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Acer Swift 7 Review - Slim And Capable

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Infinix
Late last year, Acer has introduced the Swift 7 for the Philippine market. It's a premium ultrabook w/ impressive ultra-slim design and the promise of great speedy performance and long battery life.
Acer Swift 7 Review - Slim And Capable
It's a super slim notebook!

The device is pegged to be the Windows alternative to Apple's Macbook Air line. Due to its slimness and good specs on paper, can this machine deliver? Will it be great enough for everyday work? Here's our quick review!

Disclaimer: This Swift 7 unit was borrowed from Acer Philippines to conduct this unparalleled review.

Acer Swift 7 Specs

Display: 13.3 Inch FHD IPS 1920 x 1080 resolution w/ Gorilla Glass protection at 166 ppi
CPU: 1.2 GHz Intel Core i5-7Y54 processor
GPU: Intel HD Graphics 615
RAM: 8 GB
ROM: 256 GB SSD
Camera: HD camera
Battery: Up to 9 hours battery life
OS: Windows 10 Home
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11ac, Bluetooth, 2x USB Type C
Others: Dolby audio, Colors: black and gold
Dimensions: 9.98 mm
Weight: 1,100 g
Price: PHP 64,999

Unboxing / Accessories

Accessories found inside
Accessories found inside

Like most laptops, the Swift 7 was presented in a big box carrying most of the things you'll need inside. It includes: basic charger, USB Type C to regular USB 3.0 dongle, USB Type C to HDMI, and paper documentations.

Build Quality / Design

Minimalist yet modern appeal

This is the part where Acer is very proud of. Why? The Swift 7 has an excellent construction all over. It is metal clad with proper chamfered edges and has a matte black finish. The keyboard is made out of good quality plastic, the hinge connecting the display and laptop body feels sturdy, and the screen has Gorilla Glass protection against scratches.
This is the slimmest full 13.3 inch laptop in PH market as of this writing!
It's paint matte black paint finish is just prone to hairline scratches, but that's our just our minor nitpick.
Loud speakers on both sides are located below
Loud speakers on both sides are located below
Kensington security lock at left
Kensington security lock at left
3.5 mm headphone jack and limited 2x USB Type C port at right
3.5 mm headphone jack and limited 2x USB Type C port at right

Looking at the design of this machine, the black exterior and inner gold colors paired with its very slim frame looks absolutely stunning yet minimalist and modern. The screen still doesn't have the near edge-to-edge type of "infinity" bezels though.

Anyway, we liked that this laptop has a good and easy to touch keyboard (for my girly hands) and wide accurate trackpad for comfortable touch too.

Display Quality

FHD screen w/ vivid colors
FHD screen w/ vivid colors

This laptop has a 13.3 inch 1920 x 1080 resolution with 166 pixels per inch sharpness. Color reproduction are crisp and vivid. Viewing angles are great. Brightness levels are quite good too. Sunlight legibility is fine, but it still better for indoor use.

However, the resolution of this device isn't as wide compared to Macbook Air's 1440 x 900 pixels. It doesn't have touch screen support like most Windows 10 powered laptops today.

Battery Life

The battery performance of the Swift 7 is great! Even if failed to reach the 9 hour promised battery life on paper, anything that nearly reached 8 hours of straight usage is great. It consist of regular work like blogging, browsing, and watching videos via headphones. For heavier use like video editing or playing games, we were able to record around 4 to 5 hours of battery life depending on how heavy your task is.

Charging time via USB Type C port is roughly around 2 hours.

Audio Quality

Checking its dual "stereo" speakers, the output is fine. It has a slightly bassy sound signature paired with clean vocals. Highs are a tad sharp, but the overall audio presentation is decent. Just don't expect it to be super detailed and its audio is enjoyable. Using its Dolby Audio software also enhances wideness of soundstage which is great for movie watching.

For headphones, audio reproduction is quite balanced w/ some hint of warmness. Bassy songs are enjoyable due to its ability to make deep tones (especially the sub-bass) audible. Mids are clean, though there are times where it missed some details and separation. Highs are okay too.

Microphone recording is decent enough for web calls. For recordings, using an external microphone is recommended.

Camera

Colors coming from its 720p webcam are close to accurate. However it is grainy in quality and washed on not-that-bright conditions. For lowlight, it is close to unusable.

Performance

The Swift 7 is loaded 1.2 GHz Intel Core i5-7Y54 (Kaby Lake) processor w/ Intel HD Graphics 615 GPU, 8 GB of RAM, and a speedy type 256 GB SSD storage. Storage capacity could also be bigger, but hey this is SSD not HDD, so speed more than capacity is a priority of this laptop.

So running casual task, browsing on up to 10 tabs, and most office related software is easy. Casual Photoshop w/ not so many layers, light video editing, and even casual games are also possible. Loading really heavy tasks all at the same time isn't just recommended, but the overall performance of this laptop is fine.

Heating is also decent. It is mostly cool running light task unless you render 3D games or videos for long number of hours.

The Windows 10 Home software is standard and doesn't have so many pre-installed bloatwares. There are also some important software like Quick Access, Care Center, and Recovery Management.

Pros - Stunning super slim design, 7th gen Intel CPU, decent casual performance, long battery life, lighweight
Cons - No touch screen, no backlight on keyboard keys, limited USB slots, dongle is life

Verdict

The Acer Swift 7 is undeniably ranks among the prettiest and most portable laptop that's available here in the country due to its slimness and lightweight design. Performance is also decent for most office works and casual multitasking. Running video editing tools, rendering, and casual 3D games are also possible. Battery life is great as well.

However, at PHP 64,999 it isn't the fastest laptop around. So if you don't need this type of slimness and sleek design, consider other options.

Build / Design - 4.5
Display - 3.5
Audio - 3.5
Battery - 4
Camera - 2
Performance - 3.75
Average - 3.54 / 5
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