Melbourne
Yes, you can access the world’s knowledge on your smart devices almost anywhere but there’s nothing like a library for space to think – and free wi-fi. The State Library Victoria is just a block from Melbourne’s Central Station or an easy stroll from Lygon Street’s Italian precinct. It’s home to two impressive (and quiet) reading rooms with plenty of chairs, tables and power points, plus the peace you need to complete a presentation, refine some designs or simply ponder. The domed La Trobe room is six storeys high and has several spans of long, open desks, while the Redmond Barry room offers a variety of spaces for individuals or small groups.
In any case, Acer’s brand-new Spin 7 convertible performs brilliantly and soundlessly. It provides the ease of use of a high-end tablet, matched with the power and flexibility of the smartest notebook in a portable 1.2-kilogram package. Its all-aluminium body houses a 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 processor for stress-free multitasking; MU-MIMO wireless technology for up to three times faster downloads; a workday-ready battery with up to eight hours of life; and Acer’s super-clear screen technology. In short, it’s a well-specced notebook in the thinnest (10.98-millimetre) 2-in-1 configuration on the market.
Working alone in the La Trobe room, you can open the Spin 7 in notebook mode to get the full benefit of its keyboard and trackpad. Or, if you’re sharing the screen with a colleague at one of the meeting tables in the Redmond Barry room, rotate it on its 360-degree hinges to display flat or in tent mode. All modes offer intuitive controls to suit the working situation – even the classic huddle around the tablet screen with one or two other people in a café. In fact, Acer has put 10-point touchscreen control into the Spin 7 to make sharing a screen easier.
If you want a livelier conversation than you can get away with in the State Library, head down the road to 1000 £ Bend (361 Little Lonsdale Street). Up front, it has a delightful collection of artworks and booths with leather couches; out the back you can catch live music, an oration or a fashion show in the knowingly named Church of Bang Bang Boogaloo. Just so Melbourne.