And I thought my old Chromebook was fast. It doesn’t hold a candle to the zippiness of Acer’s brand-new Chromebook Spin 13 – a best-in-class 2-in-1 convertible that can be used as a laptop or tablet.
The machine’s speed is in part a result of its 8th Gen Intel Core i5 quad-core processor, with 8GB of memory and 64GB of internal storage. As you probably know, Chromebooks are plain fast to start with. Mine’s gotten relatively faster with age, as our home internet has sped up. And since there’s zero bloatware to slow down the machine, itself, it blazes past the Mac and Windows laptops we have. Yet when I informally benchmarked the new Spin 13 against my old Chromebook in loading web pages and starting up app, it was significantly quicker at everything.
Its full HD+ 13.5-inch display features 2256 x 1504 resolution — that’s 3.3 million pixels. What you see is nice and vibrant — colors come through pleasantly saturated and bright without being overly so. It really is a gorgeous picture, making it easy to watch TV and movies on — let alone do work on. When in tablet mode, its relatively taller display really stands out — because of the 3:2 aspect ratio — and it feels more like looking at and holding a magazine, which is a nice and refreshing experience. I used it as an auxiliary screen this past weekend, to air a second football game in front of our big screen. Without any prompting, my buddy instantly wowed “that is the single-best picture I’ve ever seen on a computer screen. It’s almost 3D-like.” And he’s an IT guy, so he’s seen many of the latest laptops up close.
The Acer’s IPS touchscreen works responsively, as well. An included, proprietary “Acer Active Pen” that uses Wacom EMR technology lets you draw, jot down notes, interact with programs and apps, etc. It’s sleekly housed in a slot at the front corner of the machine, and sports an elastomer tip. And it works with zero lag.
The 3.5-pound machine itself sports an all-aluminum chassis that looks rich, including a smooth, matte slate gray cover that’s easy to grip and does not show fingerprints. The hinges are sturdy, and the keyboard is spacious and back-lit — perfect for those early mornings in the home office when you don’t want to turn on the ceiling lights and wake everyone. Other features on the Spin 13: Corning Gorilla Glass touchpad that’s very responsive to your touch, dual microphones, USB 3.1 Type-C port on each side, Micro SD card slot, headphone jack, webcam, dual slot-antennae for stable Wi-Fi, crisp-sounding speakers that don’t distort, and Bluetooth 4.2. While I didn’t officially test battery life, it’s supposed to last up to 10 hours per charge and delivered in my week with it.
The Spin 13 also has access to the Google Play store, letting you download apps to the machine. And unlike with older Chromebooks, on the Acer you can use voice dictation into third-party email programs like Yahoo. At $900, this is one of the priciest Chromebooks you can buy. And you know what? The quality craftsmanship shows up throughout, from the build to the components to the speed.
