Verdict
The Acer Chromebook Plus 515 repair many of the exit of not only the Chromebook space but the budget laptop computer space as a whole . It win in the firebrand ’s mission of simplifying the purchasing cognitive operation for a corking productiveness machine and takes step to see you wo n’t require to replace it in a duet of year ’s time . There ’s just an issue with cursor control holding it back .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
At any final stage of the laptop market , it ’s always a struggle to get back on any specific one . Like smartphones , it ’s why a muckle of us just go with the latest translation of what we ’re retiring . The Acer Chromebook Plus 515 count to simplify the summons just a shade . It ’s a glowing ‘ first ’ try .
For eld now , I ’ve routinely drop the approximation of a Chromebook . Especially a “ bounty ” one . The idea of a political machine that runs little more than cloud - based programs and word processors ? Madness . They were billed as being secure and simple . And they are . But they ’re easily seen as a justified oddment for cheap Windows machine that are chop-chop stuffed under the couch when it becomes seeming they ’re ill - equip to deal with anything the average earphone ca n’t .
When the call came to see Acer ’s endeavor atChromebook Plus , I was still largely dismissive . intrigue , but ignorant . Once I make it in my hands , however , I commence to see the Chrome - colored illumination . With olympian build quality , the glasses to handle more than it will likely call for to , and a price that ’s utterly place around the competitor , there ’s a true value suggestion here , a little reason to not wholeheartedly recommend it as the machine for today ’s average consumer .
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Design and Keyboard
For the price , the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 punches above its weighting in the flavor section . The relief ? Average : which at this cost is pretty good . Compared to the obvious seams of the flesh in the similarly - pricedAsus Vivobook 15 , Acer ’s Google - equipped offer feels far more premium .
The unbending Steel Gray - colored shell is sturdy , and even the lay - flat flexible joint – a major marketing point for the aforementioned Vivobook – find smooth while being just about pixilated enough to scream quality . Like so many others these days , it angles the whole simple machine slightly , feed the rarely - used lover .
The softly rounded chassis looks expectant sit on a tabular array . Its match lid with a brushed steel styling distribute from one niche to the other add together a bit of necessary flair to the whole packet . Inside , you ’ll mark expectant speaker grill on either side of the keyboard , resonant of recentApple MacBooksor the closely - modelledRazer Blade . Deceptively , however , the design is largely for looks , with the tweeter taking up only a small fraction of the space at the bottom .
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The keyboard , while punchy , will take some getting used to . Dimmable ashen lighting keeps it seeable in dark environments , but you ’ll be bank on bleedthrough to alight the legend , which will feasibly affect the battery over longer menstruum . There ’s plenty of spacing between the keys , and they feel smashing to the touch , with the infinite ginmill especially feel reinforced enough to never be a problem . Once you figure it out , it ’s a joy to utilize . The pop of each press is almost nostalgic .
But it ’s not everlasting . A half - sizing return key , the Search button replacing the distinctive Caps Lock , and the backspace key being hazardously close to the power button safety fuse together to produce a keyboard with a bit of a learning bend . There ’s also no number pad , which is surprising open its size . It ’s a pleasure for the fingers , but a little daunting for the psyche . If you ’ve used something similar , you ’ll like it . It ’s just a small slippery .
Where things really falter , however , is with the trackpad . Appreciably Brobdingnagian and with great medal rejection , actual cursor tracking does n’t experience up to par . It being a critical review of Acer’sChromebook Spinwould have us think it ’s a problem with the brand . Plugging in a mouse counters that take , with a like experience I had with the keyboard - fit Lenovo P12 tablet ring it .
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No amount of changing up the swiftness or enabling / disabling acceleration solved the problem , but as it come along to stanch fromChromeOSitself , it ’s something that could feasibly be repair with a software update . Just do n’t hold in your breath . It never refused to work . It ’s just that run into your mark may feel more laborious if you ’re coming from a Windows or MacOS machine .
What ’s also worth mentioning is the slight publicity efforts on show . It ’s an almost entirely thin composition board delivery , with only the diffuse and fuzzy foam / cloth laptop arm and a plastic sheath for the diminished charger stopping you from tossing the whole matter into the paper recycling bin . The aforementioned arm is ostensibly recycled itself , but it belike is n’t accepted by your borough ’s standard trash aggregation efforts .
Display and Sound
There ’s wad to love about the really bantam verbaliser hiding behind the large grill . They ’re implausibly gaudy and do n’t heavily distort when maxed out .
They ’re not as full - bodied as you ’d find in more expensive gadget , but quality is never a given at any price chain of mountains . There ’s just enough bass at a sane book level , and with treble taking centre stage , you wo n’t be compelled to turn off subtitles to understand a Netflix or YouTube school term . If you ’re using this for instruction , your inquiry material should come through clearly
Though the display does n’t stick out out in any means , and is content - focus at 16:9 rather than productivity - concenter at a tall 16:10 aspect ratio , it ’s boastful enough for multitasking and flick observation . vivid enough to enjoy in most indoor situations and with a matte finish to diffuse harsher light , it gets dim enough to practice before seam .
What this is n’t , however , is an HDR showing . Content uptake is dead o.k. , but colour - critical work is n’t go to be its inviolable case . Not that you should ask it to be at this price range . The IPS panel technical school means viewing angles are n’t a problem : which can be a godsend given the twist ’s relatively gravid footmark on sticky quad like fold - out tables on public transport .
Performance
With a 12th - gen Intel Core i5CPUunder the hood , there ’s little the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 ca n’t do . On Windows , we ’d class this as a low / mid - range equipment with slim stuttering and some larger apps recoil to cause a slightly sluggish experience . On ChromeOS , it ’s almost overkill .
ChromeOS being incompatible with our full suite of laptop computer benchmarking pecker mean we ’re only capable to score it using Geekbench 6 . A single burden score of 1763 and a 5749 multi - core outcome puts it more or less below cardinal Chromebook competitors .
Integrated Intel Iris Xe nontextual matter tycoon more intensive workloads and some clear gaming efforts like Hearthstone and even Call of Duty Mobile . The lack of a touchscreen feels like a neglect opportunity , but it ’s far too big to hold like a pill , anyway .
Just do n’t expect miracle if you protrude tinkering with supported claim through Steam . That ’s why Cloud - based solutions like GeForce Now , Amazon Luna , and Xbox Cloud Gaming exist . TheWi - Fi 6Echipset will make them fly in the right environment .
Despite the highs of the specs on paper , you ’re still probable to do across some hiccups if you ’re transfer your work flow from another lock system . The presence of the Google Play Store does n’t guarantee compatibility with your favourite headphone apps . It does in most cases , but with the popular workplace messaging solution Slack being unsupported for reasons strange , you ’ll incessantly have anxiousness about must - have apps from your phone or tablet not working . It ’s rarefied , but a head ache .
Software
Chromebook Plus is a young construct and the estimation is unsubdivided . The Plus denotes a automobile that pair or outperform a certain spec to make avoiding low - end laptops that often struggle with the simplest of tasks much easier .
This even extends to the coverable webcam , ensuring you wo n’t come along as some kind of cryptid on piece of work calls or be forced to husk out for an external solution . There ’s even optional AI stuff in play to filter out trope racket , background chatter , and just more often than not scavenge up how you ’re exhibit to the humanity .
Further to that , some of that genius comes in from Google ’s Pixel lineup of smart gimmick , withMagic Eraseravailable in the Photos app to chop-chop scrub out imperfections . The alternative is n’t there for every picture in your library , however , so your mileage may deviate with that one .
One past criticism of the Chromebook brand that ’s been hard to agitate is the idea that you ca n’t get anything done without an cyberspace connection . File Sync , a protocol that simply download your Cloud - base Google Drive library , solves it effortlessly . After a weekend away working at a convention , bolting back and forth from the locale , hotel , and key London , I always had the most recent copies of my draft to make for on , with photos conveniently crop up up all the same .
There does n’t seem to be a way to customize how frequently this kicks in , but given I never once worried about the electric battery checking out , it ’s probably not deserving call up about . And that ’s been the overall joyfulness of the Chromebook Plus experience – less fret the detail and more work on what topic . few distractions , more achievements . That sort of thing .
The Acer Chromebook Plus 515 is more than capable of allot with most Photoshop workloads and picture redaction efforts . You even have almost all of the port you could call for . And even with all the unexampled in - app wizardry , Google is n’t let the specs of any Chromebook Plus machine hold it back . Instead , there ’s a lot of marketing fluff about free trial and discounted subscriptions for Cloud - speed adaptation of Adobe Photoshop or video redaction suite LumaFusion .
It ’s all an effect to motor home the fact that , these daytime , your machine ’s physical prowess is n’t always the deciding factor in what you could do with it . There are few and fewer reasons to take to blast out to replace a machine as your needs alter , with AI putz also pop to make complex workloads less of a vault — though that ’s still mostly at the monetary value of someone else ’s living .
Battery life
Another area where the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 shines is in the bombardment department . For the cost , I did n’t expect ultrabook - levels of longevity out of this one , but without the largely unnecessary and seldom - adjustable overhead of Windows and its backdrop service slowly tire things , it ’s far from impossible to get the advertised 10 60 minutes of charge out of this one .
In another very well-chosen twist , USB - coulomb charging is the default choice , with the include ( and bantam ) 45w adapter able to max it out in just over an 60 minutes . It ’s travel - favorable and easy to replace and , because it ’s a world-wide standard , you may elect to practice your own .
In exercise , the battery perform on par with many mid - range lozenge , with an hour of Netflix on standard luminance sipping around 10 % without any shelling - saving measures go . That ’s with sound being piped through some Bluetooth earpiece . Similarly , a 25 - minute stint with YouTube glugged back 5 % .
If you currently live with the justified dread of an Intel - equipped machine indiscriminately being on death ’s door in the morning before work , you’re able to breathe loose with this one . shut the chapeau and getting that recommended eight minute of eternal rest see me awaken up to a gimmick only 1 % less charge than it was right after that relaxing bedtime video . If you go to sleep with enough juice , you ’ll awaken up to it , too .
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Should you buy it?
With very little frame-up and almost every app you could ever involve just a couple of clicks aside , you ’ll be hard - press to find something that just works like this .
If your work cortege requires anything out of the ordinary offers from Google or Microsoft , you ’ll execute the peril of being force to find an alternative to this .
Final Thoughts
For the monetary value , the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 is probably the laptop I ’d urge over almost any other these days – that is , get into you do n’t absolutely need Windows in your day - to - day . The habitus quality paired with the right-hand processor for the task think of this is one machine that should practicably last many eld of consistent use . For education at the very least , it ’s almost gross .
ChromeOS will never offer up full characteristic parity bit with its competitors , and that ’s just something we need to hold out with . But with cloud - base web browser and app solutions to democratic software program becoming more and more common , the disruption will continue to close .
found on Acer ’s endeavour , Chromebook Plus looks set to be a winner , offering a well - rounded gadget for under £ 500 . It undercuts swanky Chromebook contender , like theLenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook , but faces problematic competition from other member of Google ’s new program , like the Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 . The Asus is similarly specced and priced but does n’t have the same trackpad woes as well as volunteer a farsighted battery life . Though , the Acer does n’t feel quite as gimcrack .
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How we test
Every laptop we reexamine goes through a series of unvarying stop design to gauge key things include build timber , performance , blind quality and battery life .
These include schematic synthetic benchmark and scripted tryout , plus a serial of actual - reality verification , such as how well it runs popular apps .
FAQs
No , the screen door does not support touching stimulant .
Yes , there ’s a full - size HDMI port wine on the left side of the machine .
No , the keyboard can only crystalise and dim in one colour and can not be separately addressed in any way .
Bloatware is keep to a minimum with TweetDeck and Hootsuite .
Test Data
Full Specs
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