Acer Swift 14 (2023) Laptop Review

The Acer Swift 14 has a simple and sleek design. The bezels are incredibly thin, making the whole laptop feel more like a 13-inch than a 14-inch model. The finish is a dark olive green color with copper accents on the sides, although the green can look more like dark gray under some lighting. On the bottom, you can find the speakers near the front and air vents near the back. There are also air vents on the back of the laptop. The hinge design allows the bottom of the display to lift the back of the device when opened, providing better airflow. The keyboard's backlight is white, but the key legends are a darker yellow, matching the copper accents on the sides.

The build quality is great. Its metal chassis feels high-quality and sturdy, exhibiting only a small amount of flex in the display and keyboard deck. However, it doesn't quite have the solidity and heftiness of more premium models like the Apple MacBook Air 13 (2022). The finish doesn't scratch or pick up fingerprints easily, and the feet feel solid and stick firmly to the bottom.

The hinge is okay. It feels smooth when opening and closing the lid and is very stable. There's only a little wobble when moving the laptop or typing aggressively. Unfortunately, you can't open the lid with one hand because the laptop's base is too light.

The Acer Swift laptop and its power adapter are very compact and lightweight.

The serviceability is mediocre. Accessing the internals is relatively straightforward; you have to remove eleven T5 Torx screws and undo a couple of clips. The replaceable parts are easily accessible once you remove the bottom panel. Unfortunately, the memory isn't user-upgradeable, and there's only one storage slot.

You can see the user's manual here.

• Acer Swift 14 laptop
• 100W USB-C power adapter and cord
• Documentation

The Acer Swift laptop is available with the following displays:

• 14" IPS 1920 x 1200 60Hz Touchscreen
• 14" IPS 2560 x 1600 60Hz Touchscreen

Both displays look very sharp and provide just enough room for split-screen multitasking. The QHD+ (2560 x 1600) looks a tad sharper, but the difference isn't immediately noticeable at normal viewing distances. The 16:10 aspect ratio gives you slightly more vertical room than a standard 16:9 screen, which is great for productivity, as you don't have to scroll as much when reading a document or website.

This laptop is only available with 60Hz displays. The QHD+ panel has a slow response time causing noticeable ghosting, so it isn't ideal for viewing fast-moving content and gaming. The FHD+ (1920 x 1200) panel will likely perform similarly.

The contrast ratio is great for an IPS panel, but it's still relatively low compared to other display technologies like VA and OLED. Blacks look gray in dim settings. The FHD+ display likely has a similar contrast ratio. If you want a similar productivity laptop with an OLED display, check out the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (2024).

The QHD+ display gets very bright, enough to provide good visibility outdoors in broad daylight. It also gets very dim at the lowest brightness setting, which is great for dark room viewing as it causes less eye strain. The FHD+ display will likely perform similarly.

The reflection handling is sub-par. Its glossy finish doesn't do much to reduce the intensity of bright reflections. It's best to avoid having light sources directly behind you, like a lamp or open window during the day. The reflections make it hard to see dark-color content and are visible even when viewing light-color content with the display at maximum brightness.

The display's black uniformity is mediocre. There's clouding in a few places, and some backlight bleed around the corners of the screen. These issues are only visible when viewing dark content in a dim setting, though.

The horizontal viewing angle is passable. The image dims and washes out fairly quickly as you move to the side. You need to be more or less in front of the screen to see an accurate image.

The vertical viewing angle is passable. Like the horizontal viewing angle, the image dims and washes out when viewing the display from above or below. You need to look at the screen almost straight on to get an accurate image, which can be hard in places where you don't have much space to tilt the screen, like a bus or airplane.

The display accuracy is decent out of the box. Most color and white balance inaccuracies are minor. The default color profile targets a slightly wider color space than pure sRGB, oversaturating greens and reds. The color temperature is warmer than the standard 6500K target, although the difference is too small to be noticeable. The gamma doesn't follow the sRGB curve; most scenes look too bright, while dark scenes look too dark.

The QHD+ panel's color gamut is outstanding. It has full sRGB coverage, the color space used in most content. Its Adobe RGB and DCI P3 coverage is excellent but isn't enough for professional print photography or viewing and producing HDR content. The FHD+ display's color gamut is likely similar.

The backlight is entirely flicker-free, which helps reduce eye strain.

The Acer Swift 14 laptop has a decent keyboard. The layout is fairly standard and doesn't take long to get used to, although the spacing feels a little tight. The keycap material is okay; it doesn't feel particularly premium or cheap. The keys are stable and feel tactile; however, they require a fair amount of force to actuate, which can be tiring over an extended period. Also, you may find the travel too short, especially if you're used to mechanical keyboards. Typing noise is relatively low and isn't bothersome in quiet settings.

The touchpad is decent. It feels smooth and tracks all movements and gestures well. However, its small size makes actions like dragging and dropping over a long distance hard. There are no issues with palm rejection. The clicking mechanism feels relatively satisfying but is loud, and you can only click in the bottom portion of the touchpad. Check out the ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED UX3404 (2023) if you want a similar laptop with a better touchpad.

The speakers are passable. Though clear, they sound slightly tinny, with no bass at all. They aren't sibilant, but the treble is a little sharp and can be fatiguing over time. On the upside, they get very loud with minimal dynamic compression artifacts at max volume.

The Acer Swift's webcam is excellent. The image looks detailed and well-exposed, with natural-looking colors. The only complaint is that there's a little bit of noise in the darker areas. Voices come across loud and clear over the microphone with almost no background noise.

The Acer Swift's port selection is excellent. The two USB-A ports support USB 3.2 Gen. 1 data transfer speed (up to 5 Gbps). You can use the left USB-A port to charge a mobile device even when the laptop is in sleep mode. Both USB-Cs support Thunderbolt 4 (up to 40Gbps data transfer speed and two 4k displays at 60Hz) and can charge mobile devices at a maximum power output of 15W.

The wireless adapter is an Intel Killer Wi-Fi AX1675i. Wi-Fi 6E has faster speeds, lower latency, and less signal interference than previous Wi-Fi standards. However, you need a router that supports Wi-Fi 6E to benefit from these features.

The Acer Swift laptop is available with the following CPUs:

• Intel Core i5-13500H (12 cores/16 threads, up to 4.7GHz, 18MB cache)
• Intel Core i7-13700H (14 cores/20 threads, up to 5.0GHz, 24MB cache)

Both CPUs are high-performance processors typically found in gaming laptops and mobile workstations. They can handle light productivity tasks as well as demanding workloads like video editing, 3D graphics, and gaming. They both have a hybrid design with a mix of performance and efficiency cores. The Core i5 has four performance and eight efficiency cores, while the Core i7 has six performance and eight efficiency cores. The Core i7 is faster than the Core i5 and the best option for professionals with strict deadlines, as it can complete tasks faster and provide a smoother experience in intensive applications.

The Acer Swift 14 laptop is only available with Intel Iris Xe graphics. This integrated GPU can only handle light tasks like web browsing and video playback, not demanding workloads like video editing or 3D graphics. You can play some older or puzzle-like games, but you'll likely have to play with low settings to get smooth gameplay. If you need a thin, light laptop with a discrete GPU, check out the Lenovo Slim Pro 7 14 (2023).

You can configure this laptop with 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB of memory. The RAM modules are soldered onto the motherboard and aren't user-replaceable.

You can configure this laptop with 512GB or 1TB of storage. The SSD is user-replaceable; the slot supports an M.2 2280 PCIe Gen. 4 NVMe SSD.

The Acer Swift has an outstanding overall score in the Geekbench 5 benchmarks. The Intel Core i7-13700H has exceptional single- and multi-thread performance, making it suitable for nearly every type of workload, including demanding tasks like 3D graphics and video editing. The Core i5-13500H is slower but still fast enough to handle intensive tasks. Unfortunately, the Intel Iris Xe integrated GPU performs poorly and isn't suitable for demanding jobs.

The Acer Swift performs exceptionally well in the Cinebench R23 benchmarks, making it suitable for 3D graphics rendering and other related workloads. The Core i5-13500H is slower but still adequate for professional-level work.

The performance in Blender is great; however, if you need to render images professionally, it's best to get a laptop with a discrete GPU. Even an entry-level GPU, like an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, can render images much faster than the CPU, saving you time.

The Acer Swift performs poorly in the Basemark GPU benchmark. Intel's Iris Xe isn't bad for integrated graphics, but it still isn't fast enough to provide smooth gameplay in graphically demanding games. It can only handle simple, puzzle-like games or older titles at 1080p, and even then, you'll have to play at a lower resolution or with low graphics settings to get playable frame rates.

The SSD's performance is outstanding. Its fast read and write speeds allow the system to quickly boot up, launch apps, and transfer files.

The Acer Swift's battery life is decent. You can get through a typical work or school day on a full charge, but it's close, so depending on your usage, you may have to plug it in for a quick charge. Models with an FHD+ display will have slightly longer battery life.

Borderlands 3 isn't playable on the Acer Swift. The gameplay is extremely choppy, even with low settings. The Intel Iris Xe integrated GPU can't handle such a graphically demanding game. You can expect the same performance in other similar titles.

Civilization VI is a little choppy at 1080p with high settings because the average frame rate is too low, but you can get much smoother gameplay if you lower a couple of graphical settings. The average turn time is decent and within the expected range for an Intel 13th Gen. H-series processor. The turn time is likely longer on a model with a Core i5, albeit only marginally.

CS:GO runs poorly at 1080p with high settings. Although the average frame rate is good, the game stutters a lot due to frame drops. It runs more smoothly with low settings, but there are still noticeable stutters. The Core i5 will perform slightly worse.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider isn't playable at 1080p with high settings. The gameplay is choppy, even with low graphical settings. You have to lower the resolution to 720p to get playable frame rates in this and other similarly demanding games.

The Acer Swift has good thermal and noise handling. The keyboard is cool at idle, and the fans are completely silent. The keyboard gets much hotter under load, but it doesn't cause any discomfort as the hot spots are closer to the top of the deck, away from where most people rest their hands. As for the fans, although they're audible at full speed, the noise isn't annoying.

The Acer Swift's performance over time is great. Only the CPU throttles under load. The performance loss is small but still noticeable, especially in long, sustained workloads.

The Acer Swift 14 comes with many pre-installed applications, including:

• Acer documents: PDF containing regulatory information and safety guide.
• Acer Jumpstart: Link to Acer's website.
• Acer Legal Information: Link to legal notice on Acer's website.
• Acer Product Registration: Lets you register your laptop for warranty purposes.
• Amazon: Link to Amazon website.
• Booking.com: Link to Booking.com website.
• Care Center: Lets you check for system issues, update firmware and drivers, clean unnecessary files, and backup data.
• Dropbox promotion: Ad for Dropbox file-hosting service.
• DTS Audio Processing: Lets you change the sound profile and EQ settings.
• Evernote: Note-taking application.
• ExpressVPN: Link to ExpressVPN virtual private network service website.
• Forge of Empires: Strategy game.
• Hearts Deluxe: Card game.
• Intel Graphics Command Center: Lets you change the display's color profile and video processing settings.
• Intel Optane Memory and Storage Management: Lets you set up multiple drives in a RAID array and optimize the SSD's performance.
• Intel Unison: Lets you connect your smartphone to the laptop, allowing you to send and receive messages, view photos on your smartphone, and transfer files, similar to the MyPhone app.
• Killer Intelligence Center: Lets you manage network settings and traffic.
• McAfee: Antivirus software.
• Planet9: Link to Planet9 esports social platform website.
• Quick Access: Lets you turn on/off Bluelight reduction, change performance mode, and manage USB charging behavior.
• Solitaire and Casual Games: Collection of casual games like Solitaire, FreeCell, Sudoku, Mahjong, Jigsaw, and more.
• Spotify: App for the music streaming service.
• User Experience Improvement Program: Lets you provide feedback to Acer about the laptop.

The Acer Swift has a fingerprint sensor built into the power button. You can use it to log into Windows, authorize Windows Store purchases, and auto-fill saved passwords on supported websites.