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A competent laptop for all your computing needs.
Acer is all in with Al computers, having now released halfa dozen machines with the Al oomph to qualify for Microsoft's in-development Copilot designation. The largest of them so far is the Acer Swift 16 Al, which sports a lovely 16-inch OLED screen and the latest Intel Lunar Lake CPU. This laptop is thin and light with a gorgeous display and ample connectivity options. The keyboard and trackpad are solid, notwithstanding the rather unnecessary LED Al indicator. However, there are faster computers out there for the same price, and the Al features could be more robust. It's good for the MSRP but even better if you can find it on sale.
SPECSAND FEATURES
Acer has used several different chipsets for its Al PCs, and some machines have multiple options across the various SKUs. The Acer Swift 16 Al, however, plays it straight with an Intel Lunar Lake CPU, paired with 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. There are no other versions of the machine, which is available at Best Buy, but it does have an expansive OLED screen, which is a big step up from the IPS displays on Acers cheaper Al PCs.
CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 256V
Memory: 16GB LPDDR5X
Graphics: Intel Arc 140V
Display: 16-inch 2880x1800 OLED
Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD
Webcam: 1440p IR Webcam
Connectivity: 2x USB-C (Thunderbolt 4, 40Gbps), 2x USB-A (5Gbps), 3.5mm audio jack, HDMI 2.1
Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
Battery capacity: 70Whr, 65W charging
Dimensions: 14.02 (W) x 9.92 (D) x 0.58-0.69 (H) inches
Weight: 3 37 lbs (1.53 kg)
MSRP as tested: $1,199.99
The Acer Swift 16 Al is a competent laptop for all your general computing and productivity needs.
DESIGN AND BUILD QUALITY
Given the large footprint, I was surprised how thin and light the Acer Swift 16 Al is. Its always a balancing act with larger laptops, but Acer threaded the needle fairly well here. The machine is barely halfan inch thick, and the entire chassis is aluminum. However, the metal body isn't very thick. There are places like around the fan grilles where you can see the frame flexing a bit too much, but the build quality is noticeably improved versus...