Verdict
Performance compromise may be obvious when you use the Acer Swift 1 , but for the right vendee they are outweighed by all the other things Acer sustain ripe .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Everyone likes a sound deal . The Acer Swift 1 is designed to give you that delicious gumption you got a sweet-flavored batch with your latest laptop .
It is , at least on the outside , exactly what many people want – a legit affordable alternative to aMacBook Air . The Acer Swift 1 is light and portable , has ( part ) aluminum body panels and a full HD informatics screen .
Acer has ply the essentials of the ultrabook experience for less than half the damage of its “ real ” ultrabook rivals . There ’s one all important missing component , something that would make the Swift 1 a bad fit for my own laptop demand . It is not a powerful laptop , not powerful at all .
It ’s nasty for play , even one-time titles . And while basics like web browse feel okay , you do have to put up with relatively slow app onus . You should only grease one’s palms this laptop for light jobs .
Design
The Acer Swift 1 looks a lot like the previous model we look back in2019 , bearing the same name . surely enough , the carapace has n’t really changed , but did it necessitate to ?
This is a spare but reasonably tasteful laptop that forefend the thick and stodgy show cheap and practical mannikin often have . It feels better than most too . The lid and underside are aluminium . When you pick it up you get that “ cool to the signature ” finger on whirl with MacBooks and ultrabooks .
The Acer Swift 1 press 1.3 kilo , like with that of legit style laptops , and it ’s 15 millimeter at its thickest point grant to my taping measure .
Its internal keyboard plate is plastic . This is n’t an all - aluminum laptop like some old budget Acer model . However , it ’s a good - looking laptop considering its down in the mouth cost .
Inputs matter in a laptop computer . Acer gets 50 % of it right here . The Acer Swift 1 ’s keyboard is perfectly solid , a chiclet design just like one you might find in a slim and wanton laptop computer that be twice as much .
Action is a mite shallow , but nothing out of the average . It ’s a well-heeled keyboard to typecast away on for long stretch .
The Acer Swift 1 even has a keyboard backlight , which feel like a major achievement when you ’d imagine there ’s very little wriggle room in this laptop ’s budget .
I ’m less persuaded that the Swift 1 really postulate the fingermark scanner launch pad just below the keyboard . But , hey , this ca n’t have added too much to the cost .
The Acer Swift 1 ’s touchpad is one of its weakly elements . I do n’t ask anything other than the glass - impersonate plastic surface used here – you always have to pay significantly more to get a laptop computer with a textured field glass touchpad . However , the clicker feel is a piffling mossy and labored , and ends up feel a bit dull and awkward to use . It ask to be crisper , and theMicrosoft Surface Laptop Go 2 ’s pad is in a wholly different league .
Screen
The Acer Swift 1 does not have a topnotch - advanced cover , but I think it ’s the good we could hope for at the price and is truly pleasant to attend at while cultivate indoors .
This is an IPS - style display , avoiding the nasty - looking dividing line shift of TN panels , which are still used in a salutary turn of chintzy laptop . There ’s no obviousscreen threshold effectwhere you’re able to see the inherent pixel complex body part either , for the most part because the 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution is eminent enough to appear sharp at the Swift 1 ’s 14 - in size of it .
I could happily mold out all day , every mean solar day on this thing . However , its colour is quite fallible . It covers just 61 % of the sRGB colour gamut , low enough to make undersaturation very evident . Colour does n’t look poor or unnatural as such , but the Swift 1 ’s unfitness to render those topnotch - mystifying reds means images look a number too relaxed , a minuscule first gear on energy .
I ’m someone who tend to dislike an overwatered appearance more than a slightly undersaturated one , though , and the Swift 1 ’s good screen dividing line retains a certain punch and solidness .
This is a mat silver screen , ideal for scattering reflections . However , peak brightness of 293 nit is a little low for outdoors use . You ’ll just about get by when writing documents , thanks to the gamey contrast of what ’s on - screen , but it will appear vague . Still , that brightness spirit level is still markedly better than some other budget laptops I ’ve tried , where the limit can be closer to 250 nits .
Performance
A want of in the raw power is the number one reason not to buy the Acer Swift 1 . My review model has an Intel N6000 central processing unit , 4 GB RAM and 128 GB warehousing .
This setup is significantly less potent than a laptop computer with a recent - gun Intel Core i3 central processor or Ryzen CPU , which I typically consider a sensitive baseline for an all - purpose PC . I would not recommend the Acer Swift 1 for anything beyond the basics . You ’ll want more RAM and CPU business leader for video or image editing , for jumbo spreadsheets or any kind of taxing play .
It can handle document writing , video streaming and entanglement browsing just o.k. . However , even then you have to be willing to put up with a slightly sluggish tone .
Apps take importantly longer to load than they would in a laptop with , for model , an Intel Core i5 central processing unit and 8 GB RAM . And there will be laggy moment in good deal of apps , or when jumping between apps .
It ’s the app loading multiplication that have bugged me the most . However , a band of this is not just down to using a unaccented processor , it ’s that 4 GB RAM , which is barely enough to make Windows 11 run tolerably . The 128 GB storage is perfectly rattling , though – with read fastness of up to 1545MB / s , it ’s many times faster than a bad old mechanical hard driving force .
Gaming performance is awful , perhaps well show by the Swift 1 ’s 3-D Mark Time Spy benchmark mark . It pull off 274 points , where a “ normal ” 12th Gen Intel Core i5 might make 1500 - 1600 .
This performance issue is the one you should spend some metre cogitate about but it ’s not as if other laptops this price do n’t have similar problems . Even budget Chromebooks often feel a little slow at this Mary Leontyne Price .
However , it would be enough to make me debate either saving up a small more hard currency , or even buying second deal . My needs may be unlike to yours , though – I spend an awful lot of time using my laptop .
Battery life
As you may probably tell from the reassessment score here , other element “ tilt ” you towards liking the Acer Swift 1 . It has far better battery life than your basic “ normal ” budget laptop computer . Using PC Mark ’s Modern Office benchmark , it lasts 10 60 minutes 34 mo off a charge , enough to rent you get through an entire day of body of work , just as you might with a MacBook Air .
The Swift 3 uses a slight cylindrical socket to charge , but this does mean none of the USBs are taken up by the adapter when plugged in .
These connecter are a undivided 5GbpsUSB - C , two USB - A port with 5Gbps bandwidth and a full - sizing HDMI , for easy connection to a TV or monitor . There ’s also a earphone jack . While the Acer Swift 1 lacks any really fast data connectors , I ’d fence they ’d be misplace in a laptop computer like this anyway .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
The Acer Swift 1 count and feel full , does n’t cost too much , and has a few innovation jot typically associate with much more expensive laptop computer .
A combo of an Intel Pentium C.P.U. and 4 GB RAM intend the Acer Swift 1 has truly entry - storey performance , with a notably slower find even when run simple apps .
Final Thoughts
Designing a budget laptop is a equilibrize act . The Acer Swift 1 ’s precedency are tilt quite significantly towards pattern and the parts you discover on the outside , like display timbre .
What gets sacrificed ? Performance . You should n’t buy a Swift 1 expecting to play cabinet - way game , do anything too assess , or be able to do the basics without a teentsy chip of lag .
However , it ’s hard not to like the Acer Swift 1 despite all that because many of the ways it caricature an ultrabook have real inwardness to them . An IPS - mode covert alternatively of a methamphetamine hydrochloride TN one ? Love it . Backlit keyboard ? majuscule . Portable - friendly casing and true all - day electric battery life for admin task ? Lovely stuff , and it paints a coherent picture of a utile , lovable laptop for someone with at least an ounce of patience .
Trusted Score
How we test
Every laptop we critique goes through a series of uniform impediment design to approximate key thing including build quality , carrying into action , screen timbre and battery life .
These include formal synthetical benchmarks and written trial run , plus a series of real world hitch .
FAQs
alas , the Swift 1 does n’t have the power to be remotely useful for all but the least demanding games .
This is a non - touch laptop , and uses a practical flatness plastic outer polish or else .
While the Swift 1 has a USB - C port , it is not aThunderboltport but a much slow standard USB one .
