Acer Swift Edge 14 AI evaluate: A correct mobility champ

Finest Costs At present: Acer Swift Edge 14 AI

Acer has renewed its Swift line with a brand new compact mannequin within the Swift Edge 14 AI, which not solely boasts the thinness the Swift line has been identified for but in addition an exceptionally low weight at simply 2.18 kilos. In the meantime, it packs in {hardware} that’s as much as snuff for many staff and a show that appears nice for leisure — sharp OLED for the win — and for work from totally different environments due to a potent matte end I’d like to see extra of. For the precise people, this could possibly be a really robust choice. 

Acer Swift Edge 14 AI: Specs and options

• CPU: Intel Core Extremely 7 258V
• Reminiscence: 32GB LPDDR5X-8533
• Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc 140V
• Show: 14-inch 2880×1800 OLED touchscreen, 120Hz, Matte
• Storage: 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD – Kingston OM8PGP4102Q-AA
• Webcam: 1080p + IR
• Connectivity: 2x Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C with Energy Supply and DisplayPort Alternate Mode, 2x USB 3.2 Kind -A, 1x 3.5mm combo audio, 1x HDMI
• Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
• Biometrics: Home windows Hi there fingerprint, facial recognition
• Battery capability: 65 watt-hours
• Dimensions: 12.35 x 9.03 x 0.66 inches
• Weight: 2.18 kilos
• MSRP: $1,499 as-tested ($1,399 base)

The Acer Swift Edge 14 AI is available in a small variety of configurations. Our take a look at unit got here with the specs above and a $1,499 price ticket. Acer additionally gives a stepped-down mannequin for $1,399 that swaps to an Intel Core Extremely 7 256V and 16GB of reminiscence, which is sacrificing a bit an excessive amount of simply to shave $100 off. One other configuration bumps as much as an Intel Core Extremely 9 288V and raises the value to $1,599. 

Acer Swift Edge 14 AI: Design and construct high quality

Foundry / Mark Knapp

The Acer Swift Edge 14 AI is a shock. It comes out of the field feeling just a little plasticky and low-cost, however its chassis is definitely a magnesium-aluminum alloy that proves surprisingly sturdy with little flex. Regardless of that, it’s extremely mild at simply 2.18 kilos — a exact weight I verified with a scale. It’s additionally pretty skinny with the chassis measuring 0.66 inches thick at its thickest level, although its rubber toes bump that as much as 0.82 inches. 

It comes with an all white design other than the black bezels across the show, which will get an interesting matte therapy from Corning. The 2 show hinges are good and tight, avoiding any wiggling in use. That is available in clutch for touchscreen use, as tapping on the show and swiping round doesn’t see it begin to lean away.

The white lid appears good with little gold accenting, although geometric traces on the lid aren’t fairly as partaking as the type Asus tends to make use of. Beneath, the laptop computer can also be easy with two large rubber toes, a big consumption vent, and two small down-firing speaker grilles. The rear fringe of the laptop computer serves as an exhaust. 

The Acer Swift Edge 14 AI comes throughout as pretty easy, and that works for it. It’s delivering on the promise of thin-and-light laptops. 

Acer Swift Edge 14 AI: Keyboard, trackpad

Foundry / Mark Knapp

After testing Acer laptops for years now and persistently being dissatisfied by their keyboards, I’ve to confess I didn’t have excessive hopes for the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI. However it looks as if Acer could have turned a nook. The important thing caps appear just a bit bit flatter than prior units, and that makes a world of distinction in relation to staying centered by really feel.

Stabilization isn’t spectacular, however is ample to maintain the keys from tilting an excessive amount of. I discovered myself way more snug typing on this keyboard than simply about another Acer laptop computer I’ve touched, and I managed a robust 122-word-per-minute typing velocity with 122 p.c accuracy in Monkeytype — about as quick and correct as I can get on any given day. 

Whereas it’s good to have backlighting on a keyboard, Acer’s implementation isn’t perfect. White keyboards with white backlighting are likely to look fairly terrible because it turns right into a type of sloppy grey, and the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI is not any exception. On prime of that, having the backlighting on in a vivid room finally ends up making the keyboard much less legible because it reduces the distinction. And Acer opts to show it on robotically in some instances. 

The trackpad can also be wonderful. It’s sizable, although not monstrously giant. It has a {smooth} and pearly Gorilla Glass floor that’s nice to swipe round on. There’s additionally just a little brand in a single nook that lights when the pc is doing any AI processing on its NPU. 

Acer Swift Edge 14 AI: Show, audio

Foundry / Mark Knapp

The Acer Swift Edge 14 AI’s show is probably some of the wonderful I’ve seen on a laptop computer. Anti-glare and matte finishes may be contentious, as a result of they decrease the perceived distinction when viewing in extraordinarily darkish environments. However in all places else, I discover the shortage of a mirrored picture an enormous boon for visible readability.

The 14-inch panel has a 2880×1800 decision that makes for very crisp particulars made all the higher by the infinite distinction of OLED. The show has nice movement readability as properly from its 120Hz refresh fee. Issue within the large colour gamut, which covers 100% of the DCI-P3 colour house and reaches 398.3 nits of peak brightness for a full white display screen, and also you’ve acquired one thing particular.

The truth that you’ll be able to get pleasure from all of that so properly with the robust anti-glare properties of the Gorilla Matte Professional floor therapy is simply great. Acer even went the additional mile and made it a touchscreen, and it’s very responsive and super-smooth to swipe round on. 

Sadly, the audio system on the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI are nothing particular. They will put out a great little bit of sound, letting you hear them even in case you don’t have excellent quiet to hear in. However mids are over-pronounced, resulting in a barely grating sound at excessive volumes. The audio system additionally sound just a little boxed in, particularly at excessive volumes. For listening to speech, they do the job, however I wouldn’t depend on them for music or TV and films. 

Acer Swift Edge 14 AI: Webcam, microphone, biometrics

The webcam on the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI captures an honest image. It’s not stunningly sharp, however it a minimum of has a great publicity. Its help of Home windows Hi there facial recognition makes for fast sign-ons but in addition comes alongside a really large area of view for the digital camera. This makes me seem very small within the video feed it captures except I’ve my face inside a foot of the lens. It’s doable to crop in, however that will decrease the decision from the already modest 1080p of the total sensor.

Acer’s microphones are disappointing. By default, the system desires to make use of its AI-enhanced Purified Voice setting, however I discovered its efforts to cancel out background noise additionally had a unfavorable influence on precise readability in what I used to be saying, generally outright cancelling out my voice together with background noise. Disabling the consequences resulted in clearer sound, however with extra background noise. In both case, my voice wasn’t very full.

Along with facial recognition, the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI helps fingerprint login with a scanner constructed into the ability button. In testing, this labored shortly, simply, and persistently.

Acer Swift Edge 14 AI: Connectivity

The Acer Swift Edge 14 AI proved robust with its connectivity. It has a decent array of ports for a thin-and-light, combining two Thunderbolt 4 ports that additionally deal with charging with two USB-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, and one audio jack. A microSD slot would have been good to see. A lot of the ports are additionally on the left aspect with only one USB-A port and the AUX jack on the precise. Splitting up the charging ports to supply one on either side would have been a bonus. 

The system can deal with quick wi-fi connections as properly with Intel Killer 1750i Wi-Fi 7. It proved quick and secure in my testing. The Bluetooth 5.4 is just a little letdown, as Bluetooth 6.0 has already landed, however even with out it, the Bluetooth related simply and remained secure when paired with headphones in testing. 

Acer Swift Edge 14 AI: Efficiency

The Acer Swift Edge 14 AI is probably not a high-performance machine, however with its Intel Core Extremely 7 258V, it’s no slouch. That chip is powering a number of thin-and-light laptops, combining responsive speeds and powerful effectivity. 

It gives a degree of efficiency that’s ample for fundamental workplace duties, as we see it hit a strong rating within the holistic PCMark 10 benchmark. Not solely does it carry out properly for looking, video calls, writing, and spreadsheet work, however due to its Intel Arc graphics, it additionally will get alongside modestly in content material creation workloads — although it isn’t scratching on the capabilities of high-performance workstation. 

One space that holds the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI again from extra demanding workloads is its cooling. Being skinny and lightweight comes with trade-offs. There’s much less room for air to stream successfully, and cooling {hardware} additionally provides a number of weight. Some laptops will let their followers kick up a racket to strive staying cool, however the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI opts for quieter operation.

The result’s that in longer, heavy workloads like our Handbrake encoding take a look at, the system can battle. It took over half an hour to carry out this take a look at whereas the two.9-pound Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Version operating on the identical CPU managed it in simply over 22 minutes.

In the meantime, AMD’s {hardware} within the HP OmniBook 7 Aero truly proved much more stout regardless of additionally being in a lightweight setup at 2.2 kilos, with the OmniBook hitting beneath 20 minutes by a hair. MSI supplied the lightest laptop computer of the bunch, however its efficiency additionally lagged behind the pack.

Cinebench can present us a bit extra concerning the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI’s total CPU efficiency. As we noticed in Handbrake, warmth is a matter for sustained efficiency within the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI. It lagged behind in Cinebench R24, which can also be an extended take a look at. However when operating shorter, bursty workloads like Cinebench R23 and R15, the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI roughly tied with the Lenovo Yoga 9i. Nonetheless, neither had been a match for the HP system’s quicker CPU. 

So whereas the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI could not energy by way of heavy duties properly, it will probably stay responsive and sort out mild duties shortly. That goes double for single-threaded workloads, the place its Cinebench scores truly tended to guide the pack, even beating the AMD and Qualcomm machines. 

Whereas the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI could not have been a frontrunner for CPU efficiency, the Intel Arc 140V graphics on the chip is just a little secret weapon for the system. The place graphical horsepower is anxious, it turns the tides on AMD’s built-in Radeon graphics (a minimum of till AMD begins bringing its Radeon 8060S graphics to laptops). In 3DMark’s Time Spy take a look at, we see the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI tied with the Lenovo system and each properly forward of the HP OmniBook 7 Aero.

That repeats in 3DMark Evening Raid as properly, and people wins come largely thanks to large leads within the Graphics subtests, although additionally they lead within the CPU sub-tests probably due to their stronger single-core efficiency. Even the MSI Summit 13 AI+ Evo pulls forward of the OmniBook, although not by as a lot. This additionally showcases a perk of the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI over among the Qualcomm-powered thin-and-lights that it runs towards: compatibility.

The Asus ZenBook A14 is a fairly robust machine, however when it has to emulate x86 packages — as on this 3DMark take a look at — it will probably fall means behind native {hardware} from Intel and AMD. 

Acer Swift Edge 14 AI: Battery life

Battery life can nearly make or break a thin-and-light laptop computer. After they sacrifice efficiency, they should make up for it in effectivity. And the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI nearly nails it. In our 4K video playback take a look at, which runs the laptop computer in airplane mode with the show set to 250-260 nits, the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI lasted simply shy of 18 and a half hours. Whereas that is probably not as spectacular as among the different methods, all of which broke the 21-hour mark (besides the OmniBoo, which barely broke 10 hours thanks partly to its a lot smaller battery).

That mentioned, the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI nonetheless deserves credit score. It runs a sharper show than the MSI and Asus laptops and has a smaller battery than every little thing however the HP system. Our take a look at additionally permits for the methods to dim their shows once they attain a low sufficient cost to allow Battery Saver mode, however the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI solely dimmed its show to 48 p.c brightness, which nonetheless sees it produce a comfortably vivid 178 nits that’s simply viewable with the matte show end.

Extra typical workplace and informal use noticed no much less spectacular battery life. The system was usually on observe for wherever from 9 to 14 hours of runtime. Three straight hours of energetic use solely drained the battery by 32 p.c.

One other session of intermittent use that included watching an entire film, some looking, and a number of idling with the display screen on noticed the laptop computer lose simply 57 p.c cost over the course of eight hours and quarter-hour. All of this was with the show nonetheless set to its 250-260 nit degree, which is greater than vivid sufficient for indoor use due to the show’s robust anti-glare impact. And all of that was with the show operating at 120Hz. Extra vitality financial savings may be had by dialing that all the way down to 60Hz. 

Acer Swift Edge 14 AI: Conclusion

The Acer Swift Edge 14 AI doesn’t knock it out of the park at each flip, however in case you’re in search of a light-weight, moderately speedy machine that’s able to run all day and look pretty doing it, the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI is a homerun.

The show is a particular spotlight for combining wonderful visible high quality with a not often used matte end which will have a minor influence on brilliance however has a big impact on how simple it’s to see the show in additional situations. Even the keyboard lastly shifts away, nevertheless subtly, the marginally concave-feeling keys Acer has packed in previously. All this comes collectively to make the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI a superb little associate for working and leisure on the transfer, simply deliver your personal headphones.