While everyone else is doing Intel, Acer threw the world a curveball and went with Qualcomm. The company just revealed that the upcoming iteration of the Spin 7 will be the first in the world to feature Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G compute platform, which will deliver extra-long battery life and always-on 5G connectivity. Pricing and availability has yet to be announced as of press time.
The Qualcomm quotient
When it launches, the Spin 7 will be the ambassador for Qualcomm’s latest venture into laptops. If it lives up to the hype from 2018, the Snapdragon 8cx chips might be Qualcomm’s fastest Snapdragon ever. And it will still serve up multi-day battery life and offer several modes of connectivity. This chip has been built specifically for thin-and-light laptops with its 8 cores split between performance and efficiency. The chip also has a larger cache which should bode well for multitasking.
And while more power and multi-day battery life isn’t definitely nothing to sneeze at. In a time where a lot of people are working remotely, the connectivity might be the real star of the show. As the name suggests, the Gen 2 5G will be compatible with 5G cellular networks using both Sub-6 GHz and 5G mmWave which means we’ll be enjoying multi-gigabit speeds that are ridiculously fast, but also stable. Because let’s face it, the fastest speeds in the world are worth squat if you keep losing the connection. In addition to 5Gm the new chip also plays nice with Wi-Fi 6.
Qualcomm is bringing some other welcome goodies in the form of high-end camera modules, noise cancellation technology and enhanced security features.
Beauty meets versatility
Acer takes advantage of its fancy new specs by wrapping them lightweight, convertible chassis. Made from a magnesium-aluminum alloy, the laptop weighs 3.1 pounds and is only 0.6 inches thick. It’s also an alluring shade of steam blue with a 360-degree hinge to up the versatility factor. The 14-inch touchscreen covers 100% of the sRGB color gamut. And to keep that display fingerprint-free, Acer wisely bundled a dockable Wacom pen. And if you have to touch the panel, it’s made from antimicrobial Corning Gorilla Glass.
Bottom line
Acer and Qualcomm sounds like music to mobile professionals’ ears. Together, the companies are launching a powerful thin-and-light laptop the likes of which the world has ever seen. Not only is the new Spin 7 pretty, it’s extremely versatile and has the potential to blow our battery test out of the water –– if it lives up to the hype. Plus, thanks to the new Snapdragon chip, you’ll never have to worry about looking for unlocked Wi-Fi networks as you’ll always be connected.
The only thing to consider now is the price and performance, the latter will be determined in our labs.
