SEPTEMBER 2020 PCWorld 45Wireless: Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) 2x2 MIMO;
Bluetooth 5.0
Additional features: integrated stylus,
fingerprint reader, protective sleeve
Operating system: Windows 10 Home
(version 1909)
Dimensions (inches): 12.8 x 9.06 x 0.67
inches (16.9mm)
Weight: 3.31 pounds (per Acer)
Color: Silver
Price: $650 at Costco, with 1-year
warranty.DESIGN AND
CONSTRUCTION
A budget 14-inch laptop like the Acer Spin 3
doesn’t ask you to pay for its looks. At about
17mm thick, the Spin 3 is a tad chunky, but in
a good way: sturdily built, with a pair of thickpcworld.com/cc65), although the company
lists a few alternatives on its Acer online store
(go.pcworld.com/onst). Of the four listed,
only one, the SP314-54N-50W3, contains an
up-to-date Core i5-1035G4 processor as well
as a larger 512GB SSD, for about $150 more.
(Intel’s 10th-gen “Ice Lake” processors (go.
pcworld.com/icep) use the number attached
to its “G” suffix to indicate the relative
graphics performance, with a higher number
being better.) We still consider our review
unit’s loadout—8GB RAM, 256GB SSD—
adequate for most needs.
Here are the basic features of our review
unit, which is backed by a one-year
“International Travelers’ Warranty.” Acer says
that warranty runs concurrently with its
standard one-year U.S. warranty, allowing the
laptop to be serviced in up to 30 other
countries where Acer has authorized
facilities.
Display: 14-inch IPS (1920x1080)
Processor: 1GHz Core i5-1035G1
Graphics: UHD Graphics
Memory: 8GB LPDDR4
Storage: 256GB NVMe SSD
Ports: USB-C (Thunderbolt 3/USB
3.1 Gen 2). 2 USB-A (USB 3.2 Gen 1),
HDMI 2.0 (HDCP), microSD, 3.5mm
headphone/mic
Camera: User-facing: 720p,
super HDR
Battery: 47.8Wh (rated), 45.9Wh
(actual)
The Spin 3 reclines all the way into tablet mode, with a
small series of on-screen icons tracking its progress as you
move from tent to tablet mode.