Review on Acer CC314 Convertible Professional 💻 with E248W 1920x1080 Resolution and HDMI Connectivity by Jeremy Boatwright

I got it because I wanted a laptop that I could use as my main (development) work station for at least a few years, that could handle games decently, and use and test on the go with a touchscreen that makes it more user-friendly Features. Advantages: The hinge system is a technical masterpiece. It's incredibly durable (I can even rest my palm on it if it's not touching any part of the keyboard, and as long as it's not near the edges it won't rotate). Switching from tablet mode to normal mode or another is very convenient, other mods are very useful (e.g. if it's on my lap, I can position the screen at an angle, but closer to me than normal laptop mode). The way the bottom is always the same is a huge benefit. I think it's worth the tradeoff (extra hinge width) over the standard 2 inch with 360 degree rotation. While most 2-in-1s are too big to be used as a tablet, this form factor allows me to rest my laptop on my lap with the screen above it, where of course I would still hold the tablet. The screen is amazing. It's not just about accuracy and brightness, the matte finish looks great and I really wish all touchscreen devices were like that. It looks less impressive when it's off, but you don't get any annoying reflections, which is great, and surprisingly, it doesn't make it any less pleasant to touch (touch adds minimal friction, which is mostly noticeable with the stylus, and offers some feedback when drawing ). I think HD instead of 4k for a 14 inch device is a positive as I couldn't tell the difference but battery usage should be much better. Performance - I was expecting good performance but was a bit surprised by how good it is considering it's the weakest GPU of the previous generation and especially the stability. I've played Red Dead Redemption 2, Just Cause 4, Outer Worlds and Fifa 20 - all at 1080p and medium high settings - and they all looked great, ran perfectly smooth and didn't drop frames even after very long periods of play. I use an external stand fan which usually helps bring the temperature down by 1-3 degrees but in any case the GPU never reached 65 degrees and the CPU usually goes up to 70-80 degrees with brief spikes at 90. There are a lot of vents, and it seems like they have put a lot of thought into thermal performance. Otherwise it performed very well, as I would expect from this device. There were no virtualization issues - setting up Docker and WSL2 was as easy as it gets. The touchpad is really big and very precise. never missed my gesture and that's the first time I enjoyed the touchpad and was able to understand Mac fans. The keyboard is very comfortable for me, I think it's the best we can have with a 14-inch laptop (the number pad and fn problems mentioned in the cons that can be disabled) but I really wish the power button was in a separate spot and for dedicated volume buttons. Neutral: pen - it works very well for me. With anti-aliasing and diagonal line drawing turned off, the judder everyone is complaining about was definitely there, and the pressure is less sensitive when off than when it's on (so you don't get a really thin line when you increase the pressure) . Since I mainly use it for sketching diagrams and pretty hard anti-aliasing anyway and it does the job well, I think the same will happen for most people who aren't looking for a device to replace their Wacom tablet . The underside is quite distracting, especially when using it on a corner stand or on my lap, and I would have liked it to have been sprung. noticeable noise when you press the hardware. This is what you'd expect, but Acer's display seems imprecise in this aspect. Cons: The keyboard has 2 very annoying features: the f keys activate their media functions by default, and you have to hold down fn to get the original f1-f12 functionality. ; and "7890-uiop-jkl" has a numeric keyboard; Keys that activate when numeric lock is on (so if you press o you get 6 instead), which I found useless and annoying as I always liked having numeric lock on for external keyboards. Both can be disabled in the BIOS, but I understand that the BIOS is locked by default (I sent it to the lab to replace the SSD with a larger one before realizing these issues existed and they told me that they would have problems with the BIOS Unlock). Power Cord - When plugged in, it feels like you've plugged it in all the way (and on any other laptop too), but then there's a bit more to plug in with a clicking sound. If you don't extra press it, it won't charge, and after 1.5 months I still get it wrong sometimes. Backlight – I wouldn't mind an orange backlight on a black laptop (wish I could get it black), but it's really weird on a white keyboard because it makes the key text almost invisible unless you're in the dark, since You get white text on white background. I don't use much highlighting anyway, but this solution is just weird. No charging via Type-C port - meaning there's no way to connect everything to a charging station with a cable. I haven't tried connecting it to a screen via this output yet. The fingerprint sensor seems to be too small and too deep inside, making its recognition pretty poor. If I manage to place my finger correctly, it connects instantly, but often I have to use a pin. The speaker volume can be decent, but it's not very pleasant to hear. The camera is capable of zoom calls, but that's the best I can say about it. At least the mics seem decent. There's no physical lens cap, which is a little disappointing. I think that when the lid is not open, ventilation suffers, the temperature can rise, and the fans turn on much more actively. a bit annoying, especially since the docking options here aren't as good as they could be. I really wish there was a black version, it would look way better.