Reliable, long-lasting performance is the key to victory in almost any context, but especially so in laptops. That’s what Acer achieves with the Swift 14 AI.For $1,199, Acer offers incredible performance from the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 chipset combined with over 17 hours of battery life. Its aluminum chassis and a silky touchpad make for a more premium experience. While the display may be sharp and feature a high refresh rate, it does take a major hit in brightness and color.Despite those drawbacks, the Acer Swift 14 AI offers many of the hallmarks of an excellent laptop — but does it make it onto Laptop Mag’s list of the best laptops? Let’s find out.Acer Swift 14 AI: SpecsSwipe to scroll horizontallyPrice$1,199CPUSnapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100GPUQualcomm AdrenoRAM16GBStorage1TB SSDDisplay14.5-inch, 2560 x 1600, 120HzBattery17:30Size12.7 x 9.0 x 0.66~0.72 inchesWeight3.2 poundsAcer Swift 14 AI: Price and configurationsI reviewed the $1,199 version of the Acer Swift 14 AI, which features a Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 processor, 16GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, and a 14.5-inch, 2560 x 1600, 120Hz display. This is available at Best Buy. You can step down to the $1,049 model, which comes with the lower-tier Snapdragon X Plus X1P-64-100. That’s the only other available model, and it’s only at Acer and Newegg.(If you’re looking for something on a smaller budget, check out the best budget laptops.)Acer Swift 14 AI: DesignEven with its relatively light chassis, the Acer Swift 14 AI still feels robust; like I’m holding a sturdy metal brick, thanks to its aluminum build. The diamond-cut edges reveal glossy silver accenting its gray overall design. It looks as premium as a gray laptop can look. In the top right there’s a glossy Acer logo, and in the top left, there are some indecipherable connected dots, representing Acer’s AI branding for this laptop.(Image credit: Future/Rami Tabari)The interior features more of the same gray look, and the gray keyboard doesn’t contrast very well against the deck, especially since it’s a few shades off. The keyboard itself is slightly depressed into the chassis, while the touchpad below is a step higher and features a similar dotted design as the lid except it’s powered with LED lights (more on this later). The bezels on the side of the glossy display are thin, but the top is pretty thick, housing a webcam and even an extended lip beyond that.It looks as premium as a gray laptop can look.At 3.2 pounds and 12.7 x 8.9 x 0.38 inches, I was excited to see the thinnest laptop I’d ever tested. Unfortunately, that “0.38-inch” is inaccurate despite showing up that way on retailer websites. I knew it was wrong the moment I pulled the laptop out of the box — it felt relatively thick. I measured it myself, and it measured 0.67 inches. It’s possible someone hit a “3” instead of a “6.” An Acer representative tells Laptop Mag that the larger size is the official size, which is just slightly different: 12.7 x 9.0 x 0.66~0.72 inches. So, if you see “0.38” inches listed as the thickness for the Swift 14 AI on a retailer’s website, know that it’s wrong. (Acer tells Laptop it is going to fix the issue.)Here’s how Swift 14 AI compares with the competition:Acer Swift 14 AI: PortsThere’s a decent array of ports on board the Swift 14 AI, and while there’s no HDMI port, Acer includes a Type-C to HDMI dongle.(Image credit: Future/Rami Tabari)On the left you’ll find one USB Type-A port and two USB Type-C ports, while the right side features one USB Type-A port and a headphone jack.(Image credit: Future/Rami Tabari)Need more ports? Check out our best USB Type-C hubs and best laptop docking stations pages.Acer Swift 14 AI: DisplayThe Acer Swift’s 14.5-inch, 2560 x 1600, 120Hz display skirts the line between vivid and dull, between bright and dim. It’s neither good nor bad, but at the very least you get to watch content on a high-res, high-refresh screen.(Image credit: Future/Rami Tabari)I watched the Borderlands trailer, and in one scene Cate Blanchett’s red hair popped on screen, and in another scene the vault’s mysterious blue glow fell flat against the dark polyhedral objects. The day sky behind the characters was washed out but the night sky revealed the stars beyond Claptrap. Unfortunately, the glossy panel is working heavily against the Acer Swift 14. Using this laptop in the dark is your best bet.According to our colorimeter, the Swift 14 covered 75.6% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, which falls short of the average premium laptop (88.3%). It’s too far off from the MacBook Air (77.5%) and Zenbook 14 (79.8%). And it did beat the Inspiron 14 (69.1%).At 367 nits of brightness, the Swift 14 faces a wide gap against the category average (461 nits), MacBook Air (482 nits), and Inspiron 14 (470 nits). However, it did just outshine the Zenbook 14 (339 nits).Acer Swift 14 AI: Keyboard and touchpadTyping on the Acer Swift 14 is comfortable, but it’s not satisfying. The keys are as bouncy as they can be with low travel. I also noticed the space between the top of the touchpad and the spacebar flexes under pressure, so keep that in mind if you typically click around the center of the touchpad.(Image credit: Future/Rami Tabari)I typed 77 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test, which is below my usual 81-wpm average. Typing always felt a little off, like I couldn’t get my fingers positioned quite right. But most folks should be able to get used to it with time, unless you have larger hands, in which I’d recommend a bigger laptop.The 5.1 x 3.1-inch touchpad is surprisingly smooth given the price point, and that’s likely because the company needed a more quality component to house its LED lights in. The lights are backing Acer’s “AI indicator,” so anytime you’re using an AI feature, the aforementioned dots will light up. You can see it work even if you press the Copilot button.Acer Swift 14 AI: AudioWith a pair of side-firing speakers, the Swift 14 pumped out decent audio but it lacked the bass to carry percussion instruments.I listened to “Abyss” by YUNGBLUD and the opening guitar serenaded me until the vocals came through. Clear but hollow, like the richness had been sapped from the mids and highs. The following percussion was sharp; not unpleasant, but each beat sounded like the drummer was hitting an empty can.Acer includes a stripped-down version of the DTS audio app, which features presets for Music, Voice, and Entertainment as well as a Custom preset with an EQ and a few settings for automatic enhancements. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to create well-rounded speakers.Acer Swift 14 AI: PerformanceWith a shiny new Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 processor, the Acer Swift 14 AI juggled through a couple dozen Google Chrome tabs and a handful of YouTube videos without so much as a stutter. Let’s see how that translates to our benchmarks.(Image credit: Future/Rami Tabari)With a shiny new Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 processor, the Acer Swift 14 AI juggled through a couple dozen Google Chrome tabs and a handful of YouTube videos without so much as a stutter.On the Geekbench 6.3 overall performance test, the Acer Swift 14 AI scored 14,531, soaring over the average premium laptop (9,853). That crushes the competition, including the MacBook Air’s M3 (12,052), the Zenbook 14’s Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (12,707), and the Inspiron 14 Plus’ Snapdragon X Plus X1P-64-100 (13,281).Looking at a more real-world test, the Acer Swift 14 AI transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in just 4 minutes and 46 seconds on our HandBrake benchmark, dominating the average premium laptop (6:36). It was also nearly two minutes faster than the MacBook Air (6:30), Zenbook 14 (6:36), and Inspiron 14 Plus (6:23).Acer’s 1TB SSD rocked a transfer rate of 1,891 megabytes per second, transcending the category average (1,493 MBps), the Zenbook 14’s 1TB SSD (1,236 MBps), and the Inspiron 14 Plus’ 512GB SSD (1,510 MBps).Acer Swift 14 AI: AI performance and featuresAI is the new big trend in tech. Whether or not it will stick around for long is beyond me, but we’re here to see what chips like the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 can do. As a Copilot+ PC, we’re going to test the Acer Swift 14’s AI performance (see how we test AI PCs). Since this is relatively new, our testing methods will adapt as necessary. With that caveat, let’s see how the Acer Swift 14 AI did.On the Geekbench ML 0.6 AI performance test, the Acer Swift 14 AI hit an ONNX/CPU score of 2,925, which beats the Inspiron 14 Plus (2,764). However, it just misses the Zenbook 14 (2,971). The MacBook Air did not undergo this test, but the HP Spectre x360 14 2024 (2,876) did and the Swift outpaced it. For context, Qualcomm’s CPU may not be optimized for Geekbench ML 0.6. This doesn’t test the NPU, which is where Qualcomm ultimately beats the competition.New software and features come to Copilot+ laptops. The most interesting and controversial feature is Recall, which tracks the history of your PC. Like your browser history, you can hop around your timeline to see what you did hours ago. Now, this information is supposed to be stored locally, but with all these privacy lawsuits, it makes sense to be worried. You can adjust the information stored, and as of now, Recall is limited to Windows Insiders and disabled by default.Windows Studio Effects and Live Captions are among our favorite Copilot+ PC features. While AI art programs are also available, they are not without controversy.Acer Swift 14 AI: GraphicsAs we’ve seen with the slew of Snapdragon X Elite laptops, the Qualcomm Adreno GPU isn’t pulling its weight. Don’t expect greatness, or anything like it.On the 3DMark Fire Strike synthetic graphics test, the Acer Swift 14 AI scored 5,754, falling short of the average premium laptop (9,109). The Inspiron 14 Plus’ Adreno GPU falls in a similar boat (5,965), but the Zenbook 14’s Intel Arc Graphics is much closer to the standard (8,064).In a real-world test, the Acer Swift 14 AI hit an average of 21 frames per second on the Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm (Medium, 1080p) benchmark. That fails the 30-fps minimum, which the Inspiron 14 Plus also failed (21 fps). However, the game is playable on the Zenbook 14 (31 fps).Acer Swift 14 AI: Battery lifeThe Acer Swift 14 AI joins its Copilot+ siblings with its excellent battery life.On the Laptop Mag battery test, the Swift 14 survived 17 hours and 30 minutes. That crushes the average premium laptop (11:49). It even speeds past the MacBook Air (15:03) and Zenbook 14 (15:52), both of which are among the laptops with best battery life. However, the Inspiron 14 Plus cleared it by exactly 50 minutes (18:20).Acer Swift 14 AI: WebcamIt’s rare to see anything more than a 1080p webcam in a laptop, but Acer shoved in a whole 1440p webcam into the Acer Swift 14 AI. Is it good, though? Well, not really.(Image credit: Future/Rami Tabari)It does balance contrast better than most, as I could see the detail in the window blinds behind me where I would otherwise see a washed-out pillar of light. However, the color saturation is way off; everything looked a tinge more green than it should have. And despite the high resolution, the details were grainy; I couldn’t even tell where my hairline was (please, I’d like to keep it as I go into my thirties). I’d recommend picking up one of the best webcams.Acer Swift 14 AI: HeatMaybe don’t put the Acer Swift 14 AI in your lap.After streaming a 15-minute video, the Acer Swift 14 AI clocked in at 100 degrees Fahrenheit on the underside, which is above our 95-degree comfort threshold. Meanwhile, the center of the keyboard and touchpad hit 94 and 79 degrees. The hottest temperature we saw was 118 degrees, located on the left rear underside just above the second vent from the left.Acer Swift 14 AI: Software and warrantyAcer loves filling its laptops with bloatware, from the Booking.com app to its own App Explorer. Kick those to the curb and focus on the AcerSense app. There you’ll find all the important bits, including performance settings, performance monitoring, battery settings, updates, system checkups, and blue light settings.The Swift 14 AI comes with a one-year limited warranty. See how Acer performed on our Tech Support Showdown ranking.Bottom lineThe Acer Swift 14 AI isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty damn good. Its battery life and performance are top notch. The touchpad is great and I love the specs for the display. However, in practice, the display is pretty poor.If you are looking for something prettier, check out the MacBook Air, which is leagues brighter and offers slightly more color depth. It also features competitive battery life and performance, not to mention a better keyboard and touchpad experience.Despite that, the Acer Swift 14 AI is a great choice for those who want something reliable and capable of putting in that AI elbow grease (a.k.a. doing the work for you — sorry not sorry).
