Acer's Spin line of convertible laptops has impressed us in the past with the recent Acer Spin 5 earning high marks from our reviewer for its "beastly" performance. Unfortunately, the battery life came up a little shy of expectations.
Well, that last problem should certainly be remedied by the new Acer Spin 7, which relies on the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G compute platform. According to Acer, it will allow the laptop to go for multiple days on a single charge.
We'll be happy to put that claim to the test when the Acer Spin 7 is available later this year, but for now, here's a closer look at this versatile 5G laptop.
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Acer Spin 7 specs
Again the highlight here is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G compute platform. We just recently reviewed the Lenovo Flex 5G running on the Gen 1 version of this chipset and while the 5G support was nice, the performance was less impressive. Qualcomm reports that the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 "delivers over 50% greater system-wide performance and battery life versus competing solutions." It's an impressive claim, but one that we'll definitely need to test for ourselves.
Speaking of 5G, the Acer Spin 7 offers support for both mmWave and sub-6 GHz 5G frequencies along with 4G LTE and Wi-Fi 6, ensuring that you have the fastest connection available wherever you go.
The included Wacom pen is easily stored in the laptop and offers 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity for an excellent drawing or writing experience.
The laptop also features Qualcomm's Aqstic echo noise cancellation and noise suppression, which Acer claims will yield a more immersive experience, but we'll need to see how that performs in our real-world testing as well.
From a security standpoint, the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G also has you covered with support for Microsoft Secured Core PC and Windows Hypervisor.
Acer Spin 7 design and ports
The Acer Spin 7 isn't quite the featherweight that the Acer Spin 5 is, but at 3.09 pounds and 0.63-inches thick, it still qualifies as thin and light. The magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis gives the laptop a professional look and solid durability that is crucial for a laptop geared for users on the go.
The 360-degree rotating hinge allows you to easily switch between form factors depending on your needs, whether that is the traditional clamshell, tablet, tent or presentation mode. The hinge also angles the laptop slightly for you in clamshell mode, allowing for more comfortable and ergonomic typing.
While the Acer Spin 7 doesn't sport a variety of ports, it does at least give you three USB Type-C ports and a combination headphone/mic jack.
Acer Spin 7 display and keyboard
The 14-inch display is full HD and, according to Acer, covers 100% of the sRGB gamut, which would put it slightly below the Spin 5 at 111%, so we'll be curious to see how it performs in our testing in this regard and when it comes to brightness.
Our reviewer was pleasantly surprised by the typing experience on the Acer Spin 5 and, given the slightly larger dimensions of this laptop, it would be surprising if it didn't deliver a similar experience.
As for the touchpad, it looks smaller than that of the Acer Spin 5, but it does thankfully move the fingerprint reader off of the touchpad, which is definitely our preference.
Acer Spin 7 battery life
While Acer is happy to claim "multi-day battery life" it did not yet offer an official figure for the hours of battery life on the Acer Spin 7.
Outlook
The promises of multi-day battery life and the liberating 5G connectivity sound fantastic, but there are plenty of questions regarding the performance of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G and, of course, the issue of software support for ARM in Windows 10.
If the Acer Spin 7 can deliver on some of its loftier claims then the combination of battery life, 5G connectivity and a flexible form factor could certainly make it a tempting option for regular travelers when it launches later this year.
