Acer Swift7

Can this ultra-thin Ultrabook teach its arch-rivals a thing or two?

Since the arrival of the 12-inch MacBook, Apple’s rivals have responded with enough super thin laptops to practically create a new subcategory. It’s one that we like to call ultra-thin, ultra-luxurious Ultrabooks, and the Acer Swift 7 aims to bring that experience to more people.

Acer largely nails the attempt, with a gorgeous 13-inch device in black and gold aluminium that’s not much thicker than an iPad with a sharp, colourful screen and extra USB-C port. But, corners cut in battery life and other niceties stand to hold the Swift 7 back from dominating any “best-of” lists.

Price and availability

There is only one version of the Swift 7 that’s available right now online through Amazon and other retailers for £999.99 ($1,099). That premium nets you one of the latest Kaby Lake Intel Core i5 processors paired with 8GB of memory, a 256GB SSD and a 13.3-inch, 1920 x 1080 Full HD IPS display.

In some ways, what you’re getting here is worth the cost, what with the Swift being an absolutely gorgeous device. In others, like the omission of keyboard back lighting and less-than-stellar battery life, it’s a less attractive proposition.

Design

The Acer Swift 7 embodies the idea of ‘sleekness’. Its black, anodised aluminium screen lid could almost disappear on a coffee table.

Measuring just 10mm thick when closed, the Swift 7 manages to be thinner than the MacBook by 3.1mm and the ultra-thin HP Spectre by 3.9mm. It is, however, heavier than the MacBook at 1.13kg.