There's never been a better time to get a Chromebook.

It's not Google's fault Chromebooks have taken half a decade to be considered worthy replacements for regular full-fledged laptops running OS X and Windows. The world simply wasn't ready to live entirely in the cloud. But now it is.

Though I've reviewed many Chromebooks over the years, most of them tended to fall on the low-end — cheap machines with cheap build quality and just barely good-enough performance.

That's all changing this year as Chromebooks grow up. Acer's Chromebook 14, for example, is part of a new crop of premium notebooks running Chrome OS with the respectability you'd find from any good MacBook Air clone.





Pricing is usually a good indicator for what to expect from a laptop, but I wouldn't judge the Chromebook 14 only by its $300 price. This is one of those cases where you get way more than what you pay for.

Handsome all around

The screen folds 180-degrees flat for some reason. Image: tyler essary/mashable

As far as Chromebooks go, the Chromebook 14 is a smooth brushed aluminum beauty. The laptop will no doubt draw comparisons to the 13-inch MacBook Air, but who cares? Acer's built a rock-solid laptop that won't even bend when you grab it by the screen with one hand (never do this!).

I use a 13-inch MacBook Air at work and a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display at home. The Chromebook 14 is wider than both, but only by a little bit, and it's a hair thinner than the Air. It still fit perfectly into my small-sized Timbuk2 messenger bag.

Brushed aluminum finish Flimsy power adapter

The Acer laptop is slightly lighter than my MacBook Pro, but the weight was honestly unnoticeable. What is noticeable is the 14-inch full HD (1,920 x 1,080) screen, which is larger than both my MacBooks and has higher resolution than the Air. Chromebooks are notorious for scrimping wherever possible and the screen's always been one area of weakness. Not on the Chromebook 14 — the IPS screen has really great viewing angles and color reproduction is pretty good for a $300 laptop.

I'm also happy to report the keyboard and trackpad are très bien. The keyboard is spacious and well-spaced and the island-style keys have good travel depth. They're a little mushier than on my MacBooks, but nowhere near as shallow as the 12-inch MacBook, which just feels like I'm grinding my finger bones right into the keys. The keyboard also doesn't have any backlighting system, which sucks if you can't touch type and need to see the keys in the dark.

Spacious keyboard Image: tyler essary/mashable Large, smooth trackpad Image: TYLER ESSARY/MASHABLE

Likewise, the trackpad is large, smooth and very responsive. I've said it before and I'll say it again: It baffles me how cheap Chromebooks can have better trackpads than more expensive Windows laptops.

There's no touchscreen option for the Chromebook 14. Though I like having a touchscreen and using it for tapping on things like video and music control buttons and links, it's not a deal breaker. (It could, however, be something you should deeply consider if you care about using a touchscreen for the Android apps that will come to Chromebooks later this year.)

Left side Image: TYLER ESSARY/MASHABLE Right side Image: TYLER ESSARY/MASHABLE

One of the things I really like about Chromebooks is that they mostly have lots of ports, unlike *cough* Apple's 12-inch MacBook *cough*. On the Chromebook 14, you get a pair of USB 3.0 ports and an HDMI on the left and headphone jack on the right. I would have liked an SD card slot, since I (and a lot of people I know) still take a lot of photos on their digital cameras and transfer them locally. But, hey, you get a Kensington lock (K-Slot) for locking down your machine with a physical security cable.

Quiet and powerful

Unless you buy Google's Pixel Chromebook, most Chromebooks are generally underpowered. The rule of thumb has always been that because Chromebooks run Chrome OS, which is essentially the Chrome browser, they don't need to blazing fast specs.

But that's a load of baloney. Chrome OS is still mostly the Chrome browser, but thanks to pushback from users, it has become more of a full computer OS than in its early days. For example, there's now a file limited file manager for managing all of your local files and you can use some apps like Google Docs offline.

Runs Chrome OS Image: tyler essary/mashable

It's not only the OS that needs more horsepower, but the demanding web itself does. Having tested many Chromebooks throughout the years, I can say without a shadow of doubt to never buy any with less than 4GB of RAM. Many companies will try to rope you in with really cheap 2GB of RAM Chromebooks, but don't fall for them — they bottleneck quickly under only a handful of tabs.

The Chromebook 14 is the best-performing $300 Chromebook I've ever used.

The Chromebook 14 is no Pixel, but it can hold keep up pretty well with a dozen tabs open and handful of resource-intensive extensions installed. I typed this entire review in Google Docs (partially online and offline), while listening to Spotify, with a bunch of tabs open for research purposes and the 1.6Hz Intel Celeron processor just blazed along without any issues. It really helps that Acer put 4GB of RAM standard in the Chromebook 14; it's the best-performing $300 Chromebook I've ever used.

Despite there not being a fan, the Chromebook 14 never got hot. Acer rates the battery life at up to 12 hours (the company's Chromebook 14 for Work is rated at up to 14 hours). You'll be able to get that power mileage if you restrict your computing activities to streaming music or video streaming and with many of your battery-saving features (screen brightness, Wi-Fi off, Bluetooth off, etc.) dialed down. But realistically speaking, you'll be able to get anywhere between 7-9 hours of solid mixed usage. On heavier work days, the Chromebook 14 only mustered around 5-6 hours, but I'm also a power user, which you may not be.

O ne hot Chromebook

Image: tyler essary/mashable

Chromebooks are excellent laptops for students, kids and seniors. They're also great machines for guests you invite over.

I've always been hesitant to get a Chromebook. (I don't need one since I have two Macs and an iPad.) But if I were to get one today or recommend one to a friend, the Acer Chromebook 14 would be my top pick. It's cheaper than even the base model iPad Air 2, does so much more, comes with twice as much storage (32GB) and has a battery that lasts all day long. There's even an ultra-wide HD webcam on the front!

It's quite amazing to see how much value Acer has squeezed into a $300 machine. I'm not sure how they've done it, but I'm quite happy that they did, and I bet anyone looking for a good, cheap laptop will be happy, too.

Acer Chromebook 14 The Good Premium metal design • Long battery life • Solid keyboard and trackpad • Great performance for $300 • Large full HD screen The Bad Keys can be a little mushy The Bottom Line No other Chromebook comes close to Acer's Chromebook 14 in design, performance and battery life for $300.

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