The Acer Chromebook 314 (CB314-1H-C884) is one of the few Chromebooks that offer excellent value for money, given its price, size and performance. It’s a perfect size laptop-esque Chromebook in the 14-inch realm that is reliable, easy to use and rocks a nice screen and battery life combo.
The Acer CB314-1H-C884 is unique in its own skin, comfortable, knows its limitations and capabilities, and strikes great balance between design, usability, features and battery life. With a battery life of up to 12 hours, you surely won’t miss out of the solid performance that the 314 offers.
Acer Chromebook 314 Review: Design
Straight out of the box, the Acer Chromebook 314 looks like a small laptop or notebook. And that’s not a detriment; it’s likeable as a result and immediately feels familiar. It is surrounded by a metallic casing, save for the black keys on the board and black on the screen bezels. A nice contrast, and exactly what you’d expect of a sleek Chromebook.
Given that the Acer 314 is on the larger end of the typical Chromebook-size spectrum, and the fact that it only weighs 3.75 pounds is a bonus. Even someone with small hands, it will be easy to lift it up hassle free. This makes it a perfect companion for travel, college or living room browsing machine.
Port options are excellent too: two USB Type-C (supporting Display Port over USB-C and USB charging), two USB 3.1 and microSD Card reader. Connectivity comes via Gigabit 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0.
Display & Keyboard
The FHD (1920 x 1080) screen is nestled in a dark frame with thick bezels on the bottom, harboring the logo, two thin lines on the side and a medium one at the top that houses the camera. It’s nicely done, you don’t even recognize it immediately.
At the bottom of the screen, you have the typical restrained Chromebook keyboard that sits in the middle of the bottom pad, and is neatly placed above the large touchpad. The keyboard is simple and effective; for a 14-inch Chromebook, it never feels like you’ll accidentally hit the buttons or the pad, meaning it has a good balance in its layout.
Acer CB314-1H-C884 Performance
Beyond the great design, using the Acer Chromebook 314 is, generally, pure bliss. It is a lovely machine to work with and interact with. The first and obvious reason is the tactile factor: it is quite satisfying when you type and click around with the touchpad. The click and clack on the keyboard is unmatched at this price point, and the each push on the touchpad feels awesome.
It packs Intel’s Celeron N4000 dual-core processor, 4GB onboard RAM and 64GB eMMC storage, which is typical of Chromebooks, and somewhat better than most base models. You can use the CB314-1H-C884 for a range of work tasks, casual browsing and watching your favorite movies, and it will handle everything that’s thrown at it. Even the speakers are respectable enough for a laptop of this stature and makeup, meaning its ideal for YouTube rabbit holing and Netflix binging.
Battery Life
Without a doubt, the battery life is excellent. It offers up to 12 hours of battery life on a single charge – and sometimes at 50% brightness, it can clock 13 hours – much longer than the marketed 12 hours. This represents roughly two full working days, when constantly used and it will see you through a heap of work and tasks.
Bottom Line
Simply put, the Acer Chromebook 314 (2020) is a great laptop, all-in. So, if you’re shopping in the sub-$300 mark, and need to get a great product for your money this is certainly it. Even its design screams laptop, and it is the only Chromebook we’ve reviewed and interacted with that feels and performs like a laptop, for use both online and offline.
However, should you need something more tough and can stretch your budget a little further, you can easily nab a premium model like the Google PixelBook Go, which will get you more bells and whistles.
All said, if you’re shopping on a tight budget, the Acer Chromebook 314 (CB314-1H-C884) is a great choice.
Recommended Configuration
Acer Chromebook 314, Intel Celeron N4000, 14" Full HD Display, 4GB LPDDR4, 64GB eMMC, Gigabit WiFi, Google Chrome, CB314-1H-C884
$201.00 in stock
2 used from $89.00
The Review
Acer Chromebook 314
The Acer Chromebook 314 (CB314-1H-C884) is a perfect definition of a value Chromebook, sweetly balancing price and performance in a lovely package
Review Breakdown
-
EDITORS RATING
