Acer Chromebook Spin 714 review: worse than its predecessor - The Verge

Acer’s Chromebook Spin 713 has been astatine the apical of our Best Chromebook database for a fewer years moving now. It’s 1 of the astir beloved Chromebooks of the past respective years, and it had a laundry database of things going for it: blazing accelerated Intel processors, a crisp and high-resolution 3:2 screen, a generous larboard enactment with Thunderbolt 4, all-day artillery life, and 1 of the amended keyboards you could find successful the Chromebook space. I had precise precocious hopes for its sequel, the Chromebook Spin 714.

So it brings maine nary pleasance to study that the Chromebook Spin 714 is worse than the 713. That doesn’t marque it a unspeakable machine — and astatine my Core i5 / 8GB / 256GB unit’s MSRP of $729.99, galore of these flaws are much forgivable than they would beryllium astatine a terms of, say, $1,000. But I bash spot it, unfortunately, arsenic a measurement back. Here’s why.

Let’s commencement with the bully things

The large country successful which this instrumentality has improved implicit the 713 is speed. The 714 is 1 of fewer Chromebooks that comes with Intel’s 12th Gen processors. It is lightning fast. It handled my dense multitasking workload conscionable fine, and I can’t ideate it would person a occupation moving things successful Linux, either. Nothing I threw astatine it — adjacent erstwhile I was hopping betwixt 20-25 tabs and apps — generated immoderate vigor oregon made the fans rotation up astatine all. While I tested past year’s Spin 713, the fans were raging fundamentally the full time. So that’s a invited improvement.

This is also, successful my opinion, a somewhat better-looking machine than the 713. I won’t spell truthful acold arsenic to telephone it a good-looking instrumentality — the plan is inactive somewhat boring and drab, and an “Antimicrobial Corning Gorilla Glass” logo etched into the apical bezel is peculiarly unappealing. Still, determination are immoderate bully accents astir the touchpad that marque everything look much professional. And the decorativeness is high-quality — this instrumentality was battered astir successful my backpack without a scratch. Visually and materially, this instrumentality is simply a measurement up from the 713. (But, I cannot overemphasize, it inactive looks boring.)

And finally, there’s a garaged stylus. It lives successful a tiny slot successful the bottommost close country of the device, and it’s precise casual to gaffe successful and out. Writing with it was a mixed container — the texture was smooth, but the hinge isn’t rather sturdy capable to support the surface firmly successful spot portion I was penning successful laptop mode oregon tablet mode. I didn’t emotion the springiness it had successful some cases.

But past there’s everything else

Okay, clip to speech astir immoderate of the much puzzling changes Acer made. First, the display. So, yes, the Spin 714’s surface is somewhat larger. However, the Spin 713 had 1 of the astir exceptional screens that has ever been enactment connected a Chromebook. It was 3:2 with 2256 x 1504 resolution. It was truthful roomy, determination was zero glare, colors were vivid, and each of this was a huge part of the crushed that Chromebook 713 was topping Best Chromebook pages each implicit the internet. I americium picturing that surface close now, and I miss it truthful much. Please travel backmost to me.

Anyway, that’s not the surface the 714 has. This instrumentality sports a 1920 x 1200, 16:10 panel. It reaches 340 nits of brightness, whereas the 713 easily passed 400. Look, this surface is fine, but like... meh. It’s fine.

Second, 1 of the ports is gone. Acer removed the microSD slot that the Spin 713 had. The different ports present are good (you get 2 USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, 1 USB 3.2 Gen 1, 1 HDMI, and 1 headphone jack). It’s conscionable that the 713 besides had each that, positive a microSD slot.

And past we get to the artillery life. Once again, Intel 12th Gen is displaying shorter artillery beingness than Intel 11th Gen did. I averaged 7 and a fractional hours retired of the 11th Gen instrumentality (which, carnivore successful mind, had a brighter and higher-resolution screen). I averaged 4 hours and 56 minutes of continuous enactment use, astatine 50 percent brightness, retired of this one. And portion you whitethorn get higher numbers than I did present depending connected your workload, it seems precise apt that astir radical volition get a sizeably shorter clip retired of the Spin 714 than they would retired of its predecessor. (Charging clip was speedy, astatine slightest — the 714 juiced up to an hr successful conscionable 46 minutes, an betterment implicit past year.)

There are different insignificant things, excessively — the 714’s touchpad is smaller, its chassis is thicker and heavier, and there’s nary fingerprint sensor. And then, each of that aside, determination is the information that they made the instrumentality much expensive. This unit, remember, is $729.99 — a Core i5 / 8GB / 256GB exemplary of the 713 was $699. My exemplary is the cheapest 1 I’ve been capable to find online — I’m besides seeing a Core i5 / 16GB unit and a Core i7 / 16GB unit some listed for conscionable implicit $1,000.

Sure, possibly the included stylus and somewhat larger surface would warrant that terms summation successful a vacuum. But past I look astatine the agelong database of things missing from the 714, the ways successful which it’s a measurement back, and I’m conscionable not convinced.

I don’t privation to brushwood past however overmuch other powerfulness the Spin 714 has. The soundless fans and acold integrative were precise overmuch a noticeable improvement. This apt remains 1 of the astir almighty Chromebooks — if not astir almighty devices — you tin bargain for $729.99.

But what makes maine bittersweet is that the Spin 713 utilized to beryllium that. The Spin 713 blew its competitors retired of the h2o with benchmark scores. But it was also great successful truthful galore different ways. It had a large screen. It had large artillery life. It had a large larboard selection. Really, the lone happening to kick astir was the subpar audio (which remains subpar connected the 714). The Spin 714, by contrast, mostly has the almighty specs going for it. And portion that powerfulness surely keeps it successful the conversation, it is not astatine each the slam-dunk acquisition that the 713 was.