360-degree notebooks are everywhere. While some may not like them, they prove to be more versatile than your typical laptop. Acer’s Spin 5 is the latest to join the group. Can its full-bending hinge make you consider having one?

Let’s begin with the notebook’s physique. There is a lot to talk about the sleek metal body of the Spin 5 starting with how…

The Spin 5 looks like a typical laptop when in this position

The touchscreen is a 13.3-inch 1080p IPS LCD surrounded by thick bezels

It has a spacious keyboard with backlight…

Key travel is good and the layout will grow on you after a while

… and its responsive trackpad has a built-in fingerprint reader

Both the fingerprint reader and trackpad are responsive, but the click travel is quite deep

The left side houses the important ports on the Spin 5…

There’s the charging port, HDMI, USB-C, and two USB 3.0

… while the left has a few more ports along with a couple of buttons

Here we have the LED indicators, volume rocker, audio port, SD card reader, USB 2.0, power key, and lock hole

One of the best features of the Spin 5 are its speakers!

It fires sound directly up and gets pretty loud!

The 360-degree hinge is quite special, allowing the Spin 5 to have multiple positions

The hinge is solid and has enough resistance

You can position it like this when watching a video…

I enjoyed watching Star Trek: Discovery on this

Or like this when trying to present something at a meeting

Also works as a large digital display on a table

It can turn into a tablet anytime, too!

It comes with a stylus for jotting down notes and doing some sketches

An ideal laptop for media consumption

It’s a given that a regular laptop is fitting for productivity. We’re already accustomed to its layout, design, and overall experience. The Spin 5 doesn’t hold back in that sense thanks to its nice backlit keyboard and surprisingly responsive plastic trackpad. I do have some concerns about how difficult it is to execute a click on the trackpad, though. It takes effort to do a simple selection because of the deep click travel.

Since this isn’t your ordinary notebook, the 360-degree hinge makes the Spin 5 ideal for watching videos and general web surfing while in tablet mode. The speakers are also great, because no matter how I place the device on the table, the audio is always (or at least seems to be) directed at me. This makes everything sound clearer and louder. I’d gladly use the Spin 5 for binge watching.

Great performance for everyday use and more

While I enjoy the Spin 5 mainly for catching up on my TV shows, it’s got some oomph under the hood. The model we have for review has the latest Intel Core i5-8520U processor paired with Intel Graphics 620, 8GB of memory, and a fast 256GB SSD. Everything, of course, is run by Windows 10.

The configuration puts this notebook in the middle of the crop, having the right balance to run productivity apps like Office with no problems and letting you be efficient in Photoshop without hiccups. The Spin 5 offers everything I need to get me through my usual workload, with some casual gaming on the side.

By casual, I mean titles from the Windows Store like Asphalt Extreme and my boring yet fun (for me) American Truck Simulator. As expected, the former ran the smoothest (and more immersive than playing it on mobile phones), while the latter is best set to medium settings. It also won’t have any trouble loading DOTA 2 or League of Legends, just in case you’re planning on installing and playing them on the Spin 5.

It can last long without a charger around

I started my day with the Spin 5 fully charged to 100 percent and hoped that it would be enough for the day ahead, because I had to work remotely in a place that’s not quite generous with wall sockets. With the brightness set to 50 percent and Wi-Fi connected to the network, I was productive for four straight hours. I used the Microsoft Edge browser during this period, since Chrome consumes a lot of power. I was able to spend another three hours with the remaining juice watching Netflix at home before it asked me for the charger.

A total of seven hours of actual usage is impressive for a laptop with these specs. Other laptops that last this long are the fan-less Ultrabooks, which are more expensive and under-powered.

Is this your GadgetMatch?

The model we have is priced at PhP 59,990, which can already provide you with a more powerful gaming laptop. But that means you’d have to carry a bulky machine, which doesn’t even last as long on the road. The Spin 5 is more suited for those who want the right balance between work and play. I was surprised by how long it was able to last on a full charge.

For business use, the available ports on the Spin 5 are overwhelming, which also means I don’t have to buy dongles that would cost me extra. As for play, I just can’t get enough of the speakers. They’re not perfect, but they sound good and make movie watching lots of fun.

SEE ALSO: Acer updates laptop lineup with Switch 7, Swift 5, Spin 5

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