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ChromiumOSJust a shout out for my Acer Spin 513 (self.chromeos)

submitted by TotesRandomerAcer Spin 513 | Stable, always Stable

It would be considered under-powered (arm chip, 4gb ram, 64gb ssd) but as I write this I have twenty tabs open over three windows (all responsive) and streaming radio to a bluetooth speaker. No stutters or delays, it's very impressive. Oh, and insane battery life

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[–]Bright-SparkChuwi Hi10X | Chrome OS Flex 8 points9 points  (9 children)

You know, ARM chips being underpowered is just a stereotype.

I mean, the M1 Ultra is just an Apple-flavored ARM SOC, yet people are going mental about it's combination of high performance combined with low power demands compared to anything Intel or AMD have on offer.

[–]StarsandMaple 7 points8 points  (6 children)

Id take an ARM chip over a Celeron anyday.

Way better battery life for similar or better performance. Yes. Everytime.

My P60T mediaTek chip is plenty powerful for what I use chromeos for.

[–]Void4GamesYTIdeaPad Flex 5(13) | Core i3(10th Gen), 4GB RAM | UEFI 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Arms aren't that bad, but Celerons are just slow.

[–]justalurker19 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Mind sharing what do you do on your p60t?

[–]StarsandMaple 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OSRS mobile, other light gaming.

Typical browsing and content consumption. And some work, device is light and lasts long so it's great for that.

For work I tent to have outlook pwa, teams Android app, a couple tabs, probably pdfs.

I also run Linux too for light apps.

[–]epictetusdouglas 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I would too except for Linux. Some apps just don't play well with Arm chips.

[–]StarsandMaple 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Most basic Linux apps are ARM compatible. I've yet to find anything I use regularly have issues.

[–]epictetusdouglas 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Softmaker Office is a must have for me. Doesn't work on Arm. But I have a HP Chromebook with Mediatek that I love. I just use ChromeOS on it and it's very fast. My Acer Chromebook has intel and I use it for Linux.

[–]ffrkAnonymous 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Isn't the main reason that Apple arm is so fast because the memory is on-die? Basically like having 8gb cache?

[–]Bright-SparkChuwi Hi10X | Chrome OS Flex 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That contributes to it, but it's not uncommon on ARM SOCs either. It's the sum of its parts and their low power demands that make the M1 special on the market in terms of tech accessible to the average (wealthy) consumer.

It's not magic, it is entirely possible to get equal or better processing power out of a sane x86-64 system, but it will run hotter and waste a lot of energy in the process.

Really, it should inspire us to slowly move away from the old reliable x86-64 architecture and move on to powerful ARM chips, and Apple has shown that with tools like Rosetta, changing architecture doesn't need to be a concern for the end user either.

I would love to have the equivalent power of my current AMD Ryzen machines at a fraction of the powerdraw.

[–]MrPumaKoala 4 points5 points  (3 children)

How good ARM Chromebooks can be depends a lot on use case. If the use case mainly involves using the Chrome web browser (which it sounds like is the case with the op), the ARM Chromebooks are actually really impressive and very recommendable. When we factor in usage of android apps, linux apps, and other Chrome OS features though, the ARM Chromebooks can seem less and less ideal. That unfortunately seems to be why ARM Chromebooks are often discussed/covered in a more negative manner than they might deserve to be. So it's nice to see posts like this one that push back on that negative perception and really point out the areas where ARM Chromebooks can really excel at.

[–]TotesRandomerAcer Spin 513 | Stable, always Stable[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a handful of relatively lightweight Linux and Android apps that run perfectly acceptably. I wouldn't expect to run e.g. Android Studio easily on it.

[–]ffrkAnonymous 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Ironically, true android phones and tablets use arm directly. I would have thought an arm chromebook would do android better than Intel chromebook.

Linux apps are kinda lacking though. I've had to compile from source a few times because there's no direct ARM64 downloads. Raspberry Pi (armhf) versions don't work.

[–]MrPumaKoala 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, ARM Chromebooks do technically support Android apps better due to the fact that Android apps are mostly built with ARM infrastructure in mind. There are actually certain Android games that won't run on x86 Chromebooks but will run fine on ARM Chromebooks.

The frustration with Android apps on ARM Chromebooks has more to do with the specific ARM processors used for Chromebooks. Even when strictly compared with just other existing ARM processors, the ARM processors found in recent Chromebooks tend to be of the not so powerful variety and, with a major portion of them, can be a little old. I'm sure there is a rational behind why newer ARM processors haven't been used with newer Chromebooks, but this reality limits performance with apps in general. This is something that may change in the future. With where we are now though, I think there are certain x86 Chromebooks that can do a better job at handling certain Android apps than ARM Chromebooks currently can. As I mentioned previously though, a lot of this assessment/comparison does come down to use case.

[–]justanother_hiroLelnovo 11M836 MT8183 | Stable 2 points3 points  (9 children)

Kompanio 1380 or Snapdragon 7c version?

[–]TotesRandomerAcer Spin 513 | Stable, always Stable[S] 1 point2 points  (8 children)

Snapdragon 7c

[–]Tiby312 5 points6 points  (7 children)

Im going to get the kompanio one as soon as its out!

[–]QuimOlhado 3 points4 points  (6 children)

It's on Amazon as of yesterday. Mine is coming tomorrow.

[–]manormortal 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Oh cool, do you have any idea of roughly what time? Will you be home to receive it? Are you in a relatively quiet neighborhood?

[–]QuimOlhado 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Would you like me to make you a care package, too? :)

[–]Void4GamesYTIdeaPad Flex 5(13) | Core i3(10th Gen), 4GB RAM | UEFI -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Why on Earth are you asking strangers all these random questions?

[–]Tiby312 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Woo just ordered!

[–]oh-monsieur 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Do you have a link? I wasn’t seeing it on the US site. Thanks!

[–]QuimOlhado 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Acer Chromebook Spin 513 Convertible Laptop | 13.5" 2256x1504 Gorilla Glass Touch | MediaTek Kompanio 1380 Octa-Core CPU | 8GB LPDDR4X | 128GB eMMC | WiFi 6 | Backlit KB | Chrome OS | CP513-2H-K62Y https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09XXZWDSV/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_gl_i_7GRTKR4C0RZB71X0GT0A

[–]paulsiu 2 points3 points  (5 children)

I purchased 2 for my kids, but found myself using it on occassion. Compare to my Flex 5i, the machine is lighter, has higher battery life, and no noise. Despite the Flex 5i being faster, I have not notice too many difference in ussage. I purchased mines refurbished for $169, so it was a really good deal.

Note: the left usb port cannot output video despite what the manual indicates. Use the right usb c port for video.

[–]robdclark 2 points3 points  (3 children)

This sounds like a bug, not sure if hw or fw or sw. But it is supposed to work on either port

[–]NinDiGu 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cables can be an issue as the Google Guy's work has shown.

[–]paulsiu 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I contacted Acer, and they indicated that for the model I listed (4 Gb, 64 Gb storage, 7c), only one port will output video despite labeling on the port indicating that all usb c port should work.

[–]robdclark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

only one port can output video at a time, but video should be muxed between the two ports and get routed to whichever one has a display attached first. At least that is how it is supposed to work

[–]TotesRandomerAcer Spin 513 | Stable, always Stable[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the tip. I haven't tried video out but noted!

[–]xg7b3 1 point2 points  (2 children)

have been using the same for a couple of month. it's a fantastic device. light, fanless, long battery life, good display, good keyboard, powerful enough for fullhd playback + got it at a good price in a sale - i love it.

[–]TotesRandomerAcer Spin 513 | Stable, always Stable[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I had an OG Pixelbook for a while but this machine is streets ahead. Nowhere near as powerful but the Pixelbook was ridiculously over-spec'd anyway.

[–]NinDiGu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

but this machine is streets ahead.

Quit trying to make that a thing!

[–]TheBiscuitMenAcer R13 | Beta 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My 5 year old acer r13 currently has 30+ tabs and citrix running. No sweat.

[–]Buy_Once_Cry_Once 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cool thanks! I am looking into options after my C320.

[–]jamogram 1 point2 points  (3 children)

Yes, but did the little rubber bits come off of the keyboard side?

[–]TotesRandomerAcer Spin 513 | Stable, always Stable[S] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Ooh, I've just noticed the bottom right one is gone!

[–]jamogram 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I got one and like it, apart from the fact that of the four little bits of rubber that sit on the same surface as the keyboard, three of them fell off within a month. They protect the screen from scratches when the chromebook is closed, and act as feet when you are using it keyboard side down.

Asked Acer for spares and, nope, have to buy a whole keyboard assembly to get them replaced.

[–]jamogram 1 point2 points  (0 children)

AHA!

I've got an open small claims case to get this sorted out after my retailer point blank refused to offer a fix for this, IMO because it's a design flaw and not fixable as such.

Shame, because I do like it a lot otherwise.

[–]moochs 0 points1 point  (2 children)

How are the speakers? Acer is notorious for using weak, tinny speakers that don't really suffice. I had the Spin 713 and returned it due to how poor its sound was.

[–]TotesRandomerAcer Spin 513 | Stable, always Stable[S] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Not of concern for me so haven't noticed.

[–]moochs -1 points0 points  (0 children)

How are they?

[–]Random_Fotographer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Out of curiosity, how much does it score on Octane?

[–]Darkscenex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you use streamlabs obs on it?

[–]finacc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just a quick question, any idea that Chrome OS will keep fine-tuning towards ARM Chip? I owned a HP Chromebook X2 11 as well, just hope Chrome OS will run better in the future on ARM chip.