ACER Spin 5 convertible laptop 13.5 2K 2256 x 1504 IPS Touch 2020 review

The Acer Spin 5’s 56WHr, 4-cell battery outperforms many of its rivals in our tests, lasting a respectable 11 hours and seven minutes on a full charge in our PCMark10 Home benchmark. In our HD video benchmark, it took the Spin 5 about the same amount of time to burn through a full battery: 11 hours and 19 minutes. the Spin 5 manages to offer an abundance of ports to fulfill all your connection needs. The Acer laptop even has a microSD reader, a convenient feature for content creators that seems to be growing more obsolete among laptops. Get details in ACER Spin 5 convertible laptop 13.5 2K 2256 x 1504 IPS Touch 2020 review.

Specifications – ACER Spin 5 convertible laptop 13.5 2K 2256 x 1504 IPS Touch 2020

Price and availability

The Acer Spin 5 is available now, starting at $999 (£899, about AU$1,400). It comes with an Intel Core i5-1035G4, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD – though the entry model in the UK cuts the RAM down to 8GB. 

The model we tested is the mid-range configuration that is similar to the base model and sells for $1,099 (about £845/AU$1,540). The only real difference comes with the upgrade to the Core i7-1065G7 CPU.

The most expensive model, retailing for $1,299 (about £1,000/AU$1,825), has all of the same specs, it’s just upgraded Windows 10 Professional. 

Who is this for – ACER Spin 5 convertible laptop 13.5 2K 2256 x 1504 IPS Touch 2020

It is for –

You want a 2-in-1 that’ll last an entire work or school day
While the Spin 5 isn’t the longest-lasting 2-in-1 on the market right now, it handily beats nearly all of its rivals when it comes to battery life.

You want an ideal 2-in-1 for note-taking or design work
It really can’t be stressed enough how much the Acer Spin 5 feels like an actual notebook. It still has the physical mass of an ultrabook to remind you that it is a computer, but when we used it in tablet mode with the stylus, it didn’t take long for us to really get comfortable taking some precise, detailed notes. It’s not quite the pen-and-paper experience, but it’s very close

You want a powerful 2-in-1
While the Spin 5 isn’t going to go toe-to-toe with a traditional laptop with the latest hardware, that doesn’t mean it’s a slouch when it comes to performance. With the latest Intel Ice Lake CPU, the Spin 5 outperforms nearly all of its rival 2-in-1s in that regard.

It is not for

You’re looking for a cheap 2-in-1 laptop
While the Spin 5 is definitely affordable for a 2-in-1 laptop, the base model still starts at $1,000/£770/AU$1,400. There are cheaper 2-in-1s out there if that’s an important factor in your decision.

You want a versatile/gaming laptop
It may sound strange to say this, but the Spin 5 isn’t a very versatile machine. It can convert back and forth between laptop and tablet all it wants, but this is clearly a laptop for students, creatives, and traveling professionals. This isn’t the best laptop for watching movies and it definitely isn’t for gamers.

Compare Acer Spin 5 Convertible Laptop vs Lenovo Flex 5 14″ 2-in-1 Laptop

Maximum Portability

Use your device however you see fit. Coming in at just 1.2kg¹ and a mere 14.9mm thin with a sleek magnesium-aluminum alloy body, the Spin 5 also features a 360* durable hinge design allowing you to flexibly rotate the screen to comfortably read, write, sketch, or watch anything you want while enjoying better airflow for improved cooling.

ACER Spin 5 convertible laptop 13.5 2K 2256 x 1504 IPS Touch 2020 review

Design

If the Spin 5’s steel-gray, fingerprint-resistant chassis were personified. The magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis gives the laptop a more classic aesthetic, one that makes it look like a device with a purpose. 

The Spin 5 is a featherweight, thin device. This airy convertible is so lightweight that if you were to stick it inside your travel bag, you wouldn’t even notice its presence. The Spin 5 is 2.6 pounds and 0.59 inches thick. This Acer laptop is thinner and lighter than its 2-in-1 competitors: the Lenovo Yoga C940 (3 pounds, 0.6 inches thick) and the HP Spectre x360 13 (2.7 pounds, 0.7 inches).

Display

The 13.5-inch multitouch display on the newer Spin 5 has a 2K resolution of 2256 x 1504 pixels. Color saturation and brightness on the IPS panel are fine in spite of the bezels, but we’re pleased with the overall image quality and doesn’t fall short in clarity.

The 3:2 HD display is vibrant and sharp, but what makes the Spin great for note-taking makes is much less so for watching full-screen movies. During our HD movie test, it was hard not to keep noticing the gigantic letterboxes slapped onto the top and bottom of a 16:9 video.

The Spin 5 proved that its panel is quite colorful; the convertible covered 111% of the sRGB color gamut. Although this score is lower than the category average (119%), the Spin 5 bested the Yoga C940 (104%) and Spectre x360 13 (109%).

Acer may be notorious for offering dim panels, but this time, the Taiwan-based laptop maker did not skimp on the Spin 5’s display. When we tested for brightness, the Spin 5’s screen emitted 425 nits, which outshone the category average (379 nits). The Spin 5 is also brighter than the Yoga C940 (339 nits) and the Spectre x360 13 (369 nits).

Ports

The Spin 5 is generous with its eight-port offering. There is an HDMI output port as well with HDCP support, a MicroSD card reader, two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, and a headphone jack with built in mic support. There is also a Noble lock slot for added security.

The two Thunderbolt 3 capable USB-C ports can both output video with DP and charge the battery. There is a separate, dedicated DC-in connector as well, but having the option of leaving the bulkier AC adapter at home is a definite bonus.

Acer Spin 5 keyboard and touchpad

The spacious 4.3 x 3.1-inch silver touchpad features a Windows Hello-compatible fingerprint reader on the top-left corner. The trackpad successfully delivered quick and accurate responses to Windows 10 gestures, including two-finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom. 

The Spin 5 sports an island-style, backlit keyboard with well-sized keys for a pleasant typing experience. On the 10fastfingers.com typing test, I reached 84 words per minute, which is lower than my typical 85-wpm average. The minor dip in my wpm score could be attributed to the slight mushy feel of the keys, but otherwise, I have no other complaints about the Spin 5’s keyboard.

Acer Spin 5 stylus

The Active Pen stylus included with the Spin 5 uses Wacom AES 1.0 technology for heightened responsiveness along with 4,096 pressure levels, providing high precision. There are also two configurable buttons, giving you even more control.

The stylus features 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, which helps the Active Pen to simulate a smooth pen-to-paper feel.

All said, it isn’t the most rugged digital pencil on the market. It’s rather small, measuring at just under five inches long (125.31mm, to be precise) and only 0.2 inches (5.3mm) in diameter. It weighs a negligible 4.1 grams, or only 0.14 of an ounce.

Acer Spin 5 audio

Let’s take a look at the positive aspects of the Spin 5’s audio. Its top-firing speakers allowed for free-flowing, room-filling audio as I turned up the volume to the max. I listened to “Savage Love” by Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo. Both crooners’ vocals sounded like sweet honey to my ears on the Spin 5’s speakers.Advertisement

On more rhythmic songs, however, the speakers suffered from a lack of punch in the bass department. But for the most part, the Spin 5’s speakers sounded sharp, even at max volume.

Camera

The Spin 5’s camera also picked up on facial details that revealed my sleep deprivation, including my dark circles and reddish eyes. It’s a blessing and a curse — the 720p camera, equipped with super high dynamic range, is sharp enough to render muted facial details, but on the downside, you can’t hide your blemishes.

ACER Spin 5 convertible laptop 13.5 2K 2256 x 1504 IPS Touch 2020 performance review

Packed with an Intel Core i7-1065G7 processor and 16GB of RAM, the Spin 5 proved its multitasking muscle after enduring a flood of 35 Google Chrome tabs without stuttering.

On our HandBrake benchmark, the Spin 5 took 17 minutes and 5 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p, which is faster than the category average of 18 minutes and 39 seconds. The Lenovo Yoga C940 (19:32) and the Spectre x360 13 (21:13) were both slower than the Spin 5.

On the Geekbench 5.0 overall performance test, the Spin 5 scored 4,289, which crushed the score of the average premium laptop (4,041). The Yoga C940 (16GB of RAM) and the Spectre x360 13 (8GB of RAM), competitors that share the same CPU as the Spin 5, lagged behind the Acer 2-in-1 with scores of 4,055 and 4,074, respectively.

On our storage test, the Spin 5’s 512GB SSD duplicated 4.97GB of multimedia files in 8 seconds, which translates to 678 megabytes per second. This is faster than the category average (147 MBps). Comparing the Spin 5 to its rivals that also sport 512GB SSDs, the Yoga C940 (1,084 MBps) outpaced the Acer convertible, but the Spectre x360 13 was sluggish (339 MBps). 

Graphics

The Spin 5 is equipped with Intel Iris Plus graphics, but you’ll still need a discrete GPU to play your favorite graphics-intensive games. On the 3DMark Fire Strike graphics benchmark, the Spin 5 sailed past the category average (1,358) with a score of 2,772. The Spin 5 also demolished the Yoga C490 (2,138) and the Spectre x360 13 (2,615). The Spin 5 played Dirt 3 at 64 frames per second with the graphics set to 1080p on Very High, which matches the category average. The Yoga C940 (51 fps) and Spectre x360 13 (47 fps) couldn’t keep up with the Spin 5.

Battery life

Acer touts the new Spin 5’s battery potential to be up to 15 hours. That’s an excellent number, but as is usually the case, real-world use falls short of that estimate. When you run PCMark’s Battery Life test, the Acer SP513-54N-74V2 turned off at 7 hours 24 minutes. When playing a movie von loop, with display brightness at 50% and all radios turned off but Wi-Fi, the Spin powered through 12 hours 19 minutes.

That’s more than enough battery life to get you through a long flight while easing time watching a movie or a long work session.

The Yoga C940 and Spectre x360 13, on the other hand, demonstrated more endurance with runtimes of 11:46 and 13:20 minutes, respectively.

Heat

After the Spin 5 streamed a 15-minute, 1080p video, the touchpad, keyboard center and underside remained cool with temperatures of 77 degrees Fahrenheit, 84 degrees, and 86 degrees, respectively. Even the hottest location of the Spin 5 — the bottom of the laptop near the vent — hovered under our 95-degree comfort threshold at 93 degrees. 

How to do ACER Spin 5 convertible laptop 13.5 RAM SSD upgrade?

For your inconvenience, Acer uses 10 Torx-head screws to attach the bottom panel of this device to its chassis. After you find the appropriate screwdriver and undo the screws, you need to pry the plate away with a plastic tool.

Once inside, you’ll see that the cooling comprises a single fan, as well as a rather thick, but short heat pipe, which looks like the tail of a rat.

Sadly, the upgradability of this notebook is limited to a single M.2 PCIe x4 slot. This means that all of the memory is soldered to the motherboard. However, the good thing about it, is that it can work at higher frequencies – 3733 MHz. Last but not least, there is the 55.9Wh battery pack.

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