Acer Swift 5 – impressive Windows laptop
Acer’s Swift 5 has an excellent keyboard, but it is the only laptop I’ve used in a while that was able to keep pace with my workflow. I ordered this laptop on Amazon for my personal use at the beginning of 2022.
At 130 grams, Acer promises you can ‘forget it’ and bring your laptop wherever you go. The company uses the Swift 5 as its entry-level business offering; It has all the features you expect from such a machine: clean design (thin), an ultra-compact format (13 inches), and multimedia speakers. When I first looked at this piece of technology, I knew that if Acer had compromised on any of these aspects there would be trouble.
The Acer Swift 5 is made of metal and glass. The review unit I received came with a black aluminum lid (my favourite colour for laptops) and a silver interior. Some people like the matte metal finish on this laptop, but it gets dirty quite quickly if you use it as your daily driver. Many swear by some kind of anti-fingerprint coating; Others complain that such coatings affect screen brightness and visibility under certain light conditions. My advice: Make sure to configure Swift 5 with a matte screen because the alternative will certainly smudge just as much – if not more – than previous Acer laptops I’ve used.
Swift 5- Design
The Acer Swift 5 looks pretty good from the back. It has a mesh of tiny holes covering its intake vents, which is designed to keep heat away from your hands when the laptop is being used. A white LED shines through these perforations when the machine is turned on. To me, they look like big round pimples, and they are not my favorite thing about this computer’s design. But Acer went a step further by making a simple yet smart design feature: Instead of putting a circular power button in between two rows of speakers, as most other laptops do, it installed a thin black strip above them with an embedded circle in the middle. This seems like nothing more than eye candy, but the power button stands out much more than on other machines.
Acer Swift 5-Design – 10/10
Swift 5- Usability
The Swift 5 has a high-quality touchpad with good palm rejection. Unfortunately, the buttonless design is flaky at best and frustratingly inconsistent at worst. Some days pressing down anywhere on this pad will activate the left mouse click; Other times you have to press down in one specific area or just leave your finger there for a second.
Please repair that; I have no idea what kind of wizardry is being employed here, but it’s a niggle that may drive me mad during long work sessions.
The keyboard is excellent; It feels like every keystroke results in almost instantaneous feedback and there is enough travel depth (1.4 mm) to feel comfortable even for long typing sessions. I was also impressed by the speaker quality, especially when listening to music. It produces a warm and pleasant sound that is loud enough to fill a small room in a pinch. But it disappoints in terms of bass performance; The lows are practically non-existent and high notes can get distorted at maximum volume levels.
Acer Swift 5-Usability – 9/10
Swift 5- Performance
In most areas, Acer’s laptop performs well for this price range: RAM capacity (8 GB), storage size (256 GB SSD) and battery life will provide you with all you need from day-to-day tasks or hardcore multitasking without breaking a sweat. Yes, I am disappointed by the lack of USB Type C ports on this machine– but they are becoming more common on high-end devices, so it is only a matter of time before this Acer laptop will be compatible with the latest standards. In fact, all I believe that anyone who buys the Swift 5 should consider is adding an SSD card to their order because Windows 10 takes up a lot of storage space and moving from HDD to SDD will make this device feel much faster.
Acer Swift 5-Performance – 8.5/10
Swift 5- Battery
As for battery life, you can definitely expect a full workday out of this laptop. If you use all your apps at maximum performance – which nobody does – Acer promises around six hours or less depending on what kind of tasks you are running. In my experience, it’s not fully accurate; While I only got around 4 hours of battery life while performing simple tasks like web browsing and word processing, you can expect more if you put your PC in power-saving mode.
Acer Swift 5-Battery – 7/10
Swift 5-Pros
- Price-performance ratio
- A big and comfortable trackpad
- Killer speed for a laptop of its price range
Swift 5-Cons
- Buggy touchpad sometimes ignores clicks
- No USB Type-C ports
Price History
Acer Swift 5- Conclusion
I like this laptop: Its simple yet attractive design is complemented by excellent build quality and a nice keyboard. It’s lightweight and thin enough to make carrying it around effortless; And the included 256 GB SSD really makes this machine feel snappy as it boots up and loads programs. There are some downsides such as the flaky trackpad button, the lack of Type C ports – which will be a problem for many – and the paltry two-hour battery life under heavy load. But at $910 (£699), I believe that you get a lot for what you pay, and if your expectations are in line with this computer’s capabilities, Acer Swift 5 won’t disappoint.
The Acer laptop is a solid buy at its current price point. If you want a simple yet good quality entry into the world of premium laptops, then this laptop will not let you down when it comes to performance and build quality. It’s also perfect for college students who need power in a lightweight device without breaking the bank. The simple design and touchscreen feature will also be a huge plus for anyone looking to stay connected on the go. In my opinion, this is the best laptop Acer has released so far and I hope they will continue to work on their designs and improve their future laptops because competition in the laptop market is becoming more and more fierce.
