Verdict
It settle short of the best on assault and battery life history and overall carrying into action , but the Acer Swift X 14 is a superb and capable laptop for creatives postulate a portable equipment .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Acer Swift X 14 is a new 14.5 - inch entry in the growing Swift X family , delivering more functioning than most ultraportable laptop computer in a body you could still call slight and unaccented . What ’s more , like previous Swift X laptops , its top glory is a beautiful , high - resolution OLED covert .
It ’s a specification designed to tempt more demanding originative exploiter appear for a Windows alternative to theMacBook AirorMacBook Pro , but also anyone looking for a gamey - end gimmick that does n’t compromise on portability or mightiness .
Sure , you ’ll see big , faster creative or gaming laptop that make the Swift X 14 look relatively puny , but you ’ll have a hard time finding one with these looks , or in a body you could sling in a knapsack and lug around with ease when you ’re on the move .
Design and Keyboard
Acer has long raise in force - depend laptops , but it does n’t always get things right and some manakin do n’t look or finger that premium once you go hands - on . That ’s not the case with the Swift X 14 – it ’s a beauty . It has a compact screen background step of just 322.8 x 228.1 mm , with a subtly trend , wedge - shaped profile that ’s under 18 mm slurred even at the nates . The ‘ Iron’-coloured aluminium frame has a rather lovely , satin - smooth finish , with any seam only just noticeable on the underside of the social unit . There ’s just any give or polarity of weakness to be found anywhere , yet it weighs just 1.55 kg .
It ’s not exactly silent , with the vent underneath and at the rear give off a fairly constant , low - lurch razzing , but the sound from the redesigned stereo ring fan system of rules is the price you pay for a dedicatedGPU , and you could switch it into soundless mode if you ’re happy to sacrifice some fastness for peace and quiet .
All the connectivity sits on the odd and correct edges , with twoThunderbolt 4ports on the leftfield with a single USB Type - A and anHDMI 2.1output , plus an extra USB Type - A alongside a microSD card slot on the right . Like most of Acer ’s new laptops , it supportsWi - Fi 6Eas standard , so if you ’ve upgraded your router you ’ll be good to go .
The keyboard is one of the best I ’ve encountered on an Acer laptop in some clock time . It has the well - space , flat - lead headstone typical of Acer manikin , and a sensible layout where the Shift , Ctrl , Alt and Enter keys are where you would require them , and appropriately sized . Our early review version had a US or International layout with no £ sign , but with Windows set to use a UK layout , I only discover after a good few Day of use .
The action is great , with a couple of mm traveling and satisfying tactile feedback as you urge on and unblock each key . I have just one complaint . Acer has placed an on / off key in the top - right corner , just where the Delete key usually sits . As a writer , I hit the Delete key a lot . you’re able to plausibly guess what happens here , even if the power key does n’t do a lot unless you take for it down .
The trackpad uses Acer ’s Oceanglass recycled plastic surface , but it feels surprisingly close to even glass . If anything , I discover it slightly too tender in utilization , occasionally registering accidental middleman with a medal , make me to click the faulty thing on the screen . This was n’t a massive exit , and the generous size and high levels of truth make it possible to do some fairly accurate and elaborated employment without turn over for a mouse .
Interestingly , the Oceanglass is the same as used in Acer ’s eco - witting Vero laptops , though that ’s where the Swift X 14 ’s green credentials end , bar the common energy efficiency supply . However , the packaging is all composition board with no charge card inserts , so at least that ’s not contributing to spherical waste product .
Display and Sound
Subjectively , the Swift X 14 ’s screen is stunning . It ’s lustrous , whites are as pure as you could hope for and the colours are incredibly rich and vibrant . With an unusual 14.5 - inch screen size and resolving power of 2880 x 1800 , it ’s fabulously frizzy and well-defined . It ’s always a good sign when I drop more time than I really need streaming video recording to check out different moving-picture show , shows and trailer , and I did that a lot while testing Acer ’s late . It ’s as brilliant for bingeing Netflix as it is for office work done or redact video .
Tested with a colorimeter , it ’s every second as impressive . Max SDR brightness sit at 389 nit , and with the common OLED black luminance of zero nit , we ’re talking innumerous story of contrast – which ought to be good enough for most people . It covers 100 % of thesRGBcolour gamut , 99.9 % ofDCI - P3and 96.5 % ofAdobe RGB . Do n’t know what that means ? Do n’t occupy . If you ’re a professional fashion designer , lensman or video editor in chief , this presentation cover your requirements and break you accurate colour .
It ’s a good - sounding laptop too , delivering richer , rounder audio than you ’ll normally get from slimmer , more lightweight models . There ’s a little over-crowding in the mid - range and the strait can become rough at high volumes , but there ’s a decent stereo facing pages and that help make game and movies come animated .
Meetings , calls and video recording New World chat wo n’t be a problem , either . The build up - in mic array does a solid job of picking out your voice from any background knowledge noise , and the 1080p webcam delivers clear , well - exposed video even in challenging lighting . You may spot a little overexposure near brilliant window , but I ’ll take that over gloomy and underexposed , any daylight .
Performance
The Swift X 14 has the same Core i7 - 13700HCPUand 16GBRAMwe view in its close cousin , theAcer Swift Go 14 , along with an RTX 4050 GPU , run at a maximum 50W. There ’s a 1TBSSDonboard too . It ’s a high - execution CPU , with 14 cores be given up to 20 threads at speed of up to 5GHz , depending on the contour .
Curiously , the Swift X 14 benchmarks a little slow than the Swift Go 14 , with Geekbench 6 results of 2275 ( single - heart and soul ) and 8674 ( multi - core ) to the Swift Go 14 ’s 2456 and 11724 . In PCMark 10 , the Swift X 14 posted an overall consequence of 5895 against the Swift Go ’s 6160 . It ’s also behind some other competitors in Geekbench 6 , include theAsus Vivobook S 15 OLEDandZenbook S 13 organic light-emitting diode , though the Swift X 14 is truehearted than either in PC Mark 10 .
The RTX 4050 comes with NVIDIA ’s Studio drivers preinstalled , and with its limited electric power is here more to plunk for originative program than make for the late megahit game . Still , as long as you ’re realistic , the Swift X 14 will substantiate some play after working hour . On Ultra setting in Returnal , you ’re looking at 48fps at a 1080p declaration or 33fps at QHD , but you have the choice to deform the detail configurations down or useDLSS 3for a frame rate encouragement . In QHD this was enough to attain 43fps .
cyber-terrorist with ray trace set to Ultra is a bit much to ask , with the material body rate chug at 17.92fps at 1080p , dropping to 10.74fps at 1440p . However , you’re able to get 47fps at 1080p on Ultra configurations with beam tracing twist off , or you’re able to get a dead playable 51.81fps with DLSS 3 and Frame Generation enabled . Be warned , though , that this make the command feel ever so somewhat laggy .
Software
Acer and its software package partner run to pre - instal a wide selection of apps on Acer laptops , and the Swift X 14 is no exception . There are icons for Dropbox and Booking.com apps on the taskbar , while Acer has its Purified Voice Console and Jumpstart apps pose in the Start menu . The former is a microphone configuration utility , the latter just a link to Acer ’s on-line store . DTS :X Ultra and DTS Sound Unbound can also be witness there , along with WhatsApp , Evernote , an ExpressVPN trial and a data link to download the Planet9 play client . Most seem to have more to do with marketing opportunity than providing useful tools for the Swift X 14 ’s target audience .
Battery life
assault and battery spirit is the one sphere where the Swift X 14 is slightly disappointing . Sure , it ’s a knock-down laptop with a dedicated graphics chip and a hefty organic light-emitting diode screen , but I ’d still hoped for a little more than seven hours and 13 minutes in PC Mark 10 ’s Modern Office battery bench mark . After all , the Swift Go 14 managed nine hour and 42 minute of arc , while the Asus Vivobook S OLED 14 hold up for over eleven .
In universal utilisation , I happen it made it through a work day , but I ’d often find levels lowly and battery warnings kicking in if I needed to do something later in the evening . As a mostly place - based doer , this is n’t an issue for me , but it might be for someone who spends more of their time on the go . As for picture cyclosis , an hour at full brightness saw the boot floor cliff by 18 % , so you should get more than five hours before it work flat .
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Should you buy it?
central processor operation could be good but you ’re getting a mountain of horsepower in a slim - and - light social unit , along with solid biotechnology and an excellent projection screen . And it does n’t it hurt that it can also run game .
The Swift X 14 is still a via media , with other laptops offer more speed , a slimmer , tripping design or longer battery life story . It gives you a practiced balance across all three areas , but it ’s not quite consummate .
Final Thoughts
The Swift X 14 does n’t get everything ripe , but it ’s a brilliant laptop for fluid creatives , with a screen and biotechnology you could process with all twenty-four hour period long and ample CPU and GPU power . It also add up in a form factor small and illumine enough that it wo n’t weigh you down between home and a client , or the office .
There are some other potent pick out there , with their own marvelous OLED screens . These include theAsus Zenbook 15 OLEDandZenbook S 13 organic light-emitting diode , not to mention Acer ’s ownSwift Go 14 . Yet none of these pop the question the same combination of portability , screen quality and dedicated GPU execution , even if each one tucker the Swift X 14 in one sphere or another . This is where Acer ’s latest come out on top , providing everything you ’d need for professional excogitation , graphics or video recording in a package that ’s not just practical , but agio in every style . For some more pick , check out ourbest OLED laptopsguide .
Trusted Score
How we test
Every laptop computer we review go through a series of uniform bank check design to gauge central things , including build quality , performance , sieve lineament and bombardment life .
These include conventional semisynthetic benchmarks and scripted exam , plus a series of actual - world cheque , such as how well it bleed pop apps .
FAQs
In simple terms , Aspire is Acer ’s budget to mid - range solidification of laptop whereas Swift concenter on mid - range to high - remainder laptop .
The Acer Swift X 14 will be overkill for many students , who will be better suitable attend at productivity - focused machine . But , if your work involve creative work that benefits from having an accurate display , then this laptop could befit you .
Test Data
Full Specs
