Acer - Acer Spin 1

Acer

Acer Spin 1: a good convertible PC at a low price

Aprox. 326€ - see price -

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With Spin 1 (2017), Acer is trying to improve its image on the entry-level niche and offers us a convertible laptop for less than 400 €, with a design close to a product for 1000 €. Successful bet?

Our review

Construction

Like the recent Swift 1, which has largely convinced us, the Spin 1 (2017) is further proof of Acer's desire to offer a worked design and a good level of finish on an entry-level product. . Difficult, in fact, to say that this ultraportable convertible is offered at less than 400 € when you discover its all-aluminum chassis and the care taken in its construction. The glossy and slightly brushed effect on the hood is very successful, and the silver hinge on the back provides an additional "premium" touch.

Once unfolded, the PC lets appear an input zone benefiting from a mat treatment, again very successful, as well as a large touchpad and a keyboard whose keys seem quite small. In use, the typing proves to be precise and pleasant, however, thanks to a fairly long stroke and a good feeling of return under the fingers. The keys, however, tend to sink slowly, in a rather unpleasant plastic noise. We also found, on our test model, a strange implementation of the arrow keys which have a little trouble sinking (but remain functional). The touchpad, meanwhile very well designed and integrated, benefits from a silver border pleasing to the eye. We tick a little on the other hand on the very large black bands around the screen, which are struggling to value it.

The Acer Spin 1 (2017) offers full connectivity, although the absence of a USB Type-C port is somewhat regrettable. There is still a USB 3.1 Type-A port, a USB 2 port, an HDMI output, a microSD port and a jack port for audio. Note that the use of a microSD card is almost essential, since the default storage space is only 64 GB.

Unsurprisingly given the on-board configuration, the Spin 1 (2017) heats little and emits no noise, even during a sustained performance test. There is thus a hot spot of 39 ° C at the front and 38.8 ° C under the chassis.


Screen

The Acer Spin 1 (2017) is equipped with an 11.6 inch (29.5 cm) touch screen, displaying a Full HD definition (1,920 x 1,080 px). Brilliant and IPS type, the slab used here seems, at first glance, of very good quality.

Persistence 22 ms Brightness 340cd / m² Contrast 940: 1

These positive impressions are largely confirmed once our test probe has been applied. For an entry-level product, the screen of the Acer Spin 1 is thus particularly neat. First of all, there is a very good brightness of 340 cd / m², thus a very respectable contrast ratio of 940: 1 (we would have liked to exceed 1000: 1, given the brilliant slab). Either way, readability is particularly good. Delta E 3.6

And, miraculously, even the colorimetry is in keeping! Delta E indeed drops to 3.6, while the color temperature is 6,940 K. Recall that Delta E, which reflects the difference between the actual colors and the colors displayed, is considered to be excellent in below 3. The temperature, meanwhile, is close to the standard of 6,500 K. The rendering is therefore both faithful and balanced. Finally, the gamma curve is particularly stable, a sign of a very controlled gray gradient.

The only real downside in the table concerning the Spin 1 screen, the remanence rate, raised to 22 ms. It's pretty bad, but not surprising for an IPS panel.


Performances

Entry level requires, the Spin 1 (2017) has a modest configuration: Intel Celeron N3350 processor, 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage in eMMC. Suffice to say that it is not with this model that you will do video editing or photo editing. The Celeron N3350 has 2 cores, for frequencies between 1.1 and 2.4 GHz, as well as a TDP (or thermal envelope) of 6 W. It is one of the least powerful CPUs at Intel, and you can feel it with use.

Spin 1 is therefore reserved for very basic tasks: note taking, word processing or spreadsheet, surfing the web, a little video playback .... and that's about it. Multitasking is of course possible, but the operating system will still display some slowdowns if you force on the open tabs. It is therefore important to be aware of this when buying: here we are dealing with a purely "office" PC with limited versatility.


Games

Again, no miracle: with a simple iGPU (graphics chip integrated into the processor) Intel HD Graphics 500, the Spin 1 (2017) will be unable to run recent games in 3D. The practice of video games is not however completely banned, but it will be necessary to limit oneself to 2D titles that are not very greedy. A service like Steam offers a wide choice of "pixel-art / indie" productions that will go perfectly with this configuration.


Mobility / Autonomy

With its 1.25 kg and 14 mm thickness, the Acer Spin 1 (2017) is one of the very good students in terms of transportability, especially since it is accompanied by a small charger. You can therefore easily slip it into a medium size bag.

The balance sheet on autonomy is however a little less exciting. We have indeed noted 4 hours 58 of life in video playback under Netflix (screen brightness at 200 cd / m², headphones plugged in), which remains in a small average, even for entry level. As part of an office use and playing on energy saving, you can consider 6 hours of use.


Audio

The headphone output of the Acer Spin 1 (2017) is very good. We particularly appreciate a low distortion rate (0.009%) and a fairly high output power (100 mVrms). The sound spectrum is well restored.

The speakers, on the other hand, are of very average quality, but that is not very surprising for an entry-level laptop. The main focus is on the mids and a few high mids, but the bass and treble are sorely absent.


Conclusion

The Acer Spin 1 is proof that "entry level product" does not always mean "discount construction". Boasting a neat design - close to what a more "premium" PC can offer - and an impeccable level of finish, this convertible notebook pays for the luxury of a very good quality screen. On the other hand, it will be necessary to do with the Intel Celeron processor which limits usage and a somewhat fair default storage space. But the price / quality ratio is undeniably good.


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