Acer Swift 5 SF514-54T
Thin laptop punches above its weight
It’s always been taken for granted that the slimmest, lightest laptops are overpriced for their performance. That works out fine, because their target customer is someone who’s far too important to carry anything heavy or do any proper work. For some time, though, Acer has been selling the Swift 5 with better than minimal specifications at a price that risks attracting the ‘wrong’ sort of customer – people like us. We’re quite keen on the idea of carrying something that weighs, almost incredibly, less than a kilo, or barely over two pounds. When it’s still under 900 quid and has no hideous flaws, we’re keener still.
Super-lightweight, well-connected and a surprisingly decent screen
Intel’s i5-1035g1 processor is still pretty average, and its built-in GPU too slow to have much of a crack at 3D games. This isn’t the system you’d choose for jobs like video editing, and even applying filters to high-resolution photos or flicking between several demanding programs might keep you waiting longer than you’d like. But it’s much better than bargainbasement Pentium or Celeron chips, and faster than the low-power processors found in some fancier laptops and laptoptablets. For everyday Windows 10 tasks, it doesn’t feel like a compromise. It’s not helped here by a slow SSD, which managed 1,199 megabytes per second (MB/S) reading and just 666MB/S writing in our tests – but that’s still many times faster than a hard drive.
The Swift 5 is also available with an i7-1065g7 chip, but we weren’t able to test that configuration, and after our experience with the eighth-generation model in this chassis we have some doubts about its ability to dissipate heat well enough to keep higher-powered processors running at full speed. Still, the £1,300 asking price for the i7 (from which Acer was discounting £100 at the time of writing, at www.snipca.com/33986) also gets you 16GB of memory, a 2GB Nvidia Geforce MX250 graphics card and a generous 1TB SSD, which, because of the way SSDS work, might also be a bit faster. The screen remains the same, with no higher-resolution option.
It’s a surprisingly decent screen, though, covering 94 per cent of SRGB with an average of 2.2, indicating good accuracy, and although it’s not super bright, the semi-matt finish avoids distracting reflections. The backlit keyboard is well spaced, quiet and practical, and we had no problems with the medium-sized touchpad. The basic webcam doesn’t have face recognition, but there’s a fingerprint scanner to log you in via Windows Hello.
The less said the better about the downward-pointing stereo speakers, but there’s a full set of ports on the sides, including a USB-C port with Thunderbolt 3 that you can use for charging, faster storage than that SSD, and many other purposes. There’s a separate port for the included mains adapter if you prefer, plus
SPECIFICATIONS
1GHZ Intel Core i5-1035g1 quad-core processor • 8GB memory • 256GB SSD • 14in 1920x1080-pixel screen • Webcam • 802.11ax Wi-fi • Bluetooth 5 • USB-C Thunderbolt 3 port • USB-A 3 port • USB-A 2 port • HDMI port • Windows 10 Home • 15x320x211mm (HXWXD) • 990g • One-year warranty www.snipca.com/33983
USB 3.0, USB 2.0, an HDMI monitor output and an audio jack, although there’s no slot for memory cards.
We’re still a bit sceptical about how accident-proof a machine this skinny is, but unlike the last time we reviewed a Swift 5, our test model – finished in Acer’s distinctive blue, with subtle gold highlights – came undamaged and working perfectly. Realistically, the all-metal chassis, using a combination of magnesium and aluminium alloys, is about as tough as you’re going to get without lugging more weight.
If you don’t mind lugging, you could buy an HP Envy 13 (see our review, Issue 568, page 23), with Nvidia Geforce MX250 graphics, or an Envy 13 x360 (see Issue 570, page 23), with a fold-back touchscreen, for about £50 less, and with longer battery life than the Swift 5’s six hours and 22 minutes.
VERDICT It’s a shame it won’t run longer on the road, but you won’t regret choosing to carry it
ALTERNATIVE
HP Envy 13 £779 Has an old but good d i5-8265u chip, MX250 graphics and nd two hours’ more battery life