Acer Unveils Ultralight 15.6-Inch Swift 5 Laptop: Less than 2.2 Lbs
by Anton Shilov on May 23, 2018 5:30 PM EST
Acer announced one of the company's thinnest and lightest 15.6-inch class laptops at its annual Next@Acer event. The laptop packs Intel’s latest Core CPU and can work for a day on a single charge. Meanwhile, it weighs less than 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) and is comes in a relatively thin chassis made of rather rare alloys.
The Acer Swift notebooks are aimed primarily at road warriors who value portability and low weight above many other things, but also still care about performance to a degree. The new Acer Swift 5 comes in a specially-designed chassis featuring top and bottom covers made of magnesium-lithium alloys to ensure a low weight and the palm rest cover made of a magnesium-aluminum alloy to make it sturdy, the manufacturer says.
The new Acer Swift 5 is equipped with a 15.6-inch IPS display panel featuring a Full HD resolution and 5.87-mm (0.23-inch) bezels, which are rather tiny. As for internal hardware, the new Swift 5 is based on Intel’s "latest" Core processors accompanied by up to 16 GB DDR4 memory, and SSDs up to 1TB in size.
When it comes to connectivity, the Swift 5 comes with Intel’s Wireless-AC 9560 2x2 802.11ac + Bluetooth 5 controller that supports up to 1.73 Gbps throughput (when used with appropriate Wi-Fi networks). As for physical connectors, the system is equipped with one USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port, two USB 3.1 Type-A headers, an HDMI output, an SD card reader, and a TRRS audio jack. Since the Swift 5 is intended to be ultralight, Acer has cut usage of discrete components to a minimum, which is why the PC comes with a fairly simple webcam without IR sensors to support Windows Hello facial recognition. Meanwhile, the system is equipped with a fingerprint reader that is compatible with Windows Hello.
The new Acer Swift 5 will be released later this year. Acer has not disclosed pricing of the ultralight laptop and since it also has not released its final specs (and even refused to disclose the CPU family), so expect that that MSRPs will depend on CPUs used for particular models.
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Source: Acer
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jeremyshaw - Wednesday, May 23, 2018 - link
A spattering of ports, 16GB maximum, obsession with thin, "work for a day" battery (still has to be less than 100Whr to fit airline requirements). CPU family not disclosed. We've finally come full circle. Ultrabook specs in a 15.6" laptop. If we are lucky, Acer will actually do something unique and use the Iris Pro GPU, but we all know Acer wouldn't do that. If we are really lucky, Acer will at least avoid using passively cooled CPUs in a 15.6" chassis.wr3zzz - Wednesday, May 23, 2018 - link
Many people, including myself will not purchase an ultra-light notebook with fans anymore. CPU power has outgunned software advancement by so much that for road warriors not in the content creation industry not having the fan noise is a big deal vs. the non-noticeable CPU performance difference. I would very much like to see fanless designs moving from <12" to more 13.3, 14 and 15" models.deeps6x - Sunday, September 16, 2018 - link
100% agree with wr3zzz. We need more 15.6 inch ultrabook choices that DO NOT HAVE A FAN. The CPU has improves so much faster than common business software demands that it is no longer necessary to put more than the minimal CPU options in ultrabooks.If you want to complain about not having a powerful enough GPU, there are tons of other laptops with higher spec GPU options. Choose one. What we really need are 8-10w CPUs in FANLESS 15.6" ultrabooks. If Acer can build this at <2.2 lbs and sell it for $1200 US, with the fancy magnesium case, someone else, or even Acer, should be able to produce the same model with a regular aluminum case and the same specs at 2.4 lbs and hit a $1000 US price point.
I know I'd be a buyer if I saw it hit that level for sure. I'm probably going to be a buyer of this Acer unit when they finally get around to selling it in a couple of months, 6 months plus after announcing it (come on Acer, really?!?). I wanted it in May. I'll be lucky to get it in November.
Some of us don't even need quad core cpus. Someone should be producing a 2.4 lb 15.6" ultrabook with the new Intel Core i7-8500Y dual core, 5 watt CPU. We demand some fanless options from the manufacturers.
While I'm talking about unfulfilled consumer demand segments, besides 15.6", low power, low weight ultrabooks, I should point out that consumers also want SMALLER CELLPHONES with the latest electronics. Sure some people want their 6 inch plus screens and phones as big as the original tablets to lug around so that they can watch netflix on the subway to and from work. The rest of us have to actually carry them around in our pockets or purses, don't have time to watch shows on them, and drive to work. This massive segment of the cell phone using population would LOVE to have a modern offering in the iPhone 5 size dimensions. You know it can be done and WILL be the next direction that cell phones progress in, so why not get the jump on your competition Samsung/Apple, and start selling a premium but smaller alternative to your monster phone a big as a tablet offerings?
ET - Thursday, May 24, 2018 - link
'Coming full circle' suggests we've been in this situation at a previous time. In reality, that's a nice new development, having decent specs with such a low weight at this size.xype - Thursday, May 24, 2018 - link
Hey, at least people in the PC world have other choices to pick from. If you depend on macOS for work you get a nice "lol nope" if you’d like a thicker laptop in exchange for a beefier GPU. :-/GTRagnarok - Wednesday, May 23, 2018 - link
That's a very pleasing implementation of a small bezels display. Instead of one giant bottom bezel, it's symmetrically spit between the top and bottom with a proper webcam placement. Dell XPS and Gigabyte Aero should have gone for this look.hanselltc - Thursday, May 24, 2018 - link
Laptop notch when lulp1esk - Thursday, May 24, 2018 - link
Wow, so it's almost as light as my Macbook, incredible! The major issue for me is 1080 resolution. If they offered 4k, or at least 1440, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.MrSpadge - Thursday, May 24, 2018 - link
15.6" with less than 1 kg is pretty impressive, IMO. And probably doesn't cost an arm and a leg like certain competitors hardware.10basetom - Monday, May 28, 2018 - link
Nice. I didn't think anyone could too the LG Gram 15's 1.1 kg weight, but here we are.