Acer’s 2024 Swift laptops are its big AI PC push

Acer plans three new Swift laptops for CES 2024, aligned around Intel’s Core Ultra (Meteor Lake): two Swift Go laptops offering quality displays and improvements in memory and storage, plus a Swift X that pushes higher into Intel’s H-series Core Ultra processors alongside an Nvidia RTX 40-series GPU for content creation and light gaming.

Acer’s laptop lineup is well-defined: the Travelmate line of business laptops, the famously budget Aspire brand, and the premium Swift lineup of consumer laptops with a professional bent. Of those, Acer aims the Swift Edge at AMD’s Ryzen lineup, reserving the Swift Go and Swift X at Intel’s Core chips, with its Predator lineup focused on gamers. New for the Swift 2024 lineup are 14- and 16-inch Swift Go models (the SFG14-73 and SFG16-72), plus the 14-inch Swift X (SFX14-72G).

Both of the new Swift Gos are moderately priced, both shipping in March. The Swift Go 14 will start at $749.99, while the Swift Go 16 will be priced at a surprisingly low $799.99, given the added screen real estate. The Swift X 14 will ship in February for $1,399.99. They’re all Intel Evo Edition-class devices, indicating that they’ve received specific testing and co-engineering with Intel.

What’s new? Besides the component upgrades, the three new Swifts can now be opened to 180 degrees and feature webcam shutters. Both of Acer’s new Swift Go lines will boast the new Copilot key, Microsoft’s addition to induce users to use Microsoft’s cloud-based AI assistant. Intel’s Core Ultra / Meteor Lake chips feature an on-chip NPU, to which Acer is adopting a go-slow approach: It will be adding AI-specific apps throughout the year. However, the new Swift laptops are using Temporal Noise Reduction and what Acer calls PurifiedView and PurifiedVoice 2.0 for AI-filtered audio and video, with a three-mic array.

Swift Go 16

Otherwise, the improvements are functional: The Swift Go 16 includes a new OLED option, specifically a rather gorgeous 3200×2000 16-inch display that offers 120Hz refresh rates, too.

OLED displays are generally aimed at content consumption, with pure blacks. In this case, the display is DisplayHDR True Black 500 rated, with a DCI-P3 color gamut rating of 100 percent. Acer also provides 2560×1600 (60Hz) and 1920×1200 (60Hz) IPS panel options for those who don’t want to buy a premium display.

Acer is also offering 32GB of LPDDR5X memory alongside up to 2TB of PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage, a welcome new tier in both memory and SSD storage. Inside is either a 65W or a 50W battery, depending on the configuration, alongside Intel’s Killer Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 options. (That will equate to 12.5 hours of battery life for the Swift Go 14, and 10.5 hours for the Swift Go 16.) Acer’s Swift Go 16 does offer a 1440p webcam, though if it’s like others in its class it will essentially be a 1080p webcam, with some additional resolution reserved for a digital zoom capability.

Both the Swift Go 16 and 14 offer several processor options: the Core Ultra 9 185H, the Ultra 7 155H and 155U, and the Ultra 5 125H and 125U. The “H” class chips offer more performance than the lower-powered U offerings; for more details, you can review our Core Ultra/Meteor Lake launch article.

The Swift Go 16 measures 14.02 x 9.62 x 0.59 inches, and 3.53 pounds.

Swift Go 14

The smaller display robs the Swift Go 14 of some of the pixels of its larger cousin, but there’s still an OLED option. Swift Go 14 buyers will be able to choose between a 2880×1800 display at a slower 90Hz refresh rate, though the display is also DisplayHDR TrueBlack 500 certified. IPS options at 2880×1880 (120Hz), 2240×1400 (60Hz), and 1920×1200 (60Hz) are also available.

Acer is offering Swift Go 14 memory configurations of up to 32GB of LPDDR5X, plus up to 2GB of PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage.

One of the features of the Swift Go 14 are the media controls integrated into the touchpad, which allows you to play, pause, fast-forward, and adjust the volume at the touch of a…touchpad.

Otherwise, the specs are the same: 65W/50W battery options, Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 options, as well as a 1440p webcam. Acer didn’t release the port configuration for either of the Swift Go models.

The Swift Go 14 measures 12.32 x 8.58 x 0.59 inches, and 2.76 pounds.

Swift X 14

Acer only offers one version of the Swift X, the 14-inch model. However, Acer squeezed a few more pixels into the chassis, versus the “14-inch” Swift Go 14; the Swift X’s screen options include a 14.5-inch 2880×1880 120Hz OLED display plus a 2560×1600 120Hz alternative, both with Calman color verification, 100 percent DCI-P3 color range, and 500 nits of brightness. Only two processor choices are offered, however: the Core Ultra 7 155H and the Core Ultra 5 125H processor.

Here, Acer made other interesting concessions: Instead of offering up to 2TB of storage, there’s just a single terabyte on offer, and the Wi-Fi 7 options found in the Swift Gos are absent, too, in favor of Wi-Fi 6E. However, you’ll still be able to buy a Swift X with up to 32GB of LPDDR5X memory. Acer also says that the Swift X 14 includes a pair of USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4. An HDMI 2.1 port and a microSD reader slot are also included.

What makes the Swift X the Swift X, though, is the addition of the GPU, specifically a GeForce RTX 4070, 4060, or 4050, plus the cheaper alternative of the older 3050 for those who want to save even more. (Last year, Acer and others were offering an RTX 20-series GPU instead as a cheaper option.)

All that horsepower comes with a bigger battery: 76W, which helps push the weight to 3.42 pounds. We had a limited bit of time to hold and play with the Swift X, but it didn’t feel overwhelmingly heavy at all, with a nice combination of screen size and light weight. The Swift X measures 12.7 x 8.98 x 0.7 inches.

Author: Mark Hachman, Senior Editor