Acer Swift Go 16 Evaluate: Robust CPU Efficiency Paired With a Huge OLED

7.8

Acer Swift Go 16

Like

• Huge, lovely OLED show

• Light-weight for 16-inch laptop computer

• Robust software efficiency

• Nice webcam

Do not like

• Built-in graphics

• Horrible audio system

• Beneath-average battery life

The Acer Swift Go 16 is impressively skinny and light-weight for a laptop computer that serves up a big, 16-inch show that gives ample room on which to work or play. And the show itself is stellar: an OLED panel with a crisp, 3.2K decision and speedy 120Hz refresh charge. Regardless of its charms, the Swift Go 16 is caught within the awkward center between two different 16-inch fashions from Acer that extra precisely hit their target market.

For content material creators looking for a big-screen OLED laptop computer backed by Nvidia GeForce RTX discrete graphics required for his or her artistic endeavors, there’s the Swift X 16 with the identical superior OLED show however a robust entry-level RTX 4050 GPU. And for others searching for a big-screen laptop computer as an leisure system or to run primary workplace apps, the Swift Edge 16 delivers the identical OLED show in an much more transportable package deal. With solely built-in Intel graphics and no choice to improve the GPU, the Swift Go 16 will not lower it for critical artistic work. And it could be skinny and light-weight for a 16-inch laptop computer, nevertheless it’s not Acer’s thinnest and lightest 16-inch OLED mannequin. That does not go away a lot of a crowd for the Swift Go 16.

The Acer Swift Go 16 begins at $800 for a config with a Core i5-1335U processor, 8GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and a 16-inch IPS LCD with a 1,920×1,200 decision. Our check system prices $1,200 and contains a Core i7-13700H CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and a 16-inch OLED show with a 3,200×2,000 decision. All Swift Go 16 fashions function built-in Intel Iris Xe graphics with no choice to improve to a devoted GPU. The Acer Swift Go 16 begins at £1,000 within the UK and AU$1,699 in Australia.

Skinny and light-weight and enormous

The Swift Go 16’s thinness and lightness are the chief sights of its general design. It is a primary grey enclosure — related in hue to what Apple calls Area Grey — that appears extra like a company laptop computer than an leisure machine. It does have an all-aluminum chassis that has a extra luxurious and inflexible really feel than a plastic shell. It is not as sturdy because the aluminum enclosure you get with a 16-inch Apple MacBook Professional, although. There’s some flex with the lid behind the show and keyboard deck. It would not really feel flimsy, however I might be extra nervous concerning the Swift Go 16 surviving a fall than the 16-inch MacBook Professional or the tank-like Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7630.

What it’d lack in ruggedness, the Swift Go 16 makes up for in portability. It weighs 3.6 kilos, which makes it a rarity amongst 16-inch laptops, which usually weigh between 4 and 5 kilos. As an illustration, the 16-inch MacBook Professional weighs 4.7 kilos, and the Inspiron 16 Plus 7630 weighs 4.8 kilos. Acer has solely itself in charge for me not being extra impressed with the Swift Go 16’s 3.6-pound weight. The corporate’s personal Swift Edge weighs simply 2.6 kilos, making it a good better option if getting essentially the most display screen within the lightest package deal is of main concern.

Once more, the 16-inch, 3.2K OLED show is the star of the Swift Go 16 present. It is huge, vivid and crisp with the stellar distinction and vivid colours you get from an OLED panel. At 16 inches and with a 16:10 facet ratio, the show supplies a big canvas on which to work or play. It is rated for 500 nits, and I measured it to be even brighter than that. My exams with a lux meter confirmed a peak brightness of 650 nits, making it simpler to see what you are engaged on below vivid workplace lights or outdoors within the solar. The panel additionally exhibited vivid whites and deep black ranges. The three.2K decision presents loads of pixels for the panel dimension; textual content appeared razor sharp and inky black, and the perimeters of photos have been crisp. The show covers 100% of the DCI-P3 shade gamut.

The Swift Go 16 presents a high-res webcam to go together with the high-res show. Whereas most laptops launched within the final yr or so have moved from 720p to 1080p cameras, the Swift Go 16 goes a step additional and presents a 1440p cam. It produces an extremely sharp image with little noise and correct colours. It is the most effective webcams I’ve skilled, though it lacks an IR sensor that may enable for straightforward, safe logins through facial recognition.

If the show is the star of the present, then the Swift Go 16’s audio system have a minor supporting position. They’re principally extras within the background with no talking half. Whereas we have seen many 16-inch fashions — and even smaller laptops — discover room for quad audio system for fuller sound, the Swift Go 16 presents a primary stereo set that sounds actually unhealthy. The audio they emit is tinny, with the weakest bass response and in addition muddy with no separation between excessive and mid tones.

The keyboard options quiet keys with shallow journey however sufficient journey that the keys really feel energetic with snappy suggestions. The keyboard additionally presents two-level backlighting, and the facility button doubles as a fingerprint reader, which helps make up for the shortage of an IR webcam. There’s additionally a quantity pad that Excel jockeys and different quantity crunchers will recognize. And because the Swift Go would not provide any RTX graphics upgrades, the laptop computer is a greater match with a numpad for these customers engaged extra in knowledge entry and fewer in artistic endeavors.

I am going to get to the Swift Go 16’s efficiency subsequent, however first, let’s take a lap across the laptop computer and take a look at its ports. On the left aspect, you may discover a pair of USB-C Thunderbolt 4 pots, a USB-A port and an HDMI 2.1 output. On the proper, there is a second USB-A port, combo audio jack and a microSD card slot. Though there is not any path to devoted graphics with the Swift Go 16, the laptop computer’s CPU and built-in graphics will enable for some easy photograph and video edits.

Our $1,200 check mannequin contains a Core i7-13700H CPU, 16GB of RAM and built-in Intel Iris Xe graphics. It is an odd pairing, a high-performance H-series processor with built-in graphics: we normally see H-series CPUs with devoted GPUs. Since an iGPU places a cap on efficiency proper off the bat, it is extra typical to see an environment friendly U-series chip for battery life or a P-series chip that tries to search out the center floor between efficiency and battery life.

In lab testing, the Acer Swift Go 16 and the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7630 with the identical H-series processor because the Swift Go have been clearly quicker than the opposite three laptops included in a few of its equally sized competitors that function U- or P-series CPUs: the Lenovo Yoga 7i (Core i7-1355U), Asus VivoBook F1502ZA (Core i5-1240P) and LG Gram Type 16 (Core i7-1360P). The Inspiron 16 Plus 7630, nonetheless, pairs its Core i7-13700H CPU with an RTX 4060 GPU that gives superior graphics efficiency. The penalty you pay for the added software efficiency is a shorter battery life. The Swift Go 16 lasted solely 7 hours and 22 minutes on our battery drain check, which is significantly lower than the runtime you get from competing fashions with extra environment friendly CPUs except for the funds Asus VivoBook that had a dreadful runtime. The Swift Go 16’s OLED show additionally has a unfavourable impression on battery life.

In the long run, the Swift Go 16 is astray for us. Or extra precisely acknowledged, its goal is so small that it is subsequent to unattainable to hit when you think about the opposite choices below Acer’s Swift banner. The Swift X 16 seems to be a greater match for artistic execs and fanatics by supplying each an OLED show and RTX graphics. (We’re at present testing the Swift X 16; search for that overview quickly.) For normal use, the Swift Edge 16 presents the identical OLED show in a good lighter package deal. The modern and speedy Samsung Galaxy E book 3 Extremely stays our advice for content material creators searching for a large-screen Home windows laptop computer.