Acer Chromebook Spin 13 CP713-1WN-53NF 2-in-1 Convertible, 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8250U, 13.5" 2K Resolution Touchscreen, 8GB LPDDR3, 128GB eMMC, Backlit Keyboard, Aluminum Chassis

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Ive always thought my phone loaded apps fast, but when I installed a bunch of apps on this new Acer Chromebook I could see a huge difference. There wasnt any wait, as soon as I selected the app it was open in under a second. Probably less than 1/2 a second. There are only 2 things Im still concerned about with this laptop/convertible Chromebook - ongoing and improved support from more and more apps for the stylus, and how sensitive the trackpad is. All I have to do is THINK about tapping something and its done. But, thats a little too quick for my use - I like to hover my thumb or fingers over the trackpad while browsing and quite often something gets selected I wasnt intending to. Thatll take some getting used to. For now - Im VERY satisified with this Acer unit. Theyve done a GREAT job with this one.

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Received this brand new Chromebook, today. First thing out of the box, I realized you have to have gorilla fingers to enjoy pressing the touchpad hard enough to activate the switch. Im not King Kong , I dont need arthritis, and this Chromebook is not for me, so Ill send it back 4/26/2019 - Update - I relinquished MacBook Pro induced desire to have a high quality touchpad, and decided to keep this Chromebook. However, last night, the touchpad stopped working - the pointer is displayed in the middle of the screen when the touchpad is clicked, but is unresponsive to movement. Acer support wanted to create a ticket so that I could send it in, but Ive ready so many horror stories of these computer manufacturers having people send their laptops in for repair. 5/15/2019 - Update - I decided to keep this Chromebook, even though I discovered that merely wiping down the touchpad area with a damp cloth, and then allowing to dry, caused the touchpad to become unusable. This was apparently due to moisture along the edges/cracks of the touchpad. However, within 24 hours it dried out enough to start functioning again. Unfortunately, I now regret not returning this Chromebook. There is something very weird and unnatural about the responsiveness of the touchpad. When performing text editing, I often tap to go to relocate the cursor, but the cursor remains where it was. Other times I tap to relocate the cursor, and quickly begin typing, but the first letter ends up in the place where the cursor was before I tapped it. So, there is a serious time lag in reacting to the tap. There is also a definite time lag when scrolling with two fingers. Youd think this Chromebook would be fast, but it is only when it wants to be. I thought I might get used to having to press so hard on the touchpad to get it to click, but the simple process of clicking and dragging remains annoying as hell, and the touchpad is not clickable at all within the top 25% of the pad. Furthermore, the screen is a high gloss, which causes any background light reflection to create glare that obscures readability of the screen. Now, this Chromebook has displayed a message that offline text editing is disabled, but when I try to enable it with the standard Google extension, I keep getting the same disabled message. All in all, this Chromebook is very uncomfortable to work with, and seems to have some software design problems. I recommend NOT to buy this Chromebook, as there are probably much better ones out there, and for a whole lot less money. The Toshiba that I purchased for $400 a few years ago worked much more elegantly than this, but Toshiba unfortunately stopped manufacturing Chromebooks. At this price point, this ACER Chromebook should performed flawlessly, but doesnt, and the touchpad input is truly a pain to use. But if what you want is fighting to get a Chromebook to do what you want it to, and you like the constant anxiety that goes along with it, then you should buy it.

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Originally, my plan was to purchase a pixel slate because I needed a device that I could use to draw and wanted something that could detach from the keyboard, but the more reviews I read, the more I began to think this would be a bad idea, so I looked into Chromebooks and Im glad I did. Eventually, this machine will replace both my Windows laptop and my Android tablet. This would not have been possible without the addition of both the Google Play store and the Linnux terminal. Through Linnux Ive got a fully functional version of GIMP and through Android I have Sketchbook. Going from Office to Google docs is a bit of an adjustment, but I *think* Ive found all the functionality I need for formatting books. As for performance, the i5 and 8gb of ram make this the fastest machine Ive ever owned. I love that there is no start up wait and that GIMP loads in seconds, rather than the full minute Ive had to wait with even the fastest of my PCs. I have noticed that Android apps will use a lot of resources, which sends the fan into overdrive. While it is quieter than my other laptop, this is not a quiet fan. So far the battery life has been impressive. I can typically get two full days of writing out of a single charge, however, if Im using a graphic intensive app, the battery drains pretty quickly. Over all, Im quite pleased. I needed a workhorse and thats what I got.

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The standout feature of the Acer Chromebook Spin 13 is its display. The combination of the screen size with the unique resolution and aspect ratio hits a sweet spot. Its speed is actually much faster than necessary for typical Chromebook browser and app use, but will be great for users who plan to run Crostini Linux applications or dual-booted Windows. The feel of the gorilla glass touchpad makes it a joy to use. The EMR stylus works beautifully, though it can get somewhat stuck in its holster if reinserted with excessive force. At 3.5 pounds, this device doesnt target users that require high mobility or frequent use in its tablet mode. The aluminum case is metal gray in color, so it just looks like any thin corporate desktop when the lid is down. But, when using Chrome OS, it breezes effortlessly through all of animations for touchpad and touchscreen gestures. Browser extensions, Web apps, PWAs, Android apps, and screen casting are all highly responsive. Video streaming and playback is excellent, and sound is very good for a laptop. I/O ports are ample and located optimally. I purchased mine for $699.99 on Cyber Monday.

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I bought this Acer Chromebook after considering what I wanted in a Chromebook and reading the reviews on Amazon. I was very pleased with my purchase except for the noise from the fan. It WAS SUPER LOUD! People in the next room would ask if I had a hair-dryer going. I decided I just couldnt live with it any longer and so I had Amazon create a return and I started to get ready to box it up.... thats when I figured out the problem with the fan noise! I had a 32GB micro SD card inserted into the Chromebooks reader. I removed the SD card in preperation to ship the Chromebook and the fan immediately quieted down. To test this, I ran the Chromebook with and without the SD card for several hours. The results are pretty clear -- with the SD card inserted, it creates extra processing requirements on the processor and the fan kicks on. I dont need the SD card to be inserted to do 99% of my tasks. It was inserted just because of convenience and frankly, I had forgotten it was even there. SO! No SD card, no fan noise and now Im keeping this awesome Chromebook!

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Ive been unhappy with the new Mac laptops especially the keyboards so I decided to give this a try now that ChromeOS has Linux support. The results are surprising. It doesnt run out of steam with a bunch of tabs like cheaper chromebooks. The command line environment is a single click setup. The keyboard far better than Macs. It still has limitations, its obviously not a complete replacement for everyone, but within what I need to do its about 98%. The only thing I really miss is being able to play factorio. I dont really use it as a tablet so I dont care about the stylus or the touchscreen, but I still like having the touchscreen because it means its glass and wont scratch easily, which is often an annoyance with those matte plastic screens. The screen is also good because its high resolution which most chromebooks arent, and the only other ones Ive seen are either more expensive, lack Linux, are much slower, or are much bigger and heavier. Its a sweet spot for me coming from the 13" MacBook Pro. With Linux the built in terminal app is meh but you can just install another with apt. The browser-based ssh is meh but you can use openssh from Linux. Its also a great travel laptop, it doesnt need its own charger you can use one of those Anker chargers with a USB-C port and a bunch of USB-A ports for your phone and other gadgets. It can also charge from a cellphone charger or one of those lighter adapters in your car, its slow but its nice to have a backup plan. I guess the reason Im impressed isnt that its perfect or does everything, but rather how good a job it does within its constraints. Constraints are everything. This is an excellent laptop if the constraints are compatible with what you want to do.

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This is my second Chromebook and, coincidentally, my second Acer. I purchased my first Acer Chromebook (Acer C910-54M1 15.6-Inch LED 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) Chromebook - Intel Core i5 i5-5200U 2.20 GHz - Black) back in June of 2015 as a way to move away from my 13" MacBook Pro. Excellent experience with that particular Acer Chromebook and felt I was ready to step up to something else. So glad I picked this new Acer Spin 13 instead of the Google Pixelbook 2 I originally had my eyes on. Would have made a nice pairing with my Google Pixel 2 XL phone, but the Acer Spin 13 fits the bill nicely. Great screen, excellent backlit keyboard, vibrant colors, serious horsepower, and the battery lasts quite a long time.

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This machine is snappy. The display is great. I purchased it because of Crostini which works as it should at this early stage of development. It is way ahead of the Chromebooks I recommend for my school district. The only problem I have is that the display crashes. Large gray vertical stripes appear on the screen, then it turns black. The only way to recover from this is to fold the laptop and reopen it immediately. This happened a lot while using Crostini, so I first blamed this on the fact that the project was in Beta. But now, it also happens while running Chrome or android apps. I am now starting to wonder if this is not a hardware or implementation issue. I have had to return Acer laptops in the past. Is it a one-off issue? Should I exchange the machine? Acer, please help... Update: Chrome OS 72 may have solved this issue. Hasnt happened again. Great laptop. Update after a couple of months of very light use: The crashes are back and they seem to appear when the laptop is is tilted (iow, on ones lap). I thought the issue might be the obstruction of the ventilation intakes or outtakes, but it is not. Some crashes also happen randomly or when the machine is on a flat surface and working a bit harder. It also crashes when watching amazon online movies or during the playback of movies saved on the SD card. Very disappointed. Another update. Used the schoology and adobe connect sites and i must say that here, the situation is worst than ever. The screen crashes after two minutes of online class, which is followed by the sound turning off after several more seconds. Closing and reopening the laptop brings back the picture for 2 minutes, and then it crashes again. I am sending back the machine. If this issue is not solved i will make sure that the loss for Acer i will never recommend the brand again. I will come back and report.

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I opened my Acer Spin 13 Chromebook today and my first impressions are all positive. The screen is bright and dynamic. The metal body is solid, feels sturdy. Touch screen responds well. Battery meter reads about 8 hours at full charge, but that may simply be because I havent fully discharged the battery yet and then recharged. (Unplugged my battery meter now says 9h37m remaining, so yeah, the battery meter needs to adjust.) The Screen flips all the way back on sturdy hinges. Keyboard and touchpad respond solidly. So far Id say this is most definitely the best Chromebook you can buy at this time that is not a Pixelbook. Ill update this review after Ive had a few days with my new laptop and post any issues.

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My review will be short, but Ill probably update it over time. Ive only had it for a day when I write the first version of this review. About me: Im not quite a power-user, Id call myself a super-user. Ive been using Chrome OS as my primary OS now for about six or seven years, but the Chromebook this one replaced was quite long in the tooth, so this is the first current-gen Chromebook Ive had since my C720 was new. Pros: * This has a great keyboard. Its hands-down the best laptop keyboard Ive used, regardless of OS. (I know the Chromebook Pixel is highly rated, but Ive never got my hands on one of those to compare.) The backlight is a neat feature, but not one thats particularly important to me. * The trackpad is great. When I first tried it, it seemed too sensitive. The thing is that I was used to a "grabby" trackpad, and this one is silky smooth. Only time will tell how it wears, but so far its great. The Chrome OS gestures work perfectly. * Id give the screen a B+ or A-. I know that some folks complain that the screen doesnt get quite as bright as theyd prefer. Its definitely brighter, with better colors than my former Chromebook, but that not a very fair comparison since my former Chromebook is a several years old budget model. The glass on the screen is smooth and I havent built up any noticeable finger smudges yet. When using Android apps, its been as responsive as my tablet. * Speed: This thing is powerful for a Chromebook. I havent stressed it out or caused it to slow down yet. Ive had over a dozen tabs open to test it and every tab was responsive. * Finish. Matte aluminum. It feels nice and looks good. Neither a Pro or a Con: * The Fan: I have typical hearing. Yes, Ive heard the fan come on a few times. It neither bothers me nor seems loud, but yes, I can hear when it turns on at times. I know that other reviewers have described it as being loud. I wonder if theres some variability between units, or (more likely in my opinion) variability in what different people consider to be loud or annoying. If theres any ambient sound in the room (TV, music, etc.), I dont notice it at all. I would say that to me the fan seems like a non-issue, but others may be sensitive to it. Edit: After a few days Ive only heard the fan come on a few times. Its a non-issue, but I accept that there are sensitive people out there. Cons: * Weight (when using it in tablet mode): I doubt that Ill get much use out of tablet mode since with the size and weight its a little unwieldy. For a 13" tablet, the weight is okay - as a tablet its a little heavy. Note: One thing I do like is that in the past Ive used a few (cheap) 2-in-1 devices where the weight was mainly in the screen. That meant that those devices tended to tip over when using them as a laptop - the slightest nudge pushed them over. This device has enough weight in the keyboard half that thats not an issue. * Price: This is a lot for a Chromebook. This isnt a machine that I would recommend as someones first exploration in Chrome OS (unless price is no issue), because the OS itself is a love it or hate it situation. The hardware here is very good - but the OS is what it is. I love Chrome OS and Im heavily invested in Googles ecosystem, but if youre the sort of person who wouldnt be satisfied with Chrome OS as it is, the best hardware in the world wouldnt change it. What I wish was included: One more USB A port - Id love if this machine had one on either side. I havent used it enough to meaningfully review the battery life. Edit: I get about 8 hours of mixed use so far, but I havent really timed it and I keep the brightness set to one notch below max most of the time. Same thing with the included stylus. So far the stylus seems like a neat toy, but I havent really figured out much use for it since Im not an artist, though I have installed Gimp (similar to Photoshop) (via Linux VM). Unfortunately, GIMP doesnt support the pressure sensitivity function of the pen (yet?), and the pen doesnt have a built-in eraser function. Ive heard that Krita may support the pressure sensitivity function but havent tested it yet. Edit: Krita didnt work for me. The Android apps that support pen pressure have worked for me, but that feature hasnt worked in Linux software for me.

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