Acer Spin 7
If you’re in the market for a convertible ultra-portable, there are many solid options to consider. However, if your criteria include a slim and sturdily built body, a larger screen and especially fanless hardware, you’ll only be left with a handful of picks and the Acer Spin 7 is one of them. We’ve spent some time with it lately and we’ve gathered out findings in this article.
The Spin 7 is built on a Kaby Lake Core Y hardware platform, which is its main selling point and at the same time the main reason why this might not be for you. A Core Y laptop like this one won’t offer the performance you can expect from a Core U device with multitasking and more demanding loads, yet it can still handle everyday activities like browsing and watching videos perfectly fine. At the same time, it runs dead-quiet and requires less energy, which actually allows the OEM to create a slimmer computer with a smaller battery without sacrificing battery life (much). Some corners were cut though in order to make the slim profile possible, so it should be no surprise this computer gets limited IO and a short-stroke keyboard.
We're not going to spoil the article for you before it even begins, but whether the Spin 7 is the right device for you is based entirely on whether you greatly value a fanless experience or you can live with a fan. If the fanless hardware is a must, the Spin 7 should be on your list, but if you don’t mind the fan, your money would be better spent elsewhere (like on the HP Spectre X360, for instance).\
The keyboard on the Acer Spin 7 should be one of its strong points. The chiclet keys, while small, are coated in a grippy material and are comfortable and quiet to type on. There’s not a huge amount of travel, but enough to type for long periods without feeling fatigued.
Acer Spin 7 Performance
A 1.3GHz Intel Core i7-7Y75 processor with integrated Intel HD Graphics 615 and 8GB of LPDDR3 RAM power the laptop. This is fast enough for your daily tasks but it’s an ultra low-power chip and as soon as you start throwing more demanding jobs such as video editing and RAW image editing at it, the Spin 7 will start to struggle.
It’s a dual-core chip with Intel Hyper-Threading on board, but for all intents and purposes it’s a low-power dual-core chip.
Thanks to the reasonably fast 256GB SSD achieving peak read speeds of 451MB/s, opening programs and switching between them felt snappy, and Windows’ search felt nice and fast, too. There’s a lot to be said for a fast SSD giving a low-power CPU a better chance at life, and this is a clear demonstration of that fact.
Photo editing is certainly within this machine’s reach if you don’t mind a bit of a delay when importing and making major changes to images. But video editing is a real chore. Acer makes no claims about this laptop’s video-editing creds, and its performance in Adobe Premier points to the reason why.
Editing raw Full HD footage felt a little laggy, and exporting a three-minute video took nearly 20 minutes, which is a far cry from the likes of the Dell XPS 13, which could do the same task in around five minutes. If you only edit video casually or don’t work with Full HD footage, the Spin 7 will scrape by.
The speakers in the Spin 7 are surprisingly loud for such a thin laptop, but don’t have a huge amount of presence, as the low end feels underpowered. You’ll want to use the headphone socket for connecting external speakers or headphones if you want to listen to a lot of music. Dialogue is clear, though, making this a fine machine for video-streaming in bed.
The Spin 7 SP714-51 is available in most regions in the configuration tested here, with a Core i7-7Y75 processor, 8 GB of RAM and a 256 GB SSD. It sells for around $1200 in the US at the time of this test.
In Europe (where is sold as the Spin 7 R7-471T) you’ll mostly find it for around 1200 EUR with a Core i5-7Y54 processor, a slightly lower clocked alternative, but not necessarily something you’ll notice in daily use. The Core i7 model is also available for 100 EUR extra.
The Acer Spin 7 is a lavish 2-in-1 device to its core, but aimed at a wider crowd. Highlighting four different modes – laptop, tent, display and tablet – it’s treated to a flashy design with patches of silver placed about. The Acer Spin 7 keeps it simple with only a small selection of ports complementing its rounded edges and a punchy keyboard that, besides the lack of keyboard lighting and average battery life, is otherwise impressive.
All things considered, this is a respectable introduction to the Acer Spin franchise. Hopefully the sequel doesn’t make us want to buy a mouse and a pair of headphones. And, maybe, just maybe next time we’ll catch a glimpse of the utopian future wherein all super-thin laptops can last for a full day.
The World’s Thinnest Convertible LapTop
If you’re in the market for a convertible ultra-portable, there are many solid options to consider. However, if your criteria include a slim and sturdily built body, a larger screen and especially fanless hardware, you’ll only be left with a handful of picks and the Acer Spin 7 is one of them. We’ve spent some time with it lately and we’ve gathered out findings in this article.
The Spin 7 is built on a Kaby Lake Core Y hardware platform, which is its main selling point and at the same time the main reason why this might not be for you. A Core Y laptop like this one won’t offer the performance you can expect from a Core U device with multitasking and more demanding loads, yet it can still handle everyday activities like browsing and watching videos perfectly fine. At the same time, it runs dead-quiet and requires less energy, which actually allows the OEM to create a slimmer computer with a smaller battery without sacrificing battery life (much). Some corners were cut though in order to make the slim profile possible, so it should be no surprise this computer gets limited IO and a short-stroke keyboard.
Acer Spin 7 Design
At only 11mm thick, the Spin 7 is beautifully slim. It’s a little on the heavy side, for such a slender laptop as it has an all-metal chassis. Despite its 1.6kg weight, I never felt overburdened by it and it looks smart and classy. It’s available in matte black and the finish resists fingerprints nicely.
Since this is a 2-in-1 it has a 360-degree hinge, which means you can or tuck it under and use the keyboard as a stand to prop up the screen or flip it around and use the laptop in tablet mode.
That’s great, but this isn’t the slickest 2-in-1 design I’ve used. The transition between laptop and Tablet Mode in Windows 10 is rather slow and I‘m none too keen on the way the display wobbles, overbalancing the whole thing and threatening to tip over at the slightest provocation.
For connectivity, there are two USB 3.1 Type-C ports (one of which is used for charging) and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the right-hand side of the laptop. To the left, you’ll find the power button and a volume rocker. Underneath the laptop, there are two stereo speakers that with Dolby Audio certification.
There’s no microSD or SD card slot, which is somewhat disappointing and you’ll need a USB Type-C to HDMI adapter if you want to output the laptop’s display to a television. On the plus side, if you want to plug in a USB flash drive, Acer has thoughtfully included a USB Type-C to USB Type-A adapter in the box.
Acer Spin 7 Display
The 14-inch, 1920 x 1080 Gorilla Glass display isn't as bright as its competitors, but it produces sharp images with vivid, accurate colors. The lush green trees and bright teal water on either side of a beach serving as a battlefield in a 1080p "Wonder Woman" trailer just popped out. I could easily make out the shrapnel in some explosions during the battle.
Acer's panel reproduces an excellent 102 percent of the sRGB color gamut, equal to the Spectre but behind the MacBook's 113 percent. The Yoga 910 matched the ultraportable category average of 98 percent.
The Spin 7 has a Delta-E color accuracy score of 1.3 (0 is best), which falls below the average of 1.9. It's precise, but not as good as its competitors. The MacBook (1), the Yoga 910 (0.76) and the Spectre x360 (0.74) had even lower scores.
The screen on the Spin 7 could be a tad more luminous. It registered 264 nits of brightness on our lab tests. It was usable, but fell below the ultraportable average (305 nits) as well as every competitor's score. The Yoga 910 (292 nits), the Spectre x360 (318 nits) and the MacBook Pro (a whopping 495 nits) are definitely brighter.
At only 11mm thick, the Spin 7 is beautifully slim. It’s a little on the heavy side, for such a slender laptop as it has an all-metal chassis. Despite its 1.6kg weight, I never felt overburdened by it and it looks smart and classy. It’s available in matte black and the finish resists fingerprints nicely.
Since this is a 2-in-1 it has a 360-degree hinge, which means you can or tuck it under and use the keyboard as a stand to prop up the screen or flip it around and use the laptop in tablet mode.
That’s great, but this isn’t the slickest 2-in-1 design I’ve used. The transition between laptop and Tablet Mode in Windows 10 is rather slow and I‘m none too keen on the way the display wobbles, overbalancing the whole thing and threatening to tip over at the slightest provocation.
For connectivity, there are two USB 3.1 Type-C ports (one of which is used for charging) and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the right-hand side of the laptop. To the left, you’ll find the power button and a volume rocker. Underneath the laptop, there are two stereo speakers that with Dolby Audio certification.
There’s no microSD or SD card slot, which is somewhat disappointing and you’ll need a USB Type-C to HDMI adapter if you want to output the laptop’s display to a television. On the plus side, if you want to plug in a USB flash drive, Acer has thoughtfully included a USB Type-C to USB Type-A adapter in the box.
Acer Spin 7 Display
The 14-inch, 1920 x 1080 Gorilla Glass display isn't as bright as its competitors, but it produces sharp images with vivid, accurate colors. The lush green trees and bright teal water on either side of a beach serving as a battlefield in a 1080p "Wonder Woman" trailer just popped out. I could easily make out the shrapnel in some explosions during the battle.
Acer's panel reproduces an excellent 102 percent of the sRGB color gamut, equal to the Spectre but behind the MacBook's 113 percent. The Yoga 910 matched the ultraportable category average of 98 percent.
The screen on the Spin 7 could be a tad more luminous. It registered 264 nits of brightness on our lab tests. It was usable, but fell below the ultraportable average (305 nits) as well as every competitor's score. The Yoga 910 (292 nits), the Spectre x360 (318 nits) and the MacBook Pro (a whopping 495 nits) are definitely brighter.
Acer Spin 7 Keyboard and Touchpad
The keyboard on the Acer Spin 7 should be one of its strong points. The chiclet keys, while small, are coated in a grippy material and are comfortable and quiet to type on. There’s not a huge amount of travel, but enough to type for long periods without feeling fatigued.
So far, so good, but Acer has taken the bizarre decision to ditch keyboard backlights, which is incredibly mean on such an expensive laptop.
The touchpad is nice and wide, and features Microsoft Precision software tech, meaning it’s responsive to swipes, taps and gestures with no lag whatsoever. I didn’t have any issues with palm rejection while typing, either.
The touchpad is nice and wide, and features Microsoft Precision software tech, meaning it’s responsive to swipes, taps and gestures with no lag whatsoever. I didn’t have any issues with palm rejection while typing, either.
Acer Spin 7 Performance
A 1.3GHz Intel Core i7-7Y75 processor with integrated Intel HD Graphics 615 and 8GB of LPDDR3 RAM power the laptop. This is fast enough for your daily tasks but it’s an ultra low-power chip and as soon as you start throwing more demanding jobs such as video editing and RAW image editing at it, the Spin 7 will start to struggle.
The chip may not be the fastest around, but in light-usage scenarios such as web browsing, document editing it’s more than powerful enough and runs close to silently. In these situations you’ll also never hear the laptop’s fans whir up or feel the keyboard tray getting hot.
Photo editing is certainly within this machine’s reach if you don’t mind a bit of a delay when importing and making major changes to images. But video editing is a real chore. Acer makes no claims about this laptop’s video-editing creds, and its performance in Adobe Premier points to the reason why.
Acer Spin 7 Webcam and Speaker
The webcam is fine. It’s very adept at picking out faces and doesn’t stray into the trap of darkening subjects that are backlit. The image quality is a little blotchy, but totally fine for video chatting. The microphone is reasonably sensitive, too, and while it doesn’t have anywhere like the studio feel of a proper external mic, it is, again, fine for video chats.
Acer Spin 7 Battery
Battery life is, once again, just about fine. In our fairly lightweight Powermark test, which consists of a looping test of watching a video and browsing the web at a fixed screen brightness of 150 nits, it managed a promising 7 hours 31 minutes before needing a recharge.
In our everyday tasks, which involve working in web apps and browsing media-heavy websites, the laptop managed a little under six hours use with the screen at the same 150-nits brightness.It consumed 14% of its battery during 60 minutes of Netflix streaming, which points to around seven hours of playback – not bad.
Acer Spin 7 Price and availability
The Spin 7 SP714-51 is available in most regions in the configuration tested here, with a Core i7-7Y75 processor, 8 GB of RAM and a 256 GB SSD. It sells for around $1200 in the US at the time of this test.
In Europe (where is sold as the Spin 7 R7-471T) you’ll mostly find it for around 1200 EUR with a Core i5-7Y54 processor, a slightly lower clocked alternative, but not necessarily something you’ll notice in daily use. The Core i7 model is also available for 100 EUR extra.
That’s definitely not cheap, given you can find many excellent Kaby Lake Core U convertibles for around $1000 these days, so you are paying premium for the form factor and the overall construction.
Verdict
The Acer Spin 7 is a lavish 2-in-1 device to its core, but aimed at a wider crowd. Highlighting four different modes – laptop, tent, display and tablet – it’s treated to a flashy design with patches of silver placed about. The Acer Spin 7 keeps it simple with only a small selection of ports complementing its rounded edges and a punchy keyboard that, besides the lack of keyboard lighting and average battery life, is otherwise impressive.
All things considered, this is a respectable introduction to the Acer Spin franchise. Hopefully the sequel doesn’t make us want to buy a mouse and a pair of headphones. And, maybe, just maybe next time we’ll catch a glimpse of the utopian future wherein all super-thin laptops can last for a full day.
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