Acer Swift X 14 review: The price is astounding, and the performance is surprising

Over the last several years, there have been a great deal of excellent alternatives to the 16-inch MacBook Pro, but the 14-inch model is rather more difficult to compete with. There are very few choices available that can compete with the M3 Pro or M3 Max in terms of GPU performance, and gaming laptops are the only exception to this rule.

On the other hand, the Acer Swift X 14 is a portable notebook designed for creators that can carry up to an RTX 4070 graphics card. Include the 2.8K OLED display and an inexpensive price tag, and you have the makings of a really enticing laptop, which is precisely what the Swift X 14 is since it has all of these characteristics.

Acer Swift X 14 review: Specs and configurations

We offer the Swift X 14 in two different configurations to choose from. A 14.5-inch 2.8K OLED display, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB solid-state drive, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 graphics processing unit, and an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H chipset are all included in the initial model, which has a price tag of $1,400. For $1,700, you get 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and an RTX 4070.

Although they are premium costs, they are quite appealing for a 14-inch laptop that is geared toward artistic endeavors and may be purchased with a very powerful graphics processing unit (GPU). In contrast, the most significant rival of the Swift X 14, the Dell XPS 14, has a price tag of $2,500 when it is outfitted with the identical combinations of chipset, RAM, storage, and GPU as the basic model of the Acer Swift X 14. On the other hand, the XPS 14 is only capable of supporting the RTX 4050, and the cost of upgrading it to 32GB of RAM is $2,700. Although the XPS 14 may be bought with 64 gigabytes of random access memory (RAM) and up to four terabytes of storage space, it will not be as quick in the creative applications that these two laptops are designed to run.

It will be shown that the Swift X 14 is a formidable rival to the XPS 14, while having a price tag that is $1,000 lower. I find it to be rather remarkable. It is important to take note that the RTX 4070 configuration is not currently available for purchase at this time. On the other hand, it is anticipated that it will be accessible not long after this review is released.

Acer Swift X 14 review: Is it design

In spite of the fact that Acer optimized the Swift X 14’s performance to be more suitable for power users and creators’ workstations, the appearance of the laptop is somewhat more reminiscent of a gaming laptop. To put it another way, its angles and back vent, although not excessive, do not have the same type of current design that you will find on the Dell XPS 14 and a contemporary 2-in-1 like the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 9. It goes without saying, but it also lacks the sleek sophistication of the MacBook Pro 14, which is a highlight of the product.

However, in the grand scheme of things, it is not nearly as harmful as it may seem. The steel gray color scheme is quite similar throughout, with the only thing that breaks it up being the chrome Acer logo that is located on the lid. It has a more traditional appearance, and it is not as streamlined and “fashionable” as some of the other 14-inch alternatives. The display bezels are made of plastic and are not very huge, but they have an appearance that is quite retro. This is perhaps the one characteristic that is the most detracting.

Because the chassis, lid, and keyboard deck are all made of aluminum, there is no bending, flexing, or twisting in any of these components. The build quality is quite high. Although the XPS 14 is more stiff than this one, I can’t really complain about it. While the hinge opens without any difficulty, it does not have the same feel as the dual-clutch version that Dell offers. When compared to the XPS 14, the Swift X 14 weighs 3.4 pounds, while the XPS 14 weighs 3.7 pounds. However, the Swift X 14 is much thicker, measuring up to 8 inches as opposed to 0.71 inches. Additionally, it is a little bit deeper and broader. The Acer is a touch heavier than the MacBook Pro 14, which weighs 3.6 pounds, but the MacBook Pro 14 is slimmer than both the Acer and the Dell, measuring 0.61 inches. Because of this, the Swift X 14 is a computer that is relatively portable, although it is not nearly as slim as some of its immediate rivals.

When it comes to 14-inch laptops, the Swift X 14 is not the most stylish, cutting-edge, or compact option available. On the other hand, it is more than adequate, especially when one takes into account the very inexpensive price.

Acer Swift X 14 review: Is it a touchpad or a keyboard?

This keyboard is a decent entry, with keycaps that are somewhat smaller than average but plenty of space between each key. Although the switches are somewhat stiff, they are nonetheless springy and accurate in their operation. While I was composing this article, I found it to be comfortable enough to use and simpler to get accustomed to than the zero-lattice keyboard on the XPS 14, which has key travel that is shorter than standard. The Magic Keyboard on the MacBook continues to be my favorite keyboard since it has keys that are similarly shallow but switches that are exceptionally quick and accurate.

The touchpad is big enough to be comfortable, and it has a surface that allows for accurate swiping as well as clicks that are silent and confident. Although it is comparable to the majority of mechanical touchpads, luxury laptops are increasingly adopting haptic touchpads, which I find to be a much more satisfying experience. The concealed haptic touchpad on the XPS 14 is excellent, and once again, the Force Touch haptic touchpad on the MacBook continues to be the industry standard for a good reason.

When it comes to the Swift X 14, Acer does not provide a touchscreen option. While there are a lot of folks who don’t care, I personally like a touch display. It seems that I failed to notice one here.

Acer Swift X 14 review: What about connectivity?

When it comes to networking, the Swift X 14 takes the cake over the XPS 14. In contrast to Dell, which only supports USB-C and Thunderbolt 4, Acer features a diverse selection of ports that include both current and older options. A microSD card reader is included in the Swift X 14, just as it is in the XPS 14, but I would like to see a full-size version of the reader. There is also one on the MacBook Pro 14, in addition to its own unique assortment of connectors.

Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 are both included in the Swift X 14, which means that it has decent wireless connection. The Wi-Fi 7 standard is found in certain computers, but it won’t be relevant for many years to come. A picture of high quality may be obtained via the camera, which is a 1080p version.

PurifiedView is a piece of software developed by Acer that incorporates a number of artificial intelligence-enhanced capabilities and is compatible with the Windows Studio effect. It allows for automated framing, improved background blur, and gaze correction. When it comes to speed and efficiency, Microsoft’s utility is able to take advantage of the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) that is included in the Meteor Lake chipset. Additionally, Acer refers to Gimp, which has a few functions that are enabled by the NPU. The NPU, on the other hand, is not of much help in the majority of situations.

In Windows 11, the Hello face recognition feature does not include an infrared camera, which is my preferred option. The fact that it is absent from a premium laptop is a bit strange, but I presume that these are the areas in which Acer made concessions in order to save costs. To our good fortune, the fingerprint sensor that is built into the power button functions adequately.

Acer Swift X 14 review: Can you perform

In the world of laptops, the Swift X 14 is a unique breed. There are not many 14-inch computers that are not focused on gaming that are capable of being equipped with an RTX 4070, and as has been emphasized throughout this review, the XPS 14 is Acer’s most significant competition. In spite of the fact that the XPS 14 has the same 28-watt Core Ultra 7 155H chipset, which possesses 16 cores (six performance, eight efficiency, and two low power efficiency) and 22 threads, it is only supplied with the RTX 4050, which is a much slower graphics card.

Although both laptops have a system thermal design power (TDP) of 80 watts, the Acer is more powerful than the Dell in terms of its thermal design power. The highest amount of power that the RTX 4050 can use is 50 watts, while the RTX 4070 can consume up to 115 watts. This indicates that the XPS 14 is able to provide the central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) with their maximum power output (not including Turbo Power), but the Swift X 14 must strike a little more delicate balance by providing 30 watts to the CPU and 50 watts to the GPU. The Swift X 14 is still a 14-inch laptop, which means it has less thermal headroom than the 16-inch computers that are normally where the RTX 4070 is found. This is something that should be taken into consideration.

Even with the Acer’s fairly aggressive cooling system, which includes fans that speed up quite a bit in performance and turbo modes, this indicates that performance will inevitably be more constrained. This is the case even when the speed of the fans increases quite a bit. Some 16-inch computers, such as the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra and the Dell XPS 16, likewise restrict power to 80 watts (60 watts to their RTX 4070s). On the other hand, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 provides 130 watts to its RTX 4060 and 45-watt Core Ultra 9 185H processor. It dominates the market for laptops running Windows.

The Core Ultra 7 165H, which is slightly quicker than the Core Ultra 7 165H, was used in our assessment of the XPS 14, which means that the Core Ultra 7 155H, which is available for configuration right now, would be somewhat slower in CPU-intensive applications.

According to the results of our benchmarks, the Swift X 14 is comparable with other 16-inch Windows laptops, with the exception of the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, which is a genuine gaming laptop. With the exception of Geekbench 6, it is much quicker than the XPS 14 in every single category. In the PugetBench Premiere Pro test, which measures performance in a live version of Adobe’s Premiere Pro video-editing program, it is 46% quicker than the XPS 14, which is the most crucial aspect of this comparison. This creative application in Windows takes advantage of the graphics processing unit (GPU) to speed up a variety of activities, and the Swift X 14’s much faster GPU makes it a more efficient creative workstation than the XPS 14.

On the whole, these are remarkable performances for a 14-inch laptop that is not intended for gaming. However, the MacBook Pro 14 with the M3 Max chipset is much quicker than the MacBook Pro 16 (I am using the results from the MacBook Pro 16 for this comparison; however, the 14-inch variant is nearly as fast), but the MacBook is also somewhat more costly.

It is possible that you are anticipating playing games on the Swift X 14 if you have an RTX 4070. The Swift X 14 is capable of serving as a very fine 1080p gaming machine and is even quite fast at 1440p, despite the fact that it uses Nvidia’s Studio drivers, which are optimized for artistic and other applications rather than gaming.

We did not put the XPS 14 through our set of gaming benchmarks since the RTX 4050 that it has is not powerful enough to handle the workload. I’m going to do a comparison between the Swift X 14 and a few laptops that have a screen size of 16 inches. The Swift X 14 performed better than the XPS 16 in the 3DMark Time Spy test, but it was no match for the Samsung Galaxy Book4 in terms of performance. In terms of speed, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 was much quicker. The Swift X 14 was once again somewhat slower across the board in Red Dead Redemption 2, although it was still extremely playable. Additionally, the Swift X 14 was remarkably quick while playing Cyberpunk 2077 at a resolution of 1440p and extreme graphics with FSR 2.1 set to Quality.

If you reduce the resolution to 1080p, you will get even greater performance. Additionally, you will be able to experience tear-free gaming thanks to the quality of the OLED display and the 120Hz refresh rate.

Acer Swift X 14 review: How long does the battery last?

Within the Swift X 14, there is a battery that has a capacity of 76 watt-hours, and it is coupled with a Core Ultra 7 155H processor that is quite efficient, as well as an OLED display that has a good resolution. My observations have shown that the combination in question does not provide the longest battery life.

The Swift X 14 was only able to complete 7.25 hours of online surfing in our test, which consisted of cycling through a succession of complicated URLs. It is a test that is somewhat demanding and provides an estimate of how long the laptop will continue to function with a light amount of work. In addition, the Swift X 14 only survived for 7.25 hours in our video test, which cycles through a local full-high-definition film. This is in contrast to the majority of laptops, which run for ten hours or more.

Not only are they not the greatest results I’ve seen, but they are also not the worst outcomes I’ve seen. At 8.25 hours and 10 hours, respectively, the XPS 14 with its OLED display has a greater battery life than the other two. Generally speaking, the Swift X 14 is not expected to survive for almost a whole day of a regular workflow, and if you are utilizing the RTX 4070, it will not last for more than a few hours. With a battery life that is at least twice as long as its predecessor, the MacBook Pro 14 is the undisputed champion in this category. It is capable of lasting through a significant portion of a full day of arduous work.

Acer Swift X 14 review: The audio and the display

One display option is available for the Swift X 14, and it is a 14.5-inch OLED screen with a 16:10 aspect ratio and 2.8K resolution (2880 x 1800). Along the same lines as all of the other OLED displays that I have evaluated, it is really stunning straight out of the box, and it provides a fantastic first impression with vivid, vibrant colors and deep blacks.

As far as my colorimeter is concerned, there is absolutely nothing to be concerned about. The brightness was very high at 405 nits, the colors were vivid at 100% of sRGB, 95% of AdobeRGB, and 100% of DCI-P3, and the accuracy of the colors was outstanding with a Delta-E of 0.87 (a value of less than 1.0 is regarded as excellent). And the contrast was exceptionally great, coming in at 13,920:1, and the blacks were flawless. This is a minor improvement over the OLED display option that was available on the XPS 14, which had a brightness of 374 nits and did not have the same color gamut coverage, which was 85% of AdobeRGB and 97% of DCI-P3.

The Swift X 14 is an excellent choice for a creative who is looking for a laptop with a 14-inch screen that offers a display that is true in terms of color and also has very strong performance. This is also an excellent choice for media users who are looking for high dynamic range (HDR) performance. The mini-LED display on the MacBook Pro 14 is likely to be the only one that is significantly superior.

There is not nearly as much of a noticeable quality in the audio. Sound quality is satisfactory, with enough loudness and distinct mids and highs, thanks to the presence of two front-firing speakers. The bass, on the other hand, is missing, which gives the XPS 14 and, even more so, the outstanding six-speaker configuration with force-canceling woofers in the MacBook Pro 14 a clear victory.

Acer Swift X 14 review: Final thoughts

There isn’t a 14-inch laptop that looks as good as the Swift X 14, however. In fact, it is quite cumbersome and not totally up-to-date. On the other hand, this is not a problem since it is a very quick laptop that has an impressive OLED display. It is one of the most portable laptops that may be used for performing work that is really creative.

Something that makes it a very appealing laptop is the fact that it is also more cheaply priced than some of the alternatives that are available. Although it is possible to get 14-inch laptops at a lower price, you will not be able to achieve the same level of performance. Because of this, highly recommending the Swift X 14 laptop is a simple task.