Acer Swift, Aspire And Spin PCs Get Huge IFA 2018 Refresh

Acer is giving its Swift, Aspire, and Spin notebook, 2-in-1, and all-in-one PCs a revamp at IFA 2018, shedding weight while gaining niceties like discrete NVIDIA or Radeon graphics. At the top of the range, the Swift 5 will be the world's lightest 15-inch notebook, Acer says, tipping the scales at 2.18 pounds.

Despite that, it still has some healthy specifications. The Swift 5 will come in 14- and 15.6-inch versions, each running at Full HD resolution, with either Intel's Core i5-8265U or Core i7-8565U processors and up to 16GB of DDR4 memory. There's Intel UHD Graphics 630, plus up to 512GB of solid-state storage.

Acer says the 15.6-inch Swift 5 (SF515-51T) should run up to 10 hours, while the 14-inch Swift 5 (SF514-53T) will last up to 8. The former will be priced from $1,099 and the latter from $999 when they go on sale in the US in January 2019 and September 2018 respectively.

An Acer Swift 3, meanwhile, will offer a 14-inch display in North America (EMEA will also get a 13.3-inch version), with a Full HD panel and choice of Core i3-8145U, i5-8265U, or i7-8565U processors and up to 8GB of DDR4 or 16GB of Intel Optane memory. NVIDIA GeForce MX150 graphics or Intel UHD Graphics 620 will be offered, plus up to 512GB of SSD or up to 2TB of HDD storage, while battery life will be up to 12 hours. They'll be priced from $799.99 when they go on sale in November.

On the Spin side, Acer's convertibles are getting a number of new hardware updates. The Spin 1 kicks off the line-up with an 11.6-inch 1920 x 1080 multitouch IPS display with Active Stylus support, along with a choice of Intel Pentium Silver N5000 or Celeron dual-core N4000 processors. There's 4GB of memory and either Intel UHD Graphics 600 or 605, plus up to 128GB of eMMC storage. Acer says the Spin 1 should run for up to 12 hours, and it will be offered in Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 S forms.

The Acer Spin 3, meanwhile, bumps the screen up to 14-inches and offers either Intel's Core i3-8145U or Core i5-8265U processors. There's up to 8GB of DDR4 memory or 16GB of Intel Optane memory, plus either up to 256GB of PCIe Gen3 SSD or 1TB of 5,400rpm HDD storage. Intel UHD Graphics 630 are standard, and battery life is up to 16 hours. Only Windows 10 Home will be offered

Finally for the convertibles, the Acer Spin 5 slots in-between in size, with a 13.3- inch display. It offers Core i5-8265U or Core i7-8265U processors, up to 16GB of DDR4 memory, and up to 256GB of SSD storage, along with Intel UHD Graphics 630. It'll run up to 13 hours, weighs 3.31 pounds, and like the Spin 3 supports Cortana with Voice. Acer will offer it with Windows 10 Home or 10 Pro.

Last but not least, the Acer Aspire series gets updated for IFA 2018. The EMEA-only Aspire 3 gets a 14-inch HD or FHD display, choice of Pentium, Celeron, or AMD A-Series processors, up to 8GB of memory, Intel HD Graphics or AMD Radeon Graphics, and up to 256GB of SSD or 1TB of HDD storage. It also packs a DVD drive, and will be priced from €399 from December.

Similarly, the Acer Aspire 5 series will be EMEA-only, and arrive at the same time priced from €549. It'll offer 14- and 15.6-inch display sizes, in HD, FHD, and FHD IPS form, with processors ranging from Core i3 through to Core i7 and up to 16GB of Intel Optane memory. Intel UHD Graphics 620, NVIDIA GeForce MX130, or GeForce MX150 will be offered, with up to 512GB of SSD or 2TB of HDD storage. Some will have DVD drives.

The Acer Aspire 7 (A715-73G) isn't priced up yet – the company tells us it'll do that later – but has a 15.6-inch Full HD or Ultra HD display and up to a Core i7-8705G processor, with up to 16GB of DDR4 memory. Radeon RX Vega M GL Graphics with 4GB of memory is standard, and up to 512GB of SSD storage, all in a 3.31 pound package.

Finally, there's the Acer Aspire Z24, an all-in-one PC with a 23.8-inch FHD IPS display that optionally offers 10-point touch support. That has a choice of 8th Generation Intel Core i7+ or i5+ processors, i7/i5/i3 processors, or Pentium Gold processors, and up to 16GB of DDR4 memory or up to 32GB of Intel Optane memory. NVIDIA GeForce MX150 graphics or Intel UHD Graphics 630/610 are offered.

Inside, there's up to a 256GB SSD and 2TB HDD, plus a DVD burner. Acer says the Windows 10 Home all-in-one will go on sale in North America from October, priced from $899.