Acer’s Latest Laptops Have Wi-Fi 6 and Thunderbolt 4

Acer’s Latest Laptops Have Wi-Fi 6 and Thunderbolt 4

As with the launch of every new CPU line, new laptops appear to put that processing power into action with Acer’s new Swift 5 being the first system to use Intel’s Evo platform design.

Building upon Intel’s Project Athena initiative, Intel Evo laptops are designed to deliver the typical Athena promises like responsive performance, instant wake times, and bright displays. But they also use Intel Xe graphics, with Intel verifying the specs on each system before giving each laptop its seal of approval.

So in addition to your choice of 11th-gen Intel Core i5 or Core i7 CPUs, Acer’s Swift 5 (which starts at $US1,000 ($1,365)) also includes a 14-inch full HD display with thin bezels and a max brightness a 340 nits, fast charge support, and up to 17 hours of battery life — all in a thin magnesium chassis that weighs just 1 kg.

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Also despite its sleek dimensions, the Swift 5 boasts a Thunderbolt 4 port along with the two Type-A USB 3 ports, HDMI, and a headphone jack. On top of that, as a nod to the ongoing pandemic, Acer says the Swift 5 even has an antimicrobial coating on its touchpad, keyboard, and primary surfaces. That said, even with the coating, there’s no guarantee that the Swift 5 will actually help prevent the spread of covid-19. It’s antimicrobial, not magic.

Alternatively, if you want something a bit smaller and even less expensive, Acer is announcing two versions of the Swift 3, which are also slated to be part of Intel’s Evo platform pending official verification. Both systems will support up to 16GB of RAM and come with aluminium bodies, Intel Iris Xe graphics, Wi Fi 6, and Thunderbolt 4, with main difference between the two models being their screens.

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Sporting a 14-inch full HD display, the Swift 3 SF314-59 is just a tiny bit larger and heavier than its sibling, while also featuring a lower starting price of $US700 ($955). Meanwhile, the Swift 3 SF313-53 offers a brighter and higher-res 3:2 2256 x 1504 screen that puts out 400 nits of brightness and covers 100 per cent of the sRGB spectrum and a price tag that starts at $US800 ($1,092).

So while the new Swift’s aren’t exactly the flashiest new laptops on the block, they look like good choices for anyone who needs a new computer for working or studying from home. All three new Swift laptops are expected to go on sale sometime in November.

Editor’s Note: Stay tuned for Australian pricing and availability closer to the release date.