Acer Swift 5 SF514-55: A compact and lightweight 14-inch laptop that packs Intel Tiger Lake processors, a dedicated GPU and a bountiful battery for US$999.99

Acer has announced the latest entry in the Swift 5 series, the SF514-55. The 14-inch laptop succeeds the Swift 5 SF514-54 that we reviewed earlier this year. While Acer has not made massive changes to the design of the Swift 5 SF514 series, the new model includes several noteworthy improvements over its predecessor.

Externally, Acer has reduced the size of the display's bottom bezel, which expands its screen-to-body ratio up to 90%. Acer continues to equip the Swift 5 with a 300 nit panel, but this is now a touchscreen and one that the company promises will cover 72% of the NTSC colour space. The display also features Antimicrobial Corning Gorilla Glass, which Acer claims should "reduce the growth of odor and stain-causing microorganisms". The coating will also be available for the keyboard, touchpad and the chassis. However, Acer stresses that the antimicrobial coating "does not protect users or provide any direct or implied health-benefit[s]", so it may just help minimise fingerprints.

Powering the Swift 5 is a 56 Wh battery, which Acer has complemented with USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, Thunderbolt 3 and dual-band Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. Windows Hello support returns via a dedicated fingerprint reader.

The new Swift 5 is ever so slightly thinner than its predecessor, although the 0.01 mm difference between the two models will be invisible to most people. The new model remains under 1 kg, too. Nonetheless, Acer has upgraded the Swift 5 from Ice Lake-U to Tiger Lake-U series processors. This upgrade also introduces Intel's new Xe graphics architecture, the benefits of which Intel teased last week. Additionally, the device will be configurable with an NVIDIA GeForce MX350 GPU. The Swift 5 will also be available with up 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD.

According to a leaked retail listing an Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor, although Acer is yet to confirm this. However, the device will not arrive next month as the listing also stated. Instead, the new Swift 5 will be available in China, EMEA and North America from October, where it will start at CNY 6,999, €1,099 and US$999.99, respectively.