The primary idea behind the invention of the laptop was a PC that you could take anywhere.

A portable machine capable of serving your needs while on the go or far from home. As a result, tech companies have consistently striven to reduce laptops’ weight and overall encumbrance.

This drive for size reduction led Acer to develop the Swift 7, a laptop that represents the very limits in weight reduction while maintaining a suitable degree of function.

The specifications

However, after using it for an extended period, it becomes crystal clear that this crusade for a lighter laptop has led the Swift 7 to compromise in many aspects of its design.

Not that you’d suspect this, given its specifications. Featuring a dual-core Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage, one would be inclined to think the Swift 7 is on par with any other laptop given its price, despite its extreme lightness.

Currently being sold for R30 000, the Swift 7 is not the cheapest laptop on the market, but you get what was promised.

Weighing only 890g and with a thickness of 9.95mm, the Swift 7 also boasts a respectable 14-Inch display with touchscreen capabilities.

A laptop that weighs less than a kilogram is undoubtedly an impressive feat, but it has drawbacks.

The Acer Swift 7 is an extremely thin laptop.

The drawbacks

Due to its compact size and thickness, the laptop, despite the assurances of Acer, feels fragile and too flexible in hand as well as liable to break.

Likewise, the Swift 7 does not use fan cooling; this succeeds in lowering weight but causes the laptop to become uncomfortably hot while in use.

When using the Swift 7, you’ll find its keyboard, camera, and touchscreen unsatisfactory.

The keyboard is squashed and finicky to accommodate its size and makes typing a chore of concentration.

The webcam, unable to be fitted into the incredible thin screen, has become a small pop-up module above the keyboard that, when in use, effectively films one’s fingers and chest but little in the way of facial features.

Finally, the touchscreen can best be described as sluggish, requiring several clicks to elicit a response.

The Acer Swift 7’s webcam is a pop-out module above its keyboard.

And this is while you’re able to use the laptop as the Swift 7 in constant use has a real-world battery capacity for only around 6 hours.

It also can only use its USB-C cable to charge, so you have to carry around its power brick, which defeats the purpose of having such a lightweight laptop, as even other USB-C cables don’t work.

With an uncomfortable keyboard, glitchy or ineffective functions, and a pedantic and cumbersome charger, the Swift 7 is hardly worth the price, even though it may be so thin.

The Swift 7 succeeded in being one of the thinnest laptops on the market. Sadly, this came at the cost of it being a good laptop.

Read: The best game in March you’ve probably never heard of