Acer is adding a Chromebook to its Vero lineup, which it says is meant to give laptop buyers an “environmentally conscious” option. Like the (rather disappointing) Windows laptop, the Chromebook Vero 514 is made from recycled plastics, has a 99 percent recyclable chassis, and comes in packaging that’s 90 percent recycled paper, according to the company . Acer’s press release even suggests that some of the Chromebook’s packaging can be “transformed into a versatile triangular laptop stand,” if you don’t mind throwing anything away.
Before we go over the recyclability, though, let’s quickly go over the specs: It weighs just a hair over 3 pounds, which is reasonable for a laptop with a 14-inch screen, and it’s powered by a 12th-gen Intel processor. with Xe graphics. You can spec it with a variety of processors, including the five-core Pentium Gold 8505 (don’t let the core fool you, only one is for performance while the rest are efficiency cores), the Core i3-1215U, the Core i5-1235U and a Core i7-1255U. They’re all relatively low power chips, suitable for an eco-friendly PC, but if I were looking for a laptop I’d probably go with the i3 or i5 and avoid the Pentium entirely.
I’ll admit I dig the recycled plastic look and appreciate the inclusion of a 1080p webcam. Image: Steel
The 1080p screen is covered in Gorilla Glass, which should feel reasonably nice if you opt for the touchscreen model. Its 300 nits of brightness won’t be enough if you’re constantly working in sunlight, but it’s still a step up from the 227 nits panel found on its Windows counterpart. The 514 should also improve the color rendering of the original Vero; while the Windows model can only display 66 percent of the sRGB gamut, Acer’s promised 100 percent coverage for its Chromebook.
The screen is, on paper, a big step up from Acer’s previous Vero laptop.
When it comes to ports, the 514 has a good selection: two USB-C ports, which can be used to quickly charge the battery up to 50 percent in 30 minutes, a USB-A port, an HDMI port, and a of headphones . The computer also includes a 1080p “flare reduction” webcam.
As for the laptop’s ecological footprint, Acer says the trackpad surface is made up of 100% “ocean-bound plastics”, while the keycaps are made from 50% plastic post-consumer recycled. 30 percent of the plastic in the chassis is recycled. While that’s not necessarily as impressive as, say, a $1,200 MacBook Air that has a 100 percent recycled chassis, it’s nice to see Acer offering relatively granular details like Apple. I couldn’t find any numbers to support Asus’ claims that its Chromebook Flip CX5 has an “eco-friendly design” due to its “integrated recycled materials.”
Acer also claims the Chromebook is easy to repair and upgrade, with standard screws giving you access to memory and storage (which you might have to, given that the largest SSD you can get with the 514 is 256 GB). While that’s not on par with what Framework does with its almost completely repairable and upgradable laptop, this computer is nearly twice the price; the base model 514, comes with the Core i3, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, starting at $499.99.
That’s another improvement over the Windows version, which starts at $700, and doesn’t offer particularly great value at that price point, according to my co-worker Monica Chin’s review from last year. The 514 also runs ChromeOS, which is considered to be less demanding than Windows, which could help the 514 stay out of the landfill for longer, which is nothing but good news from an environmental perspective.
Overall, it looks like Acer addressed some of the issues we had with the original Vero laptop. However, I would like to echo a note that Monica made in her review of that computer: it’s hard to eat your way to eco-responsibility, and if you have to buy something, you should last a long time One option for those looking for a slightly greener PC is to install ChromeOS Flex on an old Windows laptop bought from a local used computer store or pulled from a closet (implementing the “reuse” step of reducing , reuse, etc.). recycle). But if you want something with slightly more modern hardware, including conveniences like a fingerprint reader, Acer says the Vero 514 will be available at Best Buy starting in “mid-October.”