Simply adding “AI” to a product name isn’t enough anymore. Nor, really, is the gimmicky touchpad on Acer’s new Swift 16 AI ($1,199.99 as tested), which lights up when using AI apps. Nevertheless, this laptop’s impressive OLED touch screen, metal chassis, and all-day battery life make it an attractive option for home and entertainment use. While the Asus ZenBook S 16 and Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 present flashier designs and slightly better performance, they cost hundreds more than this Acer, which we saw for as low as $849.99 during our review period. For the best midrange desktop replacement experience, we still recommend the Editors’ Choice-award-winning MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo, but this Acer is a very good alternative, especially if you can score it for the sale price.
Configuration and Design: Looking Lean for a 16
Sold exclusively at Best Buy, the Swift 16 AI’s sole available configuration (model SF16-51T-76TG) includes an Intel Core Ultra 7 256V (“Lunar Lake”) processor, Intel Arc 140V integrated graphics, 16GB of memory, and 1TB of solid-state storage. These specifications give it ample performance for everyday use and light content creation. Acer also includes a padded travel sleeve with the laptop.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The Swift 16 AI stands out as one of the more portable 16-inch notebooks you can find. It weighs a trim 3.37 pounds and measures 0.63 by 14 by 9.8 inches (HWD). Despite its upscale metal design, the laptop exhibits mild chassis flex, though nothing alarming. Its Ice Black exterior appears dull compared with the more chic Asus ZenBook S 16 and Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16, which have similar proportions.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Acer provides a variety of ports, mitigating the need for adapters or dongles. On the laptop’s left side, you’ll find an HDMI 2.1 monitor output, a 5Gbps USB Type-A port, and two USB4 ports. The right side features a 3.5mm audio jack and an additional USB-A port. While either USB4 port can charge the laptop, having one on each side of the chassis would have been more convenient. You also get support for leading-edge Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 wireless connectivity.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Biometric features include an infrared face-recognition webcam and a fingerprint reader built into the power button. The camera’s modern 1440p resolution is a significant improvement over the 720p models still found on some laptops.
Using the Acer Swift 16 AI: Entertainment-Friendly Features
I find the Swift 16 AI to be a reliable everyday companion. Its 16-inch screen provides ample viewing space and is light enough to carry around the house without reservations. Its excellent battery life also means I rarely need to worry about staying near an outlet.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The OLED screen is the most compelling reason to buy this laptop. Its 2,880-by-1,800-pixel resolution, touch support, and smooth 120Hz refresh rate deliver a stunning visual experience. Marvel movie trailers on YouTube practically jump off the screen, displaying vibrant colors, bright whites, and deep blacks. The screen’s broad color coverage should also appeal to content creators.
However, its subpar sound quality diminishes this laptop’s entertainment potential. When listening to Fleetwood Mac’s “Little Lies” and Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love,” the audio is hollow and harsh, lacking any noticeable bass. The equalizer and presets included in the DTS:X app cannot compensate for these shortcomings.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The Acer’s keyboard layout choices are more suited for casual use than productivity. Accessing the Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys requires disabling Num Lock, and there’s no function-lock feature to prioritize the F1 through F12 keys. Additionally, the numeric keypad has a nonstandard three-column layout with narrow keys. The typing experience is also merely average, with keys with sufficient throw but minimal tactile feedback. Despite this, I achieved close to my personal best in the MonkeyType online typing test, scoring 110 words per minute. On the literal bright side, the white backlighting beneath the keys is clearly visible.
The Swift 16 AI’s Copilot+ branding comes thanks to its Core Ultra 256V processor, which boasts ultrafast memory and an enhanced neural processing unit (NPU). However, in practical use, the AI capabilities are not particularly compelling. The most notable features are blur effects and picture tuning in the Acer Purified View webcam app.
For creative types, the Acer LiveArt app allows you to apply stylized filters, remove backgrounds, or add artistic effects like brushstrokes to photos. Another included app is AlterView, which creates dynamic backgrounds that shift as you move your mouse or your head if webcam head tracking is enabled; I didn’t use the latter since I don’t like the idea of the webcam being on all the time. (The webcam doesn’t have a privacy shutter or kill switch.)
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Another key app included is AcerSense, which provides system updates, component health checks, and personal settings (including a battery-charge limiter, power-off USB charging, and a blue-light shield). Given that this laptop features an OLED display, the app recommends enabling window transparency effects, dark mode, auto-hiding the Windows taskbar, and using a special screensaver to maintain its long-term health.
As we typically see on Acer laptops, several unwanted and trial apps are included, such as Dropbox and several games. I uninstalled Acer Jumpstart, which bombarded me with notifications. Acer backs the Swift 16 AI with a one-year warranty.
Testing the Acer Swift 16 AI: Core Ultra 2 Series On Tap
To recap, we’re testing the Swift 16 AI in its only available configuration, a Best Buy model featuring an Intel Core Ultra 7 256V processor (eight cores, 4.8GHz turbo), Intel Arc 140V integrated graphics, 16GB of memory, and a 1TB SSD.
Our comparison lineup includes the Asus ZenBook S 16 ($1,699.99 as tested), the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 ($1,749.99 as tested), the Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 ($819.99 as tested), and the Dell XPS 14 ($2,099 as tested). Although the Dell has a smaller screen, it might attract Acer cross-shoppers since its starting configurations are priced similarly. In terms of performance, Intel’s V-series CPU may lag slightly behind the H-class chips, and Samsung’s Qualcomm silicon should easily outperform Lenovo’s lower-wattage U-class processor.
Productivity and Content Creation Tests
Our primary overall benchmark, UL’s PCMark 10, tests a system in simulated productivity apps ranging from web browsing to word processing and spreadsheet work. Its Full System Drive subtest measures a PC’s storage throughput.
Three more tests are CPU-centric or processor-intensive: Maxon’s Cinebench 2024 uses that company’s Cinema 4D engine to render a complex scene; Primate Labs’ Geekbench 6.3 Pro simulates popular apps ranging from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine learning; and we see how long it takes the HandBrake 1.8 transcoding tool to convert a 12-minute clip from 4K to 1080p resolution.
Finally, workstation maker Puget Systems’ PugetBench for Creators rates a PC’s image editing prowess by executing a variety of typical photo manipulation operations in Adobe Photoshop 2024 (v.25).
The Acer performed closely with the Dell, surpassing the ThinkBook in PCMark’s main test, while the Asus predictably finished first. The Acer also posted the highest score in the PCMark storage test and did well in our Photoshop trial. Although its CPU performance lagged behind the H- and HX-class CPUs, as well as the Samsung’s Snapdragon X Elite chip, it far outperformed the Lenovo.
Graphics Tests
We challenge each laptop’s graphics with a quartet of animations or gaming simulations from UL’s 3DMark test suite. Wild Life (1440p) and Wild Life Extreme (4K) use the Vulkan graphics API to measure GPU speeds.
Steel Nomad’s regular (4K) and Light (1440p) subtests focus on APIs more commonly used for game development (Metal and DirectX 12, in addition to Vulkan) to assess gaming geometry and particle effects. A fifth test, Solar Bay, emphasizes ray-tracing performance using the Vulkan or Metal APIs at 1440p resolution.
The Acer excelled in the GPU tests, outperforming all but the Nvidia GeForce GPU-equipped Dell in most benchmarks. The integrated graphics in the ThinkBook’s U-series chip scored the lowest in all tests, making a compelling case for choosing the Acer’s V-series chip if GPU performance is paramount. However, keep expectations in check: This Acer is not ideal for playing the latest 3D games, even with the V-series chip.
One compliment I can pay to this Acer is that its cooling fan was seldom noticeable, even under load, and that the laptop stayed cool to the touch throughout our testing.
Battery and Display Tests
We test each laptop’s battery life by playing a locally stored 720p video file (the open-source Blender movie Tears of Steel) with display brightness at 50% and audio volume at 100%. We make sure the battery is fully charged before the test, with Wi-Fi and keyboard backlighting turned off.
To gauge display performance, we use a Datacolor SpyderX Elite monitor calibration sensor and its Windows software to measure a laptop screen’s color saturation—what percentage of the sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 color gamuts or palettes the display can show—and its 50% and peak brightness in nits (candelas per square meter).
With battery life exceeding 20 hours, this Acer is an excellent companion for unplugged use. Although the Samsung lasted longer, its screen wasn’t nearly as bright at the 50% setting we use for testing. (Note that we had the Acer’s screen refresh set to 60Hz for testing; upping it to 120Hz will shorten battery life.)
The Acer’s OLED display is quite bright; we consider 400 nits on an OLED panel equivalent to 500 nits on an IPS screen due to the former’s unbeatable contrast. The Swift’s color coverage was also exceptional, with nearly complete coverage of all three tested gamuts. It’s hard to find a better screen on any laptop.
Verdict: A High-Quality Home Entertainment Laptop
Despite its subpar speakers, the Swift 16 AI delivers much to admire, particularly its OLED touch screen and long battery life. Paired with its Intel Core Ultra 2 V-class CPU, this laptop is well-suited to casual entertainment and light content creation. However, a compromised keyboard layout makes it less than ideal for productivity. The touted AI features also aren’t that noteworthy, but this is more of a reflection on Copilot+ laptops in general.
Where this Acer shines is its value, especially if it’s on sale for $849.99, as it was during the review period. Even at its regular price, the Swift 16 AI punches above its weight, providing many of the features of more expensive laptops for less. You can get a sharper screen and a level of raw power more appropriate for a 16-inch laptop out of the MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo, but don’t spurn this Swift if your budget is tighter.
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The Bottom Line
Acer’s Swift 16 AI laptop delivers a metal design, a handsome OLED screen, and long battery life. It’s a solid pick for seekers of a mainstream big-screen laptop.
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About Charles Jefferies
