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The Swift 5 is Acer’s ultraportable laptop, which is slim, lightweight, visually appealing, and has adequate performance for most day-to-day computing needs. The laptop weighs 1.2 kg, measures 0.59 inches in thickness, and boasts a robust aluminum construction.
Open up the lid and you come face to face with a 14-inch IPS WQXGA touchscreen display that offers a resolution of 2560-by-1600 pixels. The display itself is protected by an antimicrobial Corning Gorilla Glass.
In terms of IO ports, you get a USB-A, full-sized HDMI, and two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left edge. On the right, you’ll find another USB-A along with a 3.5mm headphone/microphone port and a Kensington lock port.
Although the keyboard’s appearance may seem ordinary, it provides a satisfying typing experience due to its firm structure and ample key travel. The colour-coordinated lettering adds an aesthetic touch. The power button, meanwhile, doubles as a fingerprint scanner, which functions flawlessly.
Under the hood, the Swift 5 comes packed with a 12th Gen Intel Core i7-1260P processor running at a clock speed of 2.10 GHz. You also get 16GB of RAM and 1TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD storage. Graphics are handled by Intel Iris Xe, while wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.
The island-style keyboard on the Swift 5 features a dual-tier backlight, which allows you to adjust the keyboard’s illumination to your liking or switch it off entirely by tapping F11. The keyboard is nice to type on, with a stiff lattice and plenty of key travel.
Constructed from recycled ocean-bound plastics, the trackpad has a texture that closely resembles that of a glass trackpad. It operates smoothly and boasts a moderately-sized surface area. While the click function may require slightly more pressure than we’re accustomed to, overall, it performs excellently.
The Acer Swift 5 that we tested comes equipped with an Intel Core i7-1260P processor, 16GB of RAM, integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics, and a 1TB SSD. The Core i7-1260P is part of Intel’s Alder Lake-P lineup of 28-watt mobile processors, featuring a new hybrid architecture that combines both performance and efficiency cores. It boasts four performance cores, eight efficiency cores, and a total of 16 processing threads.
So, in terms of performance, the Acer Swift 5 did a great job. In the PCMark 10 test, it clocked 5698 points, while in our HandBrake tests, it got 1675 points. In Cinebench, another CPU-intensive test that renders a complex 2D scene over a short period of time, the Swift 5 clocked an overall 1762 points, with single thread clocking in at 247 points. All of these benchmark results indicate a very good performing ultraportable.
The battery life of the device is decent, providing approximately 9-10 hours of usage when performing simple tasks such as web browsing and basic productivity work. However, if you engage in demanding activities like gaming or video editing, the battery life will significantly decrease.
The USB-C charging is a plus and Acer includes a sleek and compact charger in the package. The 65W fast charger is capable of providing approximately four hours of additional battery life within just 30 minutes of charging, which is brilliant. And you can use the same charger to charge your smartphone.
The Acer Swift 5 offers an excellent design and build quality, comes packed with good specs and an excellent keyboard, and has a great selection of ports. Definitely check it out if you are in the market for a brilliant ultraportable.
Price: AED 5999
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