Verdict
The Acer Swift Go 16 will make a fine menage background - replacer and occasional portable buddy , specially if you get it on sales event . However , while it costs a moment less than some of its lineal rivalry , scant battery life history and some noticeable more budget elements make it hard to truly love at its original recommended price .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Swift is Acer ’s top slim and scant laptop range . “ Go ” has become link with a sort of more low-cost luxury personal computer , thanks to Microsoft ’s Surface Go reach .
fleet plus Go — is Acer ’s Swift Go 16 just like the Surface Go ? Not really , but it does aim to get you a burden experience similar to that of something like theSamsung Galaxy Book Pro 4 , but for less money . That ’s big screen computing , with the office for satisfying home base use plus expert - enough portability .
This is n’t a cheap laptop computer by any means , but does cost a few hundred less than some of its lineal competition . A little too much may have been compromised in the commixture for some , though . The Acer Swift Go 16 does n’t furnish the greatest keyboard or touchpad , the speaker are basic and battery life sentence is n’t long for an ultraportable .
You ’ll pay up to £ 999 for the Swift Go 16 with an Intel Core i5 , the one reexamine here , or £ 1199 for the punchier Intel Core i7 model .
Design
The Acer Swift Go 16 aims for , and achieves , a sort of mid - level flashiness . The casing venire are all metal and feel sturdy but it does n’t have the conclusion - to - death exhibit glass that ’s the average in theMacBookrange .
Instead , a raised rim of plastic sits around the blind . This style is often seen in laptops with matt finish displays , but the Swift Go 16 ’s display is glossy anyway .
A plastic display level can also lead to down exercising weight , but the Acer Swift GO 16 is n’t notable in this area either . It weighs 1.6 kg , which is typically a snatch higher than is ideal for portable use . But it is also a flat - out larger laptop too .
If you find 13 - in and 14 - column inch laptops a minute too little for all - daytime work , the extra 300 GB or so of the Acer Swift 16 Go is worth enduring . you may perfectly treat this like a pure portability PC . I have .
It ’s not ideal for habit on your knee , though , as it has a special sort of hinge . open up the Acer Swift Go 16 up and the laptop breathe on its front and the bottom of the top panel , the screen part . This puts the keyboard at a little angle and increases clearance for the bottom vents . But for real roving manipulation , when you do n’t have a categorical control surface in front of you , it can feel odd .
Screen
OLED screen tech is perhaps the star of the Acer Swift Go 16 . WhileOLEDlaptops have been around for years , they only of late became all but ubiquitous .
How are they good than the standard LCD kind ? Each pixel in an OLED is its own light source , meaning areas that are mean to be bleak can be just that . The vast bulk of elder laptops use a worldwide backlight , where a set of LED fire across the screen , light up the entire thing . It ’s why LCDs typically have fairly poor direct contrast .
The Acer Swift Go 16 has perfect blacks , then , at least in a sorry room , and also has very deep people of colour , another definitive OLED trait . It ’s a 120Hz screen too .
I discover I still actively dislike peck of low - grade OLED laptop screens because they lean to really play up limited resolutions . But that ’s not a problem in the Acer Swift Go 16 either . It has a 3200 x 2000 pixel dialog box , result in practiced sharpness even at 16 inches .
Brightness top out out at 600 for HDR subject , 390 for SDR . And it heads up to 460 nits for SDR when you flip the HDR modality on ( which makes minuscule sense , but is how thing pan out in these laptops ) . This is passably average by 2024 OLED standards and mean it ’s not going to await particularly vivid compared to , say , a sound when taken outdoors . you could still work aside on a document jubilantly enough on very bright days , though . It ’s on par with OLED found in thebest laptopsof 2024 .
This is a top - flight screen , but I ca n’t help but notice a couple of lilliputian compromises . The cover surface is plastic rather than ice , and this leads to a svelte mangling of reflections . I rule it a piece distracting when working in a situation with rough landing strip light , as it can entail you finish up front at a slightly weird - looking version of your own fount — the stock rendering of which is bad enough as it is in my example .
There ’s also none of the anti - reflective properties you get in some top - tier up glass blind , or the reflection - busting of a matt plastic screen . And , grant to my colorimeter , color truth is just o.k. , although I could n’t make out any of this by just looking . Colour looks expectant , and is rich enough to fulfil the sRGB , DCI P3 and Adobe RGB colour gamut standards .
Keyboard and touchpad
The Acer Swift Go 16 has an o.k. keyboard and touchpad , but neither supply anything too special .
Acer squeezes in a NUM pad to the right of the standard keys . While this leads to a few of the left - side affair key being smaller than they otherwise might be , the other keys are of the standard full - size of it height .
Key locomotion is evenhandedly short , not far off that of aMacBook Air M3 , while also have darker , less well - limit actuation feedback . Very heavy typists may also get the keyboard home base flexes a lilliputian under pressure level , but this is just a side - effect of the keyboard - hook flexible joint .
So - so action and central smell is not an idealistic combo , to my fingerbreadth , but I did get up to full sped typing on the Swift Go 16 without too much squabble . There ’s also a two - stage backlight , although thanks to the key crown design most of the illumination tends to bleed under the keys rather than through the lettering from the user ’s spot .
The Acer Swift Go 16 touchpad is of a respectable size , but like most Acer these days , it ’s made of charge plate rather than glass .
Its surface is blessedly less screaky and crummy - feeling than that of plenty of plastic pads , but the clicker is a footling too bright - feeling and loud for my tastes . Despite initially styling out the use of more low-priced materials , the overall feel is of a cheaper touchpad that I do n’t think is good for a laptop that could be £ 1199 .
Performance
My review Acer Swift Go 16 is one of the depleted - exponent models . It has an Intel Core i5 - 1335U CPU , but there are also more telling versions with Intel Ultra processor with this same Swift Go 16 name . Want the best performance and the newest technical school ? Get one of those .
However , for 24-hour interval - to - 24-hour interval daily use there ’s not going to be too much of a noticeable difference between the two style . It help that Acer packs in a good amount of RAM and storage even in these more approachable specification .
The Acer Swift 16 Go has 16 GB RAM and a 512 GB SSD . In the most famous “ Go ” laptop , the Microsoft Surface Go , you have to ramify out for pretty expensive upgrades to get to this level .
I could happily use this as my day - to - day microcomputer . But it ’s also dependable the Intel Core u5 - 1335U Miss out on the most interesting innovations in laptop computer processor , and it ’s a comparatively old chipset at the sentence of followup .
Intel Ultra models have better specialisation for AI jobs — whether that ’s more a marketing push or a substantive feature article is up for debate . This Swift 16 Go also has circumscribe gambling might . There ’s no pick for a consecrated GPU , and the Intel Xe integrated chipset is basic compared to the Intel Arc hardware broil into the newer Intel Ultra processors .
you may kowtow by with last - generation console games , using comparatively low-toned setting . But you should n’t buy an Acer Swift Go 16 if you intend to play on a regular basis . There are simply better options out there for the money .
It also has a quite obtrusive fan whole tone . Sure , the TwinAir Cooling never make a immense amount of randomness , but the strait as it initially spins up is a classic small rooter rickety whirring rather than the subtler swoosh I prefer to hear .
Battery Life
The Acer Swift Go 16 has a 50Wh battery , a relatively down capacity for a 16 - inch laptop . Samsung ’s Galaxy Book 4 Pro has a 73.9Wh shelling , for object lesson .
This is not one of the longer - last laptops in this class , and in PC Mark 10 ’s undemanding Modern Office battery tryout it only lasts six hours and seven bit . This would be perfectly fine , in my opinion , in a high - power machine designate chiefly as a desktop - replacer . But the Swift Go 16 has a low - voltage processor made specifically for lean and light portable laptops .
Using the laptop for general oeuvre , its staying power can easy drop below six hours , and closer to four if you use very gamy screen brightness . I find this quite a disappointing result , even after regard the humble 50Wh capacity .
The Acer Swift Go 16 speaker system , too , do n’t seem to have been given all that much attention . Sound lineament is fair to middling . They are n’t overly harsh or brittle - sounding , but they are n’t notably loud and do not have any material bass .
This used to be the average for just about almost all Windows laptop computer in this category , but a few outlier like Apple ’s MacBooks raised the streak . They have been joined by enough more decent - fathom laptops since .
The Acer Swift Go 16 does have an remarkably high - spec webcam , though . It ’s a 5MP camera capable of figure of speech and cyclosis up to 1440p rather than the common 1080p . Just as you ’d hope , this leave in a noticeably sharper - than - average picture merging range when in ripe or temperate indoor light .
dynamical range is still modified , intend light sources look blown out , as can part of your face if the inflammation in the way is extremely uneven . It ’s a monitor these webcam television camera sensors are tiny , but increasing resolution without a commensurate increase in sensor size can make the situation worse . However , I still think this is a well above medium webcam .
worry about connections ? The Acer Swift Go 16 has a good facing pages of them . There are two Thunderbolt 4 USB - Cs , one used for blame , two USB - A port , a full - size of it HDMI 2.1 , headphone / mic 3.5 millimetre combi socket and microSD time slot .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
If you need a premium laptop computer that costs a bit less , hunt down an Acer Swift Go 16 when it ’s on cut-rate sale
Despite being part of an ultraportable form , the Swift Go 16 ’s battery life falls well below the “ all day practice ” measure at six hours of wanton use
Final Thoughts
If you ’re go to buy an Acer Swift Go 16 , I would apprise wait for a sale . While the gist concept is commendable – a prestige laptop with generous heart specs that costs less than much of the competition – some function do n’t quite earth right when compare to thebest laptopswe’ve reviewed .
Battery life-time well below all - day use is the main number . And when compound with the so - so keyboard and touchpad , the ageing C.P.U. and mirror image - distorting plastic screen natural covering , a little too much of the initial Swift Go 16 becomes mottled .
If you find it selling below call for price , as was the case during our review window , the Acer Swift Go 16 could make a lot of sentiency , though , and salvage you hundreds off competing models .
Trusted Score
How we test
Every laptop we survey goes through a series of uniform check design to gauge key factor , include anatomy caliber , performance , screenland calibre and bombardment life .
These let in formal synthetic benchmark and written tests , plus a serial of real - world checks , such as how well it run away popular apps .
FAQs
incorporate art ironware , and Intel Xe at that , means the Swift is not ideal for play .
The Acer web site claims this theoretical account can last up to 15.5 hours , but six hours is closer to the reality .
It weigh 1.6 kilo , which is slightly punishing for a portable laptop but still light enough for portable use .
