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Acer TravelMate B5 14 (TMB514-31-30BS) review

Acer TravelMate B5 14 (TMB514-31-30BS)

CHOICE Expert Rating

70%
What is the CHOICE Expert Rating?
Good points

Good Points

  • Very good keyboard
  • Very good touchpad
  • Large touchpad
  • Very good viewing angles
  • Full-sized HDMI port
  • microSD card slot
  • Very good Wi-Fi speed
  • Can upgrade or replace some components (SSD, Wi-Fi, battery)
Bad points

Bad Points

  • Long time to charge to 100 per cent
  • Comparatively low formatted storage capacity
  • USB-C port is non-Thunderbolt
  • Keyboard is not backlit
  • Charger is not USB-C
  • Poor audio quality

Type

Ultraportable
Ultrabook
Tablet mode
Operating system
Windows 11 Pro

Recommended products

Recommended
Not recommended
Recommended for tablet use

Test results

CHOICE Expert Rating
70%
Performance score
57%
Tablet use score
N/A
Ease of use score
82%
Battery life score
66%
Display score
78%
Audio score
64%
Wi-Fi score
83%
Storage write-speed (MBps)
1980
Storage read-speed (MBps)
3471
Wi-Fi speed (MBps)
46
Average battery life – heavy usage (hours)
6:56
Charging time to 80% full (h:min)
1:23
Expert tester comments
Acer's TravelMate B5 14 is designed for students who want something a bit more robust than usual. It's certified against some sand and dust ingress, has a bumper that can guard against drops up to a maximum of 122cm, and includes a spill-resistant keyboard with weep hole drainage. The texture on the lid also helps make it more grippy than slippy when carrying it around. There are useful ports along its edges, a decent screen to look at, a very good keyboard to type on, but be sure to supply some headphones, because its speaker quality is more lo-fi than hi-fi.

Sustainability

Shop Ethical rating
C
Warranty (years)
1
Replaceable battery
Replace/upgrade RAM
Slots for additional RAM
Replace/upgrade storage
Slot for additional storage
Replace/upgrade Wi-Fi
Country of origin
China

Related products

Availability
Discontinued model

Cost

Price
$1,389.00

Specifications

Screen size (inches)
14
Native screen resolution (pixels)
1920 x 1080
Processor (CPU) type
Intel Core i3-N305
CPU frequency (GHz)
1.8
RAM (GB)
8
Video graphics type
Intel UHD Graphics
Storage capacity (GB)
256
Available user space (GB)
176
Storage type
SSD
Wi-Fi version
6E
Weight of laptop (kg)
1.7
Weight of power supply (kg)
0.26
Size (mm, H x D x W)
25 x 232 x 330

Features

Screen finish
Matte
Touchscreen
USB-C
USB 2.0 ports
0
USB 3.0 ports
2
USB 4 as USB-C port
0
USB-C (USB 3.2 Gen 1 or 2, not Thunderbolt 3 or 4) ports
1
Thunderbolt 3 or 4 (as USB-C) ports
0
SD card slot (full-size)
SD card slot (micro)
HDMI port
Gigabit ethernet port
Rear camera
Backlit keyboard levels of brightness
0

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