Acer Swift 1 tested: And the battery lasts and lasts and lasts

Don't worry, even if the Swift 1 isn't a performance monster, its energy-saving chipset offers enough power to surf the internet, write emails and use office applications and simple games.

NotebooksAvailability unknown

Acer Swift 1 – SF114-32-P3H1

14", Intel Pentium N5000, 8 GB, 512 GB, DE

1

NotebooksAvailability unknown

Acer Swift 1 – SF114-32-P3H1

14", Intel Pentium N5000, 8 GB, 512 GB, DE

1

The technical data at a glance:

• Chip set: Intel Pentium Silver N5000
• Graphics chip: Intel UHD Graphics 605
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Storage: 512 GB SDD
• Display: 14-inch full HD display (IPS, anti-glare)
• Battery: Lithium-ion, 54 Wh
• Keyboard with backlight
• Windows 10 Home

Flat aluminium housing and many USB ports

The Acer Swift 1's flawlessly crafted aluminium casing is elegant and sleek. When folded, the notebook is just 1.49 centimetres thick and weighs 1.4 kilograms without the charger. This makes it neither the thinnest nor the lightest notebook, but with these values it is still ideal for carrying around in a rucksack or laptop bag every day.

Despite the thin design, you can expect many connections. There is an SD card slot, a 3.5 mm audio connection and a USB 2.0 connection on the right-hand side. This is slower for data transfer than the two USB 3.0 ports - recognisable by the blue components inside - and the USB-C port on the left-hand side. There is also an HDMI port for connecting external screens.

Full HD display

With its display size of 14 inches, the Acer Swift 1 is a very average notebook. However, this is not a disadvantage, but a good compromise between the largest possible screen and a small chassis. Sure, the edges could be even narrower, but then you would have to pay more. Only the bottom edge is quite wide, but without it, the keyboard and touchpad would shrink even further.

The Full HD resolution with 1920×1080 pixels ensures a sharp image. The anti-glare IPS display contributes its article to good recognisability. The colours look natural and are pleasing to the eye.

Keyboard and touchpad

You can type very comfortably on the Acer Swift 1. I find the palm rest pleasantly large. The individual keys on the backlit keyboard have a short stroke and clear, crisp pressure points. However, there was not enough space for a number pad. Instead, there is a fingerprint sensor that can be used to unlock the laptop quickly and reliably.

The touchpad is large enough to move the cursor across the entire screen without lifting your finger. The finger or fingers - after all, there are control gestures with several fingers - glide unhindered over the touchpad, which has clear pressure points in the lower area.

Stereosound

Two speakers on the underside of the Swift 1 provide stereo sound. This is decent for a notebook, but the expectations of the mini speakers in the flat laptops are not particularly high. The laptop does not need a fan and could therefore also be placed on soft surfaces - cushions, sofa, duvet - but then the speakers are covered and you won't hear anything, or only very muffled sound.

The battery lasts forever

At 54 Wh, the Swift 1's lithium-ion battery offers slightly more power than the Acer Aspire 5 and, thanks to its energy-saving chipset, puts its battery life of six hours in the shade. Acer promises up to 17 hours on the Swift 1. I ran YouTube videos in a continuous loop under less than ideal conditions - all power-saving options switched off and the screen brightness set to 100 per cent. I had to interrupt the test after an eight-hour working day when the computer told me that it could run for another four hours. When I switched it back on the next morning, I was able to watch videos for another three hours. In total, this gives me a battery life of 11 hours - with around 15 hours in sleep mode in between.

You can extend the battery life even further by adjusting the settings. Whether up to the promised 17 hours, I don't know. But even so, the battery life is impressively long and a big argument in favour of the Swift 1. Only a few notebooks can keep up.

Performance

Intel designed the Pentium Silver N5000, which Acer uses in the Swift 1, around two years ago with the aim of minimising power consumption. The battery test shows that this has been achieved. On the other hand, you can't expect top performance values, but the notebook, which has eight gigabytes of RAM, has enough power for most everyday applications. A browser with several open tabs, the email programme, Spotify and Dropbox, for example, are no problem when used simultaneously. With large Excel files, on the other hand, it can get choppy and you shouldn't want to play more than "casual games". No matter what you demand of the Swift 1, the notebook remains quiet. The Pentium Silver N5000 is passively cooled and works without a fan.

A few numbers for comparison: In the CPU test of Geekbench 5, the Swift 1 scores 450 points in single-core mode and 1371 points in multi-core mode. This means it only achieves about half as many points as the current Core i5 in the Acer Aspire 5. In Cinebench R20, the Swift 1 achieves a meagre 462 points. The graphics tests OpenCL and Vulkan in Geekbench 5 were completed by the Swift 1 with 1821 and 1325 points respectively.

Conclusion: Marathon instead of sprint

The Acer Swift 1 is more of a marathon runner than a 100-metre sprinter. It doesn't blast out its power in a short space of time and then can't do any more, but rather organises its power in such a way that it lasts as long as possible. The battery life is the biggest argument for buying the notebook. Acer has done a solid job with the workmanship, display, connections, keyboard and touchpad. There is nothing to criticise, but also nothing to highlight. Sure, the hardware is weak, but sufficient for many things. After all, a long-distance runner is faster than a pedestrian. Writing texts and surfing the web are no problem. For games or editing large files - whether graphics, Excel spreadsheets or videos - you should get a different notebook.