Review Acer Swift 7: Thin, light, impressive battery life

Last year's favorite laptop - Swift 7 - was revamped by Acer. Like the previous versions, this year's Swift 7 has an incredibly thin frame (you will want to recommend it to all your friends). And while portability is the highlight of the Swift 7, this attractive laptop also offers a nice 14-inch screen and surprisingly long battery life.

As expected, to have such a thin frame, there must be tradeoffs. The biggest disappointment is the poor performance, the speakers are weak and a webcam is almost unusable. However, Swift 7 is one of the best options for those who are looking for an ultraportable laptop.

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Configuration options and prices of Acer Swift 7

Acer offers a few different configuration options for Swift 7. The base model costs $ 1,699 / 39,325,000 VND (black) equipped with Intel Core i7-8500Y CPU, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD. The white version costs more than $ 50 (VND 1,157,000).

Business users may want the $ 1,899 (VND 43,954,000) version of Swift 7, which has the same specifications but upgrades from Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro. Maybe you should do it yourself to save some money.

Technical data

CPU Intel Core i7-7Y75 Processor 1.3 GHz RAM 8GB Size 12.9 x 9.3 x 0.35 inches (32.8 x 23.6 x 0.9cm) Weight 1.9 pounds (0 , 86kg) Screen Size 14 Native Resolution 1920 x 1080 256GB Hard Drive Capacity PCIe NVMe SSD Type Windows 10 Home OS Port (USB not included) USB Type-C, headset, scanner WiFi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac WiFi Model Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC Warranty / Support Warranty for 1 year USB port 2 Touchpad size 4.8 x 2.5 inches (12.2 x 6.4cm) Optical drive speed Not applicable Intel HD Graphics 615 Graphics Company website www.acer.com nanoSIM Card slot Brand Acer Hard drive speed Not applicable Highest resolution available 1920 x 1280 Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.1 Optical drive No Mobile Broadband 4G LTE

Design of Acer Swift 7

Manufacturers are often proud that their laptops are about the same size as a traditional notebook. But Acer can even compare its latest flagship to the paper.

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It's hard to pick a word that matches the look of Swift 7. The best thing to do is to compare the thickness of Swift 7 with other ultraportables.

Measuring 0.4 inches (0.9cm) and weighing 1.9 pounds (0.86kg), the Swift 7 is significantly thinner and lighter than LG Gram 14 2-in-1 (0.7 inches, 2.5 pounds), Asus ZenBook 14 UX433 (0.6 inches, 2.6 pounds) and Apple MacBook Air (0.6 inches, 2.8 pounds).

Another comparison that's easier to imagine is between Swift 7 and a modern smartphone: Google's new Pixel 4XL and Apple's iPhone 11 Pro are both 0.3 inches thick. If you add a hard case to those phones, they can be even thicker than Swift 7.

The screen of Swift 7 has no bezel, making this laptop a 92% screen-to-body ratio.

Besides, Swift 7 is also very aesthetic. The lid of the laptop has a simple gold-plated Acer logo. Inside this laptop you'll find a power button that also acts as a fingerprint sensor and a floating webcam. The curving curve near the gates gives the Swift 7 elegance that you will immediately think of a luxury car.

The black version has a unique color, changing from chocolate to slate color, depending on how the light shines on it. This version looks great, but if your fingerprints bother you, go for the white version.

Acer promises that the "micro-arc oxidation" process in the lid will resist scratching, which is a relief because, according to many users' experience, magnesium alloy tends to show more scratches than aluminum.

Port on Acer Swift 7

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The 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports on the right of Swift 7 are all you have on this ultra-thin laptop. At least you can charge laptops and other devices simultaneously, something you can't do on Apple's 12-inch MacBook, which is now discontinued.

The screen of Acer Swift 7

You will absolutely love watching videos and browsing the web on the Swift 7's 1080p 14-inch touchscreen. The thin bezels attract attention to the wide panel, with vibrant colors and good brightness.

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The touch screen of Swift 7 is very responsive. The touchpad's touch capabilities on this laptop make users extremely happy to use the touch screen as the main way to navigate the web.

According to the colorimeter tested, the screen of Swift 7 includes 105% of the sRGB color gamut, making it less vivid than the panels on Gram 14 2-in-1 (128%), ZenBook 14 UX433 (121% ) and the average of high-end laptops (130%) but more colorful than the Apple MacBook Air screen (100%).

In contrast, the Swift 7's screen reaches 293 nit, making it brighter than the panels on Gram 14 2-in-1 (253 nit) and ZenBook 14 (217 nit) but dimmer than the MacBook Air's screen. (343 nit). The average of high-end laptops (346 nit) is brighter than all of these devices.

Performance of Acer Swift 7

In keeping with such a slim design, Acer has equipped the Swift 7 CPU with a low-power Y series. Specifically Intel Core i7-8500Y.

With such a low-power chip, many people think Swift 7 will slow down during actual testing, but I'm glad it's not. I had no problems browsing the web, even though there were 15 Google Chrome tabs open and 4 1080p video streams running in the background. However, don't expect Swift 7 to give you the same performance as large laptops with U or H series processors.

Swift 7 scored 6,374 on the Geekbench 4.3 overall performance test, which is less than half that of Gram 14 2-in-1 (15,943, Core i7-8565U) and the average of high-end laptops (15,581 ). Swift 7 was also defeated by ZenBook 14 (11.804, Core i7-8565U) and even lags behind the MacBook Air (7,880, Core i5-8210Y).

You can watch the entire Breaking Bad episode during Swift 7 transcoding 4K video to 1080p resolution using the Handbrake app. 50 minutes and 22 seconds is the time it takes the laptop to complete the task, more than double the Gram 14 2-in-1 (21 minutes 17 seconds), ZenBook 14 UX433 (24 minutes 46 seconds) and the average of a high-end laptop (22 minutes 25 seconds).

Luckily, Swift 7 regained a bit of a 'face' in the hard drive test, thanks to the relatively fast 512GB NVMe SSD. Swift 7 only takes 12 seconds to copy 4.96GB of multimedia data, with a transfer rate of 424.1 megabytes per second, faster than Gram 14 2-in-1 (391MBps, SSD 512GB M.2) but not as fast as ZenBook 14 (508MBps, SSD PCIe NVMe 512GB) or the average of a high-end laptop (504,6MBps). Apple's hard drives, such as those in the MacBook Air (1,011MBps, PCIe NVMe 256GB SSD), are really super fast.

Sound of Acer Swift 7

Whether you use a pair of headphones or connect to a computer speaker, do not use the built-in speaker of Swift 7 as the main means to listen to music. The speakers on this laptop sound very jarring.

If you choose Swift 7, you should also own an additional headset.

Keyboard and touchpad

The author had some difficulty typing on Swift 7's backlit keyboard. The keys were well spaced, but extremely shallow.

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The problem that many users encounter with this keyboard is its unusual layout. The fingers constantly press the small Delete key instead of the Backspace key next to it. If these keys were reversed, there probably wouldn't be so much trouble. In addition, the shortcuts do not have separate rows. The worst is that there is no mute key.

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The author scored a typing rate of 126 words per minute with a 98% accuracy rate on the 10fastfingers.com typing test.

The old Swift 7 was a nightmare to use because its touchpad had no buttons or tactile feedback. Now with left and right buttons, the new 5.5 x 2 inch (12.2 x 6.4cm) touchpad is definitely a significant improvement over the original version.

But there is still a problem. It is very easy to palm against the touchpad because the surface is a bit long.

Graphics of Acer Swift 7

You can forget playing the best PC games on Swift 7. Intel UHD 615 integrated graphics paired with Intel Y series chips can't do much more than play online games and load pictures. animations or videos on the web

Swift 7 proved this when playing Dirt 3 racing game at 18 frames per second, lower than the minimum threshold of 30 frames per second and far behind the Gram 14 2-in-1 (51 frames / seconds), ZenBook 14 UX433 (45 fps), and average high-end laptop (61 fps).

Swift 7 scored 49,402 in the 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited Test, which is half that of Gram 14 2-in-1 (87,220), ZenBook 14 (87,446) and the average score of high-end laptops (90,663).

Battery life

The battery life of Swift 7 is really impressive. The runtime of this laptop on the battery test (continuous web surfing over WiFi at 150 nits) for 8 hours and 56 minutes didn't break any record, just hard to imagine that Such a thin device can last all day on a single charge.

Swift 7 even goes beyond ZenBook 14 (8:37), MacBook Air (8:41) and the average premium laptop (8:15). However, other ultraportables, such as the Gram 14 2-in-1 (11:28) have much longer durations.

Webcam

To capture a face, you need to lift this laptop so it is at eye level or hunchbacked. This is a shame, because of all the built-in webcams tested, Swift 7's 720p lens has the best image quality. The face has a natural color when taking selfies, and there's plenty of noise-free detail that is common.

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If you never use a webcam, its location won't confuse you. Otherwise, you should invest in one of your favorite external webcams. The only problem is that many of these options need to be attached to the laptop lid and there's almost no space in the bezel on the screen of Swift 7 for this.

Heat

Swift 7's low-power Y series CPUs allow slim, fanless designs. The article played a 15-minute 1080p YouTube video to see how the cooling of Swift 7 was. While the touchpad heats up to 85 ° F (29.5 ° C) and the bottom reaches 98 ° F (336.7 ° C), the top (just above the keyboard) reaches 108 ° F. (42.2 ° C).

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Heat is noticeable during daily use. Reflexively, your fingers will recede many times when touching this laptop, because Swift 7 is very hot when browsing the web or streaming videos.

Warranty and software

Many users wish Acer didn't include too many pre-installed applications in their laptops. Besides the usual Windows 10 Home software, there are many applications from Acer and third party partners.

Among them, Care Center is the tool you will want to keep. From this app's main central interface, you can view information about your system, search for firmware updates, check every component of your laptop and create a backup backup. Other Acer applications simply guide you to legal documents and user guides.

Please delete Acer Collection S and App Explorer, both of which provide you with Windows Store application suggestions. Content creators may want to keep PhotoDirector and PowerDirect when editing photos and videos.

A number of Windows 10 Home applications, including Bubble Witch 3 Saga, Candy Crush Friends, Amazon, Booking, eBay, Evernote Hearts Deluxe, etc. are also installed on Swift 7.

Acer offers a 1 year warranty with Swift 7.

Conclude

The Swift 7 is a rugged laptop with a gorgeous screen, premium design, and surprisingly long battery life.

However, in exchange for such thinness, Swift 7 had to trade many things, including the poor processor, keyboard and touchpad, and the webcam was practically unusable. Therefore, Swift 7 cannot beat favorite ultraportable laptops, like the Dell XPS 13 or Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon.

Advantages:

1. Ultra thin and light
2. Luxurious design
3. Stunning 14 inch screen
4. Amazing battery life

Defect:

1. The keyboard layout is frustrating
2. It is practically impossible to use the webcam
3. Very hot to run
4. Speaker is weak