In brief: Acer announced its lightest notebook to date at CES 2019. The Swift 7 is less than a half-inch thick and weighs in under 2 pounds. This thing is a feather compared to other 14-inch notebooks.
Along with the Chromebook 315 that we reported on yesterday, Acer unveiled the 2019 Swift 7. It's an ultralight notebook computer looking to compete with the likes of Apple's MacBook Air and Asus' ZenBook.
When the Swift first launched back in 2016, it measured only 12mm in thickness and weighed 3.64 pounds with a 13.3-inch display. Now into its fourth generation, the Swift 7 is thinner and lighter than ever.
Thanks to its super-thin bezels the 2019 iteration sports a 14-inch Gorilla Glass 6 touch display. Closed the notebook only measures 10mm and weight has been reduced with a magnesium-alloy chassis bringing the portable to under 2 pounds (890g) in its lightest configuration. This makes it by far the thinnest and lightest 14-inch notebook I've ever seen.
"The Acer Swift 7 strikes a balance between art and technology, and in doing so pushes ultra-portable PC design to new territories," said Acer's General Manager of Consumer Notebooks Jerry Hou. "With a striking screen-to-body ratio of an incredible 92 percent, Acer customers can stay more productive with a compact, thinner and lighter notebook that feels 'barely there' while carrying it around through the day and during business travel."
The 92-percent screen-to-body ratio doesn't beat out this year's Asus ZenBook S13's 97 percent, but it's still pretty impressive. It is also one-tenth inch thinner and four-tenths of a pound lighter than the ZenBook.
Under the hood, the Swift 7 is driven by an Intel Core i7-8500Y and up to 16GB LPDDR3 RAM. While the dual-core Y-series Intel procs don't sport the power of the quad-core U-series, using the weaker processor allowed Acer to ditch the fans. The Swift 7 can run for 10 hours under typical usage conditions.
For storage, Acer went with a fast PCIe SSD configured up to 512GB. Connectivity options include two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports, one USB 3.1 Gen 2, a 3.5mm headphone/speaker jack, DisplayPort 1.2, Bluetooth, and WiFi 5 with 2x2 MU-MIMO technology enabling gigabit speeds.
The Swift 7 is a bit pricey starting at $1,700. The notebook launches in North America in May and everywhere else in April,
Acer notes, "Exact specifications, prices, and availability will vary by region." So check the website for specifics on your region.