The Acer Spin 5 (beginning at $999, reviewed at $1,099) is a strong — and I imply, beastly — 2-in-1 laptop computer that claims “eat my mud!” to different hybrid rivals available on the market. The Acer convertible crushed opponents on our efficiency and graphics benchmarks. Plus, it has a colourful, high-definition show that’ll make watching Netflix and YouTube a deal with.
Battery life, alternatively, isn’t the Spin 5’s robust go well with. However with its smooth-operating Lively Pen and handy number of ports, the Spin 5 may be well worth the splurge regardless of its runtime flaw.
Acer Spin 5 worth and configuration
The Spin 5’s base mannequin prices $999. It’s outfitted with an Intel Core i5-1035G4 CPU, Intel Iris Plus graphics, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, a 2256 x 1504-pixel touchscreen show, and Home windows 10 Residence.
Our $1,099 assessment unit includes a processor improve to an Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU. The $1,299 configuration retains all the pieces the identical, however bumps your working system as much as Home windows 10 Professional.
Acer Spin 5 design
If the Spin 5’s steel-gray, fingerprint-resistant chassis have been personified, it’d be a clean-cut, urbane skilled who loves saying, “I make the foundations right here!” However its center-positioned, reflective Acer brand tells you that the Spin 5 has a mischievous twinkle in its eye, hinting at its enjoyable, impish facet.
Opening the lid, you’ll discover that the Spin 5 has a squarish, 13.5-inch show; it’s taller than it’s vast with a 3:2 facet ratio. The facet bezels are slim, however the Spin 5’s giant chin — sporting a daring silver Acer brand — would make Jay Leno envious. The highest bezel is thick to accommodate the 720p digital camera.
As I reworked the Spin 5 right into a pill, I stated, “Ah, there’s your enjoyable facet!” Its 2-in-1 function revealed the Spin 5’s entertaining character beneath its cool, grey exterior. In between the 360-degree hinges, you’ll discover the phrase “Spin” above the perform keys. Above the phrase “Spin,” is a top-firing speaker grill.
You’ll discover extra of that steel-gray goodness all through the deck, which options an island-style, backlit keyboard with black Chiclet keys. Beneath the spacebar is a spacious silver touchpad that has a fingerprint scanner on the top-left nook.
The Spin 5 is a featherweight, skinny gadget. This ethereal convertible is so light-weight that for those who have been to stay it inside your journey bag, you wouldn’t even discover its presence. The Spin 5 is 2.6 kilos and 0.59 inches thick. This Acer laptop computer is thinner and lighter than its 2-in-1 opponents: the Lenovo Yoga C940 (Three kilos, 0.6 inches thick) and the HP Spectre x360 13 (2.7 kilos, 0.7 inches).
Acer Spin 5 ports
The Spin 5 is beneficiant with its eight-port providing.
On the left facet, you’ll discover a DC-in jack, two Thunderbolt Three ports, one HDMI 2.Zero port, a USB 3.2 Sort-A port and a microSD slot.
On the correct facet, you’ll uncover yet another USB 3.2 Sort-A port, plus a headset jack, a Kensington lock slot and a stylus storage.
Acer Spin 5 show
The Spin 5 sports activities a 13.5-inch, 2256 x 1504-pixel show, which is a step up out of your typical 1080p display screen, however not fairly 4K.
“Ooh!” is what I stated whereas watching the Rogue trailer, which options Transformers star, Megan Fox. I used to be notably impressed with this show as a result of, not too way back, I watched the identical trailer on the Spin 3’s 1080p display screen and my eyes weren’t comfortable.
However on the Spin 5, Fox appeared extra human as I noticed her tiny pores and rosy cheeks. A helicopter explosion emitted wealthy, vivid colours of pink, yellow and orange. The CGI lions within the Rogue trailer appeared creepier on the Spin 5’s crisp, detailed panel.
Acer could also be infamous for providing dim panels, however this time, the Taiwan-based laptop computer maker didn’t skimp on the Spin 5’s show. After we examined for brightness, the Spin 5’s display screen emitted 425 nits, which outshone the class common (379 nits). The Spin 5 can be brighter than the Yoga C940 (339 nits) and the Spectre x360 13 (369 nits).
The Spin 5 proved that its panel is sort of colourful; the convertible coated 111% of the sRGB colour gamut. Though this rating is decrease than the class common (119%), the Spin 5 bested the Yoga C940 (104%) and Spectre x360 13 (109%).
Acer Spin 5 stylus
The fast-charging Acer Lively Pen is included with the Spin 5. Stick this dangerous boy into its stylus storage for simply 15 seconds and also you’ll obtain 90 minutes of unfettered use. The stylus options 4,096 ranges of stress sensitivity, which helps the Lively Pen to simulate a {smooth} pen-to-paper really feel.
I performed round with the Lively Pen on Paint 3D. I sketched a fast comedian, drew a scrumptious burger and scribbled a message. The Lively Pen supplied silky-smooth pen enter as I made sweeping strokes on the digital canvas. As I examined the stylus’s latency, I noticed little-to-no lag.
The Lively Pen will not be probably the most ergonomic digital writing implement available on the market, however its skinny, toothpick-like dimensions assist it match snugly inside its stylus storage — an ideal answer for content material creators who typically lose their styli.
Acer Spin 5 keyboard and touchpad
The Spin 5 sports activities an island-style, backlit keyboard with well-sized keys for a nice typing expertise. On the 10fastfingers.com typing take a look at, I reached 84 phrases per minute, which is decrease than my typical 85-wpm common. The minor dip in my wpm rating may very well be attributed to the slight mushy really feel of the keys, however in any other case, I’ve no different complaints concerning the Spin 5’s keyboard.
The spacious 4.1 x 3.1-inch silver touchpad includes a Home windows Hi there-compatible fingerprint reader on the top-left nook. The trackpad efficiently delivered fast and correct responses to Home windows 10 gestures, together with two-finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom.
Acer Spin 5 audio
Let’s check out the constructive features of the Spin 5’s audio. Its top-firing audio system allowed for free-flowing, room-filling audio as I turned up the amount to the max. I listened to “Savage Love” by Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo. Each crooners’ vocals gave the impression of candy honey to my ears on the Spin 5’s audio system.
On extra rhythmic songs, nevertheless, the audio system suffered from a scarcity of punch within the bass division. However for probably the most half, the Spin 5’s audio system sounded sharp, even at max quantity.
Acer Spin 5 efficiency
Filled with an Intel Core i7-1065G7 processor and 16GB of RAM, the Spin 5 proved its multitasking muscle after enduring a flood of 35 Google Chrome tabs with out stuttering.
On the Geekbench 5.Zero total efficiency take a look at, the Spin 5 scored 4,289, which crushed the rating of the typical premium laptop computer (4,041). The Yoga C940 (16GB of RAM) and the Spectre x360 13 (8GB of RAM), opponents that share the identical CPU because the Spin 5, lagged behind the Acer 2-in-1 with scores of 4,055 and 4,074, respectively.
On our HandBrake benchmark, the Spin 5 took 17 minutes and 5 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p, which is quicker than the class common of 18 minutes and 39 seconds. The Lenovo Yoga C940 (19:32) and the Spectre x360 13 (21:13) have been each slower than the Spin 5.
On our storage take a look at, the Spin 5’s 512GB SSD duplicated 4.97GB of multimedia information in Eight seconds, which interprets to 678 megabytes per second. That is sooner than the class common (147 MBps). Evaluating the Spin 5 to its rivals that additionally sport 512GB SSDs, the Yoga C940 (1,084 MBps) outpaced the Acer convertible, however the Spectre x360 13 was sluggish (339 MBps).
Acer Spin 5 graphics
The Spin 5 is supplied with Intel Iris Plus graphics, however you’ll nonetheless want a discrete GPU to play your favourite graphics-intensive video games.
The Spin 5 performed Dust Three at 64 frames per second with the graphics set to 1080p on Very Excessive, which matches the class common. The Yoga C940 (51 fps) and Spectre x360 13 (47 fps) couldn’t sustain with the Spin 5.
On the 3DMark Hearth Strike graphics benchmark, the Spin 5 sailed previous the class common (1,358) with a rating of two,772. The Spin 5 additionally demolished the Yoga C490 (2,138) and the Spectre x360 13 (2,615).
Acer Spin 5 battery life
The Spin 5 gained’t win any awards with its ho-hum battery life, however it’s fortunately longer than our most popular 8-hour runtime. The Acer 2-in-1 lasted 9 hours and 6 minutes on the Laptop computer Magazine Battery Life Take a look at, which entails steady internet browsing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits; that is shorter than the battery runtime of the typical premium laptop computer (9:33).
The Yoga C940 and Spectre x360 13, alternatively, demonstrated extra endurance with runtimes of 11:46 and 13:20 minutes, respectively.
Acer Spin 5 webcam
The Spin 5’s 720p digital camera is alright — I wouldn’t suggest Twitch streaming or YouTube vlogging with it, however what I like concerning the digital camera is its correct colour copy. The digital camera completely captured my fake flowers’ pink, gold and inexperienced petals.
The Spin 5’s digital camera additionally picked up on facial particulars that exposed my sleep deprivation, together with my darkish circles and reddish eyes. It’s a blessing and a curse — the 720p digital camera, outfitted with tremendous excessive dynamic vary, is sharp sufficient to render muted facial particulars, however on the draw back, you may’t disguise your blemishes.
Nonetheless, I’d suggest an exterior webcam. Thank me later.
Acer Spin 5 warmth
After the Spin 5 streamed a 15-minute, 1080p video, the touchpad, keyboard heart and underside remained cool with temperatures of 77 levels Fahrenheit, 84 levels, and 86 levels, respectively.
Even the most well liked location of the Spin 5 — the underside of the laptop computer close to the vent — hovered underneath our 95-degree consolation threshold at 93 levels.
Acer Spin 5 software program and guarantee
The Spin 5 has tons of preinstalled Home windows 10 bloatware that takes up a variety of valuable area in your SSD. You’ll discover a variety of Acer-branded software program, corresponding to Acer Assortment S, Acer Configuration, Acer Jumpstart and Acer Product Registration.
You’ll additionally uncover a variety of video games you didn’t ask for, together with Sweet Crush Pals, Farm Heroes Saga, Hearts Deluxe, Easy FreeCell, Easy Mahjong and Easy Solitaire.
The Spin 5 does include the Lively Acer pen, so I might have beloved to see extra note-taking and sketching apps for informal content material creators.
The Spin 5 ships with a one-year guarantee. See how Acer did on our Tech Assist Showdown and Finest and Worst Manufacturers rating.
Backside line
The Acer Spin 5 is undoubtedly a strong hybrid machine — it blew its fellow 2-in-1 opponents out of the water with regards to show high quality, total efficiency and graphics. And regardless of being a thin-and-light convertible, the Spin 5 manages to supply an abundance of ports to satisfy all of your connection wants. The Acer laptop computer even has a microSD reader, a handy function for content material creators that appears to be rising extra out of date amongst laptops.
One other facet of the Spin 5 content material creators will love is its stylus. It isn’t as cozy as a Wacom pen, however its tiny kind issue makes storing the stylus easy and straightforward, so dropping your digital pen will turn into a factor of the previous.
One conspicuous draw back of the Spin 5 is its battery life. Its 9-hour battery runtime isn’t too dangerous, nevertheless it pales compared to opponents’ runtimes. If you’d like a 2-in-1 that gives extra battery life endurance, think about the Yoga C940, which lasts greater than 11 hours on a cost.
Nevertheless, in order for you a sturdy 2-in-1 that outputs competition-beating efficiency scores, proving that it might probably handle your whole workloads with out breaking a sweat, the Spin 5 is the proper convertible for you.
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