Acer Announces New Aspire, Swift Laptops

Acer introduced new members of the Aspire and Swift laptop series during its announcement-filledevent in New York.

We’ll start with the Aspire laptops. Acer divided the products into three categories in a press release: the “family-and-student focused” Aspire 1 and Aspire 3, the “practical and mainstream” Aspire 5, and the “top-of-the-line” Aspire 7. It’s not hard to figure out how the company decided on those categories. The Aspire 1 is restricted to Intel Celeron or Pentium processors and integrated graphics, the Aspire 3 adds Intel Core processors but is still limited to integrated graphics, the Aspire 5 ditches non-Core processors and adds “the latest Nvidia GeForce graphics,” and the Aspire 7 is equipped with an Intel Core processor and “up to” a GTX 1060 for the graphics department. Of those, only the Aspire 5 and Aspire 7 are likely to handle even moderately graphics-intensive games without noticeable problems, or simply offer a decent amount of power while you’re on the go.

A similar trend can be found with the laptops’ memory and storage. The Aspire 1 offers 4GB of DDR3L memory and up to 64GB eMMC storage; the Aspire 7 boasts up to 32GB of DDR4-2400 memory and up to a 512GB M.2 SSD and 2TB HDD. (The Aspire 3 and Aspire 5 reside in between those extremes.) It’s clear that most of these don’t offer a whole lot of power.

But the new Aspire products aren’t supposed to be powerhouses–they’re supposed to offer acceptable performance on a budget. That’s why the Aspire 1 starts at $219, the Aspire 3 at $299, the Aspire 5 at $449, and the Aspire 7 at $799. The company didn’t share details about various configuration options, so we don’t know how much it will cost to bump up the processor or expand the storage, but it did say the entire Aspire lineup will make its North American debut in June. We expect to learn more about these new laptops as we get closer to that release window.

The new Swift 1 and Swift 3 tell a similar story. The former is limited to Intel Celeron or Pentium processors and integrated graphics. The latter boasts an Intel Core processor and, in a twist, either integrated graphics or “Nvidia GeForce” graphics. What exactly that means is unknown; Acer didn’t offer much information about the Swift’s configuration options. They still manage to differentiate themselves from the Aspire series with Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS displays even on the base models, thin-and-light chassis, and a variety of color options (“Pure Silver, Luxury Gold, and Sakura Pink”).

Acer said a Swift 3 Special Edition will also be available. This model is defined by “a top cover with Vibrant Corning Gorilla Glass, providing the unique flexibility to customize the top cover with photorealistic images that are highly durable and damage-resistant.” It appears to be otherwise identical to the 14″ Swift 3.

The Swift 1 starts at $329 and the Swift 3 starts at $599. Both will be released in North America in June.

Model Acer Aspire 1 Acer Aspire 3 Acer Aspire 5 Acer Aspire 7 Acer Swift 1 Acer Swift 3 Acer Swift 3 Special Edition
Display 14″ 1366 x 768 14″ 1366 x 768

15″ 1366 x 768

15″ 1920 x 1080

15″ 1366 x 768

15″ 1920 x 1080

15″ 1920 x 1080

17″ 1920 x 1080

13.3″ 1920 x 1080 IPS 14″ 1920 x 1080 IPS

15.6″: 1920 x 1080 IPS

14″ 1920 x 1080 IPS
Processor Intel Pentium

Intel Celeron

7th Gen Intel Core i3 or i5

Intel Pentium

Intel Celeron

AMD A-Series

7th Gen Intel Core i3, i5, or i7

7th Gen AMD FX/A12

7th Gen Intel Core i5 or i7 Intel Pentium N4200

Intel Celeron N3350 / N3450

Intel Core i3-7100U

Intel Core i5-7200U

Intel Core i7-7500U

Intel Core i3-7100U

Intel Core i5-7200U

Intel Core i7-7500U

Memory 4GB DDR3L Up to 12GB DDR4-2400

4GB DDR3L On-board

Up to 20GB DDR4-2400 Up to 32GB DDR4-2400 4GB DDR3L 4 / 8GB DDR4 on-board

4 / 8GB LPDDR3 on-board

4 / 8GB DDR4 on-board

4 / 8GB LPDDR3 on-board

Graphics Intel HD Graphics Intel HD Graphics

AMD Radeon Graphics

Latest Nvidia GeForce Graphics

Nvidia GeForce 940MX

Intel HD Graphics

AMD Radeon RX540

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB GDDR5 Intel HD Graphics Intel HD Graphics

Nvidia GeForce Graphics

Intel HD Graphics

Nvidia GeForce Graphics

Storage eMMC: 32 / 64Gb HDD: 500GB / 1TB / 2TB

M.2 SSD: 128 / 256GB

eMMC: 32 / 64GB

HDD: 500GB / 1TB / 2TB

M.2 SSD: 128 / 256GB

HDD: 500GB / 1TB / 2TB

M.2 SSD: 128 / 256 / 512GB

SSD: 128 / 256GB SATA 6Gbps

eMMC: 64GB

SSD: 128 / 256 / 512GB SATA 6Gbps

HDD:
500GB / 1TB / 2TB

SSD: 128 / 256 / 512GB SATA 6Gbps
Battery Up to 9 hours 14″: Up to 7 hours

15″: Up to 6.5 hours

Up to 7 hours 15″: Up to 7 hours

17″: Up to 6 hours

Up to 10 hours Up to 10 hours Up to 10 hours
Dimensions (WxDxH) 343 x 245 x 17.95mm 14″: 343 x 245 x 20.15mm

15″: 381.6 x 259 x 21.6mm

381.6 x 263 x 21.6mm 15″: 381.6 x 263 x 23.95mm

17″: 423.32 x 289.91 x 28.25mm

319.5 x 225 x 14.95mm 14″: 338 x 234 x 17.95mm

15.6″: 384 x 255 x 18.95mm

14″: 338 x 234 x 17.95mm
Weight 1.65kg 14″: 1.8kg

15″: 2.1kg

2.2kg 15″: 2.4kg

17″: 3kg

1.3kg 14″: 1.8kg

15.6″: 2.2kg

1.8kg
Price Starts at $219 Starts at $299 Starts at $449 Starts at $799 Starts at $329 Starts at $599 ?

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