Acer’s Chromebook Plus Spin 514 might be the best Chrome OS 2-in-1 yet

The luxury Chromebook renaissance has truly begun. First Lenovo impressed with what’s arguably the nicest Chrome OS laptop since Google’s own Pixelbook, and now Acer is doing the same thing for convertibles. Being able to switch into tablet mode for Android apps could make the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 the pick of the bunch.

Revealed at IFA in Berlin, the 14in ultraportable has a 360-degree hinge that’ll let you swivel between laptop, tent and tablet. It weighs a paltry 1.36kg and is just 15.5mm at its thickest point, while the all-aluminium chassis should appeal to commuting office workers as well as Chrome OS’ traditional student audience.

Acer says the whole thing is MIL-STD 810H rated, meaning it can suck up a stumble from desk-height onto a hard floor, and won’t be fazed by extreme temperature shifts. It certainly felt sturdy during my demo, with a slick chromed edge around its fingerprint-resistant lid. The hinge holds firm at almost any angle, as you’d hope for a hybrid laptop, and meant I could prod the touchscreen without it wobbling like a jelly.

There are two versions of the Chromebook Plus Spin 514 in the works: one aimed at enterprise and the other for regular joes. Each will come in a few flavours of screen, letting you pick between a high resolution 2800×1800 panel or a slightly lower-res 1920×1200. Both are touchscreens, have a work-friendly 16:10 aspect ratio, and an anti-fingerprint coating on top of Corning Gorilla Glass, but only the 1200p option has a smoother 120Hz refresh rate. They both play nicely with a digital stylus.

Having only seen the higher-res version at Acer’s IFA showcase, I can see why it’d be the one to go for: everything looks pin-sharp, but especially images. ChromeOS has a handful of decent photo editing apps now, not least Google’s Gemini-enhanced Photos app, so I can see this being a great choice for creative types. I can’t yet vouch for the up-firing speakers, which sit either side of the keyboard tray.

Other hardware goodies include a backlit keyboard, which has the same island-style keys as most other Chromebooks I’ve used recently and felt jut as comfortable to type on. There’s also a 5MP webcam, fingerprint sensor (on certain models) and a generous amount of ports for such a slender machine. You get twin USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-Cs for power delivery and display out, two USB 3.2 Gen 1s, and a 3.5mm headphone port.

MediaTek provides the power, courtesy of a Kompanio Ultra chipset paired with up to 16GB of RAM and as much as 256GB of storage. Based on my time with the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 (which uses the same silicon) I’m expecting the Acer to be just as well versed at running Android apps smoothly.

The 70Whr battery should be able to last as long as 17 hours per charge, which gives ARM-powered Windows laptops (which cost a whole lot more cash) a run for their money.

As a Chromebook Plus, the Spin 514 gets all of Google’s latest AI upgrades, including Search with Lens (the laptop version of Android’s Circle to Search) on-device generative image editing, and a Gemini prompt pretty much anywhere you right click. Buyers also qualify for 12 months of Google AI Pro subscription, which includes 2TB of Google Drive storage.

The Chromebook Plus Spin 514 will hit the US and Europe in October, with prices starting at $700/€699. That puts it in spitting distance of the touchscreen-equipped Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14