The Acer Swift Edge 16 is a powerful piece of expertise contemplating its weight class and enormous 16-inch show mixture. Nevertheless, that nice first impression shortly falls aside while you take a look at the remainder of the system.
For $1,499, you get a splendidly gentle pocket book with a colourful OLED show backed by highly effective AMD efficiency. Sadly, you might be additionally caught with a shallow keyboard, a pair of muddy audio system, and quick battery life.
Evidently, this isn’t one of many finest laptops you should buy, however in case you don’t care about battery life or your keyboard expertise, then the Acer Swift Edge 16 may be for you.
Acer Swift Edge 16 value and configurations
Acer Swift Edge 16 specs
Worth: $1,499
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 6800U
GPU: AMD
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 1TB SSD
Show: 16-inch, 2400p
Battery: 7:42
Dimension: 14 x 9.5 x 0.5~0.6 inches
Weight: 2.2 kilos
There are solely two configurations for the Acer Swift Edge 16. We examined the most affordable mannequin, at $1,499, which is outfitted with an AMD Ryzen 7 6800U processor, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 16-inch, 2400p show.
For $100 extra, you possibly can choose up the mannequin with a Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U CPU and a CineCrystal show.
When you’re on the lookout for one thing cheaper, take a look at our finest finances laptops web page.
Acer Swift Edge 16 design
The Acer Swift Edge 16 gives an astonishingly gentle chassis coated in a modern black-with-a-dash-of-olive paint. It might use a bit extra olive, and the lid might have extra occurring. Its solely defining function is a small Acer emblem on the prime.
Popping it open revealed a large show with little-to-no bezels. The keyboard dips downward, lower away from the touchpad and vent above. The format is ok, however the hinge of the show was too simple to maneuver. It shifts with any small actions.
At 2.2 kilos and 14 x 9.5 x 0.5~0.6 inches, the Acer Swift Edge 16 has an unbelievable edge over the competitors (pun meant). The Dell Inspiron 16 Plus (4.5 kilos, 14.1 x 10.1 x 0.8 inches), Samsung Galaxy E-book 3 Professional (3.4 kilos, 14.0 x 9.9 x 0.5 inches), and Apple MacBook Air (M2, 2022) (2.7 kilos, 12 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches) can’t evaluate to Acer’s weight class.
Acer Swift Edge 16 ports
It’s gentle, however does the Acer Swift Edge 16 skimp on ports? Nope.
On the left aspect you’ll discover two USB Sort-C ports, one USB Sort-A port, and an HDMI port, whereas the suitable aspect holds room for a safety lock slot, one USB Sort-A port, and a headphone jack.
When you want extra ports, take a look at our finest USB Sort-C hubs and finest laptop computer docking stations pages.
Acer Swift Edge 16 show
The Acer Swift Edge 16 sports activities a beautiful 16-inch, 4K OLED show that’s going to rock your eyeballs.
Within the trailer for Paint, which depicts a fictional model of Bob Ross, Owen Wilson’s frizzy afro was detailed on the show. The forest backdrop on the finish of the trailer popped on the display, bringing vibrant greens and yellows to life and finishing that heat 80s really feel. The panel was brilliant sufficient to seize the main points off set, just like the espresso machine, sweeteners, and honey. Nevertheless, for the reason that show is shiny, it does catch some glare.
Based on our colorimeter, the Acer Swift Edge 16 clocked in a mean of 141% of the DCI-P3 shade gamut, which crushes the typical premium laptop computer (89.9%). The Inspiron 16 (70.4%), Galaxy E-book (87.3%), and MacBook Air (75.9%) couldn’t even break triple digits.
At 367 nits of brightness, the Acer Swift Edge 16 in all fairness brilliant, however simply falls wanting the class common (392 nits). It outshines the Inspiron 16 (288 nits), however not the Galaxy E-book (377 nits) or MacBook Air (489 nits).
Acer Swift Edge 16 keyboard and touchpad
The clicking clacks weren’t very clicky or clacky on the Acer Swift Edge 16’s keyboard. The keys are too shallow and tightly spaced which it made it tough to navigate round. And there’s not loads of depth to differentiate the keys from one another.
I typed an embarrassingly low 67 phrases per minute, which falls wanting my typical 78 wpm common. That is largely as a result of placement and shallowness of the keys. It jogs my memory of typing on a MacBook throughout its worse keyboard-era.
The three.2 x 4.9-inch touchpad is sticky, and whereas it gives an honest click on, it’s not clean sufficient to fulfill my fingers whereas navigating by Google Docs or varied internet pages.
Acer Swift Edge 16 audio
Very like its keyboard, the Acer Swift Edge 16’s bottom-firing audio system are shallow. They only sound muddy.
I listened to “Simply Faux” by Dangerous Omens and I might barely hear the opening guitar meant to coincide with the vocals. The vocals themselves are clear, however not crisp. When the refrain hit, the guitar and percussion muddled collectively into one large mess. Evidently, there wasn’t loads of bass to spotlight the deeper devices.
Acer does embody the DTS audio software program, which gives choices for Music, Motion pictures and Video games. It additionally contains a customized setting you can configure your self, however general, it’s not a miracle treatment for the laptop computer’s audio points.
When you select the Acer Swift Edge 16 then go forward and toss a pair of the finest wi-fi headphones in your cart with it, as you don’t wish to depend on these audio system in your audio.
Acer Swift Edge 16 efficiency
Tucked throughout the gentle hood of the Acer Swift Edge 16 lies an AMD Ryzen 7 6800U processor with 16GB of RAM. It’s greater than sufficient to energy by a pair dozen Google Chrome tabs and a handful of YouTube movies.
On the Geekbench 5.4 general efficiency check, the Acer Swift Edge 16 scored 7,718, overpowering the typical premium laptop computer (7,078). The Inspiron 16’s Intel Core i7-12700H processor (11,939), the Galaxy E-book’s Intel Core i5-1340P CPU (9,746), and the MacBook Air’s M2 chip (8,919) all scored higher than Acer.
Row 0 – Cell 0 | Acer Swift Edge 16 | Inspiron 16 | Galaxy E-book | MacBook Air |
Rating | 7718 | 11939 | 9746 | 8919 |
Regardless of that, the Acer Swift Edge 16 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 7 minutes and 20 seconds, which beat the MacBook Air (7:52) and class common (8:28). The Inspiron 16 (5:49) and Galaxy E-book (6:41) have been nonetheless sooner, nonetheless.
Row 0 – Cell 0 | Acer Swift Edge 16 | Inspiron 16 | Galaxy E-book | MacBook Air |
Time | 7:20 | 5:49 | 6:41 | 7:52 |
Acer’s 1TB SSD has a switch charge of 1,121 megabytes per second, which isn’t removed from the premium laptop computer common (1,302 MBps). The Inspiron 16’s 512GB SSD (404 MBps) and the Galaxy E-book’s 256GB SSD (436 MBps) couldn’t sustain, however the MacBook’s 1TB SSD (2800 MBps) crushed it.
Acer Swift Edge 16 graphics
With built-in graphics, the Acer Swift Edge 16 isn’t set as much as play demanding video games or deal with wild workloads.
On the Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm (1080p) benchmark, the Acer did handle a playable 33 frames per second, nevertheless it’s decrease than the premium laptop computer common (50 fps). The Galaxy E-book 3 (33 fps) and MacBook Air (40 fps) have been comparable, each with built-in graphics. Nevertheless, the Inspiron 16 packed an RTX 3050 Ti GPU, which hit 83 fps.
Acer Swift Edge 16 battery life
Unhappy. That’s how I felt once I noticed the Acer Swift Edge 16’s battery life. On the Laptop computer Magazine battery check, the Acer died out at 7 hours and 42 minutes, falling a pair hours wanting the 9:50 premium laptop computer common. It might need outlived the Galaxy E-book (6:51), nevertheless it died approach earlier than the Inspiron 16 Plus (10:30) and MacBook Air (14:06).
Acer Swift Edge 16 webcam
I’ve by no means felt uglier. The Acer Swift Edge 16’s 1080p webcam is dangerous.
In my check shot, the show did loads of work for the webcam, highlighting the inexperienced and orange colours in my floral shirt. Nevertheless, it couldn’t cover the utterly blown-out background. Normally, the distinction fails at my window, however the digicam couldn’t even deal with the sunshine above me and the white ceiling round it. Do your self a favor and choose up one of many finest webcams.
Acer Swift Edge 16 warmth
There’s not loads of warmth round this machine. After streaming a 15-minute 1080p video, the Acer Swift Edge 16’s underside crawled as much as 87 levels Fahrenheit, which is much beneath our 95-degree consolation threshold. The middle of the keyboard and the touchpad hit 85 and 75 levels, respectively. In the meantime, the most well liked it obtained was 95 levels, situated on the rear-center underside.
Acer Swift Edge 16 software program and guarantee
The important thing software program within the Acer Swift Edge 16 is the Acer Care Heart, which gives the system and guarantee data in addition to instruments to repair, replace, or reconfigure your system.
Sadly, there’s some bloatware, like ExpressVPN and Forge of Empires.
The Swift Edge 16 comes with a one-year restricted guarantee. See how Acer carried out on our Tech Help Showdown and Greatest and Worst Manufacturers rating.
Backside line
The Acer Swift Edge 16 is gentle and fairly, however shallow in all places else. A laptop computer is meant to be an all-around package deal for a PC expertise, however there are just a few objects lacking on this package deal.
If you would like longer battery life in a giant show, think about choosing up the Inspiron 16, which is simply $100 extra and even comes with a discrete graphics card.
Nevertheless, if you wish to prioritize a giant, colourful 4K OLED show, then the Acer Swift Edge 16 isn’t a nasty alternative.