Acer Chromebook 315 (CB315-4HT) review – what a chromebook for 18 thousand UAH can do

Chromebooks are a rather niche but interesting category of laptops that has not been officially represented in Ukraine until recently. The main feature of Chromebooks and, in fact, Chrome OS is its lightness, unpretentiousness to components, and focus on online work. They can be interesting for studying, video conferencing, and basic document work when there is no need for powerful hardware and specialized software. Today we’ll take a look at what Acer Chromebook 315 and Chrome OS can do, and how convenient and appropriate it is.

Acer Chromebook 315 (CB315-4HT) specifications

Package contents

The vast majority of Acer laptops come with the necessary minimum of accessories. Especially when it comes to affordable models, like the Acer Chromebook 315. So the box contained the laptop itself, a 65W power supply, a power cable, a manual, and a warranty card.

Design and construction

Acer Chromebook 315 (CB315-4HT) has a completely familiar and, one might say, typical design that does not strike the eye. And this cannot really be called a disadvantage. After all, the laptop is positioned as a tool for studying and working, so it does not need any designer “image” features in its appearance.

The entire body is made of matte light gray plastic. Only the keys, the frame around the screen and the hinge are black. The plastic is thick enough and the lids do not bend too much. The surface is practical, does not collect dirt and fingerprints, and the laptop looks neat. There are small Acer and Chromebook logos on the top lid.

The massive hinge takes up almost the entire width of the back edge and allows you to open the laptop 180°. It’s tight, which allows you to securely fix the display unit in the desired position, but you can’t open the laptop with one hand. You have to hold the topcase.

The bezels around the screen are not very thin, but they are quite acceptable. They are said to be 10.5 mm wide on the sides. There are rubber inserts around the perimeter for additional protection of the display. At the bottom is the Acer logo, and on top is a standard set of two microphones, a webcam and a status indicator.

The bottom of the Acer Chromebook 315 (CB315-4HT) has standard small rubber feet and stereo speakers closer to the front of the laptop. The laptop uses an energy-efficient processor with modest performance, so there is no need for active cooling. Accordingly, there are no ventilation holes.

Given the low price, the laptop is well built and feels quite durable, although plastic is plastic. The Acer Chromebook 315 (CB315-4HT) cannot be called miniature. But it will fit in any standard laptop bay and weighing 1.6 kg is not too burdensome for daily transportation.

Connectors

All of the Acer Chromebook 315’s connectors are located on the side of the laptop. On the left, there is one USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 1 with Power Delivery and display support, one USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1, a 3.5mm standard audio jack, a microSD card slot, and an LED indicator.

On the right side, there is another USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 1, one USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1, and a Kensington Lock slot.

Considering the positioning and price of the laptop, the set of ports is quite sufficient for connecting the necessary peripherals and for comfortable use in general.

Display

Acer Chromebook 315 (CB315-4HT) has a 15.6-inch IPS touchscreen display. The resolution is the standard 1920×1080 pixels, the aspect ratio is 16:9, and the refresh rate is 60 Hz. Despite the presence of a sensor, the screen is covered with a matte ComfyView anti-reflective coating. The manufacturer indicates that the color coverage is only 45% of the NTSC color space.

The viewing angles of the display are good, the brightness is enough for indoor work, but no more. The limited color gamut is noticeable, the colors look a little dull. The maximum brightness is 235,715 cd/m², which is quite normal for an affordable laptop. Static contrast is 851:1. The color gamut is noticeably narrower than the sRGB space. But the color reproduction is surprisingly accurate, the color temperature is close to the reference value of 6500K, and the color error ∆E does not exceed 8, which is a good indicator.

Platform and performance

Chrome OS is not designed for heavy, specialized programs or games and is focused on the web. The OS itself is based on Linux, so it doesn’t require powerful components, especially compared to Windows. That’s why Acer Chromebook 315 (CB315-4HT) is powered by an energy-efficient 11th-generation Jasper Lake Intel processor. The Pentium Silver N6000 model has 4 cores operating at a base frequency of 1.1 GHz and Turbo Boost up to 3.3 GHz. It is manufactured using a 10-nm process technology and has a TDP level of only 6 watts. Graphics are handled by the built-in Intel UHD Graphics accelerator, which includes 32 processing units and a frequency of 350-850 MHz. There is 8 GB of LPDDR4X 2933 MHz RAM.

For network connection, there is a Wi-Fi module with support for IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax standards, and Bluetooth 5.1 for connecting peripherals. There’s no fingerprint scanner or infrared camera, so you’ll have to enter a password or PIN every time you log in.

When it comes to Chromebooks, performance as such is not as critical as it is with Windows laptops. First of all, because Chrome OS is web-oriented and does not have demanding programs like Premiere, DaVinci Resolve, Blender, MAYA, etc. You don’t need a lot of power to work with documents and make video calls. But, of course, we ran tests in benchmarks. The vast majority of them are familiar with Android. The results are quite modest. But in practice, everything works quickly, without glitches or interface freezes.

The Acer Chromebook 315 (CB315-4HT), like Chromebooks in general, is not about games. Although the laptop supports games from the Play Market. Perhaps not all work correctly, but the vast majority are quite playable. The Play Market has a separate section with games for Chrome OS. You can play with the keyboard and mouse, or connect a gamepad.

Of course, we are not talking about PC or console games. However, if you really want to, you can use cloud services like Boosteroid or GeForce Now. Both services have native clients for chromebooks.

Heating and stability of operation

The laptop does not have an active cooling system and always works absolutely quietly. Given the power of the processor, this decision is quite logical. Although the stress test showed that under prolonged maximum load, performance can drop by up to 68%.

The case hardly heats up, the area above the keyboard is barely warm.

Chrome OS features

Chrome OS is a lightweight web-oriented operating system based on Linux. Interaction with the interface resembles working with the Chrome browser, most applications and settings are opened as browser bookmarks and some of them as separate windows. The system is very lightweight, loads quickly, and works smoothly. At the same time, it does not require powerful hardware.

The interface is quite typical for desktop systems like Windows. There are desktops, and you can create and save several of them. For example, for different users. There is a quick launcher that can be hidden. A menu with all the installed applications, a quick settings panel (brightness, volume, connection, etc.), quick access to notifications, and the ability to connect your Android smartphone to your laptop. This will allow you to view photos, contacts, and messages. Applications are installed from the Play Market. There are some optimized for Chrome OS. But the vast majority of Android applications work correctly.

The software presented is minimal. The standard set that we see when we first turn on an Android smartphone (Google Drive, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, notes, etc.) plus a few additional ones. Simple analogs of Paint, notepad, etc.

In general, the main advantage of Chrome OS is its lightness, accessibility, and simplicity. And if you’re looking for a laptop for basic tasks like working with documents, studying, video conferencing, presentations, watching movies, and listening to music, Chrome OS will be enough for you. But when it comes to more professional software: video editing, professional photo editing, 3D modeling, accounting software, Chrome OS will not work. In this case, you should look towards Windows or Mac OS.

Webcamera

The Acer Chromebook 315 (CB315-4HT) is an affordable laptop, so you shouldn’t expect a very high-quality webcam. It’s quite typical, with a 720p resolution and a pair of microphones.

Keyboard and touchpad

At first glance, this is a typical Acer keyboard. Except that it lacks the backlighting that most modern models have. The keys have a small, moderately soft, but informative stroke. The layout is a little more interesting. In general, this is a typical full-size laptop keyboard with an additional number pad. But some keys are different. The upper function row is smaller, with the usual brightness, volume, and mute buttons, as well as the power button and the usual Esc button. In addition, there are buttons for going back a level, refreshing, switching to full screen mode, switching desktops, and taking screenshots. There are no lock buttons. Instead, the Caps Lock is replaced by a button that opens a menu with all applications.

Switching from Windows takes some getting used to. But in general, it’s nothing critical. Especially since many keyboard shortcuts are the same. And for everything else, Chrome OS has a kind of cheat sheet:

The touchpad is of medium size. This is a touchpad typical of the company’s modern laptops called OceanGlass. It is made of eco-friendly ABS polymer and recycled plastic from the oceans. Of course, glass touchpads are a bit more comfortable. But the surface is pleasant enough, and your fingers slide well. The sensitivity and accuracy are quite sufficient for all basic tasks; there is no critical need to connect a mouse.

Динаміки

The laptop’s stereo speakers are located in the usual place, on the bottom panel. They are quite typical for this class of device: the volume will be enough for video calls, movies, and videos. There is support for DTS Audio virtual surround sound. For listening to music, Acer Chromebook 315 is not the best option, because the quality is very mediocre, with minimal low frequencies.

Автономність

The company claims that the Acer Chromebook 315 can run for up to 10 hours without recharging. This implies minimal use with minimal brightness. In the PCMark test, the laptop lasted almost 5.5 hours.

In real-world conditions, by slightly lowering the brightness and working exclusively with documents, you can get up to 6 hours of operation. This is quite modest, so you shouldn’t go to the office without a power supply.