If you aren’t ready to buy a full-fledged laptop, a Chromebook is a great alternative since they’re usually cheaper while still coming in the same body as a traditional laptop. The Acer Chromebook 314 is a great example, and while it won’t win any awards for high-end specifications, it’s a solid device and a great budget option if you want something basic. Luckily, Best Buy has a great deal, bringing it down to $169 from $269, making it more affordable.
Why you should buy the Acer Chromebook 314
At 14-inches, you might not expect the Acer 314 to have much going for it, but surprisingly, it has a touch screen with up to 10-finger multitouch, which is a nice little addition, although it would have been nice if it was convertible to use in tablet mode. Nonetheless, the overall build quality is sturdy, with little to no flex on the keyboard, and battery life should see you up to around 12 hours or so, depending on your usage, which is great. It’s also worth noting that the screen not only uses an IPS panel, which gives you better color reproduction and viewing angles, but it can also hit 300 nits of peak brightness, meaning you can use it in a well-lit room without too much issue.
As for specifications, you get an Intel Celeron N4020 and entry-level CPU that will work well for general productivity work, zoom meetings, and day-to-day use, although it won’t handle more complex tasks well. That’s partially due to the 4GB of internal RAM, which isn’t much nowadays. Luckily, it runs ChromeOS rather than Windows 11, so it’s not as RAM-hungry. As for storage, it’s not great at just 64GBs, but it will get you by in a pinch, although we encourage you to grab one of these external hard drive deals to help supplement it; you’ll find it very useful.
While the Acer Chromebook 314 isn’t packed with high-end specs, it’s a great budget device that will get you started, and that’s really what it’s made to be. With the deal from Best Buy bringing it down to $169 from $269, it’s excellent value, and while we think you should buy it if you need a budget device, it’s still worth checking out some of these other Chromebook deals for alternatives.
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