Acer Chromebook Spin 312 Review

Introduction

The Acer Chromebook Spin 312 is the smallest convertible Chromebook in the brand’s arsenal.

It features a 12.2-inch 1920×1200 resolution IPS touchscreen panel, a four-core Intel N100 processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of eMMC storage, and a 50Wh battery. 

On paper, that isn’t the most inspiring spec sheet, but for £349/$449, it could be a bit of a steal if you want a seriously small and convertible Chromebook. Otherwise, you’ll be left paying more for more tablet-style devices such as the HP Chromebook x2 11.

I’ve been using the Chromebook Spin 312 for the past week as my primary work laptop, putting it through its paces to see if it’s one of the best Chromebooks we’ve tested.

Design and Keyboard

• Compact, plastic chassis
• Reasonable port selection
• Snappy keyboard, but meagre trackpad

The Chromebook Spin 312 keeps in the same vein as other affordable Acer Chromebooks, with a non-descript grey chassis whose only flourishes are the shiny Acer and Chromebook logos on the lid.

It might be a plastic chassis, but the surfaces have a pleasant sheen to them, and there isn’t much flex in the chassis, even if I subjected it to immense pressure at the corners of the bottom casing. A weight of 1.29kg is somewhat light, although it makes this Chromebook heavier than other, larger-screened ultrabooks I’ve tested.

The Chromebook Spin 312 is quite slender and, with its compact screen size, will easily pack into a bag without you really noticing. Its port selection is decent, if a little dated in some aspects, with only one USB-C port (which is used for charging), a pair of USB-As, a 3.5mm headphone jack, an SD slot and an HDMI port.

Opening up the lid reveals a usable compact layout keyboard that provides excellent feedback under finger with a snappy and tactile keypress. I’m less enthusiastic about the trackpad, though, with its distinct lack of vertical space feeling quite restrictive. It’s reasonably accurate, although quite stiff in use.

Display and Sound

• Compact screen with good detail
• Meagre contrast and black level
• Usable speakers

The Chromebook Spin 312 comes with a compact 12.2-inch IPS screen with a 1920×1200 resolution. This provides it with some generally good detail for more casual tasks and solid clarity. It is only 60Hz, so it lacks the slickness and smooth feel of a higher refresh rate panel.

It seems to get bright enough for some punch, and lighter shades are quite well-represented. With this in mind, its blacks and darker tones lack some depth, while the mix of okay brightness and flatter blacks means contrast and dynamic range aren’t the best.

The screen’s colours are on the flatter side, too, meaning we’re lacking a bit of pop. Nonetheless, for the productivity tasks it’s designed for, it’s serviceable. The touchscreen functionality is great for the price, too, with a slick and responsive feel, even if you don’t get a stylus in the box.

The Chromebook Spin 312’s speakers are okay for the most part, with a blend of downwards-firing and side-firing units that get plenty loud and give surprisingly usable depth.

Performance

• Okay performance for casual tasks
• 4GB of RAM is low in 2025
• eMMC storage is a shame

This specific Chromebook Spin 312 comes with Intel’s N100 chip, a four core/four thread chip that was released back at the start of 2023. It’s designed as a low power, efficient chip for devices such as laptops, and even in home server storage, where I’ve also used it.

As such, I wasn’t necessarily expecting the world of this laptop in terms of outright speed. Indeed, its Geekbench 6 scores are some of the lowest I’ve ever seen.

With this in mind though, outright speed and performance aren’t the name of the game for the Chromebook Spin 312. Its purpose is to be a portable and efficient laptop for light productivity loads, which it performs decently well. I didn’t experience a slowdown while using multiple Chrome tabs for Docs, Slack and Spotify. 

However, if you open too many tabs or use those tabs for more resource-heavy tasks, then are likely to hit a wall. This is especially apparent as this Chromebook only has 4GB of RAM, while its 64GB of eMMC storage is a disappointment, even at its low price.

Software

• Lightweight and clean ChromeOS install
• No Chromebook Plus features

The first thing to note with the Chromebook Spin 312 is that it runs ChromeOS, meaning it’s got a clean and lightweight UI with no real bloatware pre-installed that’s easy to get your way around and jump into apps such as Google’s G-Suite of productivity apps.

This specific Chromebook Spin 312 model also doesn’t meet the Chromebook Plus minimum spec requirements, although even with those models that do, they’ve taken the decision to not designate this laptop as one. This also means we aren’t getting new features such as Help Me Read, the Quick Insert key or Magic Eraser, for instance.

Battery Life 

• Lasted for 14 hours 32 minutes in the battery test
• Capable of lasting for two working days

As with other recent Acer Chromebooks I’ve tested, it doesn’t pack a big battery, as it’s only a 50Whr cell. However, there isn’t much in the way of power-hungry components here, so it should bode well for this laptop to hit its quoted 13 hours of endurance.

In fact, it did much better than Acer’s quoting. With the brightness set to halfway and a 1080p video loop test running, this small Chromebook lasted for 14 and a half hours, giving enough go-juice to power through two working days away from the mains.

The 65W USB-C brick can also get you back in action in a reasonably brisk manner, taking 32 minutes to get to 50%, while a full charge took 80 minutes.

Should you buy it?

FAQs