Lean machine

At 0.39 inch, the Acer Swift 7 is the thinnest laptop in the world, or one of them — it’s a contested and oft-shuffling title, depending on new releases and where you measure the device, but this one seems to be the current winner.

It’s a striking package: slim, lightweight and finished in an unusual and attractive matte black and gold combination, giving the laptop a premium, standout look.

Of course, to achieve a profile as slim as this, Acer had to make some compromises.

These include stripped-down ports and a somewhat lightweight battery. There are two USB type C ports, an audio jack and adapter dongles (for USB-C to USB-A and Ethernet). Acer says you’ll get up to nine hours of use out of the battery, but I got a little less, so you’ll want to keep the power cable handy if you’re taking the device out for a full workday.

The screen measures 13.3 inches and has a full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080. It’s got great colour and saturation, but a glossy finish means grappling with glare in high-light environments. It has a large trackpad and comfortable keyboard — no complaints there. Under the hood, it runs the Intel Core i5 processor with 8 GB RAM and a solid state drive of 256 GB.

What does that feel like in real life? The laptop offers a capable and swift experience when it comes to everyday functionality and managing your business tasks. It’s not geared for demanding gaming though.

With the Swift 7, Acer seems to be targeting those who are looking to make a style statement and be noticed, and the company has set it up as a direct competitor for the Macbook crowd.

The Acer Swift 7 will set you back about R20,000–R23,000.