Acer Spin 5 13.5" SP513-54N-58XD Steel Gray 2021

A beautiful 3:2 screen in a featherlight chassis, completely let down by 2020-era internals and a reliability score that should make you nervous. Only worth a look if you find it for pocket change.

The screen is the only thing that surprised us in a good way. At 2256x1504 with a 3:2 aspect ratio, it's tall, sharp, and sits in the 79th percentile for this category. It's genuinely pleasant for scrolling through documents or watching a movie in tablet mode. Everything else is a letdown. The CPU and RAM both rank in the bottom 20% of our database, which means multitasking with more than a handful of browser tabs gets choppy fast. And don't even think about gaming, our gaming score of 6.3 out of 100 is one of the worst we've seen. The integrated Iris Plus graphics are fine for pushing pixels on the desktop, but that's about it.

The obvious elephant in the room is the Apple MacBook Air M5. Even a base model will demolish the Spin 5 in performance, battery life, and build quality, though you lose the touchscreen and 2-in-1 flexibility. If you're dead set on a Windows convertible, the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 is a much more modern machine with far better CPU and GPU chops. The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i is another strong alternative that doesn't compromise on power. The Spin 5 only makes sense if you find it at a deep, deep discount and your needs are strictly limited to light web browsing and video watching.

Pricing on this model is all over the map, we're seeing a spread from $450 to a laughable $105,497. At the low end, around $450, you're basically paying for the screen and the chassis. That's almost justifiable if you treat it like a fancy Chromebook for media consumption. But the moment you creep above $600, you're in territory where you can snag a used M1 MacBook Air or a newer Ryzen-powered 2-in-1 that will run circles around this Acer. If you can find it for under $500 from a seller with a solid return policy, maybe. Otherwise, hard pass.

The Acer Spin 5 SP513-54N-58XD is a weird one. On paper, that 13.5-inch 3:2 display is a knockout for a 2-in-1, and the build is surprisingly light at 1.2kg. But the guts inside are a time capsule from 2020. The Core i5-1035G4 and 8GB of RAM were fine for office work a few years ago, but they're wheezing now. This is a laptop that looks premium but performs like a budget machine, and that mismatch is the whole story.

If you just need a gorgeous screen for reading, note-taking, and streaming, the Spin 5's chassis and display still have some charm. But the second you try to do anything remotely demanding, you'll hit a wall. The 256GB SSD is cramped, the port selection is stingy, and our reliability data puts this thing near the bottom of the barrel. It's a tough sell when Chromebooks at half the price feel snappier for basic tasks.

If you're looking for a reliable daily driver for work or school, this isn't it. Go grab a Lenovo Yoga with 16GB of RAM or a base model MacBook Air instead. The Spin 5 is only for someone who wants a cheap, secondary screen-first device and has a high tolerance for sluggish performance.

Skip it. The Acer Spin 5 has a brilliant display trapped in a dated, underpowered body. Unless you find it for a steal and literally only need a screen to read on, there are far better ways to spend your money. The reliability concerns are just the final nail in the coffin. This isn't a hidden gem, it's a parts-bin special that's past its prime.