Acer Chromebook 714 First Impressions



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Acer manufactures my favorite business-class Chromebooks, and it looks like the new Chromebook 714 is keeping up this trend, with its large 14-inch display and, for the first time, a built-in fingerprint reader.

This last feature may not seem like a big problem. But for me, one of my lingering frustrations with Chrome OS is the scarcity of what I consider easy but explicit connection options. That is, I do not like implicit connections, such as with Windows Hello facial recognition, or with Chrome OS, with Smart Lock, which relies on the proximity of your smartphone or other device. I prefer to connect manually or explicitly. But I'd like it to be faster than entering the long password for my Google Account.

With Windows, I typically log in with a fingerprint reader when it's available or a four-digit PIN when it's not. Chrome OS offers a PIN login option, but since my Google Account is a managed G Suite account, I am required to use a 6-digit PIN. (Despite multiple attempts, I have never found a way to change this in the G Suite administration tools.) That's not great.

The Chromebook 714 solves this problem and allows me to connect as I wish (easily and explicitly). So we made a good start.

Beyond that, the Chromebook 714 offers a high-end, all-aluminum design that, according to Acer, offers military-grade durability (US MIL-STD 810G1) related to moisture and extreme temperatures. It resists falls up to 4 feet and resists falls. at 132 pounds of strength down. I will not test any of these claims, but the 714 is certainly beautiful and well made, and has nothing to do with the all-plastic Chromebooks you still see at other prices.

The IPS screen is standard and unlike the excellent Chromebook Spin 13 of last year, it is a standard 16: 9 screen and not a 3: 2 screen. It is also only in Full HD (1920 x 1080), which would suit me the best if there was at least a 1440p upgrade option. As for the good news, there is a multi-touch option and, since the display can actually stay flat, this might even be useful, especially for Android games and applications. And although the upper and lower frames are, of course, large, the side panels are quite small.

(Regarding Spin 13, remember that the Chromebook was a convertible design and, therefore, its 3: 2 screen with touch and stylus support makes a lot more sense.The Chromebook 714 is, by comparison, a factor in standard form for laptops, for which I guess the demand is much higher, especially in the business market.)

For a Chromebook, the internal components of the 714 are quite upscale: the replay unit is powered by a 2.2-GHz Intel Core i3-8130U processor, 8GB of RAM, and 8GB of eMMC storage. But you can specify one with faster Core i-series processors, 16 GB of RAM and 128 GB of eMMC storage if needed. It's not so fancy, because you can now run Linux applications on Chromebook, including the Android Studio development environment.

Connectivity is a great dual-band 802.11acn Wi-Fi solution with 2 × 2 MIMO and Bluetooth 4.2 technology. I do not believe there is a cellular data option.

The extension is modern and perfectly suited to the task: there is a standard USB 3.1 port and a standard USB-C port on the left and a USB-C port and a microSD card slot on the right. There is no HDMI output for the video output, but it's 2019 and the USB-C ports on the unit can handle the DisplayPort video output.

The keyboard is backlit is Chromebook stock. It's too early to tell if it's more than just enough, but I'm a little surprised by the similarity, if not the identity, of most Chromebook keyboards. The large glass touchpad is excellent, with exceptional accuracy and performance, and supports multitouch gestures. It is also protected by Gorilla Glass.

The audio output is surprisingly loud and sharp, and the 714 comes with two remote microphones so you can use voice control to interact with Google Assistant throughout the room.

From a portability standpoint, the Chromebook 714 is a little heavy, thanks to its 14-inch screen, and weighs 3.31 pounds. It will not be a problem for anyone of my size, but those with a smaller frame may want to check one in person before making their decision. According to Acer, the battery life is excellent, with 14 hours of video playback time and over 11 hours of web browsing via Wi-Fi.

You may be wondering what makes this Chromebook a business class, aside from the build quality and the desirability of Chrome OS in certain scenarios, including front-line workers, healthcare, retail and other. Chromebook 714 is part of Google's Google Enterprise program. In fact, it is currently presented on its website. It is certified Citrix Ready, which means it is compatible with Citrix Receiver, XenApp and XenDesktop applications.

The Chromebook 714 is also compatible with the Android and Google Play Store applications, allowing buyers to access the world's largest app store. This feature, coupled with a growing number of apps in the enterprise-centric Chrome Web Store, includes access to applications such as VMWare, Cisco WebEx, Cisco Jabber (Android), Salesforce (Web) and well others.

The Chromebook 714 is available starting at $ 500, although this model comes with a Pentium processor, 8GB of RAM and 32GB of eMMC storage. The review unit, with a Core i3 processor, 8GB of RAM and 64GB of storage space is a reasonable price of $ 650. A high-end model, with a Core i5-8250U processor, 8 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage, costs $ 750.

More soon.

Tagged Acer, Acer Chromebook 714

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