Computer Shopper - UK (2021-01)

ISSUE395|COMPUTER SHOPPER|JANUARY2021 25

CHROMEBOOKSCANBEafantastic
alternative to Windows laptops forkidds
andstudentsand,astheAcer
Chromebook 714 proves, they’re
not all stubbybargain-bin
machines, either.
This laptop employs an Intel Core i 555
CPUhousedinalightweightchassis,aall
toppedbyaFullHDnon-touchdisplayy.
Buildqualityisuninspiring,butperformmance
isgreat;it’saspeedyandreasonably
well-pricedmachine,too.

OLDFAITHFUL

The Acer Chromebook 714 is alightweeight
laptop with asizable 14in IPS Full HDddisplay.
It comes with ametal chassis finishediinn
attractive matt dark grey, has alarge
touchpad with integrated buttons and a
full-sized keyboard, plus afingerprint reader
forquicker,easier logins.
There are several models of the
Chromebook 714 available across various
retailers in the UK. The one we tested is the
most expensive,and comes with an 8th-Gen
Intel Core i5-8250U, 8GB of RAM and 128GB
of eMMCstorage.There are also acouple of
Core i3 models that come with 128GB or 64GB
of storage,for £500 and £450 respectively,
so this particular version on test is abig step
up on both components and pricing, even if
the whole range shares relatively ancient
8th-gen Intel hardware.
Although reasonably slim at 18mm, the
Acer Chromebook 714 isn’t the lightest 14in
laptop around, tipping the scales at 1.6kg.
Nor is it the best-made product. While the
all-metal chassis looks great, the bottom plate
doesn’t quitefitflush with theedges, leaving
an ugly overhang, and the touchpad feels
slightly loose and rattly when you click it.

ACER Chromebook714

★★★★★

£722•From http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk

VERDICT

Adecent14inChromebookwitha1 088 0p
displaybutbuildqualitylagsbehindthebest

CHROMEOSLAPTOP

That’sashame,becausethesurfaceofthe

touchpad–toppedwithGorillaGlass–is

smoothandpleasantunderthefinger,and

thekeyboardiscomfortabletotypeon,too.

Thekeysofferplentyoftravelandadecent

level of feedback, and Acer hasn’t made any

ccoommpprroommiisseessiinntteerrmmssooffllaayyoouutt,eeiitthheerr.

There’salsoahealthyselectionofports

scattered around the edges. Youget two USB

Type-C ports, one each on the leftand right

edges, and both can carry adisplayoutput

signal or be used forcharging. There’s also a

full-sized USB3 port on the leftedge alongside

a3.5mm headset jack and amicroSD card slot

on the right, so you can easily expand on the

laptop’s 128GB of storage.

BIG,NOTBEAUTIFUL

The 14in Full HD screen on the Chromebook

714 might be large and quitesharp by

Chromebook standards, but general image

quality leaves much to be desired.

It gets reasonably bright at least, peaking

at 267cd/m2, and the contrast ratio of 962:1 is

good enough forimagestohavesome

presence and punch. Amatt finishonthe

screenreducesglare effectively,too.

Colour performance,however, is poor.

The displayisonly capable of covering 55.9%

of the sRGB colour gamut, resulting in a

rather dull, insipid overall appearance.

Coontrast could be worsseat962:1, but that’s

nnot high enough to sppruce things up,either.

Despitecoming witthanolder generation

of mobile CPU, the Chromebook 714 is

plenty fast enough to keep it feeling

spry.The InntelCore i5-8250U in

thi moddel delivered respectable

levels of performance both

in evverydayuse and in

oour benchmarks.

TThe usual 4K suite

ddoesn’t work on

Chrome OS so we used

Geekbenchh5instead, recording

decent scores of 88 51 in its single-core

tesstand 2,804inthemmulticore test.

That said, the 128GB of eMMC storage

isn’t quiteasimpressive in terms of

performance..Wemeasuredameasly

sequential reaadspeed of 180MB/s and an

even lower 1 33 4MB/ssequentialwritespeed,

so while eMMMCistechnicallysolid-state

ssttoorraaggee,yyoouu’rrreennoottggeettttiinnggaappeerrffoorrmmaannccee

advantage over an old-fashioned hard disk.

Fortunately,battery lifeismuch better.

Lasting 12h 13m in our standardised video

playback test, the Acer Chromebook 714 is the

only Chromebook in recent memory to get

close to the superb Pixelbook Go’s (Shopper

387)timeof14h 15m. This means that, in

reality,aslong as you’re not using it

continuously,the Acer Chromebook 714 will

last several days between charges, and will

easily get you through aday of work away

from the mains.

AFEW CHROMETRUTHS

The Acer Chromebook 714 is adecent

machine,then, just not aparticularly

inspiring one.Build quality is patchy and

the displayisdisappointing, although

performance and battery lifeare good.

Ultimately,unlessyou desperately want a

Chromebook, we’d recommend you spend

your money–and less of it,atthat –onthe

Honor MagicBook 14 (Shopper390) instead.

The ability to run full Windows apps, alarger,

faster SSD and superior build quality all mean

the MagicBook 14 is abetter buy all round.

JonathanBray

Battery life

0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100

Seepage62for performancedetails

PROCESSORQuad-core1.6GHz AMDRyzen 54600H•

RAM8GB•DIMENSIONS323x239x17.7mm•WEIGHT1.6kg

• SCREENSIZE14in•SCREENRESOLUTION1,920x1,080•
  GRAPHICSADAPTORIntelUHD Graphics 620•TOTAL
  STORAGE128GBeMMC•OPERATINGSYSTEMChromeOS


• WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.acer.com•
  PART CODENX.HAYEK.001

SPECIFICATIONS

12h13m