Editor’s Rating: 8 / 10
Would you want to take this baby out for a spin—sorry for the bad pun, but this 2-in-1 is a must-have!
The Good
It’s a premium 2-in-1 that passes everything across the board. It’s lightweight, fast, has a long battery life, comfortable to use, and will assure you that you’ll not upgrade or replace it for years to come.
The Bad
As we said, it’s a premium; it costs a hefty penny to have it on your hands. But aside from that, if you do clerical work, in a managerial position, a student, or a person who wants to entertain himself through the Internet, you won’t have any problems with this nifty machine.
Detailed Review Of Acer Chromebook Spin 13 (2018, CP713-1WN-53NF)
Are you looking for a 2-in-1 you can use for work and personal use? You’ve visited the right page.
After reading this review, we’re sure you’ll either appreciate 2-in-1s, Chromebooks, or Acer products. Without sounding too biased, the Acer Chromebook Spin 13 is one of the most popular tablet cum laptops in the market.
If you prioritize performance and style and don’t care how much you shell out, the Spin 13 will be a match made in heaven for you. If not, you can look around our list of other Acer laptops to find the one that will suit your taste. Anyway, without further ado, here’s the review!
Acer Chromebook Spin 13 (2018, CP713-1WN-53NF) Configuration In Review
Processor: Intel Core i5 8250U | RAM: 8 GB | Storage: 128 GB ESATA | Graphics: Integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620 | Display: 13.5-inch LED/LCD/IPS 3:2 | Operating System: Chrome OS | Battery Life: 10 hours | Weight: 3.50 lbs. | Other Features: Stylus
Its Beauty Starts With Its Display
The standards for 2-in-1 computers and displays are always high. And Spin 13’s monitor passed with flying colors.
The touchscreen has a quick response time, and it doesn’t accumulate dirt and grease fast. When you poke it, you’ll immediately tell that it has that sturdy screen similar to an iPhone’s screen. After all, it uses Corning Gorilla Glass. It’s durable and scratch-resistant.
Also, it’s a great bonus that you can use a stylus on it. Drawing or writing over the screen doesn’t leave any mark. Of course, make sure you clean the pen’s tip before using it on the screen to avoid gross smudges.
It’s default and recommended resolution is 2256 x 1504 and has an aspect ratio of 3:2. That setup is uncommon, but it’s ideal for people that have to deal with reports and other clerical work. If you don’t believe us, we dare you to work on a document on Microsoft Office Word or Google Docs on a 15-inch 16:9 screen and tell us that you like it without squirming.
With a 3:2 aspect ratio display, there’s more vertical screen space to read the information on. And viewing websites and reading documents without needless scrolling. With 18% more vertical height than regular 16:9 displays, there’s greater length to read on.
Unfortunately, it will come with its downsides. And one of them is that it isn’t suitable for watching movies. Because of the squarish aspect ratio, letterboxing will happen (those black rectangular boxes above and below that appear when you watch an HD movie on an SD screen).
If that’s a big no for you, you shouldn’t fret. You can use your television as a secondary display, and it’s easy to do on this laptop.
You can seamlessly use your Smart TV as a second display by using Chromecast. No need to deal with wires or complicated setup. As long as the television is in your home network, you can use it anytime within seconds.
And It’s Also Beautiful Inside
Here, we have one of the best CPUs produced by Intel when they started chugging out CPUs with 14nm lithography. It is one of the first Chromebooks to use this processor, and it made this laptop on its way to become one of the best laptops with i5 inside! Okay. So what does all of that mean?
A processor’s lithography is the measurement of spaces between the transistors inside a CPU. The measurement unit is expressed in nm or nanometers (imagine how small that is). The smaller the lithography, the more functionality, and performance a CPU manufacturer can put in a processor.
However, using smaller spaces is not all about performance. They also can create a much more power-efficient and cooler processor instead of upping the performance.
So, is this processor more on performance or efficiency? It’s kind of like both. It means that you can get the usual performance from the last-gen processor while having a much longer average battery life.
And since it comes with Chrome OS, you can expect that it won’t require a lot of juice when you start using this 2-in-1.
But behind the scenes, there’s a bit of a disadvantage with Intel processors. They aren’t made for each other—yet. Chrome OS was for mobile devices like smartphones that used ARM-based mobile device CPUs before. And it’s now slowly adapting to use processors outside the mobile realm.
Intel and AMD, both desktop and laptop processor manufacturers, are still struggling to enter the mobile processing market. However, Intel processors have some edge over ARM processors, which we want to discuss, but let’s move on with the review.
On the other hand, this processor comes with Intel’s UHD Graphics 620. On a regular Windows or Mac computer, it’s fast enough to run games like DotA 2 and FIFA 2018. It can also run Android games developed years from now.
Note that the UHD Graphics 620 is only a step below the now popular Intel’s Iris Plus. It’s the second-best integrated graphics you can have on a laptop. And the next ones are dedicated graphics cards.
Not Just A Beauty
It’s good to see that Acer has put some thoughts into storage capacity. Unlike most of this 2-in-1’s contemporaries, the Spin 13 has a 128 GB worth of flash memory space. Note that 128 GB is standard for light and casual users, 256 GB for heavy users, 512 GB for games, and 1TB for professionals and streamers.
Most Chromebooks only have around 64GB. When you see a laptop with that amount of storage, it’s like, come on! You can do better than that! Those manufacturers shouldn’t expect that all people will be content to that small amount and force themselves to keep themselves tethered to the Internet all the time to store and access their files on cloud storage services.
Another great thing about this laptop is that it was generous with the RAM. It has 8GB that should be sufficient to allow you to work and browse without experiencing bottlenecking (slow down because one component can’t keep up with the rest).
Overall Impression
The only thing that dampens this experience in this device is Chrome OS. Even though this OS adds a few convenient functionalities and is free to use, it’s still not up to par with the big two: Windows and macOS.
Nonetheless, the great thing about Chromebooks is that they have multiple ways to provide input and interact with a computer.
One of the key strengths of this OS is the touchscreen, stylus, and trackpad. Be honest that compared to the usual experience when using a Mac or Windows trackpads, you also want to experience the gestures you can do when navigating a Chromebook.
We know that not all laptop users like 2-in-1s and touchscreens, but they should become the norm. We might be in a type more write less society era, but a stylus makes everyone’s computing experience much more versatile and fabulous.
By the way, you should know that the Spin 13 is only a few of the 2-in-1s that have a dedicated ‘pocket’ for its stylus. Other machines tend to forget about that crucial small touch, making their users lose their stylus after a few weeks of use.
Write with greater control and precision. The elastomer tip of the pen provides a more natural writing experience. Take advantage of the higher friction and elasticity to reduce sliding across the smooth surface of the screen.
Moving on, let’s talk about the keyboard. If this will be your first to have a Chromebook, be warned that it may take you a while to get used to it. It uses a different layout, so expect some missing keys and various keyboard shortcuts you need to learn.
Also, the keyboard has a backlight. Unfortunately, you can’t turn it off to save some battery charge.
Critic Reviews
PCMag.com: 3.5 / 5.0
Acer’s prime-cut Chromebook Spin 13 is a topped-out 2-in-1 convertible that delivers all-metal ruggedness and unrivaled performance but at a gourmet price.
TechRadar.com: 4.5 / 5.0
If you’re after a Chromebook for business use, the Spin 13 is probably the best out there, pushing Google’s Pixelbook aside thanks to better hardware and a bundled stylus that’s more than just a gimmick.
NotebookCheck.com: 60% / 100%
The market for high-quality Chromebooks is growing, albeit at a low level. An excellent reason to consider this laptop? The closest alternative, the Pixelbook, isn’t officially available here and uses less powerful components, although it has some other advantages.
Buy It If
Suppose you want a durable and stylish work partner to keep up with your daily work and shenanigans. Thanks to its battery life and keyboard, you can keep using it without straining yourself, thinking the battery would suddenly die out, and your hands getting sore after using this Chromebook after a few hours.
Don’t Buy It If
Let us be upfront: this is pricey even if it is one of the best laptops under $1000. However, it isn’t as expensive as Apple products. It’s a premium 2-in-1 that will stay with you for years. It’s future proof, and it’s a worthwhile investment.
Acer Chromebook Spin 13 (2018, CP713-1WN-53NF) Alternatives
- Lenovo Chromebook IdeaPad C330: An ideal Chromebook for students and kids. It can help them with their school stuff, and they can use it to play their favorite Android games.
- HP Chromebook x360: A high-spec Chromebook you’ll want if you’re into using very demanding computer applications.
- Google Pixelbook Go: One of the Chromebooks that comes close to Acer’s Spin 13’s setup and performance.
Verdict
We’re 90% sure that this one is for you, but you’ll never know. If you’re hesitating over this, you have many options you can check out on our 15-inch laptops list..