Surprisingly portable for its size, the Acer Swift 16 AI is a lightweight all-purpose laptop built to get you through the day.
I generally prefer my laptops to be smaller in frame, but Acer’s big-screen device ticks a lot of boxes. It has all the benefits of a 16-inch laptop, like a full-sized keyboard and plenty of ports, with the convenience usually associated with a smaller computer.
I do think the “AI” designation in the laptop’s name is a little bit of a misnomer, purely because there’s not much on offer that’s tangibly different to other laptops. That’s neither here nor there, having minimal impact on the impressive hardware.
First impressions
I’ve mentioned it before, and I’ll keep on mentioning it: I like devices with visual flair. Aesthetically pleasing materials, splashes of colour, and a strong sense of style; I’m all about it.
For the most part, the Acer Swift 16 AI is a fairly basic-looking laptop. Its dark aluminium finish is safe, not clashing with anything, nor does it stand out. It’s not to my tastes, but I know black and dark colours are popular choices among the masses.
What I love, however, is the snazzy metallic edge bordering the whole laptop. It’s a blend between rose gold and copper colour that stands out as a premium touch on an otherwise unassuming device. I acknowledge it wouldn’t be anywhere near as effective if the laptop weren’t such a dark colour, so kudos to Acer for adding a bit of personality.
Generally speaking, the Swift 16 AI is a traditional 16-inch clamshell laptop. It turns on, walks you through the Windows 11 startup, and runs as expected. Acer also knows where to put the power button: right above the keyboard. Looking at you, Lenovo.
Acer Swift 16 AI specifications and price
| Display | 16-inch, 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED 120Hz refresh rate |
| Dimensions | 356 x 249.42 x 10/15.95 mm 1.46kg |
| Processor | Intel Core Ultra 7 258V |
| Graphics | Integrated Intel Arc graphics |
| RAM | 32GB LPDDR5X |
| Storage | 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD |
| Battery | 70 Wh 3-cell Li-ion battery 65W AC power adaptor |
| Connectivity | 2x USB 3.2 (Type A, Gen1) 2x USB4 (Type-C) 1 x HDMI 2.1 3.5mm headphone jack Wi-Fi 7 Bluetooth 5.4 |
| Price (RRP) | Starts at $1,999 Listed on Harvey Norman for $2,398 |
| Warranty | One year |
| Official website | Acer Australia |
Design
I’ve already waxed lyrical about the aesthetics of the laptop’s design, so I’ll focus on the functional elements here.
Even though the Acer Swift 16 AI is a 16-inch machine (it’s right there in the name, after all), it doesn’t look big. It might not fit into my laptop sleeve, but at 1.46kg, it doesn’t add much weight to my backpack. That’s even lighter than smaller-screened devices, which is a decent achievement.
Another nice touch is that the keyboard raises into a slightly more ergonomic position when lifting the lid open. Instead of sitting completely flat, it nicely angles upwards on a slight incline. It’s not my favourite keyboard in the world – it’s responsive and works well enough – but the keycaps are a bit too flat for my liking and don’t produce the nice tactile feeling I enjoy when typing. However, the elevated angle helps provide a more comfortable typing experience.
Along the sides, the Acer Swift 16 AI rounds out the full range of I/O ports, as you’d expect from a 16-inch laptop. On the left-hand side are two USB-C ports, a USB-A port, and an HDMI 2.1 port. Then on the right is another USB-A port and a 3.5mm audio jack. It’s a good mix of connectivity options that’ll work with a wide range of peripherals.
Performance
There’s not much to fault here; the Acer Swift 16 AI is a more-than-capable laptop suited to the needs of most folks. Word processing? Easy. Web browsing? Not a problem. A bit of media editing? Consider it done.
Importantly, the Swift does it all without needing to have a charger on tap. Acer’s quoted 20-hour battery life may be a bit generous, as it’s based on video playback, but I comfortably got through a work day with leftover battery for the next day.
Equipped with an OLED screen, the Acer Swift 16 AI has a display that’s lovely to look at. It’s colorful, vibrant, and shows a lot of contrast. Like a lot of OLED laptop displays, it errs on the dim side, so it can’t stave off glare if you need to use it outside. Inside, where you have full control over the lighting? No worries at all.
Now, the “AI” in the laptop’s name might make you think that it offers some revolutionary experience you can’t get anywhere else. No matter how much Copilot and similar technologies worm their way onto more devices, I still haven’t found a reliably useful purpose for them.
I do my own writing, and I do my own photo editing, mainly because I don’t like the quality of AI’s output (although there are also strong ethical arguments to be made). Fortunately, it’s all relatively easy to ignore in favour of the decent hardware it’s housed in.
Benchmarks
CPU
Compared to the first series Intel Core Ultra 7 chip, the second-gen version seems to perform better on single-core CPU performance, but slightly lower on multi-core performance. This is likely a result of Intel focusing more on efficiency; the chipset is still decent without topping the benchmark charts.
Without getting too stuck in the weeds, the following results suggest reasonable CPU performance. That’s handy for just about all levels of computing, from everyday tasks to gaming.
| Device | CPU (Single-core) | CPU (Multi-core) |
| Apple MacBook Air M4 | 3,751 | 14,789 |
| Dell XPS 14 (2024) | 2,349 | 12,941 |
| Acer Swift Go 14 (2024) | 2,421 | 12,639 |
| Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition | 2,658 | 11,109 |
| Acer Swift 16 AI | 2,708 | 10,961 |
| Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024) | 2,581 | 12,160 |
| Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 | 1,567 | 8,761 |
| Device | CPU (Single-core) | CPU (Multi-core) |
| Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 | 86 | 927 |
| Acer Swift Go 14 | 104 | 903 |
| Asus Zenbook Duo (UX8406) | 105 | 763 |
| Apple MacBook Air M4 | 173 | 746 |
| Dell XPS 14 | 102 | 660 |
| Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition | 120 | 618 |
| Acer Swift 16 AI | 121 | 513 |
Graphics
Interestingly, the Swift 16 AI returned a slightly lower score on Geekbench’s GPU test than last year’s Swift Go 14, despite using Intel’s newer chip. As you can see, there’s also a bit of variability between the Swift 16 AI and the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i, which is expected from benchmarking tools.
Regardless, the benchmarking scores show the difference between laptops that use integrated graphics versus those with discrete GPUs. Acer’s laptop is still more than capable of a decent level of graphically intensive work. Photo editing and video editing work just fine; high-level 3D rendering would be better suited to a machine with dedicated graphics.
| Device | GPU (OpenCL) |
| Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (Gen 8, RTX 4070) | 158,787 |
| Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 (RTX 4070) | 119,970 |
| Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (RTX 4060) | 96,452 |
| Dell XPS 14 (RTX 4050) | 65,396 |
| Acer Swift Go 14 | 34,388 |
| Acer Swift 16 AI | 29,111 |
| Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition | 26,933 |
As for gaming, most games can run in 1080p on Acer’s laptop, as indicated by a healthy score on 3DMark’s Steel Nomad (Light) test. A lot of games support software-based upscaling and frame generation, which makes them more viable on laptops with integrated graphics.
Once upon a time, it would’ve been heresy to suggest major titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur’s Gate 3 could run without a separate graphics card. Now, it’s just a given. 4K fiends who want the highest fidelity still need a dedicated GPU, but for everyone else, the built-in graphics work capably.
| Device | Score |
| Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition | 3,281 |
| Acer Swift 16 AI | 3,230 |
| Acer TravelMate | 2,993 |
| Asus Vivobook S 15 | 2,037 |
Storage speed
When the specs between laptops are so similar, disk speed can be a notable point of difference. If the included storage can read and write faster, that’s less time spent waiting for file transfers, especially when working with large photo and video files.
Running the Acer Swift 16 AI through CrystalDiskMark, a benchmarking tool that measures disk speed, the laptop returned sequential read speeds up to 6,383 MB/s and write speeds up to 5,747 MB/s.
That’s on the higher end of consumer laptops and is speedier than the SSD found in the recently reviewed Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition. It makes Acer’s laptop a potentially more attractive option for photographers and videographers whose workflow requires transferring large files to and from storage drives.
Who is the Acer Swift 16 AI for?
In the world of consumer laptops, most devices tend to aim to be nearly everything to everyone. That means enough power to handle the most-used software, and enough battery life to get through the day.
On that front, the Acer Swift 16 AI succeeds. 16 inches might be a bit much for everyone’s preferences, but it’s one of the more portable 16-inch laptops available. With its stature comes a full suite of ports, a long-lasting battery, and versatile performance, providing little to complain about.
The post Acer Swift 16 AI review: All-day battery in a deceptively slim laptop appeared first on GadgetGuy.
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