I made no bones about the fact that I really, really love the new Acer Chromebook Spin 713 in our full review. This is a very reasonably priced Chromebook that comes equipped with nearly everything you could ask for in a flagship-caliber Chromebook. With its bright, high-res 3:2 display, MIL-STD-810 durability, sleek looks, and high-speed internals, this Chromebook gets nearly every part of the equation right while keeping the price within reach for many potential buyers. Well, buyers in the US, anyway.
Thankfully, early in the life cycle of the very excellent Spin 713, we are already seeing some non-US availability of the device. At two retailers in the UK right now, you can choose between two variants of this Chromebook and I’d be comfortable in recommending either one of them at this point. The first of the two versions is the 10th-gen Core i5 model that we reviewed and it is joined by a similarly-equipped Core i3 version. Currently Insight is carrying the Core i5 model and Argos is selling the i3 model marked as ‘coming soon.’
At £599.99 (presumably including VAT), this alternative configuration from Argos comes in with the same 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, but swaps the i5 with a very-capable Core i3 processor. From what we’ve seen of these 10th-gen Core i3 chips, there’s nothing to worry about from a performance standpoint. Sure, there is a bit of a drop in performance on synthetic benchmarks, but I can tell you from personal experience that this chip still absolutely flies in a Chromebook and the devices I’ve tested with this processor inside never have performance concerns in the least.
One other big difference here is the storage type. According to Acer’s listing for this model, the faster NVMe storage in the i5 model is replaced with slower eMMC flash storage. You still get the same 128GB of volume, but it will read and write slower than NVMe. For 95% of users, I’d argue that you can’t really tell the difference between the two on a daily basis. More room is really what matters most, but if you are out for the absolute best device you can get, NVMe is technically better storage. I just don’t think most users will notice at the end of the day.
Either way, you now have one awesome version of this fantastic Chromebook ready to ship to customers in the UK and another very interesting variant on the way soon at an even lower price. I really feel like Acer has hit a sweet spot between price and performance with the Spin 713 and I am very glad to see other countries already getting access to this Chromebook that, for now, is my current favorite. We’ve reached out to Acer to see what other markets will be getting this device and will update when we have more info.
Shop Acer Chromebook Spin 713 on Chrome Shop
Thanks to Martin G. for the heads-up!
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