Last year, both Spin notebooks came with Alexa built-in, a feature that's noticeably absent from the Spin 3's spec sheet this time around. That said, it still has the microphones needed to support it with far-field pickup. But the only voice assistant that you may be able to use is Cortana, which may be a disappointment for some.

Both models get a fast-charging Acer Active Stylus with Wacom's Active Electrostatic technology, which now comes standard with the machine. It sits on the right hand-side, beside the IO, and resembles the Galaxy Note of old's port-styles, with a single button in the middle of the barrel. It's certainly solid enough to scratch out handwritten notes with good responsiveness and tracking, but it's not perfect.

In terms of battery life, the Spin 5 contains a four-cell, 56Wh battery that's rated for up to 15 hours of battery life, while the Spin 3's three-cell, 48 Wh battery is said to last up to 12 hours on a charge.

One of the most noticeable things I noticed while testing out the models is the vastly improved keyboard, which offers far more travel. Apparently the hardware has been re-engineered so that there's a little more depth to each key, but they shrink down when you fold the laptop into tablet mode. The keys aren't the most widely spaced, but they feel solid, while the scissor-switches offer surprisingly good balance with no wobble.

I have fewer things to say about the Windows Precision trackpad, purely because Acer hasn't fixed what wasn't broken. The Swift 5 is the only model of the pair to include a built-in fingerprint sensor, should securing your laptop be a major concern.

Certainly, these are solid low(er)-end business class laptops that, while ultimately unremarkable, look like they'll get the job done. The Spin 5 arrives in the US in June, with the base model priced at $899. The Spin 3 arrives in April, starting at $699. Folks in Europe will get both laptops ahead of their American cousins, with the Spin 5 landing in March for €999 and the Spin 3 disembarking in February for €649.