At 22 millimeters thick and three.1 kilos, the Flex 5i gained’t win any portability awards, nevertheless it’s hardly overweight. The plastic all-gray design additionally feels primary to a fault, regardless of the inclusion of an accent stripe in barely darker gray on the left facet of the lid. The similar no-nonsense keyboard and trackpad discovered on most Chromebooks are accounted for right here as properly.

Fast as well and quick to get up, I discovered the Flex 5i to be persistently speedier than the Acer 515—however solely marginally, besting it on benchmarks by lower than 10 p.c throughout the board. Battery energy nevertheless suffered by an analogous proportion, maybe a necessity to accommodate the modest pace increase. I eked seven hours and 20 minutes of life out of the Flex 5i on a full-frame YouTube video playback check, in comparison with nearly eight-and-a-half hours on the Acer. Given the Flex 5i’s smaller show, that’s maybe an even bigger delta than you may initially assume.

I’ve written beforehand in regards to the new apps and options obtainable throughout the Chromebook Plus platform, resembling animated wallpapers, Google’s Magic Eraser from its Pixel phones, and video options that clear up your webcam pictures and movies. Google says loads extra artificial-intelligence-driven extras are coming in 2024. Ready for an on-demand, AI-generated background to your subsequent Google Meet? It’s on the best way.

For now, the machine is able to rumble straight out of the field, absolutely configured inside minutes of powering it on. I encountered no issues with stability or dragging efficiency all through my testing. The machine was additionally nearly silent even beneath load, aided by upward-firing audio system that pumped out loads of sound.

Is all of this price that additional hundred bucks over an entry-level Chromebook Plus mannequin? The actual get right here is the touchscreen, and arguably the addition of the microSD card slot, however each of these gadgets could have area of interest attraction that not everybody wants. If you possibly can reside with out them, go for the cheaper Acer 515 Chromebook Plus. But in the event that they sound helpful, that is an excellent little laptop computer that checks off all of the Chromebook Plus containers at a nonetheless very cheap value.