Acer Swift Go 14 AI review: fast, long-lasting and affordable

I just lately reviewed the Acer Swift 14 AI, a 14-inch laptop computer that goals for considerably higher battery life than most Home windows laptops. It succeeded, thanks partially to Intel’s latest chips, Lunar Lake. Now, Acer desires to realize the identical factor in an identical however not an identical laptop computer utilizing Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X – for much less cash.

The Swift Go 14 AI makes use of a bigger display with the next decision and a extra aggressive aesthetic, and it additionally presents superb battery life that brings Home windows a lot nearer to Apple’s very environment friendly MacBook Air M3. It is not top-of-the-line laptops, but it surely’s an excellent choice for anybody who desires nice battery life and good efficiency in a extra inexpensive package deal.

Specs and configuration

There is just one configuration of the Swift Go 14 AI and it is just out there on Acer’s net retailer. It lists for $1,000, however is at present on sale for $800, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus chip, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 14.5-inch QHD+ IPS show.

On sale, that is a horny value for a well-configured laptop computer. You may think about {that a} 512GB mannequin would come even decrease if provided. Some Qualcomm laptops have are available on the similar value, just like the $895 Lenovo IdeaPad 5x 2-in-1 with a smaller, lower-resolution FHD+ OLED show. The Acer Swift 14 AI utilizing the Intel Lunar Lake chip is considerably dearer beginning at $1,200 with an FHD+ IPS show. We have seen extra premium choices just like the Floor Laptop computer seventh Version round this value when it’s on salehowever with much less storage.

design

The Swift Go 14 AI is actually a thicker model of the Swift 14 AI. It is roughly the identical width and depth, regardless of having a bigger display at 14.5 inches versus 14.0 inches. However, it’s a bit thicker and heavier. It is also a extra aggressive design, with massive openings beneath the lid that trace at a higher-performance laptop computer. Acer has integrated the identical sort of reverse cutout that Lenovo makes use of to maintain the highest bezel skinny whereas avoiding Apple’s display notch.

It is actually not that enticing, and that goes double for another current 14-inch machines just like the HP OmniBook Extremely Flip 14 with its sleeker aesthetic. The Swift Go 14 AI has a sweeping curve alongside the facet, however that contrasts with the sculpted traces on the rear of the chassis. By some means, it would not move in addition to the traces on the Swift 14 AI.

The all-aluminum construct is fairly good, with no bends, bends or twists within the lid, keyboard deck or backside chassis. That is frequent as of late, even in laptops beneath $1000. I actually cannot consider the final laptop computer I’ve reviewed that wasn’t nicely constructed, and that features the IdeaPad 5x 2-in-1 that typically retails for beneath $700.

Keyboard and touchpad

The keyboard is simply okay. The keycaps are a bit smaller than I like, whereas the important thing house and structure is comfy. The keys are a bit spongy, whereas the Swift 14 AI has clip-on switches and the OmniBook Extremely Flip 14 has a a lot better keyboard.

The touchpad is sort of massive and its mechanical design works fairly nicely. I want haptic contact keyboards as the most effective model on Apple MacBooks, however we’re not at a degree the place sub-$1000 laptops are geared up with them. Not like the Swift 14 AI, the Swift Go 14 AI doesn’t have a touchscreen. This may increasingly not matter to many individuals. The Swift Go 14 AI Contact has an LED that lights up when the AI ​​options are in use, however I did not see it interact throughout my testing.

Webcams and connections

The connection is sweet. There are two USB4 ports that present quick connectivity and two legacy ports. There is no SD card reader, which I am seeing on fewer laptops. Wi-fi is absolutely updated.

The webcam is a 144op model, i.e. increased decision than the brand new 1080p normal. Qualcomm’s chip has a quick neural processing unit (NPU) with 45 tera operations per second (TOPS), surpassing Microsoft Copilot+’s declare of 40 TOPS. Because of this Swift Go 14 AI will help all of the options of Copilot+ AI within the system with good effectivity and efficiency.

efficiency

The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 is an 8-core ARM-based chip working at 3.2GHz with a one-core increase to three.4GHz, in comparison with the opposite mainstream chip, the 12-core Snapdragon X Elite working. at 3.4 GHz with a dual-core increase at 4.0 GHz. This makes it slower, however as we’ll see it is nonetheless fairly quick and, actually, sooner than the Intel Core Extremely 7 258V that is a part of the Lunar Lake line. The Snapdragon X Plus has an Adreno GPU working at 1.7 TFLOPS, a lot slower than the Elite Adreno which is 3.8 TFLOPS or sooner.

In our benchmarks, the Swift Go 14 AI does nicely in CPU-intensive duties. It is sooner than both of the Lunar Lake laptops, however slower than the HP OmniBook X with the Snapdragon X Elite. It is slower in GPU efficiency, falling nicely behind the leaders right here. The MacBook Air M3 is quicker throughout the board with a single core and barely behind within the Cinebench R24 multi-core check.

Battery life

Qualcomm and Intel’s current focus has been on effectivity. Home windows laptops had fallen far behind Apple’s Silicon MacBooks when it comes to battery life, and that is modified.

The Swift Go 14 AI performs very nicely in each our net looking and video streaming benchmarks, promising multi-day battery life in case you do not push the chipset notably exhausting. That is Acer’s second win, because the Swift 14 AI with Intel Lunar Lake additionally stood out.

The MacBook Air M3 nonetheless appears fairly good, but it surely’s not true you could’t have Home windows and good battery life on the similar time.

Show and audio

The Swift Go 14 AI has one show choice, a 14.5-inch QHD+ (2560 x 1440) IPS show that runs at as much as 120Hz. That is an enchancment over the 14.0-inch FHD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS show on the Swift 14 AI that maxes out at 60Hz. Subjectively, I favored the additional sharpness on the Swift Go 14 AI, and colours and brightness had been good.

I’ve just lately commented that performances throughout the board have improved tremendously lately. Not solely are there extra OLED screens out there at decrease costs, however IPS screens have gotten brighter with higher distinction and wider, extra correct colours. The Swift Go 14 AI panel is according to that pattern. It is brilliant at 407 nits, nicely above our benchmark of 300 nits which we actually want to regulate. Distinction can also be good at 1,270:1, exceeding our 1,000:1 threshold – each display I’ve reviewed within the final couple of years is increased than that, in order that needs to be fine-tuned as nicely. Colours had been vast sufficient at 100% of sRGB, 80% of AdobeRGB and 82% of DCI-P3, and accuracy was good at a DeltaE of 1.61 (lower than 2.0 is nice for productiveness, however not optimum for artistic functions ).

This can be a good display with good sharpness, superb efficiency and doubtless represents an excellent trade-off between battery life and high quality.

Nonetheless, the audio is just not that good. It makes use of two bottom-firing audio system that sound ok for informal YouTube movies or video calls, however for the rest, a pair of headphones is beneficial.

Acer presents one other long-lasting 14-inch machine

The Swift Go 14 AI is not the prettiest laptop computer round. However it has a horny value, particularly if you will get it on sale. For simply $800, you get a well-built, absolutely configured laptop computer with an excellent IPS show.

However maybe most significantly, it is also quick for productiveness customers and has glorious battery life. You may need to make sure that your functions are supported on Home windows on Arm, however that is much less of a difficulty than it has been up to now. Should you can look previous the poor design, the Swift Go 14 AI is simple to suggest.