Acer Swift Go 16 evaluate: A stupendous display with large trade-offs

Acer is not any stranger to releasing tons of barely completely different variations of what looks like virtually the identical system. That’s the place the Acer Swift Go 16 suits subsequent to the Acer Swift 16 AI. They’ve acquired the identical show specs, each are available in aluminum, weigh practically the identical quantity, and are virtually equally priced.

That worth? Pretty reasonably priced. At $1,149, it’s spectacular the Acer Swift Go 16 packs in 32GB of reminiscence and a high-power Intel Core Extremely 9 285H the place most of its contemporaries are choosing lower-power chips. Sadly, the Acer Swift Go 16 doesn’t truly find yourself much more succesful for on a regular basis computing, but it surely does find yourself with a a lot shorter battery life. In the event you’re simply after an important show and respectable velocity, it might be an inexpensive decide for the frugal shopper, however there are higher all-around choices on the market.

Acer Swift Go 16: Specs and options

• Mannequin quantity: SFG16-73-92RC
• CPU: Intel Core Extremely 9 285H
• Reminiscence: 32GB LPDDR5X-7467
• Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc 140T
• Show: 16-inch 2880×1800 OLED, Shiny
• Storage: 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD – Micron 2500
• Webcam: 1440p + IR
• Connectivity: 2x Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C with Energy Supply and DisplayPort Alternate Mode, 2x USB-A 5Gbps, 1x microSD card reader, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm combo audio
• Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
• Biometrics: Home windows Whats up fingerprint, facial recognition
• Battery capability: 75 watt-hours
• Dimensions: 14.03 x 9.88 x 0.66 inches
• Weight: 3.3 kilos (measured)
• MSRP: $1,149 as-tested ($1,149 base)

On the time of writing, the Acer Swift Go 16 was obtainable solely within the above configuration with a worth of $1,149. This mannequin seems to solely be on the market at Micro Heart, although, and the retailer has it listed for $1,199.

Acer Swift Go 16: Design and construct high quality

The Acer Swift Go 16 virtually, virtually, doesn’t appear like all of Acer’s different productiveness laptops. It goes for a darker grey colour scheme than the various Acer fashions I’ve examined prior to now. It seems Acer is shifting its design ethos. This mannequin appears to be like practically equivalent to the Acer Swift 16 AI, and I noticed an analogous push into darker designs within the Acer Aspire Go 15 earlier this 12 months as nicely. In just a few locations, the laptop computer has shiny steel accents. The lid has some little type strains etched in, and it calls to reminiscence the designs Asus does on the lids of its ZenBooks (for instance), besides that Acer’s is fairly boring. 

All that grey is aluminum no less than. This offers the laptop computer one thing of a premium really feel, even when its measurement and thinner design make it just a little flexy. Even then, there’s one thing just a little inconsiderate in regards to the form. At some factors it’s curvy, and at others it has sharp angles. The show has a kind of lift-up hinges that creates additional airflow beneath the laptop computer when it’s on a desk, however this creates an uncomfortable stress level when it’s on a lap. The hinge opens easily and simply, wiggling for only a second when it’s moved to new positions. It might probably additionally fold flat, for no matter that’s value. The show isn’t a touchscreen, although. 

Acer has made the Acer Swift Go 16 pretty skinny, with it maxing out at 0.66 inches at its thickest level earlier than factoring within the rubber ft that maintain it regular on tables. And it weighs in at simply 3.3 kilos — not unhealthy for a 16-incher. That slimness and weight is sufficient to forgive the sunshine flex of the keyboard deck. 

A slim grille on the underside of the Acer Swift Go 16 is accountable for air consumption, in the meantime a grille above the keyboard is the place the laptop computer exhausts its warmth, although lower than half of the grille is definitely exhausting something. The remaining is hunky punk crammed with heat-fin-shaped plastic. That exhaust runs instantly into the slim bezel under the show and will likely be guided upward by the show. Whereas this isn’t a high-wattage machine, it’s nonetheless worrying to know scorching exhaust is blowing virtually instantly onto the show. 

Above the show, a small additional little bit of bezel homes the webcam and a bodily digicam shutter. This little additional lip helps with opening the laptop computer, although it does make me susceptible to touching the webcam’s cowl. 

Regardless of the big measurement of the Acer Swift Go 16, Acer has fitted its audio system on the underside of the system at both aspect. The positioning could make it very simple to snuff the audio system when utilizing the laptop computer in your lap.

Acer Swift Go 16: Keyboard, trackpad

IDG / Mark Knapp

The keyboard is classically Acer. It options the identical domed contour I’ve lengthy held disdain for however have examined so many occasions that I’ve virtually turn into snug on. I discovered myself typing comfortably at round 110 words-per-minute with respectable accuracy in Monkeytype. I’d like to sort a bit quicker, however that tends to solely include actually distinctive keyboards. The very fact this considerably awkward keyboard can sustain is a plus. The keys aren’t even terribly nicely stabilized, feeling properly poppy within the center however mushy if I faucet towards the sides. The backlight additionally isn’t terribly nicely executed, providing uneven illumination to the first and secondary legends on every key. 

Acer’s trackpad is a curious one. On the one hand, it’s a large trackpad with a easy Gorilla Glass floor that feels nice to make use of for all issues mousing round. Its bodily click on feels just a little unfastened and low cost, however not terrible. The trackpad isn’t simply a trackpad although. When sure apps are enjoying media, it is going to mild up particular zones for media management, together with quick ahead, rewinds, play/pause, quantity, fullscreen. These work nicely and add a bit of favor to the laptop computer.

The draw back is that to take pleasure in this characteristic, it’s a must to settle for a small “Swift” emblem being completely illuminated on the backside of the trackpad and continuously losing a little bit of battery. This may be turned off by lowering the trackpad illumination, however that additionally renders the playback controls invisible. Good work, Acer. Awkwardly, even after they’re not illuminated, these controls can nonetheless work, and there received’t be a transparent indication about when they’ll.

Acer Swift Go 16: Show, audio

IDG / Mark Knapp

The Acer Swift Go 16 has a largely glorious show. It combines the very best points of OLED — infinite distinction and quick pixel response — with a splendidly broad colour gamut, protecting 100% of the DCI-P3 colour area. The panel can get loads shiny, hitting 408 nits in my measurements (and HDR scenes ought to have room for even brighter particulars), serving to it get previous the reflectivity of its shiny display considerably. It additionally has a excessive diploma of accuracy with a dE Max of two.15. Its 2880×1800 decision is satisfyingly sharp at this measurement, and it runs at 120Hz for easy movement.

Curiously, it seems to run solely at 120Hz, with Home windows not presenting 60Hz as an choice or routinely switching when on battery energy. The show helps Adaptive Sync all the way down to a 48Hz refresh charge, but it surely’s arduous to inform if it’s doing this usually because the show usually appears to be like very easy. 

There are some oddities to the show, although. For one factor, that 120Hz refresh charge seems to be locked, with no dropping to 60 and even 90Hz to assist preserve battery when unplugged. 

By default, it additionally has some unlucky dimming habits, adjusting the brightness of the entire display primarily based on the content material on show, however its changes aren’t rapid and will be distracting, generally showing like faint flickering. Typically it might simply flip off (possibly as a result of it’s darkish and the digicam thought I left), after which wouldn’t come again on regardless of my clicking the trackpad and typing on the keyboard.

The audio system sound a bit boxed in, making for disagreeable listening, virtually particularly when listening to folks talking. This ruins a variety of the content material you would possibly watch on a productiveness machine.

Acer Swift Go 16: Webcam, microphone, biometrics

IDG / Mark Knapp

The 1440p webcam on the Acer Swift Go 16 might be higher. It’s not that it’s unhealthy. In truth, it affords an impressively pure publicity and colour. However the digicam’s cowl being constructed proper into the lip of the show, the place you’re more likely to open it, will get it coated in finger oils and end in a smeared look to the visuals that will likely be arduous to keep away from. 

The mics are a bit weak, too. My voice sounded fairly low via them in comparison with the mics on two HP laptops I examined on the similar time. The mics did no less than supply strong noise suppression, eliminating the sound of a fan operating only a foot away from the laptop computer and the sound of my arms clapping whereas I spoke. 

The Acer Swift Go 16 helps each facial recognition via its webcam and fingerprint scanning with a sensor built-in into the facility button on the high proper nook of the keyboard. Each have confirmed fast and dependable in my testing. Acer additionally integrates some additional capabilities with presence sensing, which might routinely lock the laptop computer when you stroll away or wake it when you return. 

Acer Swift Go 16: Connectivity

IDG / Mark Knapp

The Acer Swift Go 16 has respectable connectivity, although it may actually have completed extra with its measurement. It affords two Thunderbolt 4 ports for high-speed connections and charging the laptop computer. Sadly, these are each on the identical aspect of the system. You’ll get a 5Gbps USB-A port on both aspect. The left aspect contains an HDMI 2.1 port whereas the appropriate aspect affords a 3.5mm jack and microSD card reader. That will seem to be loads, however it is a large, 16-inch laptop computer, and there’s room for extra. The fitting aspect even has an enormous empty area the place a further port may have gone. 

Wi-fi connectivity is robust. The system features a Wi-Fi 7 chip for quick networking that ought to be up-to-speed for years to come back. It additionally will get help for Bluetooth LE audio — one other future-facing expertise that ought to enhance audio high quality for supported headsets and earbuds. Whereas I didn’t have a tool able to reap the benefits of it, because it has been slowly rolling out to Bluetooth headphones and buds, Bluetooth connectivity to my present earbuds labored with out challenge. 

Acer Swift Go 16: Software program

Few laptops do issues with their pre-installed software program that I really feel is value calling out. However Acer’s pre-installed Acer Jumpstart app is tough to disregard. It’s principally an app promoting engine. In simply three days, it popped up notifications suggesting Dragon’s Fortune Slots, Adobe software program, and ExpressVPN (with that final one no less than mentioning that the PC contains the service, albeit a 30-day trial). With none significant additions to the expertise, it’s annoying to see. Fortunately, as a result of it doesn’t add something significant, it’s additionally simple to freely take away with out dropping any capabilities on the machine. 

Acer Swift Go 16: Efficiency

The Acer Swift Go 16 is provided to be a robust ultrabook, counting on a high-end Intel Core Extremely 9 285H laptop computer CPU that boasts a complete of 16 cores, to not point out that Intel’s current CPUs have been providing glorious single-core efficiency. This setup is a marked distinction from the Acer Swift 16 AI, which relied on a lower-power Intel Core Extremely 7 256V, comes with half the reminiscence, and managed to price $50 greater than the Acer Swift Go 16.

The Acer Swift Go 16 additionally managed to slide underneath the value radar for the $1,659 HP Omnibook X Flip 16, $1,649 Samsung Galaxy Book5 Professional, $1,199 Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 16ILL10 whereas that includes a higher-tier CPU than the whole thing, although it does lack a touchscreen — one thing all three embrace.

Whereas the Intel Core Extremely 9 285H might help in heavy computing workloads, it’s not sufficient to place the Acer Swift Go 16 far forward of the pack in on a regular basis workplace computing, which PCMark 10 evaluates. It performs admirably, with sturdy outcomes throughout the board, but it surely’s considerably held again by its storage. It has the bottom scores within the App Startup portion of the check regardless of its PCIe 4.0 SSD. 

IDG / Mark Knapp

The place uncooked efficiency is worried, the Acer Swift Go 16 has the benefit. Our Handbrake encoding check duties every system with a 32GB video file that it must shrink all the way down to a decrease decision. This one tends to hit techniques arduous, making their CPU work for an extended sufficient time to see how nicely it handles thermals. Right here, the Acer Swift Go 16 had an enormous lead, beating the following closest system by over six minutes, and beating most by over 10 minutes.

It was nonetheless not as quick as some gaming system with extra superior cooling can muster, but it surely nonetheless exhibits the benefit of extra cores and a higher-power processor. 

IDG / Mark Knapp

Naturally, we see that benefit carry over to Cinebench, which once more stresses the CPU. The only-core efficiency of all the techniques may be very shut, although the Acer Swift Go 16 tended to be on the entrance of the pack or very close to it. And the place multi-core efficiency is worried, the Acer Swift Go 16 simply stays forward.

Solely the Samsung Galaxy Book5 Professional affords a stunning problem — not solely coming a bit nearer to the Acer Swift Go 16 than a few of the different techniques, but additionally doing so with none extra cores than the others. It’s probably Samsung’s cooling is making the distinction. On the flip aspect, Acer’s cooling can also be probably coming into play, because the longer and warmer run of Cinebench R24 see’s its efficiency lead slim in comparison with the shorter (and subsequently much less heat-inducing) checks of earlier Cinebench variations.

IDG / Mark Knapp

With regards to 3D graphics, all of those techniques are utilizing built-in graphics options from Intel. Most get Intel Arc 140V whereas the Acer Swift Go 16 is alone in that includes Intel Arc 140T. Sadly for Acer, it has no profit. The Acer Swift Go 16 truly had the bottom scores in 3DMark’s Time Spy Graphics subtest and was largely buoyed by its main CPU efficiency, although that was solely sufficient to maintain it neck-in-neck with the competitors right here.

And once more, we noticed the Samsung Galaxy Book5 Professional step out forward with about 10 % extra efficiency than the Acer Swift Go 16. None of those techniques are providing very distinctive graphics efficiency, although. 

Acer Swift Go 16: Battery life

Whereas I’d usually anticipate a system that provides excessive efficiency to lose just a little floor the place effectivity is worried, I didn’t anticipate Acer to carry out as badly because it did right here. The Acer Swift Go 16 merely couldn’t sustain with the competitors in our battery check.

IDG / Mark Knapp

It barely eked previous 10 hours in our 4K video playback check, which sees the system set to Airplane Mode and the show set between 250 and 260 nits. That may have been good just a few years in the past, however thin-and-light PCs have come a great distance prior to now couple years, and the Acer Swift Go 16 merely hasn’t stored up. All of its opponents right here provided over 17 hours in our check, and Samsung topped 23 hours, greater than doubling the Acer Swift Go 16’s longevity. In real-world use, it may predictably battle to succeed in 8 hours of runtime with out some coddling, like a decrease brightness stage. 

Acer Swift Go 16: Conclusion

The Acer Swift Go 16 is an entire lot of meh wrapped round an enormous and exquisite show. There’s no knocking the sharp, 16-inch OLED panel with its attractive distinction, wealthy colour, and easy refresh charge. However the remainder of the system simply lets it down. The construct of the laptop computer is uninspired and never exceptionally good. It’s competitively mild however not main the pack in a significant approach. The keyboard and trackpad make for a simply advantageous person expertise, however may positively be higher (although Acer appears allergic to adjusting its keycaps). And the audio system don’t do a lot to enhance the show. 

The Acer Swift Go 16 steps up the place CPU efficiency is worried, but it surely’s thermals don’t let it maintain as broad a margin because it should have in opposition to even some lower-power techniques. And the high-power CPU comes with an enormous hit to battery life, seeing the Acer Swift Go 16 barely crack 10 hours in our check.

In the event you’re not too apprehensive about being away from energy shops for lengthy and need to prioritize the show and CPU efficiency, the Acer Swift Go 16 is no less than aggressive on worth. However in any other case the Samsung Galaxy Book5 Professional proves a worthy various, and the sooner Acer Swift 16 AI proves a extra competent on-the-go machine for its for much longer battery life.