Acer’s new Swift 5 is a 2.2 pound, 15.6 inch laptop

Acer is updating its Swift line of thin and light laptops with a new Swift 5 featuring a 15.6 inch display, slim bezels, and a screen to body ratio of nearly 88 percent. But the most impressive thing about the new Acer Swift 5 is its weight: it’s just 1 kilogram, or about 2.2 pounds.

And I thought the 2.4 pound LG Gram 15 was impressive. (It is… it just won’t be the lightest 15.6 inch laptop for long).

Acer says the new Swift 5 should be available in the fourth quarter of 2018.

The notebook is the same weight as last year’s 14 inch model thanks to a lightweight magnesium-lithium alloy chassis. And it’s not much larger than last year’s laptop either, thanks to screen bezels that are just 5.87mm (0.23 inches) across.

Acer still managed to fit a webcam in the bezel above the screen, along with an array of microphones.

After testing the LG Gram, I can say it is quite nice having a large screen on a laptop that doesn’t feel all that big or heavy. It’s a best-of-both-world situation, where you get plenty of screen space for multitasking without squinting, but a computer that’s also comfortable enough to slide into a bag and carry anywhere you go.

You might need a bigger bag than you’re used to if you typically travel with a 13.3 inch or smaller machine though.

The laptop is expected to ship with with 8th-gen Intel Core processor options, up to 16GB of DDR4 memory, up to 1TB of SSD storage, and it has HDMI, USB Type-A and Type-C ports, and an SD card reader. There’s also a fingerprint reader near the keyboard.

Acer says pricing and configuration will vary by region, and the company will reveal more details closer to launch.

The model on display at Acer’s spring 2018 product launch event is just a prototype. The screen doesn’t turn on and the power button doesn’t seem to be a real button. But it does give us a sneak peek at the design for the upcoming laptop.