Acer Swift 5: The world's lightest 15-inch laptop

It's coming to North America in January.

Ben Fox Rubin

Ben Fox Rubin was a senior reporter for CNET News in Manhattan, reporting on Amazon, e-commerce and mobile payments. He previously worked as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal and got his start at newspapers in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

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Tyler Lizenby

Tyler Lizenby is a portrait and documentary photographer based out of Scottsburg, Indiana. He spent six years working in all aspects of video production at the Louisville FOX affiliate, WDRB. He was a multimedia producer for the appliance division of CNET Reviews.

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Ben Fox Rubin

Tyler Lizenby

Aug. 29, 2018 4:13 a.m. PT

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The new Swift 5

Acer claims the Swift 5, first revealed in May, is the world's lightest 15-inch laptop.

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Midrange laptop

The Swift 5 is part of Acer's line of thin and light Swift laptops, with the Swift 7 offering the priciest and most premium features and the Swift 3 offering the most affordable specs. The Swift 5 fits right between those two.

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Pricing and availability

The new laptop will be available in North America in January, starting at $1,099. It reaches Europe, Middle East and Africa in November, starting at 1,099 euros. It'll also be available in China in November.

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Special materials to make a lighter design

The Swift 5's top and bottom covers are made of magnesium-lithium alloy to create a lighter design.

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Nearly bezel-free display

The Swift 5's Full HD 1920x1080 touchscreen includes bezels that measure 0.23 inches, giving it a 87.6 percent screen-to-body ratio.

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Acer's push into thin and light designs

Acer has been using its Swift line to offer thinner and lighter laptops, in hopes to differentiating itself against a crowded field of Windows-based devices and Apple.