Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 review: everything you need and nothing you don’t - Related to plus, nothing, open-ear, need, acer

Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 review: everything you need and nothing you don’t

Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 MSRP $[website] Score Details “The Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 is a speedy, long-lasting budget option.” Pros Attractive price.

Good IPS display Cons A little thick and heavy.

Table of Contents Table of Contents Specs and configurations Design Keyboard and touchpad Connectivity and webcam Performance Battery life Display A solid Chromebook for a decent price.

With all the talk of new chipsets from Apple, Qualcomm, Intel, and AMD, and their impact on the current state of laptop technology, it might be easy to forget that Windows and macOS aren’t the only games in town. The best Chromebooks running Google’s Chrome OS remain quite viable, and that platform has seen its own transition to AI elements with Chromebook Plus.

Acer’s Chromebook Plus Spin 714 is the latest iteration of a lineup that specifically added “Plus” to the name to identify it as capable of running Chromebook Plus. If you like Chrome OS for its simplicity, security, and performance on low-end hardware, then you’ll like the Chromebook Plus Spin 714.

Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 Dimensions [website] inches x [website] inches x [website] inches Weight [website] pounds Processor Intel Core Ultra 5 115U Graphics Intel Graphics RAM 8GB Display [website] 16:10 FHD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS, 60Hz Storage 256GB SSD Touch Yes Ports 2 x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4.

1 x [website] audio jack Wireless Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth [website] Webcam QHD (2560 x 1440) Chrome OS Battery 53 watt-hour Price.

While Acer might release other configurations of the Chromebook Plus Spin 714, there’s only one available right now. It has an Intel Core 5 Ultra 115U, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a 14-inch FHD+ IPS display for $699.

That’s an attractive price for a laptop that will provide very good performance given the lightweight nature of Chrome OS. It is not, though, a purely budget laptop. For that money, you’ll need to be okay with any limitations of the platform and be willing to look past some other, equally affordable Windows laptops like the Asus Zenbook 14 that’s around the same price and sports a fantastic OLED display.

The Chromebook Plus Spin 714 looks a lot like a lot of 14-inch convertible 2-in-1s today. That is, it has a gray chassis with minimalist lines and some chrome edging that looks good and doesn’t come across as ostentations, making it a rather conservative but still attractive design. You’ll know it’s a Chromebook Plus thanks to the subdued logo on the lid, but otherwise, this could be a Windows machine as far as appearances go.

It’s also reasonably well-built, with an all-aluminum chassis that’s just the tiniest bit flexible in the keyboard deck and lid. Regarding the latter, it’s no worse than the Apple MacBook Air which also had a lid that will bend a little under pressure. The hinge is smooth enough to allow opening the lid with one hand, but that makes it a bit wobbly in clamshell, tent, and media modes. Tablet mode is fine, though.

The top bezel and bottom chin are a bit thick, making the depth a bit more than a clamshell with smaller bezels all around. And, it’s a bit thick at [website] inches whereas many 14-inch laptops are a lot thinner. As a reference, the MacBook Air 13 is insanely thin at [website] inches, but other 14-inch 2-in-1s like the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 ([website] inches) are also thinner. The [website] weight is fine, although that’s a bit heavy to hold as a tablet.

The keyboard is quite good, with large keycaps and plenty of key spacing. The switches are light and snappy, which I like a lot. I’d rank it close to the best keyboards, like HP’s OmniBooks and Apple’s Magic Keyboard.

Connectivity is very strong, including both fast Thunderbolt 4 ports, which are unusual on Chromebooks, and legacy ports. Wireless connectivity is also reasonably up-to-date.

The webcam is a high-res 1440p version, and it supports various Chromebook Plus attributes based on Google’s Gemini AI attributes. I mention those here because a lot of them depend on the webcam. But, there are actually a host of Chromebook Plus attributes that the Chromebook Plus Spin 714 has. In a way, Chromebook Plus is Google’s response to Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC AI initiative. The difference is that Chromebook Plus laptops don’t seem to require a fast Neural Processing Unit (NPU), which the Chromebook Plus Spin 14 doesn’t possess.

I found the various elements to work well, and that includes the webcam. So far, AI seems more like a novelty to me, so I won’t spend too much time on Chromebook Plus.

My Chromebook Plus Spin 14 review unit uses an Intel Core Ultra 5 115U, a Meteor Lake chipset with eight cores (two Performance and six Efficient) and 10 threads, running at 15 watts. It’s not a fast chipset, and as mentioned doesn’t have an NPU like Intel’s Lunar Lake, Apple Silicon, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chipset. If it was running Windows 11, it wouldn’t be a very fast chipset at all.

However, Chrome OS is a lot more lightweight. Although its capabilities have expanded, including the ability to run Android apps, it remains at its core a web-based operating system. Given the Chromebook Plus Flip 14’s 8GB of RAM, which is a lot for Chrome OS, its real-life performance is very good. It only scored 1,599 in the Geekbench 6 single-core test and 5,482 in the multi-core test, and those aren’t very good. But the chipset is more than fast enough for good performance in Chrome OS. We can’t run our complete set of benchmarks on Chrome OS, but I’m comfortable that most customers will like the Chromebook Plus Flip 14’s performance.

The Intel integrated graphics aren’t the best, but you can still run most Android games fairly well. And that’s about the limit of gaming on the laptop unless you go with something like Nvidia’s GeForce Now streaming service. In that case, you’ll get very good gaming performance up to the limits of the subscription you buy and the speed of your internet connection.

The Chromebook Plus Flip 14 has a 53 watt-hour battery and an FHD+ IPS display. The combination should provide decent battery life.

In my testing, the laptop achieved around eight hours in our web browsing test and [website] hours in our video looping test. Those are good results that promise most of a day’s work running typical tasks. It’s not as good as some of the best Windows and macOS laptops today, but it’s good enough.

The [website] FHD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS display is just sharp enough at the size that text isn’t too pixellated. If you want the sharpest text, you’ll likely wish it was higher resolution. Brightness was very good and colors seem dynamic and reasonably accurate. It doesn’t have the colors and inky blacks of OLED panels, but it will please productivity customers and media streamers.

I can’t use my colorimeter to test Chromebook displays, but I have no subjective issues with this one. The audio, provided by a pair of upward-firing speakers, was also good but not great.

Some consumers don’t need the complexity and wide compatibility of Windows 11 and macOS, but a simple tablet like an iPad or an Android tablet won’t suffice. That’s where Chromebooks come in, and the Chromebook Plus Spin 714 is a solid addition.

It’s fast enough and has good enough battery life, with a display that’s not spectacular but is good enough for most uses. At its $699 price is low enough that it’s a good budget option. It’s an easy convertible 2-in-1 to recommend.

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Cleer’s open-ear earbuds get new features for gamers

Cleer’s Arc lineup of open-ear earbuds have always been impressively well-equipped with elements, but now the organization has added some bells and whistles designed with gamers in mind: The $190 Cleer Arc II Gaming and $235 Cleer Arc 3 Gaming earbuds are available in either black or white finishes starting February 4.

These new models are essentially the same as their non-gaming counterparts (the Cleer Arc II and Cleer Arc 3), but with one key difference: each comes with a dedicated USB-C wireless dongle for low-latency connections. On the Cleer Arc II Gaming, Cleer says that latency gets under 60 milliseconds and on the Cleer Arc 3 Gaming, it can achieve just a hair under 30 milliseconds. The lower the latency, the advanced when it comes to gaming (and watching videos).

The dongles also make the two Gaming models compatible with popular consoles like PS4, PS5, PC, Switch, and Black : Electronics. The Cleer Arc 3 Gaming also works with the Meta Quest series of VR headsets.

Assuming that these numbers deliver the kind of performance that gamers need, the real question is whether or not open-ear earbuds are the right choice in terms of design. They let in a lot of outside noise — that’s intentional and it can help with situational awareness when outside in busy/hazardous areas. But that also means there’s no way to block out that noise when you want to focus exclusively on your audio.

On the other hand, open-ear earbuds are much less fatiguing and more comfortable for long sessions than earbuds that use silicone eartips to seal out external sounds.

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Cleer argues this is why gamers will enjoy these new models. Cleer’s “innovative open-ear technology lets you immerse yourself in the game while staying aware of your surroundings—no more sweating or ear fatigue during long play sessions,” hints at the press release.

aptX Lossless, aptX Adaptive, LDAC, AAC, and SBC codec support.

Dolby Atmos spatial audio with head tracking.

Touch screen smart charging with wireless charging and an internal mirror.

UV-C Light built-in to the charging case for cleaning and sterilization.

The Arc II Gaming is rated at IPX5 water resistance and gets a claimed 8 hours of playtime on a charge, plus 27 hours with the smart charging case, while the Arc 3 Gaming is rated IPX7 and gets 10 hours of playtime per charge, with an additional 40 hours from the case.

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These are set to be the weekend’s 3 biggest movies

Table of Contents Table of Contents Love Hurts Heart Eyes.

Following its enhanced-than-expected performance at the domestic box office last weekend when it took a whopping $36 million, Dreamworks’ Dog Man is expected to do well again this coming weekend, raking in more than any other movie.

The animated adaptation of Dav Pilkey’s graphic novel book series is expected to earn between $16 million and $20 million, .

Universal Pictures describes the family flick thus: “When a faithful police dog and his human police officer owner are injured together on the job, a harebrained but life-saving surgery fuses the two of them together and Dog Man is born. Dog Man is sworn to protect and serve — and fetch, sit, and roll over.”.

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The weekend’s second most popular movie could well be another Universal effort, Love Hurts. Debuting on Friday, the action comedy is expected to earn between $8 million and $12 million at the domestic box office.

Love Hurts follows realtor Marvin Gable (Ke Huy Quan) who returns to the life he left behind after his former partner-in-crime resurfaces with an ominous message. With his crime-lord brother also on his trail, Gable has no choice but to confront his past and the history that he never fully buried.

Another new movie, the comedy-horror Heart Eyes, is also forecast to take between $8 million and $12 million at the North American box office this weekend, so there’s a chance it could push Love Hurts into third spot.

Sony Pictures’ latest movie is enjoying a 90% rating on the Tomatometer from 48 reviews, so the early indications are good.

Sony Pictures’ logline for Heart Eyes reads: “For the past several years, the Heart Eyes Killer has wreaked havoc on Valentine’s Day by stalking and murdering romantic couples. This Valentine’s Day, no couple is safe.”.

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