If you're buying any laptop for under $350, you can usually expect a dull, low-res screen and a cheap-plastic chassis. However, Acer's Spin 1 flips your expectations around by offering a colorful, 1080p IPS display and an attractive metal chassis for a starting price of $329. We had a chance to view the 11.6-inch 2-in-1 at the Computex Taipei trade show and could not believe the build quality you get for the money.
The Spin 1 is quite thin and light with a 0.55-inch thick all-metal chassis that weighs just 2.76 pounds.Its gunmetal gray and silver-colored metal chassis looks like it was stolen from a much more expensive laptop. We particularly liked the cold metallic feel of the lid.
The laptop's 11.6-inch FHD IPS touchscreen is a joy to behold. Colors like the greens and yellows in the wallpaper really popped and stayed true even as we moved far to the left or right. In fact, Acer claims that the screen has 178-degree viewing angles.
To get the Spin 1 down to such a low price, Acer obviously had to cut corners on the processor. The 2-in-1 is available with a Pentium or Celeron CPU, 4GB of memory and 32, 64, or 128GB of eMMC storage.
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The laptop has two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI out and a microSD card slot. Its wireless options include 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. Acer claims 8 hours of battery life, and the Spin 1 works with the company's Active Stylus, an optional accessory.
The Acer Spin 1 should start shipping sometime this summer.
