Acer Chomebook Spin 13, Chrome OS in "high end" mode

Construction

With Spin 13, Acer is trying to prove that Chromebooks can also benefit from a high-end design and level of finish. Partly successful bet for the Taiwanese manufacturer: this new model is located at the top of the basket compared to other Chromebooks, but however does not reach the level of many ultraportables under Windows 10. The set is well assembled and the materials used are solid.

We appreciate here the all-aluminum chassis and the sobriety of the design, especially since the hood benefits from a very pleasant mat treatment, which prevents fingerprints. Its label "Spin" here means that the hinge allows the screen to tilt 360 °, which allows it to be used in different ways (in "tent" position, in tablet format, on the knees ...).

Not everything is perfect, however, and we regret that the input area did not receive the same care. Without being totally missed, the keyboard disappoints a little, because of a fairly short stroke, too small keys and, above all, a very soft typing return making it unpleasant. The touchpad, on the other hand, responds rather well, but turns out to be quite compact.

On the connection side, the Spin 13 is doing well, since we can count on a USB 3 Type-A port, two USB-C ports (one of which is used for charging), a microSD card reader and a audio jack.

Finally, the Spin 13 is a well-ventilated and silent ultraportable: subjected for one hour to the 3DMark benchmark, the chassis temperature did not exceed 46.9 ° C at the front and 44 ° C under the chassis. The noise emitted remained weak, and we hardly heard a slight breath that did not exceed 37 dB.

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Screen

The Chromebook Spin 13 has a 13.5-inch screen in 3: 2 format. The screen is therefore a little higher than on 16: 9 models, which is particularly comfortable for working. An interesting format, which can also be found on the Huawei Matebook 13 or the Microsoft Surface Laptop 2. Large bands around the screen are unfortunately present, which lowers the frame occupancy rate to 73%. Too bad, especially since this screen is particularly successful.

The IPS touch screen used here (definition of 2 256 x 1 504 px) is indeed particularly contrasted, bright and well calibrated. The readability is thus excellent, since the maximum brightness reaches 350 cd / m2 and the contrast ratio 1,700: 1. To this is added to a fairly stable gamma curve, a sign of a good gray gradient.

contrast 1700: 1 Delta E 1.3 temperature 6775 K

The colors are also impeccably adjusted on the screen of this Chromebook Spin 13, since there is an excellent delta E of 1.3 and a color temperature of 6,775 K. Recall that the delta E represents the difference between the actual colors and the colors displayed and that it is considered to be excellent below 3. The temperature must be as close as possible to the video standard of 6,500 K. We therefore have here particularly faithful colors as well as a very balanced gray rendering, which does not draw towards blue or red.

The only downside to this excellent assessment is that the slab's remanence is quite high, as measured at 20 ms. A fairly high figure, but which does not affect the rating, given that we are dealing with a product primarily dedicated to office automation.

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Performances

The Chromebook Spin 13 tested has an Intel Core i3-8130U processor, 8 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage in eMMC. A configuration that would qualify as entry-level on a laptop computer in Windows 10, but which here is largely sufficient to take advantage of Chrome OS in good conditions.

Google's operating system and, in general, a model of speed, all the more so on this particularly well-equipped model. It would be irrelevant to compare the performance of this model to that of Windows PCs already tested in our labs. Chrome OS has the quality of being able to run on very low power machines. On an Intel Core i3, the startup is extremely fast (7 seconds to reach the connection window) and the performance in 3D honorable. For web surfing, office automation and video, this model is very satisfactory. In addition, unlike most other Chromebooks, which are limited to 32 GB of storage, the 64 GB of Spin 13 can store a few more files. Note that a model equipped with 128 GB of eMMC is also available for sale.

Chrome OS has improved significantly over the years. Perfect for office automation, the OS can easily replace Windows 10 for working or relaxing. From now on, it leaves the possibility for the user to download all the Android applications from the Google Play Store, which considerably widens the possibilities for the user, even if certain applications, such as games, are not necessarily usable with the mouse.

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Mobility / Autonomy

The Chromebook Spin 13 is not the most compact and light ultraportable on the market, partly because of its wide bands around the screen (mentioned above) and its hinge which allows to tilt the screen to 360 °. Weighing 1.5 kg and accompanied by a small charger, it can be transported quite easily in a bag.

This model is however much more convincing in terms of autonomy: our streaming video playback test (Netflix in Chrome, screen brightness at 200 cd / m2, headphones plugged in and keyboard backlight off) has indeed operated for 9 h 42 min before the computer shuts down. An excellent figure. The promise "up to 10 hours of service life" written on a sticker on the chassis is in no way exaggerated.

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Audio

The speakers of the Chromebook Spin 13 are inappropriately placed under the chassis, towards the front, which has the consequence of muffling the sound when both hands are placed on the keyboard. The maximum volume is high, but at the cost of far too strong dynamic compression, which is unfortunately always present when the sound is lowered. The result is a very unpleasant pumping effect on the ear. More generally, the rendering is not only devoid of bass as we are used to on ultraportables, but also treble. This generates a very metallic rendering of voices, quite tiring for the eardrums and intelligibility far from ideal.

The headphone output has a big defect (see the table above): an extremely high distortion at full volume, which however falls to 0.009% when the sound is reduced by two notches by the keyboard shortcut. However, this has a serious impact on the power, which then does not exceed 75 mVrms. A figure barely acceptable on a smartphone and particularly low on a laptop. It's all the more unfortunate that the crosstalk and dynamic range are excellent.

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Conclusion

More expensive than the average of Chromebooks currently on the market, the Spin 13 from Acer is however one of the best. It benefits from an excellent screen, offers 10 hours of battery life and incorporates components that we are not used to seeing on this range of laptops. Too bad that its audio part is not more neat and that the keyboard lacks comfort.

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