Swift 7 - review of a very light and thin Acer laptop

Design

It is worth recognizing that at the moment Acer is clearly winning the fight for the thinnest laptop. Weighing 1.17 kg, the dimensions of the Swift 7 are 32.7 x 23.6 x 0.8 cm. With such indicators, all its competitors (HP Specter 13, LG Gram and Huawei MateBook X Pro) look like absolute fatties. However, when it comes to weight, the Swift 7 remains middling.

The design of Swift 7 never ceases to amaze. Milled from black aluminum, the laptop's body is not only sleek, but also surprisingly durable. We spent a lot of time admiring its appearance with its virtually seamless design.

With no obvious ventilation slots, the laptop looks like a single piece of metal, except for the rear hinges and the shiny chrome Acer logo on the lid. By the way, the unusual shape of the hinges allows the display to open up to 180 degrees.

We especially liked the embossed Swift logo on the back of the device and how thin the body is as thin as possible towards the edges. But the best thing is a special nano-coating, thanks to which the Swift 7 is not afraid of greasy fingerprints, always maintaining a beautiful appearance.

The interior of the laptop also looks attractive. The base is made of black aluminum that is pleasant to the touch. The classic keyboard is located in a small recess. Next to it is a fingerprint scanner with an elegant bevel.

The only downside to Swift's design is the placement of the webcam. It was placed on the bottom edge of the display bezel (more on this below).

There is a fingerprint scanner. Come on Air, goodbye

There are many parallels that can be drawn between Macs and the new Zenbook, but the main thing is that they are convenient to work on.

ASUS engineers pleased gamers and ordinary users by installing a Harman/Kardon audio system. It's better than most laptop audio systems.

At least, at the presentation it will be possible to do without external acoustics - and listening to music or watching a movie will be more than enough.

The keyboard deserves special respect. The Zenbook is comfortable, with clear key travel and normal, customizable backlighting. The arrows are highlighted in a separate block, and there is a Home-End row. ASUS gets a well-deserved plus.

The touchpad is large, almost like a MacBook. Multi-touch gestures work without glitches, as expected (this is very rare in Win laptops). Sliding is ideal, since the top panel is covered with glass.

Of course, it's hard to compete with Apple's touchpad. But the MacBook Air does not have a fingerprint scanner, while the Zenbook UX331UA does. It is located next to the arrows, without interfering with the touchpad (competitors are quietly choking with envy).

no problems with setup and operation . The password is no longer needed - put your finger on it and log in. Once again, I confirmed administrator rights, or went to a blocked folder. Very cool for the corporate segment.

Equally important for this market is that Zenbook runs on Windows 10 Professional out of the box. It is in this version that Microsoft included all the necessary software components. There is no need to buy another system (the Home version is absolutely insufficient for working in an enterprise).

What is the difference between Pro and Home? The best part is that the user of the extended version can independently choose which updates to install. Random failures are excluded, since you can wait for information about compatibility with hardware and software. And, if there is no need, refuse to increase the size of the Windows folder.

In addition, it is Win 10 Pro that allows you to connect a laptop to a domain with certain group policies and set up connections to remote desktops without additional utilities. The system can encrypt network data according to industrial protocols and generally turns into a real business management center.

But this is not the only feature of the UX331UA that will make owners of Apple laptops uncomfortable (what is it like with 1 connector?): It also has USB 3.1 in the form of USB-C, a pair of regular USB 3.1, HDMI, and even a card reader. But this is an analogue of the MacBook Air, not Pro.

Ports

When a laptop becomes so thin, it's unlikely to surprise you with an abundance of external ports. The Swift 7 has a USB Type-C pair and an audio jack on the left side. On the right there is a power button and a nano-SIM slot.

What should you do if you need to connect a mouse or external hard drive? The answer is simple - splitters, dongles and adapters. By the way, in addition to the power cable, the Swift 7 comes with a multifunctional dongle that will give you additional USB 3.1, USB Type-C and HDMI output ports.

Autonomy

The manufacturer claims that the 2770 mAh battery should be enough for 12 hours of operation. The test sample shows more modest results. In the PCMark test it lasted 4 hours and 44 minutes. During normal office work, 15-20% of the charge per hour is lost, and a two-hour movie on average will require more than 20%. Such figures are obtained if you do not limit yourself at all in the level of illumination and sound volume (and these are values ​​​​close to the maximum).

If you still need to leave your usual workplace for a long period of time, then taking a power supply with you will not be at all difficult, it is small and light. In addition, if there is another adapter with USB Type-C nearby, then it will also work (for example, the power supply from my MacBook Pro worked for Swift 7). Fully charging the battery will take a little over two hours.

4

ITC.UA rating

Pros: Very small body with a fairly large screen; touch display and image quality; Fingerprint's scanner; silent operation; adapter with USB-A and HDMI included

Cons: Keyboard features; small performance margin; sound; heating under load

Conclusion: Portability is one of the main trump cards of laptops over desktop computers. At the same time, the class of ultrabooks places maximum emphasis on this criterion. The Acer Swift 7 is a good example of such an ultrabook. But as often happens, in the pursuit of making the case lighter, the laptop loses performance points and can heat up excessively under load. Also, the sound of the speakers was not very pleasing, and the keyboard takes some getting used to. But for everyday simple tasks it is suitable, it is pleasant to work with and very easy to navigate, and a great bonus to this is the beautiful touch screen.

Specifications

Display

The Swift 7's elegance doesn't stop at the body. The 14-inch IPS panel is covered with a protective layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 0.5 millimeters thick. Acer has also kept the bezels around the display to a minimum: 0.96 cm on top and 0.91 cm on the sides, although they are not as thin as the Dell XPS 13 with its signature InfinityEdge thickness of 0.5 cm. Still, we adhere to the trend of disappearing frames around the screen.

The Swift 7's display has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and is bright and rich in color. When we watched the Support the Girls trailer, the main character's honey-brown skin was literally glowing and the sun was playing with golden highlights in her hair. The detail was clear enough that we could see individual strands of hair.

The Swift 7's display reproduces an impressive 143 percent of the sRGB color gamut. This is more saturated than the 111% shown by the HP Specter 13, 128% by the LG Gram, and 124% by the Huawei MateBook X Pro. The result is also well above the premium laptop segment average.

The Swift 7's brightness measurement came in at 304 nits, which was enough to beat the 302-nit segment average and the Specter 13's 247 nits. The LG Gram was slightly brighter at 307 nits, but the MateBook beat out everyone with its 458 nits.

Supporting simultaneous reading of up to 10 fingers, the Swift 7's capacitive touch panel proved to be fast and responsive. A finger-doodle test in a graphics editor revealed no lag or lag.

Keyboard, touchpad and fingerprint scanner

Given the record thinness of the Swift 7, we expected to see typing problems, but in the end we were pleasantly surprised. Despite the fact that the keys have only 1 millimeter of play (we consider 1.5-2 mm comfortable), they require 71 grams of force to operate (we consider the minimum optimal to be at least 60 grams). This helped create quite a decent level of convenience when entering text. We achieved the standard 70 wpm on the 10fastfingers test task. White backlight allows you to print comfortably even in the dark.

The most controversial part of the Swift 7 is the touchpad. With dimensions of 12.1 x 6.3 cm, it is very spacious and is also protected by Gorilla Glass. Our fingers had plenty of room to perform all of Windows' multi-touch gestures, from two-finger zoom to three- and four-finger swipes. Everything worked quickly and accurately.

However, despite the excellent performance of the touch panel, many people will probably be disappointed by the click implementation. Attempting to press the bottom edges of the touchpad will not result in the expected left or right mouse button functionality. Instead, we had to adjust to double tapping to get the desired effect. Plus, we still haven't figured out how to drag objects.

Located on the left side of the keyboard, the fingerprint scanner allows you to unlock the laptop using Windows Hello. Setup takes about a minute after setting the classic password and consists of repeatedly placing your finger on the sensor pad.

Platform and performance

The Acer Swift 7 uses a 14nm dual-core Kaby Lake processor - Core i7-7Y75, clocked at 1.3 GHz (3.6 GHz in Turbo Boost mode). Based on the name, one might assume that it refers to Intel's high-performance mobile chips, but in fact, it is still the same Core M7 with a calculated power of 4.5 W. The processor does not require an active cooling system, so the Acer Swift 7 runs absolutely silently. The integrated Intel HD Graphics 615 solution is responsible for graphics processing.

The RAM capacity is 8 GB, and a 256 GB Kingston SSD is used for storage.

The laptop's performance is sufficient for everyday tasks. The Acer Swift 7 can handle browsing or documents without any problems, but it's not a device that can handle resource-intensive tasks. The laptop scores 2,866 points in the PCMark 8 Home performance test, and 2,704 points in the 3DMark Sky Diver graphics test.

SSD performance is at a standard level for this type of storage. In the CrystalDiskMark test, the drive demonstrates a read speed of 551 MB/s and a write speed of 460 MB/s.

Despite the passive cooling system, the aluminum case dissipates heat well. At maximum load, the processor temperature does not exceed 71 degrees Celsius, there is no throttling.

The laptop body can heat up to 51 degrees Celsius, but only in the area above the keyboard, while the area under the palms and keys becomes only slightly warm.

Performance

While the design of the Swift 7 can be called modern, the same cannot be said about its 7th generation Intel Core i7-7Y75 processor with a frequency of 1.3 GHz. Intel Y-series chipsets were designed specifically for fanless designs, but in this case they are used like regular U-series chipsets. This decision puts this ultraportable laptop at a disadvantage compared to its competitors. However, we didn't notice any stuttering when streaming a video combined with a Twitch stream in one of 17 open tabs in Google Chrome while running a scan in Windows Defender.

The performance disadvantage only showed up in synthetic tests. On Geekbench 4, which measures overall processor performance, the Swift 7 scored 6,012, well below the average of 10,945 for premium laptops and all of its closest competitors. Armed with 8th generation Intel Core i7-8550U processors clocked at 1.8 GHz, the HP Specter 13, Huawei MateBook X Pro and LG Gram showed 13091, 13017 and 11153 points, respectively. The Dell XPS 13 on Core i5 scored 13,254 points.

Unlike the modern design of the Swift 7, its 7th generation Intel Core i7-7Y75 processor with a frequency of 1.3 GHz cannot be called relevant by today's standards.

In our performance test, Swift 7 took exactly 3 minutes to match 65,000 names and addresses—much longer than the 1:35 average. The MateBook completed the task in 1:47, the LG Gram took 1:20, and the XPS 13 completed the task in 1:14.

During the file transfer speed test, the Swift 7's 256GB SSD copied 4.99GB of mixed content in 19 seconds at a speed of 267.8 megabytes per second. The speed was slightly below the average of 280.5 MB/s, but still faster than the LG Gram (512 GB M.2 SATA) - 169.5 MB/s. However, the MateBook and its 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD were faster at 282.6MB/s. The XPS 13 showed 339.1 MB/s.

Equipped with an integrated Intel HD Graphics 615, the Swift 7 will allow you to play not the latest games like BioShock Infinite. You'll also be able to play Overwatch, but more graphics-intensive games like The Witcher 3 won't be available. The laptop achieved 31 fps on the Dirt 3 test, which is within the minimum allowed 30 fps, but far from the 70 fps average, as well as the frame rates of the LG Gram, Specter 13 (Intel HD Graphics 620) and MateBook (Nvidia GeForce GTX MX140), which showed 50, 57 and 117 frames per second, respectively.

Performance and software

Small dimensions, although they have a great effect on portability, have a negative effect on limited performance. Our test sample is equipped with a dual-core Intel Core i7-8500Y processor (1.6 GHz) with integrated Intel UHD Graphics 615, 8 GB LPDDR3 RAM and a 512 GB SSD drive. For communication, the Wi-Fi 802.11ac standard and Bluetooth 5.0 are used.

The cooling is passive, which makes the laptop very quiet, but also excessively warm under load. During simple work with documents and the browser, the sensors showed up to 40°C, but as soon as the computer is loaded, the temperature will increase significantly (up to 80-90°C), and you can feel this by touching the right edge of the top case (approximately a quarter of the case heats up from above , and below). It’s clear why this happens, although I’m not sure that users of such computers often load them to such an extent, and office tasks and watching movies have virtually no effect on the temperature of the case.

Not much productivity. The laptop requires an extra couple of seconds to launch applications and fully boot; not all even simple processes happen as quickly as more powerful machines do. But we can’t say that everything works very slowly and this speed is not enough for undemanding tasks. Not at all. And not all users will feel these minor delays. Although for those who want to play during breaks, this is obviously not the solution they are looking for, there is no question of comfortable gaming even at low graphics settings.

The company supplements the pre-installed Windows 10 with a set of Booking, Netflix, LinkedIn and other applications, including an antivirus, the operation of which can slow down the computer’s response speed. Among other things, there is a proprietary Acer Care Center utility, which will minimally help with maintenance and support.

4G LTE

Have you ever had a situation when, while on a trip or business trip, you urgently needed to send an important letter by email, but there was no Internet connection? Acer decided to save users from such problems by adding a nano-SIM slot, so now Swift 7 can have full 4G LTE Internet. Even if you don't have a nano-SIM card, you can use the built-in eSIM technology to get service through the software.

Battery life

Due to the Swift 7's record-breaking thickness, we didn't expect it to have outstanding battery life, especially given the capacity of the dual-cell lithium-ion battery, which is 23% smaller than standard laptop batteries. The system lasted 9 hours and 4 minutes on our endurance test, which consists of non-stop web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness.

The Acer laptop beat the premium segment average of 8:40, as did the HP Specter 13's 5:15. But Huawei MateBook X Pro, like LG Gram, lasted longer in the test, with battery life of 9:54 and 10:44, respectively. The Dell XPS 13 managed 12:36 with a Core i5 processor and 8:53 with a 4K display and a Core i7 processor.

Webcam

The 720p webcam integrated into the Swift 7 can hardly be called a “selfie camera”, since it sorely lacks a vertical rotation angle even in comparison with other “low-fat” devices like the Dell XPS 13. When the laptop is in a normal position, the Swift camera does not even capture your face , but rather the torso, cutting off everything above. However, its angle can be called ideal if, for example, you use a laptop while lying down.

As for the quality of the photos, all colors are in place. In the test image, the blue tint of the painted wall and the various wood gradients of the furniture were captured without distortion. However, there is visual noise in the picture that hides some fine details.

Software and Warranty

Acer comes pre-installed with the usual set of proprietary applications, including Care Center, which allows you to diagnose the system and create backups. You also get Quick Access with Bluelight Shield, which reduces blue light to protect your eyes, and Color Intelligence, which automatically optimizes image quality based on content.

Thanks to Windows 10, there is a set of standard programs on board, such as Drawboard PDF, Candy Crush Soda Saga, Bubble Witch 3 Saga, Hidden City: Hidden Object Adventure and Dolby Access, which can improve the sound quality of the headphones.

Bottom line

In the battle for supremacy among the thinnest laptops, Acer has clearly made it to the top. Swift 7 offers a stunning touchscreen, easy typing, and over 9 hours of battery life in a stunningly thin design that's beautiful to look at and hold. However, for $1,699, we wish Acer had offered a little more performance, since the ultra-low-power Intel Core i7-7Y75 processor is no longer as fast as the latest 8th-gen Kaby Lake processors.

For $1,499, you can get the Huawei MateBook X Pro, which boasts more processing power, a brighter display, and longer battery life. However, it will be heavier and 42% thicker than Acer's technology bundle. Either way, people looking for the world's thinnest laptop should definitely consider the Acer Swift 7.

Rating: 4 out of 5

What's inside Acer Swift 7

The 2020 model has the latest installed: an eighth-generation Intel Core i7 processor, 16 GB of fast DDR4 RAM and an SSD connected via the PCI Express interface.

This solution increases the data transfer speed significantly compared to the already outdated SATA.

The Acer Swift 7 handles all office tasks and applications quickly. It wakes up from sleep mode within 1-2 seconds. Videos from the network play without lags or slowdowns.

The touchpad on this laptop has a rectangular shape. Unfortunately, when typing, your thumbs may accidentally touch the touch surface.

To avoid false touches, I learned to keep my fingers suspended while my hands rested on the body of the Swift 7. Quite comfortable.

Inside the Acer Swift 7 there is a 2770 mAh battery. The official battery life is more than 11 hours.

According to personal observations, if you work with documents, texts and periodically go online, the laptop will reliably work for 8-9 hours in offline mode.

Video drains Acer Swift 7 faster. After six hours you will need to charge it. And yet, such autonomy indicators allow you to confidently use the laptop all day long without being tied to an outlet.

Find the laptop in the photo.

During operation, the laptop is absolutely silent thanks to the passive cooling system .

Only once during the week of testing I heard the quiet noise of one fan, which turns on under heavy loads and removes heat through a small grille at the bottom of the case.

In general, the Acer Swift 7 does not heat up at all when working with office applications, photo editors and the Internet. And if you need to edit a video and the video editor starts to load the processor, then the case effectively dissipates heat.