Acer Begins Selling 9.98-mm Swift 7 Kaby Lake Laptop in the U.S.: Starts at $1100

This week Acer has started to sell its first Swift 7 notebook in the U.S. The black and gold Swift 7 laptop is based on Intel’s Kaby Lake-Y-series CPU, and with an FHD display is the industry’s first clamshell PC that is thinner than one centimeter. The system is available now for $1099 from a number of retailers.

The Acer Swift 7 (SF713-51-M90J) comes in a black and gold aluminum unibody to emphasize that the device is one of the premium products in the manufacturer’s lineup. The thickness of the laptop with a 13.3” FHD display covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 is 9.98 mm (0.39”), which is thinner than Apple’s MacBook as well as Dell’s Adamo XPS, both of which are renowned for their thin form factors. As for mass, the device weighs 1.12 kilograms (2.48 lbs), which is a tad heavier than the MacBook.

Inside the Acer Swift 7 ultra-thin notebook there is an Intel Core i5-7Y54 processor (2C/4T, 1.2GHz/3.2GHz frequency, HD Graphics 615, 4.5 W), 8 GB of LPDDR3 RAM as well as a 256 GB SSD (the manufacturer does not specify whether it is an AHCI or NVMe). The laptop uses an 802.11ac Wi-Fi + BT 4.0 wireless adapter to communicate with the outside world wirelessly. The laptop also has a 720p webcam and two 5 Gbps USB 3.1 Type-C ports to connect peripherals, a display as well as for charging. Moving on to audio sub-system, we see a TRRS connector for headsets as well as two stereo speakers that are Dolby Audio certified.

Since the Swift 7 is powered by Intel’s Kaby Lake, expect significantly improved video encoding/decoding capabilities, better GPU performance, as well as Speed Shift v2 technology. This should make the new machine to be generally faster and snapper than ultra-thin notebooks based on previous-gen CPUs.

When it comes to battery life, Acer claims that the Swift 7 (SF713-51-M90J) has a 4-cell Li-Ion battery with 2770 mAh of capacity, which enables it to work for up to nine hours on one charge. Do note however that Acer does not specify conditions or workloads for that number.

The Acer Swift 7 (SF713-51-M90J) notebook is available directly from Acer as well as from leading retailers (Amazon, Newegg, etc.) for $1099.99. It comes with a one-year warranty. Finally, keep in mind that Acer plans to release a family of Swift 7 notebooks, as it revealed at IFA. So expect to see further models of the Swift 7, including a more affordable version based on Intel’s Core i3 at $1000, as well as a more advanced system featuring Intel’s Core i7-7Y75 and a higher price.

Gallery: Acer Starts to Sell 9.98-cm Thick Swift 7 Kaby Lake Laptop in the U.S.: Starts at $1100

HP Introduces HP ENVY 13 Laptops with Kaby Lake, USB-C, New Battery, $849

HP has introduced its new ENVY 13 premium laptops based on Intel’s Core i-series Kaby Lake processors. The notebooks resemble their predecessors featuring Skylake CPUs, but naturally offer all the advantages that Intel’s latest chips have,…

New Chrome OS Update Enables Google Play on Acer’s and ASUS’ Chromebooks

Google has released an update for its Chrome OS that enables select Chromebooks to run apps designed for Google Android and access Google Play Store. Right now, only two mobile PCs, one from Acer and another from ASUS, are compatible with the new build, but the fact of the release confirms Google’s intentions to enable Android software on its OS for PCs.

Google has been trying to bring programs developed for Android to its Chrome OS platform for over two years now. At first, it tried to encourage developers to port certain apps to Chrome OS, but that only worked out for a limited number of programs. At its I/O conference this year, Google announced plans to alter Chrome OS to enable all Android apps from the Play Store to work in sandbox environments. Then, the company made its Play Store available to select Chromebook models running dev or beta channel builds. Finally, starting from this month, the Play Store is heading to stable Chrome OS builds.

Last week Google released Stable channel 53.0.2785.129 (Platform version: 8530.90.0) for the Acer Chromebook R11 (C738T) as well as the ASUS Chromebook Flip. The update contains numerous bug fixes, security updates, feature improvements as well as the Google Play Store (beta). Those, who have already received the new stable channel version, will need to enable the PlayStore in the Chrome settings.

It is not completely clear which kernel and security features are required to run Android apps in sandboxes, but at present the update is only available for the aforementioned two laptops and not even for Google’s own 2016 Chromebook Pixel. It remains unknown when and whether Google intends to enable the Play Store on other Chromebook devices. Meanwhile, one of the reasons why Google chose the Acer Chromebook R11 (C738T) and the ASUS Chromebook Flip as the first Google Play Store-compatible laptops could be their flip form-factor. It will be easier for consumers to use Android apps for tablets on a device, which can transform into a tablet.

Update 9/24/2016: In fact, Google plans to enable Android apps on multiple Chrome OS-based PCs in 2016 and 2017. The list is located here.

Android applications will make Google’s Chrome OS a bit more attractive to those who are looking for an alternative to web apps. Since there are hundreds of millions of active Android users, compatibility of Chrome OS with those applications could be good for Google’s PC platform. However, keep in mind that many Chromebooks are built to rely on cloud-based services rather than on locally stored programs, which is why they only feature a limited amount of NAND flash-based storage. Therefore, to a certain degree, Android apps on Chrome OS will alter the concept of this platform and will require makers of hardware to take that into account when they design their next-gen Chromebooks.

Sources: Google, AndroidAuthority, Android Police.