Consumer electronics giant Acer has released a new Chromebook that could have you turning a little green – not with envy, but in an eco-friendly sense. The Vero 514 makes use of recycled and recyclable materials, while also embracing repairability.
Last year, Acer started working with suppliers, partners, customers and employees to "develop innovative and integrated solutions to help tackle environmental issues for a more sustainable future." As part of this Earthion program, the company launched a new line of products designed around the use of recycled materials and eco-friendly packaging – and now includes laptops, monitors, a projector and accessories.
The latest addition to this family is the Chromebook Vero 514, which makes use of recycled materials for much of its construction. The paint-free chassis and display bezel are made using 30% post-consumer plastic waste, with the 14-inch display itself reported to be 99% recyclable at the end of its useful life.
The keycaps of the backlit keyboard and the integrated speakers are formed using 50% post-consumer recycled plastic. And its internal fan housing and OceanGlass touchpad surface have been created from 100% ocean-bound plastics.
The laptop also ships in 90% recycled paper packaging, the carry bag and keyboard sheet are fashioned from 100% recycled plastic, the adapter sleeve comes in paper instead of the more common plastic or Styrofoam, and once unboxed and ready to use, the inner packaging can be repurposed as a multi-purpose laptop stand.
The Vero 514 has been built to last too, with its impact-resistant exterior certified to rugged MIL-STD 810H testing standards – which means it can survive drops from up to 48 inches (122 cm), among other things.
Acer says that the new Chromebook has been made relatively easy to upgrade, repair, disassemble and recycle, with standard screws on the bottom cover allowing for upgrades to memory and storage.
The Full HD anti-glare screen is topped by scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass, and can manage 300 nits of brightness while supporting 100% of the sRGB color gamut. The Chromebook can be had with 12th Generation Intel Core i7 processor with Iris Xe graphics, supported by up to 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB or storage, and comes with Wi-Fi 6E wireless connectivity, sports a flare-reducing 1080p webcam plus DTS audio, and rocks a backlit keyboard as well.
There's a fairly decent cabled connectivity spread by today's standards as well, shaping up as two USB-C ports, a single USB Type-A, one HDMI and a headphone jack. And users can expect a solid full-day's working from its 10-hour battery, which can be fast-charged to 50% capacity in just 30 minutes.
The Chromebook Vero 514 goes on sale from October for a starting price of US$499. An Enterprise Edition is also being released, which "ships with the business capabilities of ChromeOS unlocked, including advanced security, reporting and insights, scalable cloud-based management and zero-touch enrollment."
Product page: Acer Chromebook Vero 514
