In the present day, I made a decision to get up and select violence; it is time to blow the lid off a well-kept secret that may make the Apple fanbase squirm. After evaluating our check outcomes between the 2022 Swift 5 and the M2 MacBook Air, the decision is in: the Acer laptop computer outpaced Apple’s darling gadget in key efficiency benchmarks.
No, the Swift 5 did not completely obliterate the MacBook Air. Though the twelfth Gen Intel Core i7 processor contained in the Acer laptop computer edged out the M2’s capabilities, Apple’s chip has one killer 10-core GPU that makes informal, light-weight gaming extra seamless on the MacBook Air.
And sure, the M2 is a extra power-efficient chip, permitting the MacBook Air to final greater than 14 hours (in comparison with the Swift 5’s 11 hours). Nevertheless, with regards to uncooked efficiency and velocity, the Swift 5 sits on the throne, making it a greater laptop computer for content material creators who resonate with the “Time is cash!” cliche.
With out additional ado, permit me the reveal the methods during which the M2 MacBook Air cannot contact the brand new Acer Swift 5.
Processor efficiency
The M2 chip, Apple’s extremely praised customized silicon SoC, was unveiled in June in the course of the Worldwide Builders Convention. A successor to the M1 chip, Apple boasted that the M2 chip sports activities an eight-core CPU and 10-core GPU that’s 18% and 35% sooner, respectively.
Once we reviewed the M2 MacBook Air in early August, the Apple laptop computer blew its rivals out of the water, together with the Dell XPS 13 and the HP Spectre x360 13. Subsequent factor you recognize, whereas diving right into a comparative evaluation between the Swift 5 and the M2 MacBook Air, we found that the Acer laptop computer is higher than the Apple pocket book in some ways, which we weren’t anticipating.
What’s in charge for the Swift 5’s efficiency prowess? The 12-core Intel Core i7-1260P CPU inside it. The higher mid-range Alder Lake chip whooped the M2’s butt on the Geekbench 5.4 check, which measures simulates real-world duties (e.g. PDF rendering, picture compression, and so on.). It notched a formidable multi-core rating of 9,859 in comparison with the M2 MacBook Air’s 8,919.
However wait, there’s extra! The M2 is featured contained in the 13-inch MacBook Professional, too. To ruffle some extra feathers, it is price noting that the Acer Swift 5 additionally beat the 13-inch MacBook Professional’s Geekbench 5.4 multi-core rating of 8,911. Oof!
| Geekbench 5.4 rating | ||
| Acer Swift 5 | 9,859 | |
| M2 Apple MacBook Air | 8,919 |
System responsiveness
I hate to interrupt it to Apple followers, however the Swift 5 continued to finest the M2 MacBook Air on the CrossMark benchmark. It assessments how effectively programs can excel in three classes: Productiveness, Creativity, and Responsiveness. We’ll break down which real-world duties CrossMark runs for every strata under.
Productiveness (Workplace-environment use case)
- Phrase processing
- Enhancing paperwork
- Manipulating spreadsheet knowledge
- Internet looking
- Archiving information
Creativity
- Enhancing digital photographs
- Cataloging digital photographs
- Enhancing digital video
Responsiveness
- Opening information
- Saving information
- Writing information
Within the Productiveness benchmark, the Swift 5 beat the M2 MacBook Air with a rating of 1,711 whereas the Apple pocket book dissatisfied with a rating of 1,384. When CrossMark ran the Creativity portion of the check, the Swift 5 delivered a rating of 1,857, which edged out the Swift 5’s 1,842 rating. Lastly, with regards to Responsiveness, the Swift 5 earned a formidable rating of 1,710, slaying the M2 MacBook Air’s measly rating of 1,063.
Total, the Swift 5 notched a CrossMark rating of 1,772, crushing the M2 MacBook Air’s 1,507 rating.
The shock would not cease there, although. The Swift 5 even beat the 13-inch MacBook Professional, which mustered an general CrossMark rating of 1,517. Womp, womp, womp!
| Productiveness | Creativity | System responsiveness | CrossMark general rating | |
| Acer Swift 5 | 1,711 | 1,857 | 1,710 | 1,772 |
| M2 Apple MacBook Air | 1,384 | 1,842 | 1,063 | 1,507 |
Video transcoding
Should you’re a content material creator who typically dives into video conversion workflows, you are going to need to hear this!
We put the Swift 5 and M2 MacBook Air to the check and tasked them with transcoding a 4K video to 1080p. The target is easy: be the quickest at changing the footage.
Utilizing the Handbrake app, we examined the Swift 5 thrice. Consequently, the Acer laptop computer took a mean of 7 minutes and 35 seconds to finish the duty. We did the identical for the M2 MacBook Air; we examined it thrice. It, on common, transcoded the video in 7 minutes and 52 seconds.
In different phrases, the M2 MacBook Air is 17 seconds slower than the Swift 5. This will likely appear negligible, however within the grand scheme of issues, for those who’re a content material creator who works with a big assortment of movies on a regular basis, that 17-second lull piles up, making it a major disparity for customers searching for sooner workflows.
Happily, making up for the Geekbench setback, the M2 MacBook Professional beat each the MacBook Air and the Swift 5 with a stellar rating of 6 minutes and 51 seconds.
| Video transcoding time (Handbrake) | |
| Acer Swift 5 | 7 minutes and 35 seconds |
| M2 Apple MacBook Air | 7 minutes and 52 seconds |
Show
Whereas the M2 MacBook Air has a brighter show (489 nits vs. 457 nits), it is price noting that the Swift 5’s display screen covers extra of the DCI-P3 colour gamut. The M2 MacBook Air, with a 13.3-inch, 2560 x 1664-pixel, Retina show, solely covers 75.9% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut.
The MacBook Professional did not achieve this scorching both; it solely covers 78% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut. Conversely, the Swift 5’s 14-inch, 2560 x 1600-pixel show covers a whopping 93% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut.
In different phrases, the Swift 5’s show provides a higher vary of colours seen to the human eye. The broader the DCI-P3 colour gamut, the richer the colours.
Once we have a look at the Delta-E colour accuracy scores (nearer to 0 is healthier), the M2 MacBook Air, with a rating of 0.2, beat the Swift 5 (0.23). However what the heck is the 13-inch MacBook Professional doing with an terrible rating of 0.31? How uninteresting!
| DCI-P3 colour gamut protection | Delta-E colour accuracy rating | Brightness | |
| Acer Swift 5 | 93% | 0.23 | 457 nits |
| M2 Apple MacBook Air | 75.9% | 0.2 | 489 nits |
Ports
Apple has at all times been stingy AF with ports. The M2 MacBook Air solely has two Thunderbolt 4 ports and a headset jack. The M2 13-inch MacBook Professional has the identical unhappy story.
The Acer Swift 5, alternatively, delivers a mixture of legacy and trendy I/O choices, providing Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Sort-A ports, a headset jack and a Kensington Lock.
Backside line
As talked about, the M2 MacBook Air is extra energy environment friendly than the Acer Swift 5. Plus, it delivers higher graphics efficiency, however in all different benchmarks, the Swift 5 outpaced the Apple laptop computer.
Hell, the Swift 5 even managed to beat the 13-inch MacBook Professional in lots of areas, too, aside from the video transcoding check.
The Swift 5 (Intel Core i7-1260p, 16GB of RAM, 1TB SSD) put to the check on this article is at present $1,499 on Amazon (opens in new tab). An equally specced MacBook Air prices $1,899 at Apple. (opens in new tab) If I had been you, I would suppose lengthy and onerous about whether or not the Apple laptop computer is well worth the $300 for those who’re taking a success on efficiency.
