38 PCWorld JANUARY 2021REVIEWS ACER SWIFT 5 (2020)
That’s not to say it’s any cheaper. With a
starting price of $1,000 (and $1,300 on
Amazon for our review unit), the Acer Swift 5
is very much a premium ultraportable PC. But
with no huge flaws and lots of upsides, it’s
well worth putting on your short list.SPECS AND FEATURES
The $1,300 Acer Swift 5 model (go.pcworld.
com/55ta) we tested (SF514-55TA-74EC) has
the following specifications:
CPU: 11th-gen Intel Core i7-1165G7 CPU
RAM: 16 GB of LPDDR4X RAM
Storage: 1 TB NVMe SSD storage
Display: 14-inch 1080p IPS touchscreen
Graphics: Iris Xe
Networking: Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1
Webcam resolution: 720p
Left side ports: DC-in power, HDMI 2.0,USB-A 3.2, USB-C Gen 2 with Thunderbolt 4
Right side ports: USB-A 3.2,
headphone jack, Kensington lock
Dimensions: 12.56 x 8.15 x 0.59 inches
Weight: 2.31 pounds
Acer also offers a $1,000 configuration
(go.pcworld.com/56ch) with an Intel Core
i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of RAM, and
512GB of storage.
Although you’ll still find lots of laptops
with 10th-generation Intel processors in late
2020, the Swift 5 is among the first with an
11th-generation chip. The main attraction is
vastly improved integrated Iris Xe graphics for
gaming. It also boasts Intel’s “Evo” branding
(go.pcworld.com/evob), which highlights
laptops that get nine hours of “real-world”
battery life at 1080p resolution and can
charge to four hours of usage in 30 minutes.
One caveat, though:
While the Swift 5 can draw
a charge over USB-C, you’ll
need to use Acer’s included
barrel charger to get the
best gaming performance.
Even with a 65W USB-C
charger, the Swift 5
delivered much slower
framerates for 3D graphics.
While we’re used to
proprietary chargers for
workhorse gaming laptops,
needing one for an
ultraportable is a bummer.The Acer Swift 5 (2020) includes HDMI output and a pair of USB-A ports
(one on each side).