Acer Spin 7 Unboxing, Quick Review: Slim and Sexy Convertible

Let’s Take it for a Quick Spin?

Acer’s ultra-thin convertible, the Spin 7, just arrived at Unbox HQ. Armed with a 7th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of SSD storage, this 14-inch notebook/tablet was first introduced to the world at IFA 2016 in Germany. Now that’s it finally here, it’s time to take it out of its packaging to give it an initial go around, before we take it through it’s paces for its full review. Let’s take a quick look at its specs.

Acer Spin 7 Specifications

1..3GHz Intel Core i7-7y75 Processor
8GB of DDR3 RAM
Intel HD Graphics 615
14-inch Full HD Multi-Touch LCD; 1920×1080 resolution
256GD SSD
4-Cell Li-ion Battery

What’s in the Box?

The Acer Spin 7 comes in a minimalistic, black box that shows that you indeed will be using the Spin 7. Nothing flashy, no buzzwords to get you psyched, not even a photo of the unit itself, but it’s padded to keep the goods safe. Once you lift up the lid, you are immediately greeted by the thin convertible itself. Dig further and you’ll find its minuscule USB Type C power brick, power cord, USB Type-C to USB 3.0 dongle, USB Type-C to HDMI dongle, and a bit of documentation.

Initial Impressions: Definitely a Beaut

As we’ve mentioned above, the Acer Spin 7 was one of the thinnest convertibles when it was first unveiled last year. It measures in at just 10.98mm; making it significantly thinner than the MacBook Air that comes in at 17mm. The first concern for notebooks this slim is durability. Thankfully, the Acer Spin 7 has a full metal chassis that protect its internals and a Gorilla Glass 5 panel to protect its display. It comes in a nice matte black paint job that makes the 2-in-1 look even sexier. Fingerprints easily show on the lid of the Acer Spin 7 though, so it would be best if you kept a cleaning cloth in your bag as to not diminish its looks with smudges.

Another concern for devices of these proportions is connectivity and you’ll definitely be living the dongle life on the Spin 7. On the right side of the device are two USB Type-C ports, and a 3.5mm audio jack. If you’re going to be working in a cafe, you’ll be using one of those ports for charging, which only leaves you with the other to connect other devices too. The company does include a USB C to USB 3.0 dongle, but having to bring extra cables and doodads may be a little tedious.

Since it is a 2-in-1, the left side of the convertible houses the power button and volume rocker for when you are in tablet mode.

The Spin 7 has 14-inch Full HD Multi-touch display that has an adequate level of brightness and gives off vibrant colors . Acer has given the display slimmer side bezels, which how they were able to fit a 14-incher in the body of a 13-inch laptop; a move we’ve been seeing from their rival brand as well. As far as its touch functionality goes, it’s been nice and responsive so far and we can’t foresee any issues with it.

The Spin 7 is also equipped with Dolby Audio and it makes a world of difference if you do happen to toggle it off. Be warned though that the speakers have a bit of distortion at higher volumes.

As for the devices keyboard, there’s really nothing that sticks out that makes it odd or special, though it does have a shallow travel of 1.2mm. Despite that, it’s pretty comfortable to type on with enough room in between keys, even if you got bigger hands. What caught us by surprise when we lifted the lid on the Spin 7 was the extra long touchpad. To be honest, we don’t really understand the reasoning behind it but bigger is always better, I guess? You may run into issues when you rest your palm on the Spin 7 to type, but we’ll reserve our judgement for now.

Like other convertibles in the market, you can flip the lid on the Spin 7 to turn it into a tablet; all thanks to those silver hinges. We really wish that Acer had given them the same paint job as the rest of the body, because they stick out like sore thumbs. They do their job well though, so we’re willing to take that over aesthetics any day.

The Acer Spin 7 is equipped with an Intel Core i7-7Y75 processor that clocks in at 1.3GHz. It is paired with 8GB of RAM, 256GB of SSD storage, and Intel HD Graphics 615. We need more time to stretch out the Spin 7’s legs to see what it can really do, but this combo is probably more than enough to get work done and maybe throw in some very light gaming in the mix as well.

The Acer Spin 7 is priced at Php 66,995.