spin 514 is a great starting point because it includes 12 months of Google’s AI Pro plan for free. This plan typically costs $20/month and provides 2TB of Drive storage, Gemini 2.5 Pro in search and the Gemini app, Gemini in Gmail and Google Docs, access to the Veo image and video generation tool, and more. Considering 2TB of Google Drive storage alone costs $10/month, this is a solid perk. Just remember that after the year is up, you’ll need to pay for the plan yourself if you wish to continue.

Pricing and final thoughts

My main reservation with the Spin 514 is its price. At $700, it’s pushing the upper limit of what most people should spend on a Chromebook. While the more powerful chip and exceptional battery life will be worth it for some, Acer itself offers strong competition with its standard Chromebook Plus 514, released this summer. That model features an Intel chip, so its battery life and performance aren’t quite on par with the Spin 514, but it’s also literally half the price at $350. If you only need to be away from a charger for a few hours, that device is hard to pass up. I’ll be sharing more details about that laptop in our upcoming guide to the best Chromebooks soon.

So, while the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 might not be the Chromebook I’d recommend to *everyone*, it’s a very strong contender for the best premium Chromebook you can buy. If you plan to use your laptop all day, every day, the improved performance, battery life, and future-proofing offered by the Spin 514 make the extra investment genuinely worthwhile.