Acer Begins Selling 9.98-mm Swift 7 Kaby Lake Laptop in the U.S.: Starts at $1100
by Anton Shilov on October 19, 2016 3:30 PM EST
This week Acer has started to sell its first Swift 7 notebook in the U.S. The black and gold Swift 7 laptop is based on Intel’s Kaby Lake-Y-series CPU, and with an FHD display is the industry’s first clamshell PC that is thinner than one centimeter. The system is available now for $1099 from a number of retailers.
The Acer Swift 7 (SF713-51-M90J) comes in a black and gold aluminum unibody to emphasize that the device is one of the premium products in the manufacturer’s lineup. The thickness of the laptop with a 13.3” FHD display covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 is 9.98 mm (0.39”), which is thinner than Apple’s MacBook as well as Dell’s Adamo XPS, both of which are renowned for their thin form factors. As for mass, the device weighs 1.12 kilograms (2.48 lbs), which is a tad heavier than the MacBook.
Inside the Acer Swift 7 ultra-thin notebook there is an Intel Core i5-7Y54 processor (2C/4T, 1.2GHz/3.2GHz frequency, HD Graphics 615, 4.5 W), 8 GB of LPDDR3 RAM as well as a 256 GB SSD (the manufacturer does not specify whether it is an AHCI or NVMe). The laptop uses an 802.11ac Wi-Fi + BT 4.0 wireless adapter to communicate with the outside world wirelessly. The laptop also has a 720p webcam and two 5 Gbps USB 3.1 Type-C ports to connect peripherals, a display as well as for charging. Moving on to audio sub-system, we see a TRRS connector for headsets as well as two stereo speakers that are Dolby Audio certified.
| Acer Swift 7 | |||
| SF713-51-M90J | |||
| CPU | SKU | Core i5-7Y54 | |
| Base | 1.2 GHz | ||
| Turbo | 3.2 GHz | ||
| TDP | 4.5 W | ||
| GPU | SKU | Intel HD Graphics 615 (GT2) 24 EUs, Gen 9 |
|
| Base | 300 MHz | ||
| Turbo | 950 MHz | ||
| DRAM | 8 GB LPDDR3 | ||
| SSD | 256 GB | ||
| Display | 13.3-inch 1920x1080 IPS LCD | ||
| Ports | 2 x USB 3.1 (Gen 1) Type-C 3.5mm combo jack |
||
| Network | 2x2:2 802.11ac with BT 4.0 | ||
| Battery | 2770 mAh (52.9 Wh?) | ||
| Dimensions | H: 0.39" W: 12.78" D: 9.04" |
H: 9.98 mm W: 32.46 cm D: 22.96 cm |
|
| Weight | 2.48 lbs (1.12 kg) | ||
| Colors | Gold and Black | ||
| Price | $1099.99 | ||
Since the Swift 7 is powered by Intel’s Kaby Lake, expect significantly improved video encoding/decoding capabilities, better GPU performance, as well as Speed Shift v2 technology. This should make the new machine to be generally faster and snapper than ultra-thin notebooks based on previous-gen CPUs.
When it comes to battery life, Acer claims that the Swift 7 (SF713-51-M90J) has a 4-cell Li-Ion battery with 2770 mAh of capacity, which enables it to work for up to nine hours on one charge. Do note however that Acer does not specify conditions or workloads for that number.
The Acer Swift 7 (SF713-51-M90J) notebook is available directly from Acer as well as from leading retailers (Amazon, Newegg, etc.) for $1099.99. It comes with a one-year warranty. Finally, keep in mind that Acer plans to release a family of Swift 7 notebooks, as it revealed at IFA. So expect to see further models of the Swift 7, including a more affordable version based on Intel’s Core i3 at $1000, as well as a more advanced system featuring Intel’s Core i7-7Y75 and a higher price.
Source: Acer
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BrokenCrayons - Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - link
The all-glossy laptop fad was stupid, but this idiotic fixation with making a laptop thin at the cost of compromising everything else about the design is doing a great job at keeping me uninterested in buying a new laptop. Well, Windows 10 and Secure Boot being a pain (while also being not at all secure...iterations of it have been demonstrated as broken at DEFCON more than once making Secure Boot pretty pointless except as a barrier to installing a non-Windows OS) help too, but I could tolerate the keylogging and data mining by setting up outbound firewall rules. Actually, it's sort of sad that I feel like I need to keep malware and network intrusions out AND now feel compelled to keep my own OS from selling me out to corporate advertising machines, but that's another story. Still thin laptops...no thanks. I'll stick with my netbook and crappy Gateway with its T2310 Core2Duo.Lolimaster - Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - link
For home use glossy is fantastic. With matte or semi matte the screen looks weird and the colors kind of washed out and plain.forgot2yield28 - Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - link
The thin-and-lights are the flagship offerings. Do you need a powerhouse and don't care about the size? Or are you just looking for a cheaper laptop because you don't want pay for thinness that has no particular value to you? Either way, the market hasn't abandoned those segments. Nobody is holding a gun to your head and saying "we sell laptops to address many market segments but you must buy this ultrabook or die." To folks who travel a lot or place value on design aesthetic, flagship light and thin ultrabooks have value. The success of these has proven that to be the case. To those of us who need something else...buy something else. How is that a problem?Shadowmaster625 - Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - link
All sorts of stores have the skylake version on sale for $600. Exactly what are you getting here that justifies almost double the price?Valantar - Thursday, October 20, 2016 - link
That the Skylake version is on sale to clear out stock and won't be around much longer? Other than that, higher boost clocks, speed boost 2.0, video encode/decode (HEVC and VP9 in fixed-function hardware). Not worth $500 alone, but then comparing to a clearance sale price sets price expectations at the wrong level.blacktaxi2d - Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - link
"1920x180 IPS LCD"touchpad better have good scrolling
Valantar - Thursday, October 20, 2016 - link
Is that one of those three-line LCD panels I see in information kiosks, and on public transportation? Didn't think those were IPS, though.andrewaggb - Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - link
Looks pretty nice to me. I'm actually fine with the thin + small battery, I'm sure for many people that is enough. So long as the keyboard, touchpad, and screen are all good quality it could be great machine.I agree with others though that I wish they had the same model with a bit more thickness and 20+ hours battery as well though. Is that not a valid use case to want to work for 12+ hours without bringing a charger or having to turn off wifi, set the screen on dim, etc?
rxzlmn - Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - link
2770 mAh, I suppose it runs at a standard voltage around 19-20 V, then that's more than 50 Wh. That's not really a small battery for a low-power laptop.serendip - Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - link
A 5000 mAh battery would have enabled all day battery life at the expense of a slightly thicker case. Do people even care if the notebook is less than 1 cm thick?