Ever since I got an early look at the Acer Chromebook Spin 513, I’ve been waiting for pricing information and availability in the U.S. Looks like I’m still waiting. Folks in the UK, however, can purchase this Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c-powered convertible Chromebook now for £399.99.
The UK Acer store shows the availability of 1-4 working days if you want to order this Chromebook.
Being the first with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7c platform, I’d be a little cautious though. This chipset launched in late 2019 and isn’t yet proven to provide a solid Chrome OS experience.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy it. Just know that without any history of performance, you really can’t know what to expect. When I had an early model of this device back in October I wasn’t allowed to run performance tests, so I can’t offer any insights.
Note too that this is the base model, which we expect to cost $399 in the U.S.
So you’re getting 4 GB of memory unlike the 8 GB of RAM I had in my pre-production unit. Also, there’s no LTE support option with the base configuration. That should help with battery life, which Acer claims up to 14-hours.
Obviously, I couldn’t test that with a pre-production model either since the final hardware and software would be different.
Strangely, a few early buyers of this device are reporting that the version of Chrome OS on the Acer Chromebook Spin 513 is 32-bit. That’s not necessarily a problem but it suggests to me that Google still hasn’t fully optimized Chrome OS for this chip.
Qualcomm has clearly stated 64-bit architecture support for the Snapdragon 7c, so the hardware is capable. Seemingly, the software isn’t. Or Google has simply decided to have this version run a 32-bit userland space since the memory is limited to 4 GB and wouldn’t benefit from 64-bit support.
Either way, if you want to take the chance and you live in the UK, or want to have a device shipped elsewhere, now’s your chance.
