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great companion in everyday life

For the past few weeks, I’ve been working on the Acer Chromebook Spin 513. It’s a lightweight 2-in-1 Chromebook with Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c processor. In this review you can read my findings about this device.

Acer Chromebook Spin 513

The Acer Chromebook Spin 513 (for consumers) and Acer Chromebook Enterprise Spin 513 (for businesses) were announced late last year and feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c processor and a convertible display. The Chromebooks are ultra-thin and light (less than 1.2 kg), according to Acer, and offer powerful performance, a long battery life of 14 hours and the ability to be connected via 4G LTE.

For this review, I used the Acer Chromebook Spin 513 CP513-1H-S4MH.

Specifications

Acer Chromebook Spin 513
Dimensions and weight: 31 x 21.1 x 1.74cm, 1.29kg
Screen: 13.3 inch fullHD (1920 X 1080) IPS display
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c
Random access memory: 8GB LPDDR4X
Storage Memory: 64GB eMMC
Camera: 0.9MP
Battery: 4,670 mAh
Keyboard Layout: QWERTY (US)
Connections: 2 USB Type C, 1 USB Type A, 3.5mm audio jack
Software version: Chrome OS (updates until June 2029)
Additional: 3.5mm audio jack, 5G, in-screen fingerprint scanner
Recommended retail price: 449 euros (4GB) / 499 euros (8GB)

Neat design and lightweight

The Acer Chromebook Spin 513 weighs just under 1.3 kilograms, making the device incredibly light. You can easily take the Chromebook with you in your bag or backpack without noticing too much.

The laptop itself is made of two materials, plastic and aluminum, but you don’t see that at first glance. You will notice it when you tap on the different parts, because the housing is made of plastic and the lid of aluminum. To make the Spin 513 as light as possible, Acer chooses to use plastic, and I think that’s a great choice.

Foldable with touchscreen

The Spin 513 is a so-called convertible. You can use the Chromebook as a laptop, but you can also flip it over to turn the laptop into a tablet. In addition, you can fold the device halfway and place it on the counter as a ‘tent’ or ‘stand’. For example, you can watch YouTube videos with recipes and immediately prepare in the kitchen or stream your favorite Netflix series in the bedroom. Because Acer has made the hinge quite stiff, the screen hardly leans further back, which is very pleasant to work with, because the screen remains firmly in position. You, on the other hand, need two hands to open the Chromebook.

Acer Chromebook Spin 513 review: great companion in everyday life

Because the device can also be used as a tablet, it has a touchscreen. Here too you immediately notice that the weight offers advantages when you have such a large tablet on your lap. Still, I didn’t use the Chromebook much as such, because I think the screen is too big to browse.

The Acer Chromebook Spin 513 therefore has a touch-sensitive 13.3-inch screen with a full-HD resolution and a 16:9 ratio. It is an IPS screen that works well for this laptop. The viewing angles are good and so is the brightness. The registration of touches is also no problem for this screen.

Performance and battery life

The Chromebook does not contain a processor from Intel or AMD, which is usually the case, but a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c. Acer adds there
8 GB RAM and 64 GB storage memory. For me, this is one of the fastest Chromebooks I’ve worked with, although benchmark testing shows that Intel chips perform better in comparable Chromebooks. I’ve also noticed that I run into limitations when I have multiple Chrome tabs and apps open at the same time. For less intensive use, the Acer Chromebook Spin 513 is a good device in terms of performance, and it outperforms my Lenovo IdeaPad Duet with MediaTek processor anyway.

The 4670 mAh battery has a capacity of 36 Wh and the promised ten hours is easily achievable in practice. A full working day is therefore no problem for this Spin 513. In addition, charging is fast via the included USB-C cable.

Acer Chromebook Spin 513 review: great companion in everyday life

Sufficient connections

The Acer Chromebook Spin 513 has two USB-C ports on either side and a single USB-A port on the left. There is also a 3.5mm headphone jack. If you use a wireless keyboard and mouse like I do, these USB connections are sufficient.

An advantage of the two USB-C connections is the support for both charging and video output. That’s handy, because you can charge the Chromebook with the included USB-C charger on one side and connect it to your monitor or use it for something else on the other side.

There is no HDMI connection for connecting to an external monitor. You need an adapter or a monitor with a USB-C connection for this. The weight and thickness of the device also play a role here. To keep this as light and thin as possible, Acer had to make choices.

Acer Chromebook Spin 513 review: great companion in everyday life
Acer Chromebook Spin 513 review: great companion in everyday life

Keyboard and touchpad

Few cheaper Chromebooks come with a backlit keyboard, and the Chromebook Spin 513 is lucky. Acer has added keyboard backlighting so that the Chromebook can be used in dimly lit conditions. To adjust this lighting, use in Chrome OS: alt + screen brightness. You immediately see that you can choose between five modes and Acer has done that nicely.

Acer Chromebook Spin 513 review: great companion in everyday life

The keys on the keyboard are made of a kind of plastic that doesn’t immediately give you a premium feeling, but nevertheless they give good click feedback and the travel when you are typing an item.

Underneath the keyboard is the glass touchpad, which is the perfect size for operating the Chromebook. The touchpad registers your finger gestures very accurately and I am also very satisfied with the click response.

Acer Chromebook Spin 513 review: great companion in everyday life

Chrome OS

Chrome OS started out as a web browser with some extras, but has since grown into a very user-friendly operating system. The user interface of Chrome OS is also well adapted for touchscreens, and works very intuitively. Especially if you are used to an Android smartphone. For example, there is the handy gesture navigation that is also in Android. What Google still hasn’t adjusted here is the swipe from the right side of the screen. So if you do this, you don’t go back one screen like on Android phones.

You can use browser applications and Android apps from the Play Store on Chrome OS. So do you want to use Microsoft Word as a word processor? Then you install the Android app on the Chromebook Spin. Unfortunately, these Android apps don’t always run smoothly on a Chromebook. This also applies to games, unless you opt for one of the cloud gaming services. With these services you can ‘game in the cloud’ and you no longer need expensive hardware, just a good internet connection. For example, NVIDIA has launched its GeForce Now service and with Google’s Stadia you can also play games on a Chromebook.

Do you find the Android apps and the browser applications insufficient? Then you can put Linux on it quite easily. Linux gives you access to tens of thousands of useful programs (such as Gimp and Adobe Photoshop) on your Chromebook and you are no longer tied to the above apps. Still, this switch will be a laptop too far for the average Chromebook user, meaning you’ll have to rely on Google’s cloud apps, Spotify and Telegram’s web apps, or Android apps from other providers like Microsoft.

Acer Chromebook Spin 513 review: great companion in everyday life

Updates

Most Chromebooks can count on nine years of Chrome OS updates. These updates also include updates for your browser at the same time. That is practical on the one hand, but also unfortunate on the other. If your Chromebook no longer receives updates for your operating system, the Chrome browser update will also be over. With the Chromebook Spin 513 you are in the right place in that area for the time being. Google will give the Chromebook updates until June 2029.

Each Chromebook automatically checks for updates and downloads them if you have an internet connection. So you don’t have to do anything for this except click once on the notification ‘Update available’ to restart the device to perform updates.

Acer Chromebook Spin 513 review: great companion in everyday life

Conclusion

The Acer Chromebook Spin 513 surprised me positively, especially because of its weight and performance. You can easily take the Chromebook with you everywhere and you can use the device in many ways because of the 2-in-1 design. As a result, there is also a touchscreen on the Chromebook that is very pleasant to use, as well as the backlit keyboard and touchpad. For a very accessible suggested retail price of 499 euros, you get a great internet machine with this Chromebook with which you can browse, email and use the most common apps with ease. The Google apps and services are of course the most suitable for this. If you want to get more out of it, you can switch to the Linux environment, which is more similar to Windows in terms of features. However, Linux is not for everyone and Chrome OS will come out best on this Chromebook Spin 513 from Acer, which is a great companion for everyday tasks.

Acer Chromebook Spin 513 review: great companion in everyday life

Positive points

+ Sturdy yet light housing

+ Excellent battery life

+ 2-in-1 Chromebook comes with practical applications

Negative points

– Chrome OS still has some limitations

– Heavy Duty Performance

Buy Acer Chromebook Spin 513

The OnePlus Nord CE 5G will be available from June 21 via OnePlus.com, Coolblue and Belsimpel. Before that, the OnePlus community will have the exclusive opportunity to access the Nord CE early through the Core Sales on OnePlus.com.

The Acer Chromebook Spin 513 is available in several colors and storage configurations:

  • Buy Acer Chromebook Spin 513 (4GB + 128GB) – Coolblue – 449 euros now 369 euros
  • Buy Acer Chromebook Spin 513 (8GB + 128GB) – Coolblue – 499 euros now 419 euros

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