Acer Chromebook Spin 713 – Review 2020

Though it’s a Chromebook instead of a Windows laptop, Acer’s Chromebook Spin 713 wears the same “Engineered for Mobile Performance” sticker as other notebooks that meet Intel’s state-of-the-art “Project Athena” standard for conveniences such as quick wake and long battery life. But beyond those important mandates, this Spin model has two other things going for it as an alternative to a Windows 2-in-1. First, at $629 at Best Buy, it’s a bargain—in fact, it’s cheaper than some rival convertible Chromebooks. (The HP Chromebook x360 14 G1 and Asus Chromebook Flip C436 cost about $800 as tested.) Second, like the recently reviewed Acer Swift 3, its 13.5-inch display has a squarer 3:2 rather than the more familiar 16:9 aspect ratio, giving you a taller view for text and web scrolling. Getting a 3:2 ratio in a touch-screen convertible is rare and makes the Spin 713 an appealing choice—in fact, our new Editors’ Choice among premium Chromebooks, most of which cost more.

No Entry-Level Chromebook Here

As affordable as it is, the 713 is no stripped-down economy model. Clad in aluminum instead of plastic with an antimicrobial Gorilla Glass screen and touchpad, it’s passed MIL-STD 810G tests against hazards such as a four-foot drop. It teams its Core i5-10210U processor and 8GB of RAM with a 128GB NVMe solid-state drive instead of the lesser-capacity, slower eMMC flash storage common in Chromebooks. Happily, it has an HDMI port when nearly all Chromebooks oblige users of external monitors to fuss with a USB-C-to-DisplayPort or USB-C-to-HDMI dongle.

The tall screen makes the Spin a little deeper than competitors, at 0.66 by 11.8 by 9.3 inches versus, for example, the 0.54 by 12.6 by 8.1 inches of the competing Asus Chromebook Flip C436. Weighing 3.02 pounds, it’s not ponderous (though the Flip is half a pound lighter), but a bit heavy to hold in your hands instead of leaving in your lap in tablet mode. Visually, it’s a silver-gray square with chrome accents. Black Chromebook and chrome Acer logos decorate the lid.

On the left edge are a USB Type-C 3.2 port, a USB Type-A port, an audio jack, and a microSD card slot. Another USB-C port and the HDMI port are on the right, placed between the power button and a volume rocker. The AC adapter plugs into either USB-C port. Wireless communications include Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) and Bluetooth.

The Project Athena standards indeed are borne out in the Spin 713’s wakeup behavior and battery life. (We’ll discuss the latter toward the end of this review.) With a press of the power button when switched off, the Acer brings you to Chrome OS’s sign-in screen in just five or six seconds; resuming from sleep (opening the closed lid) is almost instantaneous, though the Wi-Fi takes a few seconds to reconnect.

Sunny and Snappy: A Look at ‘VertiView’

What Acer calls a “VertiView” display is so sharp it stays readable even with the tiny text and icons of its native 2,256-by-1,504-pixel resolution. As with most Chromebooks, you can choose among nine “looks like” or faux resolutions in the Settings panel (the default is 1,410 by 940 pixels) to resize screen elements. Brightness is adequate, not dazzling, but white backgrounds are nicely white, and contrast is good. Viewing angles are broad, and colors are rich and well saturated. Touch-screen operations are responsive and sure.

There’s no stylus, but the flip-and-fold 360-degree hinge makes it easy to switch among laptop, easel, tent, and tablet modes; there’s little wobble when you tap the screen in laptop mode. The 720p webcam in the top screen bezel captures slightly dark but crisp and colorful shots. Sound from the bottom-mounted speakers is slightly hollow. (There’s not much bass, but you can distinguish overlapping tracks.) Volume drops off quickly from maximum, but it is sufficient to fill a small room.

The backlit keyboard follows the usual Chromebook layout, with a search/launch key in place of Caps Lock and browser and system controls along the top row. The cursor-arrow keys are in the proper inverted T instead of a row, though they’re small. The keyboard has a pleasantly snappy typing feel, with a modest amount of noise and good tactile feedback as keys strike home. A large, square, buttonless touchpad taps and glides smoothly.

Chrome OS Convertibles on the Test Bench

I compared the Spin 713’s performance to that of four other convertible Chromebooks. The Intel Celeron-based HP Chromebook x360 12b shares its 3:2 screen aspect ratio, while the 14-inch Asus Chromebook Flip C436 and HP Chromebook x360 14 G1 rely on Core i3 and Core i5 power respectively. The Google Pixelbook Go fits in between with a 13.3-inch screen; it uses a low-power variant of the Core i5. (See how we test laptops.)

The first objective benchmarks we use are Principled Technologies’ venerable CrXPRT (a suite of simulated Chrome OS productivity apps) and more recent WebXPRT 3 (a browser-based test of HTML and JavaScript throughput).

The 14- and 12-inch HP laptops finished in first and last place respectively, with the Acer taking the silver medal in both events.

JetStream 2 is another web-centric performance test. It combines 64 JavaScript and WebAssembly benchmarks to measure a browser’s (in this case, the default Chrome’s) suitability for advanced web applications.

This time, the Spin 713 edged its HP rival, with the 10th Generation Core i5 prevailing over the 8th Generation one. The Pixelbook Go’s battery-sipping, dual-core CPU was less competitive.

We’ve recently added UL’s PCMark for Android Work 2.0 test to our Chromebook regimen. This test suite runs in a small smartphone-style window and mimics productivity operations ranging from text and image editing to data charting and video playback.

Another win for the Acer, though the Asus Flip managed a spirited second place. The HP x360 12b chugged along with its humble Celeron CPU.

Finally, to test a Chromebook’s battery life, we loop a locally stored video with screen brightness set at 50 percent, audio volume at 100 percent, and Wi-Fi disabled until the system quits.

The Pixelbook Go’s 5-watt processor helped it outlast the competition, though the Spin 713 posted an excellent runtime as well. A full day’s work or school plus an evening of Netflix entertainment won’t require the AC adapter.

Offbeat Shape, Winning Style

Whether you’re working on a Google Docs report or just poking around the Google Play Store, the Acer Spin 713 is one of the nicest Chromebooks you can buy—a well-built, well-designed system whose screen makes it stand out from the convertible crowd. If it came with a stylus pen it would be just about perfect, but its value makes it an easy Editors’ Choice anyway.

Acer Chromebook Spin 713 Specs

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