In case you are tired of carrying your heavy laptop on your shoulders all day long, then perhaps, it is time that you bought a new extremely lightweight one. We are here to help you on that since the Acer Swift 5 is one such laptop with a mass less than even a kg!
With such a low weight you can literally carry this laptop anywhere you want without your shoulders aching.
On the contrary, being low weight means, that Acer had to compromise on the battery, so if you don’t find yourself near a wall outlet soon enough, chances are your laptop might bail on you pretty soon as compared to other laptops these days. But perhaps, its a compromise worth it, since the laptop specifications are up to the mark.
Design
The laptop’s dimensions are 327 x 228 x 14.8mm and weigh just 970g. That’s amazing when you see that the laptop has a 14” screen size. It might feel to you that maybe Acer forgot to put something in there, but nevertheless, the laptop is complete just like another laptop: Has a Battery, Motherboard, SSD and whatever makes an average laptop.
The reason why Acer Swift 5 might be so lightweight is that Acer has used Magnesium this time. Instead of just opting for staple Aluminum, which is a bit heavier than Magnesium, the thickness is kept the same.
Though with Magnesium you won’t get the metallic feel which comes with Aluminum. This might be a disappointment for those, who were looking for a laptop which appears “premium” and classy. Nevertheless, at least it is not made from plastic. The screen and base barely flex too.
The laptop is available in a two-tone design: Dark Blue and Dark Gold. Though it must be said, that it seems to be a “class-apart” laptop being lightweight and with its two-tone designs, but in reality, it would rather seem pretty much like any other ordinary laptop. Yes, you might get a modern laptop look, but it won’t satisfy the “standards” of some.
If you rather want to seek attention when using your laptop, you should instead opt for the Acer Swift 7. Though, courtesy some extra thickness, yet still being lightweight, it does allow the laptop to allow some extra peripherals. There are two USB 3.0 ports instead of a single USB Type-C. Furthermore, there is also a USB-C 3.1 port too. For hooking up your laptop to an external display, there is the usual HDMI port too. Though, the only caveat is that there isn’t any built-in SD card reader, so you would have to buy an external one.
Battery Life
The Battery is just 4670mAh, which to be honest, is soon going to be the norm on our smartphones even. Even with a low battery capacity, the laptop does manage to give around six hours of usage depending on your usage. In contrast to other laptops, the Acer Swift 5 has a 36Wh cell, rather than a 54Wh on the Lenovo IdeaPad or the Dell DXP13 with 60Wh.
Batteries take up a lot of weight, so maybe to make sure that the laptop stays under the 1 kg mark, Acer had to compromise on the battery. Honestly, it would have been better if the battery lasted a bit more, even if it just meant adding a bit more of weight.
Screen
Though the Acer Swift 5 features a 14-inch Full HD Display with a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 display, it isn’t simply one with brightest screens. The backlight is enough if you want to use your laptop inside buildings, though on occasions when you have to use your laptop out there under the sun, you would have difficulty viewing the screen. Also, you might also struggle with reflections courtesy the glossy finish.
On the contrary, these things aside, the screen resolution is something to look for since it offers much better image and video quality. The contrast is much better too. Not only this but courtesy a touchscreen display, you can easily interact with your laptop by just using your fingers. Though sadly, there isn’t a style support yet. Maybe you aren’t a great fan of touchscreens yet, but believe us, touchscreen laptops, are going to become the norm in the future.
Another great aspect of the laptop is that its screen can be rotated 180 degrees. We wouldn’t advise it but you can use this to your benefit when for instance, using the laptop while in bed in all sorts of positions.
Keyboard and TrackPad
The travel is a couple of millimeters, you would rather be more familiar with this already. The keyboard is such that you can easily type using it for long hours without getting tired. This is courtesy the large surface offered by the laptop. Good thing, the keyboard also has a back-light underneath, so you can easily work on your laptop even in the dark. Though you can’t change the backlight brightness, it does serve its purpose well.
Another thing is that the laptop also a fingerprint scanner embedded on the right side. This makes it quicker for you to log in without using a pin or password.
The trackpad does the job pretty efficiently too. The click isn’t loud, though double clicks aren’t that fast. Yet that doesn’t matter since double-click speeds usually matter to gamers, and this is certainly not a gaming laptop.
Performance
The laptop is powered by the latest eighth generation of Core i7 processor, with a now standard 8 GB of RAM. This means, feel free to open multiple apps at once, with a worry of lag. Though, sadly the laptop doesn’t have an integrated graphics hardware, so don’t expect it to run high-end games. With a 256 GB of SSD, enjoy fast bootups and opening/closing of software.
Price
The laptop is available for a price tag of £899 which is acceptable considering the laptop’s features. If you are short on cash then you can get the core i5 model for a £100 less. On the other hand, if you want more SSD space, then you would need to spend £100 more to get the one with 512 GB of SSD space.
Considering that other laptops are at a higher price tag for the same level of specifications, perhaps, Acer Swift 5 is worth buying if you are willing to compromise on the battery life.