Acer Chromebook Spin 713
A premium Chromebook with a mid-range price and great performance, this is a very tempting machine
PRICE £499 (£599 inc VAT) from currys.co.uk
If you’re one of those Chromebook devotees lamenting the demise of the classic Google Chromebook Pixel and Pixelbook, the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 feels like a natural successor. Miss the squarer 3:2 aspect ratio, QHD screen? The all-metal, thin-and-light design? The Pixelbook’s convertible form factor? The Spin 713 has you covered, only without the sky-high price tags of Google’s own-brand Chromebooks and with a spec that’s bang up to date.
Our test model came with a tenthgeneration Intel Core i3-10110U processor with two cores and four threads that boos boost up to 4.1GHz, and while it wasn wasn’t right at the top of the tab table in our performance benchmarks, it wasn’t far off the leaders’ pace. With 8GB of RAM, you’ll need a lot of Chrome tabs open or several demandin demanding applications running before yo you see any hint of slowdown – or ev even hear the Spin’s cooling fans go to work. If you do need more power, there are Core i5-10210U and Core i7-10510U variants available for £200 or £300 more. For most people, the Core i3 will be perfectly adequate.
The form factor remains as good-looking and versatile as previous versions, with a militarygrade metal chassis in a gunmetal tone that’s under 17mm thick and just 1.45kg in weight. You can use it in the standard clamshell configuration or fold the screen flat against the base for a tablet-style experience, or even pose it in a tent configuration for watching video or playing games. It’s very usable across all modes, partly because the 3:2 aspect ratio works for tablet use, where a 16:9 format can feel cramped, and gives you the illusion of a bigger screen in laptop mode thanks to the extra height. Switching between the 13.5in Acer and a 15.6in laptop, the Acer never feels small.
The IPS screen is fantastic, with an unusual 2,256 x 1,504 resolution that works brilliantly tly with Chrome me OS’s desktop ktop scaling. It’s bright, ight, at nearly 400cd/m 00cd/m2, and covers overs 99.8% of the he sRGB colour space, pace, not to mention 86% of DCI-P3. CI-P3. We measured asured the average ge Delta E at 2.29, so while colour accuracy isn’t n’t quite perfect, it’s close enough for anyone bar professional designers.
Whether you’re streaming video or playing Stadia games, image quality is brilliant, and the only downside is its spectacularly reflective surface, which ups vibrancy and contrast contras at the expense of being able to see anything with any ki kind of bright light behind you. y Audio quality isn’t to be sniffed at, either: i it’s very clear, with some warmth and bass, an and can go quite loud without getting shrill or distorted. As for usability, the Spin 713 makes th most of the available space with a good-sized backlit keyboard with large, flat keys and an equally sizable touchpad that has a 3:2 aspect ratio to match the screen. The keyboard isn’t the best here – while there’s enough travel, the action could be crisper – but it’s not far off the pace, and the touchpad is near impossible to fault, tracking fast movements and gestures perfectly. If this was your main work machine, you would be perfectly happy, and a battery life of 12 hours or more means you won’t run out of power before the day is done.
If you want to use the Spin 713 within a desktop setup, you’ve got all the connectivity you need. It’s one of the only Chromebooks this month with an HDMI output, although you could use DisplayPort over a USB-C adaptor or hub if you prefer, while there’s a single USB-A 3 port and two USB-C 3.1 ports. Acer gets extra credit on the wireless front too, with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.
Perhaps the most important thing t the Spin 713 is that it , feels and performs like h-end Chromebook, remaining thoroughly able. Granted, it’s not speedy as the Dell or HP Pro C630, but it’s ally cheaper while a similar experience – or r one in some respects. It’s an excellent Chromebook and ncredible value.
“With 8GB of RAM, you’ll need a lot of Chrome tabs open or several demanding apps running before you see any hint of slowdown”