Once I have a look at the shopping for guides I’ve curated for Laptop computer Magazine, almost each finest laptop computer has at the very least one obvious disadvantage floating in a sea of stellar options. Even when these laptops are dearer, a number of of these options may be price the additional value if they’re too superior to disregard. So, after I really feel underwhelmed by a laptop computer, it’s normally as a result of it’s attempting to attraction to a basic viewers.
That’s how I really feel concerning the Acer Swift 16 AI (Intel). It performs properly however isn’t the very best for heavy multitaskers. It has a protracted battery life, however it’s not the longest. It’s skinny and light-weight for a 16-inch laptop computer however nonetheless a bit of awkward to deal with. It’s competitively priced, however so are different laptops in its class — which have higher efficiency, battery life, or a greater design.
True steadiness is difficult to realize on a laptop computer; one characteristic must be compromised to make one other stand out sufficient to make it interesting. However compromising a bit of of each characteristic for the sake of steadiness makes for a lackluster laptop computer — and the Acer Swift 16 AI has compromises in almost all its options.
Show and battery compromises
OLED shows are typically an automated characteristic in high-end laptops at the moment, particularly ones with excessive resolutions. They produce gorgeous colours and sharp and detailed photos, so who wouldn’t need one on a laptop computer? However they’re power-hungry. I’ll dive into the Acer Swift shortly, however first, I need to set the stage with the Dell XPS 14 OLED we reviewed in April 2024.
Its battery lasted 9 hours and 35 minutes in our checks, whereas the IPS mannequin lasted a bit of over 10 hours. 25 minutes of battery life isn’t that a lot of a loss, however Laptop computer Magazine performs its battery rundown take a look at the identical method on each laptop computer (with the show set to 150 nits of brightness); it’s clear OLED makes use of extra vitality to emit the identical quantity of sunshine as IPS.
Energy effectivity is much more essential for a 16-inch laptop computer like Acer’s Swift 16 AI
In addition they don’t get as shiny, a standard criticism of OLED, as many laptop computer firms provide each IPS and OLED choices. Don’t love the XPS 14’s 377 nits of brightness? The IPS model can deal with 461 nits. Some firms like Dell have began to handle the difficulty by utilizing tandem OLED shows of their gadgets, however double OLED panels imply extra battery drain; Dell’s non-OLED XPS 13 lasted 18 hours and 34 minutes in our checks, whereas the OLED mannequin managed simply 8 hours and 40 minutes, a large decline for simply 20 additional nits over the IPS mannequin.
Energy effectivity is much more essential for a 16-inch laptop computer like Acer’s Swift 16 AI since a bigger display screen makes use of extra battery energy. It lasted just below 13 hours in our battery take a look at (the common for premium laptops), so there wasn’t wiggle room to make its 384-nit show brighter with out making its battery life much less aggressive. An IPS show would have made sense as an alternative choice, however maybe Acer didn’t need to saddle its high-end (and solely 16-inch) Swift laptop computer with a show generally related to cheaper laptops.
Battery and design compromises
The largest issue impacting battery life is its measurement, which in flip is affected by the design of the laptop computer. Instance: the 16-inch Swift has a 69 Watt hour (Wh) battery, however the 14-inch Swift I reviewed has a 65 Wh battery. Different issues past a laptop computer’s design are thought of when firms resolve how giant of a battery it wants, after all — however the design is a significant factor, particularly if an organization desires to make the thinnest and lightest laptop computer attainable.
buying and selling two hours of battery life for an extremely shiny OLED show in a wildly slim chassis is price it.
The Acer Swift 16 AI is 0.39 inches at its thinnest level and 0.69 inches at its thickest, however firms like MSI and Asus discovered make slimmer 16-inch laptops with a lot bigger batteries inside. MSI’s Status 16 AI Evo has a 99.9 Wh battery and will get simply over 13 hours of battery life (its 4K show decision is larger than the Swift’s 3K). Asus’ Zenbook S 16 has a 78 Wh battery in a chassis that’s 0.47-0.51 inches thick and a 3K OLED show with a max brightness of 458 nits. It will get below 11 hours of battery life, however buying and selling two hours of battery life for an extremely shiny OLED show in a wildly slim chassis is price it.
Naturally, value was one other issue driving Acer’s selections on the specs. It may need pushed the laptop computer out of much more folks’s budgets. Nonetheless, contemplating that different firms have confirmed it’s attainable to stay a high-capacity battery inside thinner laptops, this might have been the simplest method for Acer to face out, even when it didn’t change the Swift’s dimensions.
Efficiency and battery compromises
Acer doesn’t have a say in how chipmakers design their processors, however it may select which of them it desires to place in its laptops. Potential consumers have their choose of both an AMD, Intel, or Qualcomm chip in any of the 14-inch Swift AI laptops, which is good — however the 16-inch is barely configured with an Intel Core Extremely 200-series chip.
Acer doesn’t have a say in how chipmakers design their processors, however it may select which of them it desires to place in its laptops.
I’m not a fan of Intel’s Lunar Lake chips. Their multicore efficiency is slower than what I want as a heavy multitasker (and slower than its direct rivals), so if the Swift 16 AI got here with an AMD Ryzen AI chip or Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chip, I’d have been way more enthusiastic about this laptop computer for the large leap in multitasking efficiency alone.
A Qualcomm chip most probably would have introduced the very best battery life with it, too. The Swift 14 AI Snapdragon’s battery lasted 2 extra hours in comparison with the Intel mannequin, although a few of that could possibly be attributed to its bigger battery (75Wh versus the Intel’s 65 Wh). However the measurement of the battery and the laptop computer’s energy effectivity gained’t matter to most individuals — simply how lengthy the laptop computer can maintain a cost and the way properly it performs.
The Swift 16 AI might have been nice
For these keen to stretch their budgets for the fitting set of laptop computer options, the Swift 16 AI isn’t that persuasive of a machine. It’s stripped right down to the fundamentals with a bit of additional flare, however it’s no MSI Status or Asus Zenbook, and even an HP Spectre x360 2-in-1. All of the compromises in these laptops don’t appear to be a lot of a sacrifice since they’ve a laundry listing of compelling options.
I needed to seek out the “proper one,” not simply to have one “proper now.”
They’re dearer, sure, and the Swift might attraction to some budget-conscious consumers for its no-muss, no-fuss angle. However I imagine most individuals ought to attempt to watch for a sale on the laptop computer they need as a substitute of going with an possibility that gained’t make them as comfortable. It’s the rationale I delay shopping for a brand new laptop computer for years. I needed to seek out the “proper one,” not simply to have one “proper now.”
