Weighed down considerably by its operating system, the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 is an aggressively above-average personal computer.
If you’ve never heard of Chrome OS, I wouldn’t blame you. As of 2024, it enjoys 1.78 percent of the worldwide desktop market share, and according toit is on the decline. The operating system suffers all the hallmarks of being unpopular. The major drawback is very few apps can run on ChromeOS and what can run is usually in a beta version, with limited features.
It is a large machine, with official specs indicating a 15.6″ display, and it is a little on the thick side. Its keyboard may look like every other keyboard out there, but soon you will notice a lack of some essential keys. There is no Delete key, no Windows key, and no Function keys. We also struggled extensively with the touchpad. It was very slow and unresponsive. To the point where using a connected USB mouse was the only option. We’re not sure if this was a specific problem with the review model but it does of course rob you of the 515’s sole USB-C port.
Onboard the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 will be a chipset from Intel, anything between an i3 and i7 processor. This plus the 8GB of RAM should have most of your daily usage down and going smoothly. Don’t expect stunning gameplay with fast frames, and some heftier web pages will take a little longer to load. But if Excel and Word are your go-to’s, plus a little bit of streaming on Netflix, you shouldn’t feel any lags with the 515.
It is by far and away the most simplified and dumbed-down OS I have ever used. Imagine your Windows PC Explorer was relegated to only the quick access folders and the Start Menu. That’s ChromeOS in a nutshell. There’s not even a control panel of any form. The argument here is that this makes the machine super accessible to the most basic of users. People who have never touched a notebook before will find it easy to use, devoid of distractions., especially in early education settings.