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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  • JoeyJoJo123 - Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - link

    >muh thinness

    I wish battery life had the supposed appeal that thinness has today.
  • Mr Perfect - Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - link

    What's especially irksome is this thinness is exactly what would enable larger batteries. If the internals of this laptop are this tiny, then throw them in a standard thickness case and fill the empty space with a massive battery.
  • Valantar - Thursday, October 20, 2016 - link

    ...and you'd have a six pound laptop with three-pound performance.

    Batteries are heavy (and not entirely cheap either). There's a reason why thin-and-lights/ultrabooks seem to have standardized around roughly 50Wh - with current hardware (and decent engineering) it's a decent compromise between longevity and mass. OTOH, I'd gladly have a 1,3kg laptop rather than a 1,1kg laptop if the only difference was 200g more battery.
  • Mr Perfect - Thursday, October 20, 2016 - link

    Well yes, you'd keep the weight reasonable. Pack in enough battery to get a real day long charge with actual use.
  • t.s - Thursday, October 20, 2016 - link

    6 pound? what battery has that kind of weight? Car battery? Hyperbole too much? at last 4.5lbs and you can put like > 120Wh battery in a laptop. For mobile user that not using their notebook for serious work (video editing, 3D rendering, android programming, etc..), 50Wh battery is enough. But for people that tasking much their computer, it's not enough.
  • heffeque - Thursday, October 20, 2016 - link

    Who said anything about 6 pounds? *confused*
  • trulyuncouth - Saturday, October 22, 2016 - link

    Valantar said exactly that in the comment he was replying to.
  • damianrobertjones - Thursday, October 20, 2016 - link

    I remember using an Elitebook, all those years back, that featured a large slice battery and extended standard battery... MAX of 32 hours battery life. I started a video, on loop, but stopped it after 17 hours had passed with more than 50% battery remaining.
  • andychow - Sunday, October 23, 2016 - link

    I agree with you 100%. My most important criteria for a phone? Battery life. My most important criteria for a laptop? No moving parts and battery life. If you're a mobile person, you don't know when you can recharge or not.
  • MaidoMaido - Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - link

    I wish fully functional quad core CPU had more appeal than thinness and battery life, but the reality is most laptop buyers don't use demanding applications and the dual core low voltage crap processors are well and good enough for writing papers, checking facebook, emails, Netflix, etc.

    In my case, I travel frequently, but there is always an AC outlet nearby, so I don't care about battery life, and as long as it is at least 15" display or smaller, under 1.5 inches thick it is portable enough for me. I do need decent quad core CPU for work stuff though, and dedicated graphics in the range of GTX 1060 would be nice.

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