Acer had one of the best Chromebooks of 2021 with the Spin 713, and now it’s repeating that success with the Chromebook Spin 714. The premium two-in-one doesn’t stray far from its own in terms of what it offers predecessors, but Acer has made some changes to stay competitive. And while HP’s Elite Dragonfly Chromebook A step above the Spin 714 in design and features, the Acer offers much better value for money and also slightly outperformed the HP, earning it our Editors’ Choice Award.
As
- Great performance, long battery life
- Dockable USI pen
- 1080p webcam
- Durable construction
don’t like
- Small touch pad
- No microSD slot
For the Spin 714, Acer switched from a 13.5-inch 2,256 x 1,504 pixel touchscreen with a 3:2 aspect ratio to a 16:10 14-inch 1,920 x 1,200 pixel touchscreen. It’s a lower resolution, but this time it has 100% sRGB color space coverage. The display is reasonably bright too, although you’ll still have to contend with reflections outdoors.
While I prefer the 3:2 aspect ratio for productivity and stylus use, the 714’s display still gives you extra vertical real estate to work with compared to a 16:9 widescreen, and it feels more balanced overall and fits in more easily a backpack. And for those who want to use this for taking notes, sketching a floor plan, or as a digital whiteboard, Acer has tucked a slim USI pen under the front-left edge of this Chromebook.
The pen charges in its dock; A 15-minute charge lasts for 240 minutes.
Josh Goldman/CNET
The Spin 714 is aimed at hybrid workers, students and teachers, and anyone looking for a more powerful Chromebook for productivity. As such, it’s not the most interesting of designs, but it’s built more sturdily than less expensive models. The display is covered with antimicrobial Gorilla Glass for added durability, and the reinforced aluminum body is Mil-Spec tested (MIL-STD-810H) to protect against light drops, vibration, rain, dust, high and low temperatures, and humidity. The reinforced chassis could be at least partly responsible for its 3-pound weight, which is just heavy compared to smaller, less expensive Chromebooks.
Acer Chromebook Spin 714 (CP714-1WN)
Price as reviewed | $729 |
|---|---|
Display Size/Resolution | 14-inch touch display with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,200 |
CPU | 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-1235U |
memory | 8GB LPDDR4X |
storage | 256GB NVMe PCIe SSD |
links | Thunderbolt 4 USB-C (x2), USB-A, HDMI 2.0 out, 3.5mm combo audio jack |
Networking | WiFi 6E (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.2 |
operating system | ChromeOS/Android 11 |
AU | June 2030 |
The configuration I tested is currently the only model available and costs $729 but is regularly discounted. It’s not yet available in the UK or Australia, but it’s priced at around £640 or AU$1,090. When it launched in May, Acer said a high-end configuration would be available with up to an Intel Core i7-1260P, up to 16GB RAM and up to 512GB PCIe NVMe Gen 4 SSD, but that It is not available yet . However, for most users, the configuration I tested is more than adequate.
The Spin 714 is a bit thick to hold in tablet mode, but it’s fine on a desk or lap.
Josh Goldman/CNET
The Acer Chromebook Spin 714 is Intel Evo verified, which means it meets certain standards for performance, battery life (up to 10 hours in this case), responsiveness, and wireless and wired connectivity, among other things. The Spin 714 showed no signs of slowing down with regular productivity use – Microsoft Office PWAs, Chrome, Slack, basic photo editing with Photoshop Express – as well as entertainment like cloud and Android gaming and streaming videos. Battery life in our streaming video test was also great at 13 hours and 38 minutes.
Comfortable backlit keyboard. Tiny touchpad.
Josh Goldman/CNET
Top-notch features are rounded off by Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, two Thunderbolt 4 ports (one on each side for convenient charging and docking), a comfortable backlit keyboard, and a full HD webcam with a privacy screen. The webcam and speakers are much better than a typical Chromebook. So if you spend a lot of time using Zoom, Teams, and Meet, you’ll be happy with what’s integrated here. And the fans remained whisper-quiet even under load. Really the only disappointment is the touchpad and that is simply due to its size. It works quite well, but it’s oddly small.
At the moment, the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 is one of the most productive Chromebooks out there. It might be a little buttoned up in terms of overall design, but it’s built to last. Otherwise, you get great performance and battery life, a good display, a dockable stylus, and strong connectivity and conferencing capabilities. It even comes at a reasonable price if you can get it on sale. But not everyone needs all of that in a Chromebook, and there are cheaper options on ours List of the best Chromebooks. This includes Acer’s Chromebook Spin 513a fanless version of the Spin 713 with the same 13.5-inch touchscreen with 2,256 x 1,504 pixels and a 3:2 aspect ratio.
