Ever since Apple announced their M1 line of Macbooks, windows laptops have been struggling to
keep up in performance and battery life. So if you are a windows user, who has been looking across
the aisle at Apple's laptop offering, I have got some very good news! Windows laptops are going
to get a lot better in the second half of this year. And it's all because of Intel. Finally Intel
has decided to wake up from their slumber and deliver some quality silicon. Specifically, I am
talking about Intel’s 12th generation Alder Lake mobile CPUs that promise to deliver significant
performance and battery life improvement. These mobile CPUs are built on a brand new
architecture making them very competitive against Apple's M1 and possibly their up-coming M2 chips.
So in today's video, I will be talking about two upcoming
thin and light windows laptop powered by the 12th generation
Intel Alder-Lake CPU that promise to deliver breakthrough performance and battery life.
Specifically I am talking about Acer Swift 5 and Lenovo Flex 5. Both these laptops are powered by
the 12th generation Intel Core i7-1260P processor. This is a 12 core processor, and yes you heard it
right. Not quad core, not hexa core, but a dodeca core processor. BTW Dodeca is a fancy word for 12,
I had to look it up in the dictionary! So we are talking about a monster 12 cores 16 thread laptop
processor. It's using a hybrid micro-architecture that is very similar to Apple’s M1 chip. It comes
with 4 high-performance cores and 8 power efficient cores. The high performance cores
are capable of reaching up to 4.7 Ghz frequency to deliver a kickass performance while the power
efficient cores help deliver long battery life. So here is a chart showing the Cinebench Single
Core Benchmark of Intel Core i7-1260P compared to Apple M1 and AMD Ryzen 5700u processor. As you can
see here, Intel comes out ahead of both Apple and AMD in the single core performance. But thanks to
its 12 core hybrid architecture, Intel chip also stays ahead in the multi-core benchmark. In the
graphics department, Apple M1 does come out ahead beating both Intel and AMD in the FP32 benchmark.
But overall, I would say that Intel has made significant gains with the Alder-Lake CPU,
making it an amazing chip for future thin and light laptops.
Now, in order for any Windows laptop to compete with Macbook, there is one
final piece still missing. And that's the tight integration between hardware and software. If
you look at macbooks, they deliver great performance and long battery life largely
because there is an amazing synergy between mac-os and the M1 chip. Thankfully windows 11 delivers
a similar experience with Intel’s 12th generation microprocessor. This is because Intel and
Microsoft have jointly developed a new Windows 11 Thread Scheduler that judiciously allocates
appropriate tasks to high performance and energy efficient cores in Alder-Lake CPUs.
This ensures that demanding tasks get allocated to high performance cores while the more mundane
tasks run on power efficient cores. The end result is superior performance and a long battery life
So let's start with the first 12th generation Intel alder-lake laptop
that I am really excited about. It's Lenovo Flex 5, a thin and light 2-in-1 convertible laptop
that supports active stylus pen. I have already reviewed this laptop here on the channel.
Specifically the 11th generation Intel and AMD Ryzen 5000 model. Those reviews are linked in
the video description below, so feel free to check them out. But I am really looking
forward to the 12th generation Intel alder-lake model of Lenovo Flex 5. This is because the
extra CPU and graphics performance coupled with enhanced battery life
will make it a very compelling laptop. Flex 5 comes with a great keyboard and trackpad and the
overall build quality is excellent. Its typing experience trumps most other 2-in-1 convertible
laptops in the market by delivering adequate key travel distance and a springy tactile feedback.
Since this is a 2-in-1 laptop, the quality of the hinge is very important. I have been very pleased
with the metallic hinge on Flex 5 which easily transforms this device from a laptop to a tablet.
Now, hands down the best feature of Lenovo Flex 5 is the writing experience with the
included active Pen. This pen provides over 2000 levels of pressure sensitivity,
and coupled with its low latency, you are getting an excellent writing experience. Of course no
digital surface will ever feel like real paper, but the included Active Pen has impressed me
a lot. I have tried active pens on various other laptops like Acer Spin 3, Dell Inspiron 2-in-1, Hp
Envy x360, but Lenovo Flex 5 always comes out on top and delivers the best note taking experience.
But it's not all bed of roses. I would like to see Lenovo improve the display
and make this laptop more upgrade friendly. The existing models of Lenovo Flex 5 ships with an LED
backlit IPS panel that delivers around 250 nits of peak brightness. While that's ok for daily use,
it pales in comparison to macbook air or other more expensive windows laptops like Dell XPS 13.
My 2nd issue with the current generation Lenovo Flex 5 is lack
of upgrade options. It's RAM is soldered to the motherboard and cannot be upgraded.
Now let's talk about the other 12th generation Intel alder-lake laptop that I am eagerly
awaiting. It's Acer Swift 5, an extremely thin and light laptop. It is priced just under $1500,
but at the time of making this video, Acer Swift 5 was not yet available for purchase
here in the United States. Unlike Lenovo Flex 5, Acer Swift 5 is not a 2-in-1 convertible
laptop. So you don't get touchscreen or active pen support. But what you do get is an excellent build
quality and extremely thin and light design. I have already reviewed Acer Swift 5 with the
11th generation Intel Core-i7 processor here on this channel. That video is linked below,
so if you are interested please check it out. What I love about Acer Swift 5 is its premium build
quality. Acer has used an aerospace-grade aluminum chassis which gives this laptop
solid structural rigidity while keeping the weight down to only 2.65 pounds or 1.2 Kg.
Its screen quality is also superior to Lenovo Flex 5. You get a higher 2560 x 1600 resolution
screen with a peak brightness of 340 nits, which roughly matches macbook air. The
screen delivers 100% sRGB color gamut making it a great laptop choice for creators who edit photos
and videos. I also love its narrow bezels which deliver an impressive 90% screen-to-body ratio.
When you open Acer Swift 5, the copper/bronze metallic color scheme immediately jumps out.
The keyboard uses bronze lettering, which is a truly unique color combo giving this laptop
a premium flair. I think Acer Swift 5 will surely turn heads when used in a public place
But if you believe in right to repair, you will be severely disappointed with Acer Swift 5.
Nothing is user accessible or upgradeable in this laptop. But at least Acer gives you plenty of
ports. You get 2 USB Type-C Thunderbolt 4 ports supporting up to 10 Gbps data transfer speed,
ability to drive a 4K monitor at 60Hz refresh rate and 65W power delivery support for rapid
battery charging. In addition, you also get an HDMI port and 2 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port
along with support for the latest WiFi-6 and bluetooth standard. Regarding battery life,
Swift 5 comes with a large 56 Whr battery that can run this laptop for 12 hours. The included
battery charger supports fast charging, so you can easily add 4 extra hours of battery life
with just 30 minutes of charging. Overall, I think Acer Swift 5 is a perfect windows
laptop for someone looking for a thin and light macbook air alternative. Like I mentioned before,
both Lenovo Flex 5 and Acer Swift 5 haven't been released yet. But as soon as they become
available, I will review them both here on this channel. In the meantime, if you are looking
for a thin and light 2-in-1 touchscreen laptop that supports active stylus pen,
checkout this video over here. In this video, I list my top-5 favorite 2-in-1 laptops. You will
find it very useful. So go ahead and watch that video, and I will see you guys over there. Bye!