Hands-on review: IFA 2016: Acer Spin 7

You're spoilt for choice these days if you want a convertible laptop, but Acer is hoping you'll only have eyes for its attractive new Spin 7 convertible.

Launched alongside Acer's new Swift 7 laptop, this high-end offering immediately catches the eye. That's thanks to a vibrant, glossy IPS display that serves up rich colors and superb horizontal and vertical viewing angles.

If you're looking to stream 1080p video or partake in some light gaming, the Spin 7's screen is one of the finest Full HD offerings we've seen in some time.

At 10.98mm thick, this is one of the thinnest convertibles around. Grabbing the Spin 7's chamfered edges to flip the device into its various positions is far from a chore, and we can see it posing no weight problems when slung into a backpack for transportation.

Things are promising on the inside, too, thanks to Intel's latest 7th-generation Kaby Lake processor, which its maker claims can help the machine run up to eight hours before giving up the ghost. That's backed up by 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.

The Spin 7 is a little thin on the ground where connectivity is concerned, with two USB-C ports running the show – so it might just be time to embrace that USB Type-A converter.

Its chiclet-spaced keyboard provides a decent level of travel and should prove up to the task of bashing out longer documents, and you could easily connect a Bluetooth keyboard to use the device in tent mode.

Acer's Spin 7 will start at $1,199 or €1,299 (around £1,100) when it lands in October.

This is a flash hands on review to give you the chance to see what the phone is all about as soon as possible. Stay tuned as we'll be expanding and upgrading this review very shortly with more info.