Benchmarks: Vitals and Battery Life
The transition to 8th Gen Core should be a key selling point for many manufacturers and we're eager to see how different laptops approach cooling. An increase in passive solutions has put fan noise into sharper focus, and Spin 5 struggles to find an optimal balance. The laptop is barely audible when idle, but put the chip under load and fan noise ramps up noticeably as Acer attempts to keep core temperature the right side of 75ºC.
Whether or not fan noise is a deal breaker depends entirely where you're coming from. Those upgrading from an older, noisier machine may actually find it relatively quiet. Having tested our fair share of near-silent system, we reckon it's too loud during regular use.
Another area in which modern laptops have improved dramatically is battery life. Spin 5 managed to keep going for almost 11 hours in our standard rundown test; a decent enough return, yet it's a sign of the times that the laptop still slots into the bottom half of the battery charts.