The biggest monoliths in tech cant stop talking about Plus as of late.
How does Google respond?
Witheven more AI capabilitiespiloting its way onto Chromebooks.
The Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 may cost close to twice as much as the Chromebook Plus 514, but the new features work just as well on either model.Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo
As it turns out, the best features of these new Chromebooks have nothing to do with AI.
Now, cloud-based Gemini will sit prominently on users taskbars, much in the same way Microsoft promotes copilot.
Its an interesting time for those looking for new laptops.
Google’s AI won’t be making you a star on the meme circuit any time soon.Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo
Windows is boasting farmore AI capabilitiesthan before withprograms like Recall.
Plus, theres a whole slew of PC makers with brand-new Copilot+ PCs.
How does Google respond?
Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo
It has its own plus in the form of more Chromebook Plus, with even more AI.
Usually, that subscription goes for $20 a month.
That also gives you access to Gemini Advanced, Googles most premium user-facing AI chatbot.
The Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 has a much prettier screen than the 514 but is also very prone to reflections and glare.Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo
If youre going to college soon, 12 months of 2 TB cloud storage could be useful.
Its a cute feature, but as a writer, I find it quite useless andin many wayspretty insulting.
Its a feature I dont use in Google Docs, and I wont use it on my Chromebook.
Screenshot: Google
I asked Gemini Advanced some of the now-infamous questions like Are parachutes effective?
Help me write also doesnt have any vision capabilities.
You also finally have access to Magic Eraser on Chromebook.
For one, Google Tasks is now integrated right on the taskbar whenever you fire up the calendar widget.
You cant set how long it records and cannot modify the framerate or file size either.
Surprisingly, the real meat comes from the all-new Game Dashboard.
I found it was very precise, and its utility goes beyond making Android games work on Chromebooks.
I played my copy of Stardew Valley, which I downloaded from the Play Store.
How Do Acers Latest Chromebook Plus Fare?
It made last years launch a bit stale.
More than seven months since then, were finally seeing what was promised click into place.
The second is a $349 laptop that meets the bare minimum expectations for whats considered a Chromebook Plus.
Both have the same 8 GB of RAM, though the Spin 714 is a fair bit faster.
They both run on WiFi 6E, weigh just over 3 pounds,
Benchmarks easily set these machines apart.
Theres a noticeable power difference here.
In Browserbench Speedometer benchmarks, the Spin would outperform the 514 by just over 65%.
Its a laptop starting at $399, making a good middle ground between these two extremes.
The Ultra 5 chip also beats the older i3 in terms of graphical performance pretty handily.
The same goes for running either the base Gemini or Gemini Advanced.
The baseline stats on the latest Chromebook Plus are more than capable of streaming.
The benchmarks show youll eventually hit a lower ceiling than on the more expensive laptops.
What youre buying on more expensive Chromebooks is a higher ceiling and a better physical experience.
Youll get a better screen and slightly better sound quality.
The Spin 714 has a much better 1440p webcam.
The keyboard and trackpad might feel just a bit more premium.
I got to test some of these applications briefly, butagainAI is the least exciting part.
Soon, Chromebooks can access Help me read when they right-hit webpages or PDFs.
I watched this in action and was surprised at its accuracy.
Its built onto the Chromebook directly, though its still in early beta form.
Gemini and its fellow chatbots arent really changing how you use your laptop.
I prefer features that make it more compatible with PCs, like Game Dashboard.
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