Consumer electronics are hardly the most sustainable products on the planet. In addition to the tremendous use of plastics and the electricity they consume, the industry is hell-bent on encouraging people to just buy newer stuff even if their current devices are still serviceable. Worse, there are systems in place that make it almost too inconvenient to continue using aging products through repairs and upgrades. Fortunately, the past few years have seen a rise in awareness of how the destruction of the planet would be bad for business in the long run, pushing manufacturers to lay out their plans to help reduce their negative impact on the environment. Building on the Earthion initiative it announced last year, Acer has come out with a new Chromebook brandishing its eco-friendly Vero brand as its most sustainable laptop yet.
Designer: Acer
Acer made big waves last year when it debuted two sustainability efforts. Earthion is the company’s overarching program to integrate eco-friendly strategies across its many product lines, covering the entire production pipeline from sourcing materials to packaging design to logistics. From Earthion came Acer’s Vero line of eco-conscious devices that now include not just laptops but also monitors, accessories, and even projectors. The new Acer Chromebook Vero 514 is the latest to be added to that family, showcasing advances that the company has made toward its green goals.
It is nearly impossible for computers and smartphones to completely remove the use of plastics, so manufacturers can only mitigate the situation by using post-consumer recycled or PCR plastics. In that light, the Chromebook Vero 514 boasts that the plastic in its chassis and bezels around the screen are made from 30% PCR plastic, while keycaps have it at 50%. In addition, the material used for its “OceanGlass” touchpad use recycled ocean-bound plastics to help reduce pollution in our waters.
More than just its composition, Acer made this new laptop also more recyclable and repair-friendly to prolong its life. The use of standard screws will make repairs and upgrades easier, and the paint-free chassis is 99% recyclable. Even the packaging, which people tend to take for granted, takes part in the sustainability game. The box is made from 90% recycled paper, and the notebook bag and keyboard sheet are made from 100% recycled plastic. The inner packaging can also be transformed into a triangular laptop stand so that nothing needs to be thrown away.
All of these eco-friendly measures would probably be pointless if the Chromebook Vero 514 wasn’t attractive enough to be bought. In addition to its durable and no-nonsense design, the Chrome OS laptop packs quite a wallop in terms of hardware, utilizing 12th-gen Intel Core processors or an option of a more power-efficient (read: slower) Intel Pentium processor. And since it uses Chrome OS, it will actually be less resource-intensive, helping prolong the laptop’s overall life.
Acer has been making big strides towards its sustainability goals, including running on 100% renewable energy by 2035. That’s still a long way to go, but every step in that direction matters. We’re still from having the perfect sustainable laptop, but the Acer Chromebook Vero 514 definitely offers one of the best combinations of performance and eco-friendly solutions that won’t make you feel short-changed for investing in a green laptop that will serve you well for years to come.
