Acer Chromebook Spin 311 (2026) Review

Design and Keyboard

• Compact plastic frame
• Meagre port selection
• Snappy keyboard, but a small trackpad

Owing to its small form factor, the Chromebook Spin 311 (2026) is a very compact customer indeed, which makes it one of the most portable laptops you’ll find out there. Its all-black finish is pleasant, and the textured black plastic feel provides a semblance of durability, too. I’m not a big fan of the large bezels around the screen, though, which give this Chromebook a bit of a dated look.

There is a bit of flex at the corners when pressed, and on the keyboard deck, too, although as this is a cheaper laptop, I don’t mind too much. It tips the scales at 1.3kg, which is on the heavier side for such a small laptop. With this in mind, the 11-inch screen size and its associated form factor make this easily portable in a rucksack or bag.

The port selection on the Chromebook Spin 311 (2026) doesn’t set the world alight, but for such a small laptop, it’s reasonable. Each side is home to a USB-C port and a USB-A each, plus the right side has a headphone jack, too. The larger Chromebook Spin 312 model I tested last year supplements this with an HDMI and SD card reader.

The keyboard deck of this laptop is a smaller form factor, complete with arrow keys and a function row. The keys themselves have decent tactility to them, and it’s reasonably easy to get up to speed with them. There isn’t any form of backlighting for after-dark working, though.

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.

For the benefit of repairability and because this is a device designed for harsh educational environments, the USB-C ports here are serviceable (a feature borrowed from business laptops that are a lot more expensive than this one, such as the Dell Pro Max 16 Plus), while the keyboard deck is easily replaceable, too. 

The laptop also comes in plastic-free packaging and is somewhat assembled with PCR plastics to give it some sustainability cred.

Display and Sound

• 1366×768 resolution isn’t too brilliant
• Reasonable brightness and colours
• Okay speakers

The display here is a touch-enabled 11-6-inch IPS screen with a 1366×768 resolution and a classic 16:9 aspect ratio that feels very dated against this Chromebook’s rivals, not least with huge bezels surrounding the panel.

The problem I have is the resolution, which feels subpar in 2026. Even the Chromebook Spin 312 and other more compact choices have a Full HD screen, rather than an ‘HD Ready’ one as it were. This leaves it lacking detail, and it can feel a little fuzzy at times. Considering this is a touch-screen designed for budding creatives, it leaves a bit of a sour taste.

There isn’t a quoted brightness figure for the Chromebook Spin 311 (2026)’s display, although it feels a little dimmer than our usual 300 nit target to my eye when put at full blast. For indoor working, I think you’d be okay, although taking it outside probably isn’t the best idea. Colours look reasonable to my eye, but owing to the lower brightness, there is an element of the panel that feels a smidgen washed out.

To its credit, this Chromebook has a Corning Gorilla Glass coating for added durability, which is important considering the target audience of children, and the touchscreen nature felt surprisingly responsive.

The Chromebook Spin 311 (2026)’s speakers are downwards-firing and are mostly mids, as you’d expect from a cheaper laptop. They’re okay for casual viewing, but little beyond that. For more extended listening, utilise the headphone jack on the right hand side.

Performance

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

The press release for the Chromebook Spin 311 (2026) made a lot about it being one of the first Acer Chromebook devices to ship with the MediaTek Kompanio 540 processor. This is one of MediaTek’s latest low-power mobile chips that features eight cores, including two Arm Cortex-A78 ‘big cores’ and six Arm Cortex-A55 cores, plus a dual-core GPU.

It’s not a chip that’s necessarily designed for outright grunt, and is more for zippy performance for basic tasks where it’s needed. Think of it as a competitor to Intel’s N-series of chips – quiet, but efficient.

In running it through the Geekbench 6 benchmark test, the Chromebook Spin 311 (2026) provided scores that were very similar to an Intel N100 in the same test. The multi-core result is a bit lower than I expected, owing to the quantity of cores this MediaTek chip has over the N100.

With this in mind, though, outright speed and performance aren’t the name of the game for the Chromebook Spin 311 (2026). Its purpose is to be a portable and efficient laptop for light productivity loads, which it performs decently well. I didn’t experience too much of a slowdown while using multiple Chrome tabs for Docs, Slack and Spotify. 

This particular configuration also nets 4GB of RAM and 64GB of eMMC storage. For the price, I’m not too bothered about this, although it would have been nice to see solid-state storage in 2026 on a more affordable device. The RAM headroom is just enough for basic tasks, although for any extended multi-tasking, going for a model with more RAM is advisable.

Software

• Lightweight and clean ChromeOS install
• No Chromebook Plus features

The first thing to note with the Chromebook Spin 311 (2026) 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 311 (2026) model also doesn’t meet the Chromebook Plus minimum spec requirements, although even with those models that do, they’ve made the decision not to 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.

There is one benefit to this being a newer model, as it comes with Google’s new Quick Insert key, where the Caps Lock is, which opens a Spotlight Search-style menu which can be used for everything from inserting a link to looking up files.

Battery Life

• Lasted for 13 hours 47 minutes in the battery test
• Capable of lasting for between one and two working days

The Chromebook Spin 311 (2026) comes with a modest 45Whr battery, which isn’t the biggest it must be said. Owing to the increase in efficiency that MediaTek has touted from the processor inside this laptop, Acer is quoting up to 15 hours of runtime from this laptop before it’ll conk out.

In running a Full HD video loop test at around 50 percent brightness, this small Chromebook lasted for 13 hours and 47 minutes. That’s pretty good and isn’t too far off from Acer’s original estimates. It means you’ll be able to get through two working days with this Chromebook before needing to plug it back into the mains.

The Chromebook Spin 311 (2026) also comes with a dinky 45W USB-C charger that’s one of the smallest I’ve seen, and was reasonably brisk at putting charge back into the laptop’s battery. A 50 percent charge took 38 minutes, while a full charge took 86 minutes.

Should you buy it?