Acer Chromebook Plus 515 specs
Worth: $399.99
CPU: Intel Core i3-1215U
GPU: Built-in Intel UHD Graphics
RAM: 8GB
Show: 15.6nch, FHD IPS Touchscreen (1920 x 1080) Battery: 8:21
Dimension: 14.2″ x 9.39″ x 0.79 inches
Weight: 3.7 kilos
The Acer Chromebook Plus 515 ($399.99) and a gaggle of next-gen Chromebooks have been introduced at a not too long ago held Google occasion in New York Metropolis. After listening to Google’s workforce presentation, I used to be extremely skeptical about all their claims, smiling faces, and promised capabilities. I’m a skeptic no extra. The Acer Chromebook Plus 515’s twelfth Gen Intel Core i3, 8GB of RAM, with Intel UHD graphics, powered me via all of the duties I set earlier than it after which some. I’ve by no means been in a position to edit pictures and movies on a Chromebook intuitively and easily till now.
Although the specs appear underwhelming, with Google’s masterful software of AI in Chrome OS, this may increasingly mark the start of a brand new period for Chromebooks, so let’s take a deeper dive into the Acer Chromebook Plus 515.
Acer Chromebook Plus 515 pricing and configurations
The $399.99 Acer Chromebook Plus 515 comes with a 15.6-inch IPS (1920 x 1080) show, a twelfth Gen Intel Core i3-11215U CPU with built-in Intel UHD graphics, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB SSD for storage.
Acer Chromebook Plus 515 design
The Acer Chromebook Plus 515 comes with some good, clear styling that appears costlier than it’s. On the lid, we discover the chromed-out Acer emblem on the left middle with a Chromebook Plus emblem above it close to the highest left. The darkish silver-grey metallic flecked 515 additionally has some angled etched-in design strains on the correct that give the quilt some pizzazz and texture.
If you pop the clamshell-designed 515 open, your eyes are greeted by a centered chicklet-style keyboard with white font on the keys. Speaker grills on both aspect of the keyboard home the DTS-tuned audio system. When your eyes slide down, they are going to see the ocean glass touchpad with a pleasant chrome define that pops in opposition to its silver-grey coloring.
Trying up on the 15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) with a 16:9 side ratio and held in place by skinny bezels. Within the high middle of the bezel, we discover the FHD (1920 x 1080) webcam with a bodily safety shutter.
The 515 measures 14.2 x 9.39 x 0.79 inches and weighs 3.7 kilos. The 515 just isn’t the lightest system in our Chromebook check group. The Acer Chromebook Spin 714 was our most svelte Chromebook, weighing 3.2 kilos and measuring 12.3 x 8.8 x 0.71 inches. The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus weighed 3.5 kilos and measured 12.4 x 9.0 x 0.8 inches.
Acer Chromebook Plus 515 safety
There’s a bodily webcam shutter to offer safety once you’re finished with video calls and a nano Kensington lock. After all, you may guarantee your recordsdata are stored secure by establishing a safety pin and password.
Acer Chromebook Plus 515 ports
The Acer’s Chromebook Plus 515 has all of the essential ports it’s possible you’ll require.
On the correct, we find the AC energy port, USB Sort-C portand the nano Kensington lock.
On the left is the place we discover a USB Sort-A portan HDMI port, and a USB Sort-C port.
Acer Chromebook Plus 515 show
The 515’s 15.6-inch, 1080p show is crispy, vivid, and fairly shiny. I loved watching movies on the unit; the display makes it a high quality laptop computer to binge-watch your favourite reveals once you’re not busy pushing paperwork or modifying photographs or movies.
I watched the final episode of Ahsoka on Disney Plus, and Rosario Dawson’s character’s huge blue eyes confirmed via in each scene as they popped in opposition to her clay-colored pores and skin.
The near-final scene the place we see the now deceased Ray Stevenson introduced tears to my eyes as his Baylan Skoll stood within the hand of a cracked stone statue of the outdated gods. Nonetheless, I observed one small factor in regards to the show, which we’ll contact on subsequent.
Throughout our testing, I wasn’t stunned that the 515 coated a disappointing 43.4% of the DCI-P3 shade gamut, beneath the 64.8% Chromebook common. Whereas watching Ahsoka and modifying movies, I picked up on the low shade saturation. The colour is simply flat, which is one thing that may be improved upon sooner or later, being that we’re simply seeing the primary iteration of Chromebook Plus units. The Spin 714 led our group with 76%, adopted by the Flex 5i’s uninspiring 46.5%.
Our Acer Chromebook Plus 515 produced 270.6 nits of brightness throughout our testing, which put it means beneath the Chromebook common of 435 nits. The Spin led our group once more, averaging 389 nits of brightness, with the IdeaPad Flex 5i coming in at 306 nits.
Acer Chromebook Plus 515 audio
The Acer Chromebook Plus 515 is a budget-friendly laptop computer, not a increase field, however it does a stable job because it produces clear, distortion-free audio I can hear throughout my tiny studio condominium. Tonal separation is obvious; you may inform the distinction between highs, mids, and lows.
Though, there isn’t a lot bass to talk of as I listened to Cardi B’s “Bongo’s.” The mid-range tones dominated the monitor, which solely helped the spicy lyrics, which had me blushing. The DTS-tuned audio system are stable, however I recommend utilizing headphones in the event you require a greater audio expertise.
Whereas watching Ahsoka, voices have been very cleanly reproduced with good depth, and particular results audio was additionally very cleanly reproduced with out distortion, even with the amount maxed out. I’ll say the mic array on the 515 is superb throughout video calls. Google makes use of AI-powered noise canceling, and it actually helps hold background noise to a minimal from each ends of a video name.
Acer Chromebook Plus 515 keyboard and touchpad
The Chiclet-style keyboard is a pleasure to kind on. Acer did a extremely wonderful job with this keyboard. The 515’s keyboard has wonderful journey and is tremendous responsive and bouncy. Once I put my coal smashers to it through the 10fastfingers typing check, I scored 89 phrases per minute, with 93% accuracy, which falls inside my typical charges of 88 phrases per minute and 90% accuracy.
The 5.1 x 3.4-inch touchpad is spacious, responsive, and correct when navigating web sites or paperwork. It carried out nicely when utilizing two-finger gestures and modifying pictures and movies.
Acer Chromebook Plus 515 efficiency
With a twelfth Gen Intel Core i3-1215U CPU, 8GB of RAMa 128GB SSDand built-in Intel UHD Graphics working the featherweight Chrome OSthe Acer’s efficiency is spunky with nearly-instant boot instances. The 515 had no challenge after I had 30 Google Chrome tabs opened with 5 1080p movies enjoying. I labored on paperwork in Google Docs with out noticing any lag or sputtering efficiency.
Additionally, I might do issues I by no means might earlier than, due to Google Chrome being infused and enhanced with AI. I might shortly open up Adobe Artistic Suite and use PhotoShop, then share photographs throughout the suite to Adobe Specific and fine-tune these photographs with the assistance of Adobe’s AI FireFly. Like I not too long ago noticed in an indication, I took a picture, edited it in Photoshop, flipped it to Specific, created a flyer, and turned it into a brief video in minutes. It was speedy, and I used to be thrilled, and should praise Google and Adobe for the superb work.
Subsequent, I downloaded LumaFusion, a video modifying suite for Chrome, and edited a few 4K movies sitting in my Google Drive. LumaFusion isn’t arduous to be taught, though it did take some adjustment. It isn’t but as intuitive as Davinci Resolve, however you may make some good fast cuts and edits with it in a pinch. I haven’t absolutely dived into it, however a younger creator might get a lot use out of it. Additionally, there are a ton of YouTube tutorial movies out there. The Acer Chromebook Plus 515 operated easily throughout video modifying. I used to be fortunately stunned, and once more, wonderful job, everybody; you achieved one thing game-changing.
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Lastly, sure, you may recreation on the Acer, as I downloaded Nvidia GeForce Now and performed GhostRunner, and the entire expertise was wonderful, with snappy efficiency with none lag.
Throughout Geekbench 6, an artificial general efficiency check, the 515 registered 5,052, scoring beneath the 5,246 Chromebook common. The Acer Chromebook Spin 714 (Core i5-1335U) rating of 6,335. The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i (Intel Core i3-1315U) scored 5,384, concluding this benchmark.
Throughout our Jetstream 2.0 benchmark, our Acer registered 275.37, above the Chromebook common of 231.1. This was adopted by the Lenovo, which tallied 272.91, with the Spin 714 rounding issues out with 250.18.
Acer Chromebook Plus 515 battery life
Chromebooks are recognized for battery lifewith the Chromebook common being 9:50. Our Acer Chromebook Plus 515 fell a bit brief, averaging 8 hours and 21 minutes of battery life. It is nonetheless a shade over the everyday work day, however barely any extra time.
The Acer Chromebook Spin 714 led our group with a stunning 12 hours and 43 minutes of run time, with the IdeaPad checking in at 9 hours and 43 minutes.
Acer Chromebook Plus 515 warmth
The Acer is a really cool laptop computer that stayed beneath our 95-degree threshold the entire time we examined it. Throughout our warmth check, which consists of working a fullscreen HD video for quarter-hour, the touchpad measured 76.6 levels Fahrenheit, whereas the area between the G and H keys measured 89.4 levels. The laptop computer’s backside reached 92.5 levels. I truly by no means heard the followers activate, not even whereas modifying blended media.
Acer Chromebook Plus 515 webcam
The Acer Chromebook Plus 515’s webcam produces wonderful pictures and movies, absolutely using Google’s AI. Whereas utilizing Google MeetI appeared flawless, and actually, it is one of many higher built-in webcam experiences, with the webcam producing excellent pores and skin tones and shade accuracy. I anticipate that this might be a typical theme throughout the Chromebook Plus ecosystem.
Additionally, you now have entry to ChromeOS AI-enhanced digicam settings and modifying choices like Magic Eraser to reap the benefits of and fine-tune photographs and video.
Nonetheless, if you wish to bump issues as much as 4k, I’d contemplate taking a look at our finest exterior webcams web page.
Acer Chromebook Plus 515 software program and guarantee
Chrome OS has gained recognition and will be discovered within the enterprise world with enterprise assist. Chrome OS and Google Workspace are staking a market share declare in each the enterprise and training sectors. Now, due to Google’s suave use of AI, ChromeOS is changing into a viable choice for content material creators. I by no means thought I’d write that, however right here we’re, which is unbelievable.
Chrome OS has been a stable choice for customers on a finances, college students, or gentle productiveness customers. With the addition of AI, now you can shortly and easily edit pictures and movies. It’s game-changing if you find yourself a younger creator on a decent finances to have entry to an inexpensive software.
The Acer Chromebook Plus 515 comes with a 1-year guarantee. You may see how Acer fared on our annual particular experiences: Tech Assist Showdown and Greatest and Worst Manufacturers.
Backside line
The Acer Chromebook Plus 515 adheres to Google’s new mantra of double energy and double the efficiency. I might edit pictures and movies whereas pushing out paperwork and watching hours of content material on my favourite streaming web site. It by no means struggled with any of the duties I put earlier than it, and though the battery life is below 10 hours, which is what I hoped for, I can’t maintain that in opposition to it in any respect.
For a laptop computer that prices below $400, you may mainly do no matter your coronary heart needs, from doc pushing, video, and picture modifying to even some gaming. You may get all that for simply $399. Google and its OEM companions simply put Apple and Microsoft on discover.
