Acer Chromebook 14 CB3-431-C5FM vs Asus Chromebook Flip CM5

99 as tested) as prime choices for budget laptops. While they have attractively low pricing, the majority of top-rated examples have been compact models like the Asus Chromebook Flip($858.01 at Amazon Canada) or the Acer Chromebook R 11($858.01 at Amazon Canada), our recent top picks

A $500 configuration of the CM5 is available, but it drops to a slightly slower Ryzen 3 processor, 4GB of memory and 64GB of slower eMMC flash memory for storage. That configuration would still be fine for general use, but spending the extra $100 if you can gets you a much better Chromebook. The CM5 is big but still fairly slim.

The metal body and size no doubt add some weight compared to smaller, plastic Chromebooks, but at just under 3.5 pounds it's still light enough for a daily commute or hauling around campus. Plus, the rounded edges make it easier to slide in and out of a bag. Perhaps because it is so thin, though, the keyboard's keys don't have much travel

Dim, glossy displayHeavy for a Chromebook

I charge it often at levels of 50%, 70%, or 90%. Both laptops get about 9 hrs of battery life if use both at 45% screen brightness. Hopefully this battery can last me for 10 years. I usually keep the display for the Toshiba at 50% screen brightness for videos and 40% for browsing

It performs really well. Battery life is great. Display is very good. Everything you'd expect from a fairly high spec machine

The Acer Chromebook 14 has a 14-inch 1080p HD IPS screen, premium-feeling aluminum construction, a quad-core processor, better-than-average system memory and storage, good connectivity, and a sweet $300 price tag to top it off. Its only drawbacks are a lack of SD card expansion and a slightly stiff keyboard. We think this chromebook is close to the ideal for the category, and a viable alternative to a "traditional" Windows or Mac laptop with a $500 or higher price tag. That makes it our new Editors' Choice

Price as reviewed

Video streaming - runs 1080p Youtube videos just fine. I have Chromecast and I've streamed pages with videos from this computer and found that watching videos and surfing the web really hampers the performance, that's another disappointment. Fanless processor - no noise, love it. At first I was disappointed with the performance (coming from a Acer C740), but after a week of only using this chromebook it has grown on me

There may be some applications where the AMD CPU will catch up with the Intel one, but I can't find it. The performance hit when running on battery is an even bigger issue.