Acer’s Switch 5 2-in-1 could be the laptop you were looking for

WANT to upgrade your laptop, but don’t want to break the bank? This product from Acer could be the solution to all of your needs.

WHEN it comes to replacing your laptop, you no longer need to spend an excess of $2000 for a quality product.

Thanks to a flood of Hybrid 2-in-1 laptops hitting the market, finding something to meet your needs has never been easier or cheaper and the Acer Switch 5 is one such example of this.

DESIGN

The Switch 5 is a 2-in-1 laptop comprising of a 12-inch Windows tablet and detachable keyboard that doubles as a cover.

In terms of the tablet component, it has an outer case entirely made out of metal and blunt edges with rounded corners.

The rear of the device houses a single camera and subtle Acer branding, with the near-flush kickstand also located on the back — it pops into position when pulled by the user.

I found the kickstand to offer a good level of support no matter the surface I was using, which was a nice change from my findings with the Samsung Book.

The front of the tablet comprises of the screen and forward-facing camera, although its appearance is slightly let down by serrated edge.

There are two narrow speakers grills and a microSD card-reader on the top, while the volume rocker and power button/fingerprint scanner live on the left.

On the right you will find a full-size USB A and USB-C port, 3.5mm headphone jack and outlet for the power cord.

The detachable keyboard looks remarkably similar to the Surface Pro, with its felt-like finishing and plastic inner chassis.

A magnetic clip on the keyboard makes sure it easily connects to the tablet and backlighting the product able to be used in lowlight.

Those coming from a traditional laptop should take no time adjusting at the keyboard has been built full sized and well spaced to make for a comfortable typing experience.

The trackpad is positioned slightly to the left and can be used similar to a mouse depending what side you click, although I did find the trackpad to be troublesome at times when not positioned on a hard, flat surface.

There is also a loop attached to the side of the keyboard, which is used to house the stylus pen that ships with the device.

This could be the perfect gift for those who want a tablet and laptop/

SCREEN

The FHD+ 12-inch screen offered a resolution of 2160 x 1440 pixels, which is more than sufficient for a display this size.

Sadly the screen does lack brightness when compared to the competition and only covers 78.8 per cent of the sRGB gamut — the Surface Pro has 97.5 per cent.

While this is certainly disappointing, it’s not a deal-breaker considering the price point, plus if you are only using the laptop for simple browsing and word documents, I don’t see it being an issue.

A positive is the screen offering viewing angles at up to 178-degrees and the multi-touch functions, which work flawlessly.

Unfortunately large black bars around the screen mean it’s not as appealing as it could be.

PERFORMANCE

The Switch 5 is powered by an Intel Core i5-7200U Dual Core Processor and an Intel HD Graphics card, has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

This makes it more than powerful enough for everyday use, with the ability to also easily handle multi-tasking — although if you were looking to play games this might not be the product for you.

One of the most impressive features of the Switch 5 is the tablet includes Acer’s liquid cooling system known as LiquidLoop.

The system works by transferring heat from the CPU to the heat pipe via a thermal conductor.

The pipe generates a single direction, two phase flow of liquid, with the heat dissipated through a continual process of evaporation and condensation of the liquid.

So essentially this allows Acer to create a cooling system that expels heat without whirling fans or exhaust vents, which means you won’t need to worry about dust accumulation and noise.

In terms of battery, the 39 Wh unit on the Switch 5 wasn’t the best I had ever seen on a laptop, but it was more than sufficient to use for around five hours before you will even need to think about charging.

As for the operating system, the Switch 5 uses Windows 10.

VERDICT

While there are better products on the market, you are going to pay for quality.

In saying that, it’s not like the Switch 5 is a budget offering, in fact it’s quite the opposite.

During my time with the Acer, I have found it extremely hard to fault and considering you can now get this product for less than $998 — with a little Googling — it’s well worth your hard earned.

What laptop do you use? Continue the conversation in the comments below or with Matthew Dunn on Facebook and Twitter.

The RRP for the product is $1698.00