At a look
Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Impressively light-weight
- Respectably lengthy battery life
- Gorgeous show with glorious anti-glare
- Clean, modest appears to be like
Cons
- Slightly subdued efficiency
- Unimpressive audio system
- Subpar mics and digital camera
Our Verdict
It’s not with out its faults, however the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI in any other case delivers an important all-around expertise with further factors going to the beautiful matte show. If you’re extra usually on the transfer than not, the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI will make an important accomplice.
Price When Reviewed
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Best Pricing Today
Price When Reviewed
$1,499
Best Prices Today: 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 additionally an exceptionally low weight at simply 2.18 kilos. Meanwhile, 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 completely different environments because of a potent matte end I’d like to see extra of. For the fitting people, this could possibly be a really robust possibility.
Acer Swift Edge 14 AI: Specs and options
- CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 258V
- Memory: 32GB LPDDR5X-8533
- Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc 140V
- Display: 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 Power Delivery and DisplayPort Alternate Mode, 2x USB 3.2 Type -A, 1x 3.5mm combo audio, 1x HDMI
- Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
- Biometrics: Windows Hello 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 affords a stepped-down mannequin for $1,399 that swaps to an Intel Core Ultra 7 256V and 16GB of reminiscence, which is sacrificing a bit an excessive amount of simply to shave $100 off. Another configuration bumps as much as an Intel Core Ultra 9 288V and raises the worth to $1,599.
The Acer Swift Edge 14 AI’s show is maybe probably the most wonderful I’ve seen on a laptop computer.
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. In spite 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 ft 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 two 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 to be like 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. Underneath, the laptop computer can also be easy with two huge rubber ft, 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 constantly being disillusioned by their keyboards, I’ve to confess I didn’t have excessive hopes for the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI. But it looks as if Acer could have turned a nook. The key caps appear just a bit bit flatter than prior gadgets, and that makes a world of distinction relating to staying centered by really feel.
Stabilization isn’t spectacular, however is adequate to maintain the keys from tilting an excessive amount of. I discovered myself far more snug typing on this keyboard than simply about some other 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.
While it’s good to have backlighting on a keyboard, Acer’s implementation isn’t supreme. White keyboards with white backlighting are inclined to look fairly terrible because it turns right into a kind of sloppy grey, and the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI isn’t any exception. On high of that, having the backlighting on in a vibrant room finally ends up making the keyboard much less legible because it reduces the distinction. And Acer opts to show it on routinely in some circumstances.
The trackpad can also be glorious. 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: Display, audio
Foundry / Mark Knapp
The Acer Swift Edge 14 AI’s show is maybe probably the most wonderful I’ve seen on a laptop computer. Anti-glare and matte finishes could be contentious, as a result of they decrease the perceived distinction when viewing in extraordinarily darkish environments. But all over the place 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 effectively from its 120Hz refresh fee. Factor within the huge shade gamut, which covers 100 p.c of the DCI-P3 shade house and reaches 398.3 nits of peak brightness for a full white display, and also you’ve acquired one thing particular.
The reality that you may take pleasure in all of that so effectively with the robust anti-glare properties of the Gorilla Matte Pro 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 can put out an excellent little bit of sound, letting you hear them even when you don’t have good quiet to pay attention in. But 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 rely 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 at the least has an excellent publicity. Its help of Windows Hello facial recognition makes for fast sign-ons but additionally comes alongside a really huge subject of view for the digital camera. This makes me seem very small within the video feed it captures until I’ve my face inside a foot of the lens. It’s potential to crop in, however that might 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 affect on precise readability in what I used to be saying, typically outright cancelling out my voice together with background noise. Disabling the results resulted in clearer sound, however with extra background noise. In both case, my voice wasn’t very full.
In addition to facial recognition, the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI helps fingerprint login with a scanner constructed into the facility button. In testing, this labored rapidly, simply, and constantly.
Acer Swift Edge 14 AI: Connectivity
The Acer Swift Edge 14 AI proved robust with its connectivity. It has a good 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. Most of the ports are additionally on the left facet with only one USB-A port and the AUX jack on the fitting. 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 effectively with Intel Killer 1750i Wi-Fi 7. It proved quick and steady 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 linked simply and remained steady when paired with headphones in testing.
Acer Swift Edge 14 AI: Performance
The Acer Swift Edge 14 AI is probably not a high-performance machine, however with its Intel Core Ultra 7 258V, it’s no slouch. That chip is powering loads of thin-and-light laptops, combining responsive speeds and powerful effectivity.
It affords a stage of efficiency that’s ample for primary workplace duties, as we see it hit a strong rating within the holistic PCMark 10 benchmark. Not solely does it carry out effectively for shopping, video calls, writing, and spreadsheet work, however because of 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 light-weight comes with trade-offs. There’s much less room for air to movement successfully, and cooling {hardware} additionally provides loads of weight. Some laptops will let their followers kick up a racket to attempt 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 Edition working on the identical CPU managed it in simply over 22 minutes.
Meanwhile, AMD’s {hardware} within the HP OmniBook 7 Aero truly proved much more stout regardless of additionally being in a light-weight 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 in regards to the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI’s general 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. But when working shorter, bursty workloads like Cinebench R23 and R15, the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI roughly tied with the Lenovo Yoga 9i. Still, neither had been a match for the HP system’s quicker CPU.
So whereas the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI could not energy by heavy duties effectively, it could stay responsive and sort out mild duties rapidly. 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.
While 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. Where graphical horsepower is anxious, it turns the tides on AMD’s built-in Radeon graphics (at the least 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 effectively forward of the HP OmniBook 7 Aero.
That repeats in 3DMark Night Raid as effectively, and people wins come largely thanks to large leads within the Graphics subtests, although additionally they lead within the CPU sub-tests doubtless because of 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 a number of 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 applications — as on this 3DMark take a look at — it could fall manner 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. When 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. While that is probably not as spectacular as a number of the different techniques, 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 all the pieces however the HP system. Our take a look at additionally permits for the techniques to dim their shows after 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 vibrant 178 nits that’s simply viewable with the matte show end.
More typical workplace and informal use noticed no much less spectacular battery life. The system was sometimes on observe for anyplace from 9 to 14 hours of runtime. Three straight hours of lively use solely drained the battery by 32 p.c.
Another session of intermittent use that included watching a complete film, some shopping, and loads of idling with the display on noticed the laptop computer lose simply 57 p.c cost over the course of eight hours and 15 minutes. All of this was with the show nonetheless set to its 250-260 nit stage, which is greater than vibrant sufficient for indoor use because of the show’s robust anti-glare impact. And all of that was with the show working at 120Hz. More vitality financial savings could be had by dialing that right 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 when you’re on the lookout for a light-weight, fairly 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 glorious visible high quality with a hardly ever used matte end that will have a minor affect on brilliance however has a huge effect on how straightforward 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 prior to now. All this comes collectively to make the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI an excellent little accomplice for working and leisure on the transfer, simply carry your individual headphones.