Acer Spin 5 SP513-52N review – KabyLake-R Core i5-8250U hardware in a modern convertible

50 Comments

  1. A.

    August 30, 2017 at 4:18 pm

    I have just read about the Acer Switch 7 presented at the IFA:

    notebookcheck.net/The-Acer-Switch-7-is-the-first-fanless-2-in-1-with-an-MX150-dGPU.245838.0.html

    It has an 8th generation Core i7 CPU and an Nvidia MX150 GPU, yet it is only passively cooled, having no fans. I find this delicious, and I'd love to read about it on your blog if you ever get your hands on it and have the time to share your impressions with us.

    • Andrei Girbea

      August 31, 2017 at 2:38 pm

      Will happen, but this product is scheduled for the end of the year, so it will be a while.

  2. Kyle

    August 31, 2017 at 1:49 pm

    "large battery"
    No, I don't think so. 54 WHr is absolutely unacceptable for a 13" laptop with a ULV processor. Especially now since they've raised the core no. and reduced the base clock. Which means more power draw while performing everyday load and multitasking, as also confirmed by numbers in this review.
    For reference, my 2015 MBP13 had a much bigger 75 WHr battery and I only got 8 hours at most when browsing the web at 150 nits. And my current Lenovo Yoga 910 (14"FHD) that has a bigger 78 WHr battery and a much less powerful 15 watt CPU also gets the same 8 hours, doing the same job on the more poorly optimized Windows 10.
    To get 8 hours of full work/school day battery life on these new 13/14" quad-core U series laptops, OEMs need to put in at least 75 WHr capacity cells and maybe more with optional >FHD screen resolutions and dGPUs.

    • Andrei Girbea

      August 31, 2017 at 2:44 pm

      Yes but this Spin is a mid-tier laptop and most devices in this range have 48-52 Wh batteries or even smaller. Those you are mentioning are higher tier devices with a higher price. so although I'm with you on laptops with a big battery, I'd expect most buyers would prefer well balanced products that get a big-enough battery, the right weight, the right construction and a price that's not prohibitive. And this Spin 5 is fairly well balanced in its class and segment.

      • Kyle

        September 4, 2017 at 11:36 am

        I know. Forgive me for sounding harsh, it's just that Acer has poor track record when it comes to laptop engineering. Bad power management on top of already small batteries, weak chassis, QC, and little regard for many other minor details. Yes they've gotten much better, but so have Dell Inspirons, Lenovo Yoga/Miix/Ideapads, HP Envy/Pavillions, Asus, and other mid-tier laptops that've been consistently better than Acer in my experience.
        And for its weight + price class, 54 WHr isn't really enough. I got my 12" Thinkpad X260 for US$700. Like this acer unit, it too was heavy for its size at 1.5 kg but lasted 18 hours on its good 95 WHr battery. Contrary to what people may argue, I never consider it higher tier due to its weight and other various issues. You could argue that they're different machines aimed at different market segments but at the end of the day, who's gonna care when simply one's better than the other for a similar cost?

      • Andrei Girbea

        September 5, 2017 at 3:24 pm

        Well, yes, you're mostly right, but Acer's products are also fairly affordable and somewhat compensate for the lacks by selling for less. Also, it's not really fair to generalize, they have some bad, some decent and some good series, but I wouldn't put all of them in the same basket.

        As for the X260, while it's a very nice laptop for what it is (I've been using 12-inch ThinkPads for a long while in the past too, btw), it's different from this Acer Spin: smaller and non-convertible screen, older CPU. So while the x260 might be the better pick for buyers like yourself and others, it's not going to be for someone who wants a bigger touchscreen or the KabyLake-R processor. I'm not saying this Acer is necessarily the answer for those needs, but it's one of the more affordable options. These days there are so many SKUs available that pretty much all needs and particularities should be met and even the pickier buyers would find something that would meet their requirements.

        BTW, I switched from the X200 line because I wanted a larger screen, lighter body and quieter fans. I found that in the XPS 13 and I've been using it for more than 2 years now. My next main-laptop would have to be light, long-lasting and fanless, plus have decent IO, excellent keyboard/trackpad, preferably a good 14-inch matte screen. There's no such thing yet :)

      • A.

        September 8, 2017 at 12:25 pm

        I'm looking for precisely the same qualities in a laptop, so as soon as you find it please post your review under the title "Found my ideal laptop!" and pin it on the home page of your site so that I see it at a glance.

        To your requirements I would add: camera in a "sane" position (not looking into my nostrils), equal and sufficiently large arrow keys (I use them a lot), decent speakers. The CPU and GPU power almost don't matter anymore since even the weakest of them are powerful enough for my needs.

      • Andrei Girbea

        September 11, 2017 at 5:02 pm

        Noted.

      • Gala

        August 16, 2018 at 6:20 pm

        Well, it seems you are not familiar with Acer laptop especially the newer models – they have a fantastic keyboard, it's better than most of the "superior" brands, and it's far better than the Asus. Touchpad – another big + for Acer Spin 5 but Acer Swift models as well – really nice and very accurate it's a pleasure to work on it. Bright screen, excellent angles, etc. For me as a journalist, it's more important to have all these than the "famous name" on it. I'm not saying there are no much better notebooks out there, I'm just saying it's a very solid, an excellent quality for the money that you can find and no, there is no a better one for that price. Maybe you can find it with a stronger battery, but with worse of the rest.

    • daemoniscinxi

      November 26, 2017 at 12:30 am

      The battery on this laptop does seem to die faster than my much older Acer Aspire from 2010. While not terrible I do wish it lasted a bit longer. Ultimately I am happy with my purchase as it only cost me $600 for this laptop from Costco. For that price I can live with a slightly smaller battery. The build quality is all metal and is very nice.

  3. Max

    September 4, 2017 at 10:43 am

    Hi, which spin 5 has louder fan? With core i5 8250u or 6200u?

    • Andrei Girbea

      September 5, 2017 at 3:15 pm

      See both our reviews on the site. If I remember correctly, this newer spin is quieter.

  4. MOFO

    September 5, 2017 at 1:55 am

    Nice review, would love to see the 15'' model with gtx 1050 reviewed , pretty sure they make a nitro model that has red trim but also a non-gamer version with the same specs.

  5. Pavan

    October 5, 2017 at 3:26 pm

    Hi,
    I am planning to buy a laptop with 8th gen i7 by mid October. My budget is below $1100. I was planning on buying Hp envy 13t or acer spin 5 or swift 5. It is better to avoid spin 5 after the review as it doesn't deliver much on performance.
    The new Hp envy 13t is offering 8th gen processors, fast charging ,4K display and fingerprint scanner. Only problem with envy 13 t is that it is coming with ddr3 ram. How much effect does it have on performance? Now it is currently available for $1050 after $150 discount. Will you be doing a review on it? Do u think It is better to wait till December and buy acer swift 5 which starts at $999?

    • Andrei Girbea

      October 8, 2017 at 3:55 am

      HI, sry for the late reply. I don't think I'll get to review it, HP and Dell laptops are hard to get over here.

      I wouldn't worry that much about DDR3. Yes, the DDR4 is faster in certain apps, but the differences are pretty small with the kind of tasks you'd be running on such thin and light laptops.

      As for waiting for the Swift 5, I don't know, we'll have to see it in action first and later conclude if it's worth the attention or not.

  6. besweeet

    October 11, 2017 at 10:12 am

    I have some questions about the trackpad:
    1) How loud is the rattle?
    2) Can you hear the rattle with light taps?
    3) Is the top of the trackpad harder to press than the bottom half?
    4) Can you record a short audio sample of the trackpad noise?

    Trackpad noise really bothers me with all non-Apple laptops where those are very solid and make no tapping noises (even older models that relied on physical clicks).

    • Andrei Girbea

      October 14, 2017 at 12:34 pm

      I've returned the laptop and unfortunately I can't remember anything else besides what I noted in the article. I'd say it doesn't rattle with light taps, otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it. I too am very sensible to this particular aspect. Also, yes, the upper part is harder to press as far as I remember.

  7. Amaan Arif Merchant

    October 20, 2017 at 4:27 am

    Hello,
    Any idea on how to buy this Canada and when? The only place this seems to be available if costco.com w which doesn't deliver to Canada.
    Really good review. Very helpful.

    Thanks

  8. Steve

    November 2, 2017 at 3:57 pm

    Acer Spin 5 SP513-52N with kaby lake r i5 8250u. This is probably the worst laptop I've ever tried. Ever. My girlfriend and I read a couple of reviews and said ok, this sounds like a pretty sweet deal, it could be cool. Ordered it a week ago, picked it up in the store today.

    In two hours the following happened:

    27% of battery drained during 25 minutes of playing Life is Strange.
    CPU temperature by cores from one to four: 93c, 90c, 87c, 85c. It's ULTRAHOT.
    After realizing how hot the computer is, we turned it off and left it to cool down for about fifteen minutes. When we booted it up again, the trackpad didn't work.

    Holy. Shit.
    This is a rare occasion of an ultra shitty product, returning it to the store tomorrow and asking for a refund, as I don't believe it's built right.

    Really guys, steer clear.
    After numerous restarts, the trackpad is still not working. It's a bad product and I don't think anyone should risk it.

    • Andrei Girbea

      November 2, 2017 at 4:40 pm

      Well, it gets hot, that's for sure, and it's mentioned in the article. That could be tweaked with undervolting and it's not like other ultraportables with similar hardware run cooler, though.

      As far as battery drain goes, not sure how demanding Life is strange is, but you shouldn't expect to get more than 1.5 to 2 hours of gaming on such a laptop anyway. 25% in 25 minuted sound about right to me, not sure why you expected different.

      I understand your frustration and I'm definitely not the Devil's advocate here, but you're complaining about things that are just normal with this kind of computers, not sure what you were expecting…

      • Steve

        November 2, 2017 at 5:17 pm

        Wait, you got 46c tops under game load, and I just got 98c on a pause screen of Life is Strange, how is that even similar? I can get the battery drain, but 98c on one of the cores on a pause screen?

      • Andrei Girbea

        November 3, 2017 at 4:54 am

        Mine actually topped at 87 C with games: https://www.ultrabookreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/perf-temps-gaming-battery-4.png . And then throttled fast, as you can see in that pic, otherwise it would have probably got hotter. Perhaps yours doesn't throttle as badly and hence the higher temps.

        I agree high 90s is unreasonable and wouldn't accept those temp either, but I would still try undervolting first and see if it helps. And btw, did you get yours with the i5, or the i7?

      • Steve

        November 3, 2017 at 7:35 am

        Yeah, I didn't see for how long it actually peaked. I took the i5 version, the difference in price was 200€, and according to benchmarks, it's only a 5-6% difference in speed. I tried Ori and The Blind Forest and Skyrim as well, and they peaked at 70/80c, so that's a big difference. My girlfriend fell in love with the laptop, and we took the 4 year no matter what thingy, so it seems it will stay in the house. She said she's just not gonna game. I started restoring her old and superbulky 17" HP 6830s, and after giving it a good clean and fitting it with an ssd, it's working unexpectedly fast, so it's her decision whether we're keeping the Acer or not. I'm typing this on it now, and man, I have to admit it's a sexy piece of hardware. Temp at 34c right now, and unlike in your review, the fan actually shuts off when it's not under load, so it's noiseless. But it gave me a good scare with 98c, I must admit.

      • Andrei Girbea

        November 3, 2017 at 9:08 am

        Well, good to hear it worked out for you, I do consider this a good buy for its price and I still encourage you to undervolt that CPU to get temps and even noise lower. This article explains how to do it, it's simple, just don't go down too much: https://www.ultrabookreview.com/10167-laptop-undervolting-overcloking/

  9. Steve

    November 4, 2017 at 10:51 am

    Thanks, man. As soon as I get some free time, I'll do it and check back with the results. :)

  10. Mike

    November 4, 2017 at 5:06 pm

    Buyers beware: this laptop doesn't support HDMI 2.0 (i.e. no 4K@60Hz).

  11. Parth Katare

    November 5, 2017 at 11:13 am

    can you provide a complete review of Acer Nitro 5 Spin i5-8th gen variant.i'm looking forward to buy that laptop.
    Thank you..

  12. Hari

    November 6, 2017 at 12:45 pm

    Thanks a lot for a very detailed review, it looks like yours is the only one that I can find using Google right now. I am convinced that this is suitable for my needs, but I am worried about the build quality, especially after seeing feedback on the older models in this series. I understand that the older models used plastic while this is all metal, but does it really translate to a better feel? What about the hinge, do you think it will last a few years?

    • Andrei Girbea

      November 6, 2017 at 1:00 pm

      The build quality seems pretty good, but I can't really tell how well the hinges will age. I'd say they should be OK with proper use, but I haven't open every part of the mechanism and I don't know if there aren't any potential weak points.

      • Hari

        November 6, 2017 at 10:19 pm

        Thank you, appreciate your response!

      • Hari

        November 17, 2017 at 1:52 am

        I finally bought this and so far like it. Do you have any tips on removing crapware from this?

      • Hari

        November 17, 2017 at 1:24 pm

        Thank you! Does a clean install find all the drivers requires automatically? Is the extra trouble worth it?

      • Andrei Girbea

        November 18, 2017 at 6:22 am

        It should. Can't tell for sure though. Is worth it imo

  13. Steve

    November 15, 2017 at 7:18 pm

    2 weeks in:

    – Multiple blue screens for no reason
    – Overheating when using only 2 tabs on Chrome
    – Sometimes it won't restart, just turns off with vents going berzerk, frequently
    – Battery got drained while on a charger during an overnight "update" (it didn't update anything)
    – Sound doesn't work every other time
    – Acer folks told me to update bios, when I did, it did the same "won't restart" thing, and was like that for about 10 minutes, not responding to ANYTHING

    Now, I somehow make it work each time, but this is my girlfriend's laptop and it should be fully operational out of the box. It is not, not by a long shot. It's a faulty product, and I'd never ever purchase it again. Ever.

    • John

      August 27, 2018 at 3:01 am

      Dude if your laptop is crashing and not restarting and sound is not working then you have a lemon don't you think? I'm sorry to hear that but as to your concerns with heat you might want to compare these two reviews on NotebookCheck: notebookcheck.net/Huawei-Matebook-X-Pro-i5-8250U-MX150-Laptop-Review.303146.0.html#toc-emissions and notebookcheck.net/Acer-Spin-5-SP513-52N-54SF-i5-8250U-FHD-Convertible-Laptop-Review.266660.0.html#toc-performance .

      Scroll down to "Temperature" and look at the figures with 9 boxed off sections with degrees in the middle, NOT the heat vision pictures. Compare both on max load and tell me what you think about this laptop's thermals, is it really as bad as you think or are you just nitpicking? The Matebook X Pro is an example of a laptop that has crap thermals, this one stays relatively cool and gets hot only in a few sections. I hope anyone reading his comment doesn't get misinformed about this laptop

  14. Johnson Varkey

    November 18, 2017 at 1:26 am

    Can this support Windows 10 Pro version. Are all drivers available. Will I lose any functionality if this is reimaged.

  15. daemoniscinxi

    November 26, 2017 at 12:33 am

    I am considering upgrading the SSD in this laptop to a 1 TB m.2 nvme SSD. However, I am having a hard time figuring out whether the motherboard will support the faster nvme ssd or not. Will this support the Samsung m.2 nvme SSDs, such as this one? (samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/solid-state-drives/ssd-960-evo-m-2-1tb-mz-v6e1t0bw/)
    thanks!

    • Andrei Girbea

      November 27, 2017 at 4:55 am

      U can't tell for sure. Normally it should work, as the M.2 connector has an M-Key, but there might be compatibility issues. You'd better wait for someone else to do it first, or at least buy from a place that allows easy return in case it doesn't work.

    • duststorm

      April 30, 2018 at 8:25 pm

      I'm facing the same question. Have you put in an NVMe SSD (if yes, which one) and did it work? Or have you found any other definite results?

      Thanks!

      • duststorm

        May 6, 2018 at 6:42 pm

        I went ahead and tried, Samsung EVO 960 1 TB (MZ-V6E1T0BW), which is M.2 PCIe NVMe, works. For some details see community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/570332/#Comment_570332

  16. R

    December 4, 2017 at 8:44 pm

    Hi Andrea! I'm looking at the Acer Spin 5. You said that the fan is always on, but that there is no electrical noise. Did you hear any high frequency buzzing or chirping with this model? I'm asking because I'm sensitive to some sounds and had this issue with Acer Swift 3. Thanks!

    • Hari

      December 5, 2017 at 4:39 am

      No such noised in my experience. Some people on another forum reported that there is a chirping noise, though only while playing audio, if the battery level goes below 10%. I wanted to test it, but had to keep my battery charged, so didn't get a chance.

  17. Domng

    February 9, 2018 at 4:07 am

    HI Andrei,
    In my country, we got a core i3-7310u. bizarre as the old version is equipped with core i5-7200u.
    would like to know which deliver better performance?

    thxs.

  18. Brigitte

    March 21, 2018 at 12:59 pm

    Hello again Andrei,
    I have come up with three final choices, thanks for your info you sent me this morning! Which one would you recommend please? I use a laptop for relatively light purposes, which are Office, online movies such as neflix. What is important for me is of course, performance of the processor, wifi and data transmission speeds, but also, its weight as I carry it around a bit. I don't use the laptop for gaming or video/graphic editing. Of course, with a budget of some 650 euros, I realise my options are limited, although there are some pretty decent laptops for the uses I mention above.
    My three choices are
    . Asus UX330 ua
    . Asus UX331.
    . Acer SP 513

    Costco offers a very good 2 year garanty on laptops, hence my choice for the UX331 and Acer SP 513.

    The Acer Swift 3 would serve my needs, but it is relatively heavy, weight also counts for me!

    Thank you in advance for your reply!
    Best,
    Brigitte

    • Andrei Girbea

      March 22, 2018 at 4:43 am

      I'd probably go with the UX330 or UX331, The UX330 gets a slightly bigger battery, but is also a bit heavier.

      Make sure to get something with 8 GB of RAM, as 4 GB are not enough for daily use and there's no way to upgrade it on these thin laptops.

  19. Brigitte

    March 22, 2018 at 9:29 am

    Good morning Andrei,

    My goodness, thank you so much for your advice, you are so kind to take the time to do this! Yes, I want at least 8GO of RAM, thank you for reminding me this choice is preferable, as the RAM can't be updated. I will most likely take the UX331, as it is so light and that I travel a lot with my computer.

    I will let you know when I get it and try it.

    Thank you again for your generosity!

    Best,

    Brigitte

    • Andrei Girbea

      March 22, 2018 at 12:33 pm

      Thanks for the kind words. Looking forward to your feedback.

  20. Nobi

    January 7, 2019 at 8:44 pm

    Hi,
    I am having Acer spin 5 SP513-52N-55LV with 8GB Ram, any advise to upgrade RAM to 16GB.
    Thanks

    • Andrei Girbea

      January 8, 2019 at 1:04 pm

      Not possible, the RAM is soldered on that laptop

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