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Let's say you're looking for a Chromebook: you want something that's versatile, premium-feeling, and... uh... well, not a Pixelbook Go. May we suggest Acer's Chromebook Spin 13? It's got full-blown Intel laptop power, 8GB of RAM, a convertible form factor plus a stylus, and its price has just fallen off a cliff edge on Amazon.Our Ryne Hager reviewed the Spin 13 a year ago and found it to be "the most powerful Chromebook you can buy, but maybe you shouldn't." The 'pro' part of the equation? A 2256 x 1504 display, a Wacom digitized stylus, a strong 54Wh battery, two USB-C ports, and dual-band Wi-Fi.The 'con' part of things was mostly found to be in the value proposition at time of launch. The particular model we're looking at has an 8th-gen U-series Core i5, 8GB of DDR3 RAM (somewhat unfortunate, but it's a Chromebook, so it's still a net positive), and 128GB of storage. This combination originally sold at close to the $1,000 mark, but has been checked down and down again for the past year.
Chromebooks come in a variety of price points from the $1,700 Pixelbook to sub-$200 models aimed at education. Acer's models are mostly in the middle, but a number of them are cheaper today. Amazon is running a massive sale on five Acer Chromebooks including budget models like the Chromebook 315 and the flagship Chromebook Spin 13.
Acer's Chromebook Spin 13 is among the fastest Chromebooks you can get. The convertible laptop also has one of the best screens you can get in a 13.5" laptop, though the original $900 asking price for the i5-equipped, 8GB RAM version is no small chunk of change. Thankfully for deal seekers, the best-ever price from last year's Cyber Monday sale is back, and right now you can buy one over on Amazon for just $699. That's $200 off MSRP and tied with this model's all-time low.The Chromebook Spin 13 isn't a perfect Chromebook by any means, you can peruse our full review for more verbose details, but the short version is that it can be a bit awkward to get the stylus out in tablet mode, the fan can be pretty noisy, and the keyboard backlighting is a bit odd. Even so, for $200 less, it's a lot easier to forgive such transgressions, especially in the name of speed.Its screaming 15W quad-core Intel CPU (8250U) delivers more power than you probably need. Paired with a Wacom digitizer-equipped 13.5" QHD (2256x1504) 3:2 IPS panel, it also has a fantastic display with the advantage of pressure-sensitive input, if you're a web or Android app-based artist. In short, this Chromebook has specs that border on gratuitous.
The world of premium, high-end Chromebooks is starting to heat up — the Pixelbook is no longer all by its lonesome. Though not new, per se, Acer's Chromebook Spin 13 is now available in a new configuration. The most expensive one yet, you get an i5 CPU with 16GB of RAM for $999.
Acer's Chromebook Spin 13 is arriving a bit later than it was initially expected, but based on what we've seen, it will be worth the wait. The 2-in-1, Wacom stylus-equipped Chromebook delivers category-topping performance, but tempers that speed with some unfortunate design shortcomings. Altogether, it's one of the best Chromebooks you can't buy right now. (Update: And now you can.)Turns out, the Chromebook Spin 13 was originally targeted to business/corporate customers, and while I'm sure Acer is pleased with all the positive consumer-level reviews coming in, it isn't actually available through traditional retail channels just yet (though B&H Photo has a pre-order up). The Chromebook is now available and shipping over at Amazon. While you wait to drop your own cash, let me tell you what I think about the Chromebook Spin 13.