Acer Chromebook 14, Aluminum, 14-inch Full HD, Intel Celeron Quad-Core N3160, 4GB LPDDR3, 32GB, Chrome, CB3-431-C5FM
- Intel Celeron N3160 Quad-Core Processor 1.6GHz (Up to 2.24GHz)
- 100% Aluminum Chassis
- 4GB LPDDR3 Onboard SDRAM Memory, 32GB Internal Storage
- 14″ Full HD IPS Display (1920 x 1080), Intel HD Graphics
- Google Chrome, Up to 12-hours Battery Life
Acer Chromebook 14 CB3-431-C5FM comes with these high level specs: Intel Celeron N3160 Quad-Core Processor 1.6GHz with Intel Burst Technology up to 2.24GHz, Google Chrome Operating System, 14″ Full HD ComfyViewTM Widescreen IPS LED-backlit Display, Intel HD Graphics, 4GB LPDDR3 SDRAM Memory, 32GB Internal Storage, 802.11ac WiFi featuring MIMO technology (Dual-Band 2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.2, HD Webcam (1280 x 720) with 88 degree wide angle lens supporting High Dynamic Range (HDR), 2 – USB 3.0 Ports, 1 – HDMI Port, 3-Cell Li-Polymer Battery (3950 mAh), Up to 12-hours Battery Life, 3.42 lbs. | 1.55 kg (system unit only) (NX.GC2AA.007)
List Price: $ 299.99
Price:
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1,106 of 1,152 people found the following review helpful
 Good? Yes. Worth buying? Yes! Perfect? Not exactly…, By
Voltron00x (Audubon, PA) – See all my reviews
Verified Purchase(What’s this?)
This review is from: Acer Chromebook 14, Aluminum, 14-inch Full HD, Intel Celeron Quad-Core N3160, 4GB LPDDR3, 32GB, Chrome, CB3-431-C5FM (Personal Computers)
As I write this, the Acer Chromebook 14 is sitting with 13 reviews, all of which are 5 stars… and I do feel a little bit bad here breaking up the perfect game, but after using this Chromebook for a few days, I feel I have an obligation to point out both its strengths and its drawbacks. Even writing that, I can’t say I’m completely surprised by all of the 5 star reviews, as there are a lot of things that this Chromebook gets right. There are five key things worth highlighting here. First: the screen. Many of Acer’s Chromebooks have, historically, been hampered by their poor displays. Thankfully, this time, Acer has gotten that part right. The Chromebook 14 has a 1080p IPS display with fantastic viewing angles and excellent brightness. I keep it at about 60-70% and it looks fantastic. It feels wonderful to finally say that about an Acer display. Second: the build materials. Chromebooks have generally been budget-friendly devices, but recently we’ve started to see some that are either mid-range and high quality (like the Dell 13) or are upper-low end budget devices that still use more premium build materials, like the Asus C100P "Flip" and now, the Acer Chromebook 14. Note that I said build materials, and not build quality. Third: 4GB RAM, 32GB local storage. A more recent trend among Chrome OS devices is the inclusion of 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, instead of the 2GB/16GB to which we’ve become accustomed. For a lot of users, the local storage limitation isn’t a big deal, as without applications, local storage isn’t that critical… but it is nice for people who like to locally store music, photos, and movies, or who intent to install Crouton (or are looking ahead to the possibility of Android apps). The extra RAM, however, is great for everyone, as it makes this device more capable of running many tabs, or handling higher demand tasks like streaming content, without tabs crashing out or caching/reloading. Fourth: Intel N3160 quad-core processor. This processor isn’t exactly going to light the world on fire, but for most of what folks do with a Chromebook, it is going to be adequate, and it provides a user experience that feels significantly faster and more responsive than the N3050 on Windows 10 or Chrome OS, and is also more responsive in Chrome here than the x5-Z8300 is in Windows 10 (such as you’d see in the Intel Compute Stick or Asus E200HA). Fifth: 9. When you stack up all these strengths and offer them at a price of 9, you’re getting a fairly impressive value proposition here with this Chromebook. The screen is great, for both media consumption and general computing/web browsing; it offers a nice amount of local storage and solid performance via the Intel processor and 4GB of RAM, and it looks sharp, thanks to modern design queues and aluminum build materials. What’s not to love here, right? Well…….. I hate to be "that" guy, but there’s a few things to pick at here. I keep reading comments along the lines of: "Forget the Dell Chromebook 13 / Toshiba Chromebook 2 2015, this is the Chromebook to get!" And for a lot of people, that’s likely true, but I certainly won’t say that’s true as a blanket statement. Let’s start with the Dell Chromebook 13. It has a smaller screen footprint, but is thicker and about the same weight, with a similar screen quality (and a tendency for backlight bleed); however, it packs a much more solid construction and a significantly more premium "feel" throughout, including its trackpad, keyboard, and overall feel in hand. It also has much better performance, including an easily upgraded M.2 SSD that has faster read/write speeds and much more flexibility for those looking to install Crouton (to use Linux). That last part is a small subset of users, but it is still worth noting; however, the performance and build quality gap are very real and will be notable to all users. And, of course, the Dell can be purchased with an even faster Intel Core i3 or i5, and can also be upgraded to a touchscreen, which again may be significant if Android apps come to Chrome OS. What about the Toshiba Chromebook 2 2015? Things are less clear here; the Toshiba again has better performance, and uses a real SSD, but it has less impressive build quality and even less impressive materials; it does offer a backlit keyboard and an even nicer screen, still the nicest of these three. I think that a lot of Toshiba customers should probably consider the Acer, but those who were aboard the Dell train for its build quality and performance will likely still want to move forward with that device instead of this one; if I had to choose between the two, I’d likely go Dell… but then again, budget isn’t my number one concern. At 0, this is a great purchase… …which leads me to my next point, the omnipresent comments about…
340 of 358 people found the following review helpful
 Finally a beautiful, high-spec’d machine firing on all cylinders for Chromebook powerusers, By
This review is from: Acer Chromebook 14, Aluminum, 14-inch Full HD, Intel Celeron Quad-Core N3160, 4GB LPDDR3, 32GB, Chrome, CB3-431-C5FM (Personal Computers)
For Chromebook fans, one persistent nagging issue has been the generally under-powered hardware for users who really push their machines – once you have a dozen or so tabs open with a half dozen extensions, many Chromebooks can start to slow down noticeably. Until now, the only option available has been the 00 Pixel which is a beautiful PC but way beyond the budget for this kind of device.
Acer has identified the Chromebook market gaps and solved almost everything in this extremely solid offering – a thin, metal, almost Mac-like build, armed with 4GB of RAM, a full 14" HD display and a Quad-core CPU. Even the touchpad and keyboard perform as well as the very best Chromebooks currently available (which, until now, I would have said were built by Dell and Samsung). The performance never lags, it meets the 10-12 hour battery life promise in my usage tests, and it’s quickly become my go-to computer for both home and work. If you’re new to Chromebooks, here’s what to expect from this Acer machine and the O.S. generally – these are genuinely ‘instant-on’ machines, highly secure and tightly integrated into Google’s suite of apps and tools. Anything that runs in a Chrome browser on a desktop or laptop will run on a Chromebook, and there are novel app-like extensions for almost anything else (calculator apps, command lines, etc.) For an office, you can give everyone a Chromebook and their environment becomes available on login and disappears when they sign-out, and the machines can also be remotely managed if you’re a Google Apps customer. For home users, these cheap machines fit many use cases from casual browsing and two-screening, to watching videos and calling family. They’re ideal for elderly parents and in-laws who might other spam their own machines with malware since Chromebooks are much harder to break than a Windows 7/8/10 PC. For students and road warriors, the extended battery life and automatic cloud integration makes sync-ing a breeze, especially if you hotspot from your phone. And as with many other Chromebooks, this Acer also comes with some additional freebies such as 100GB of Drive space, Google Music and a dozen in-air Gogo passes (worth over 0 alone). As a 5-year Chromebook veteran, I’ve been waiting for this machine. It takes the basic premise of the simplicity and security of the Chrome O.S and matches it with high quality hardware at a value price. From the camera and audio quality through to the build styling, every aspect of this PC has been meticulously considered and it represents the best Chromebook that has been delivered to date
145 of 154 people found the following review helpful
One really nice Chromebook, By
Nicholas Sardo (Vancouver, WA United States) – See all my reviews
Verified Purchase(What’s this?)
This review is from: Acer Chromebook 14, Aluminum, 14-inch Full HD, Intel Celeron N3160, 4GB LPDDR3, 32GB, Chrome, Gold, CB3-431-C0AK (Personal Computers)
I’m a Software Engineer, and wanted a relatively cheap laptop that I could take with me, and at the same time, not have to worry about like I do with my 00+ Mac Pro book. I do a lot of development in the cloud, and make use of a lot of resources on the net, and so reasoned I didn’t need to cart around a regular laptop. Since I obviously do a lot of typing, I hoped for decent keyboard– and was pleasantly surprised. The keyboard on this unit is actually quite nice. And let’s be real. The majority of things we do everyday on a computer is covered by a Chromebook, and it’s large array of available apps and extensions (to Chrome). Certainly for specialized uses, we can’t completely untether ourselves from a full on laptop or desktop running Linux, OS X, or Windows. But Chromebooks do fill a niche.
I just received delivery of this, and set it up. One thing I didn’t like about Chromebooks that I’ve looked at in the past was their cheesy shells and keyboards, and the cost of a decent one. This unit not only has a nice aluminum shell (which is very attractive), but it also has a decent keyboard, with much better tactile properties than any Chromebooks I’ve looked at in the past. It actually looks and feels like a laptop, instead of some plastic toy. The hardware specs on this are very nice compared to other offerings: 4G Ram, 32G storage, Quad-core processor, etc. The screen is beautiful, and the speakers are very nice. Better in fact than some of my laptops. The mouse area is responsive, and has a nice feel to it. The overall unit has a slim profile, and is light weight. When I was comparing this model against other manufacturer’s / model’s, the only thing that made me pause was the lack of a card reader/writer. Ultimately, what I decided was that: (a) with google drive, microsoft drive, box, dropbox, etc., there is no good reason to require a reader/writer, as I can simply save and download whatever I want from the cloud, and (b) 32GB is plenty of local storage for a Chromebook. Thus far, I am very happy with the purchase, and highly recommend it. |
Gamer
Good? Yes. Worth buying? Yes! Perfect? Not exactly…,
As I write this, the Acer Chromebook 14 is sitting with 13 reviews, all of which are 5 stars… and I do feel a little bit bad here breaking up the perfect game, but after using this Chromebook for a few days, I feel I have an obligation to point out both its strengths and its drawbacks. Even writing that, I can’t say I’m completely surprised by all of the 5 star reviews, as there are a lot of things that this Chromebook gets right.
There are five key things worth highlighting here.
First: the screen. Many of Acer’s Chromebooks have, historically, been hampered by their poor displays. Thankfully, this time, Acer has gotten that part right. The Chromebook 14 has a 1080p IPS display with fantastic viewing angles and excellent brightness. I keep it at about 60-70% and it looks fantastic. It feels wonderful to finally say that about an Acer display.
Second: the build materials. Chromebooks have generally been budget-friendly devices, but recently we’ve started to see some that are either mid-range and high quality (like the Dell 13) or are upper-low end budget devices that still use more premium build materials, like the Asus C100P “Flip” and now, the Acer Chromebook 14. Note that I said build materials, and not build quality.
Third: 4GB RAM, 32GB local storage. A more recent trend among Chrome OS devices is the inclusion of 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, instead of the 2GB/16GB to which we’ve become accustomed. For a lot of users, the local storage limitation isn’t a big deal, as without applications, local storage isn’t that critical… but it is nice for people who like to locally store music, photos, and movies, or who intent to install Crouton (or are looking ahead to the possibility of Android apps). The extra RAM, however, is great for everyone, as it makes this device more capable of running many tabs, or handling higher demand tasks like streaming content, without tabs crashing out or caching/reloading.
Fourth: Intel N3160 quad-core processor. This processor isn’t exactly going to light the world on fire, but for most of what folks do with a Chromebook, it is going to be adequate, and it provides a user experience that feels significantly faster and more responsive than the N3050 on Windows 10 or Chrome OS, and is also more responsive in Chrome here than the x5-Z8300 is in Windows 10 (such as you’d see in the Intel Compute Stick or Asus E200HA).
Fifth: $299. When you stack up all these strengths and offer them at a price of $299, you’re getting a fairly impressive value proposition here with this Chromebook. The screen is great, for both media consumption and general computing/web browsing; it offers a nice amount of local storage and solid performance via the Intel processor and 4GB of RAM, and it looks sharp, thanks to modern design queues and aluminum build materials.
What’s not to love here, right?
Well…….. I hate to be “that” guy, but there’s a few things to pick at here.
I keep reading comments along the lines of: “Forget the Dell Chromebook 13 / Toshiba Chromebook 2 2015, this is the Chromebook to get!” And for a lot of people, that’s likely true, but I certainly won’t say that’s true as a blanket statement.
Let’s start with the Dell Chromebook 13. It has a smaller screen footprint, but is thicker and about the same weight, with a similar screen quality (and a tendency for backlight bleed); however, it packs a much more solid construction and a significantly more premium “feel” throughout, including its trackpad, keyboard, and overall feel in hand. It also has much better performance, including an easily upgraded M.2 SSD that has faster read/write speeds and much more flexibility for those looking to install Crouton (to use Linux). That last part is a small subset of users, but it is still worth noting; however, the performance and build quality gap are very real and will be notable to all users. And, of course, the Dell can be purchased with an even faster Intel Core i3 or i5, and can also be upgraded to a touchscreen, which again may be significant if Android apps come to Chrome OS.
What about the Toshiba Chromebook 2 2015? Things are less clear here; the Toshiba again has better performance, and uses a real SSD, but it has less impressive build quality and even less impressive materials; it does offer a backlit keyboard and an even nicer screen, still the nicest of these three.
I think that a lot of Toshiba customers should probably consider the Acer, but those who were aboard the Dell train for its build quality and performance will likely still want to move forward with that device instead of this one; if I had to choose between the two, I’d likely go Dell… but then again, budget isn’t my number one concern. At $300, this is a great purchase…
…which leads me to my next point, the omnipresent comments about…
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|Finally a beautiful, high-spec’d machine firing on all cylinders for Chromebook powerusers,
Acer has identified the Chromebook market gaps and solved almost everything in this extremely solid offering – a thin, metal, almost Mac-like build, armed with 4GB of RAM, a full 14″ HD display and a Quad-core CPU. Even the touchpad and keyboard perform as well as the very best Chromebooks currently available (which, until now, I would have said were built by Dell and Samsung). The performance never lags, it meets the 10-12 hour battery life promise in my usage tests, and it’s quickly become my go-to computer for both home and work.
If you’re new to Chromebooks, here’s what to expect from this Acer machine and the O.S. generally – these are genuinely ‘instant-on’ machines, highly secure and tightly integrated into Google’s suite of apps and tools. Anything that runs in a Chrome browser on a desktop or laptop will run on a Chromebook, and there are novel app-like extensions for almost anything else (calculator apps, command lines, etc.) For an office, you can give everyone a Chromebook and their environment becomes available on login and disappears when they sign-out, and the machines can also be remotely managed if you’re a Google Apps customer.
For home users, these cheap machines fit many use cases from casual browsing and two-screening, to watching videos and calling family. They’re ideal for elderly parents and in-laws who might other spam their own machines with malware since Chromebooks are much harder to break than a Windows 7/8/10 PC. For students and road warriors, the extended battery life and automatic cloud integration makes sync-ing a breeze, especially if you hotspot from your phone. And as with many other Chromebooks, this Acer also comes with some additional freebies such as 100GB of Drive space, Google Music and a dozen in-air Gogo passes (worth over $100 alone).
As a 5-year Chromebook veteran, I’ve been waiting for this machine. It takes the basic premise of the simplicity and security of the Chrome O.S and matches it with high quality hardware at a value price. From the camera and audio quality through to the build styling, every aspect of this PC has been meticulously considered and it represents the best Chromebook that has been delivered to date
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