It’s an ultrabook that dies too fast.

The Acer Swift 5 is Acer’s top ultraportable laptop. It’s essentially the closest thing the company has to a MacBook Air competitor. It’s thin and light, it looks nice, and it’s powerful enough for most office use cases (though probably not for demanding computing workloads).

By and large, the past several Swift 5 models I’ve reviewed have been the same package. The chassis is 2.65 pounds and 0.59 inches thick with a sturdy aluminum build. There’s a very nice 2560 x 1600 touch display with very thin bezels around the edges (though I couldn’t for the life of me get it to stay on one color profile — I was constantly turning on Bluelight Shield and seeing it turn off as soon as I opened another app). The device is a step above Acer’s famously student-oriented Swift 3 in build but also in price — my test model is currently going for $1,499 on Acer’s website, while a Swift 3 with similar specs would only be $1,129.

Our review of Swift 5 Verge Score 7 out of 10
Good Stuff
• Light and portable body • Adequate port selection • Fast processor for the price • 16:10, high-resolution touch display
Bad Stuff
• Bad battery life • Bloatware pre-installed • Thin audio • Expensive for what it offers Buy for $1,499.99 from Acer Buy for $1,549.99 from Amazon

*For more information on our scoring, see [How We Rate](https://www.theverge.com/pages/how-we-rate#:~:text=Our reviews are%2C first and,fleeting experience with the product.).*

I’m typing this on the Swift 5 right now. I feel like I’m typing on a nice computer. There’s solid backlighting on the keyboard and some nice gold accents that give the chassis a chic look. I’ve had no trouble getting any of my office work done, including Zoom calls upon piles of Chrome tabs, on the Core i7 processor.

Acer Swift 5 specs (as reviewed)

I would be quick to recommend this model for general ultraportable use — and perhaps give it the “MacBook Air alternative” sticker that’s much-coveted in the Windows space — if it weren’t for the battery life. I’ve been using this device on battery at medium brightness for my daily office workload (generally 12-20 Chrome tabs with occasional Zoom calls or Spotify streaming), and I’m consistently only getting around four and a half hours of consistent use before it dies.

A comparable MacBook Air would cost up to $320 more than this Swift model, but I would expect to get close to three times the battery life out of it. Even for those who aren’t considering a MacBook, there are all kinds of ultraportables in the Windows space that can get you better battery results. I’ll refer you to the Zenbook S 13 I just reviewed, which is cheaper and lighter than this machine, has a higher-resolution screen, and lasted me close to twice as long with this same workload.