![The Acer Swift Edge 16 open on a table.](https://www.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/acer-swift-edge-16-2024-featured-e1724107236180_755345.jpg?resize=625%2C417&p=1)
“The Acer Swift Edge 16 just doesn't last long enough on a charge.”
- Thin and light chassis
- Beautiful OLED display
- Good productivity performance
- Reasonably affordable
- Poor battery life
- Overly flexible chassis
- Needs a haptic touchpad
When I reviewed the Acer Swift Edge 16 in 2023, I gave it a high score for being a thin and light 16-inch laptop with a large display for multitasking. I overlooked its poor battery life and other flaws because I thought it provided other features that mattered more, along with a reasonable price.
Today, though, there’s less excuse for a laptop that won’t make it until lunchtime — especially when
Specs and configurations
Acer Swift Edge 16 (2024) | |
Dimensions | 14.18 inches x 9.78 inches x 0.51-0.60 inches |
Weight | 2.71 pounds |
Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 8840U |
Graphics | AMD Radeon Graphics 780M |
RAM | 16GB |
Display | 16.0-inch 16:10 3.2K (3200 x 2000) OLED, 120Hz |
Storage | 1TB |
Touch | No |
Ports | 2 x USB-C USB4 2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 1 x HDMI 2.1 1 x 3.5mm audio jack 1 x microSD card speaker |
Wireless | Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3 |
Webcam | QHD (2560 x 1440) |
Operating system | Windows 11 |
Battery | 54 watt-hours |
Price |
$1,300 |
Acer offers just one configuration of the Swift Edge 16, at $1,300 for an AMD Ryzen 7 8840U chipset, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 16.0-inch 3.2K OLED display.
That’s a fair price for a well-equipped 16-inch laptop, with a caveat — most 16-inch
In one very important aspect, those two
Design
You’ll find 16-inch
The Swift Edge 16 isn’t the absolute thinnest example I’ve reviewed, but it’s pretty close at between 0.51 and 0.60 inches. The Gram 16 is just 0.51 inches thick and the MacBook Air 15 is an incredible 0.45 inches. Even the MacBook Pro 16 is just 0.66 inches. However, the Acer is incredibly light at 2.71 pounds, compared to the Gram 16 at 3.08 pounds, the MacBook Air 15 at 3.3 pounds, and the MacBook Pro 16 at 4.8 pounds. The Swift Edge 16 lighter than many 14-inch
As with many of the lightest
That’s also somewhat true of the LG Gram 16 2-in-1, while the others I’ve mentioned have a much more rigid feel. It doesn’t mean the Swift Edge 16 isn’t well-built, but if you like
Aesthetically, the Swift Edge is a fairly bland all-black chassis with pedestrian lines and edges. It’s not unattractive, but it also does nothing to stand out.
Keyboard and touchpad
The keyboard is a standard island version, with good spacing and large enough keycaps. The switches are light and snappy, and I was up to speed quickly enough. It’s rare that I come across a keyboard that I like as much as the MacBook’s Magic Keyboard, and this one doesn’t, either. But it’s more than good enough.
The touchpad is smaller than it could be, leaving plenty of available space on the palm rest. And, it’s a pretty typical mechanical version — good enough, but not nearly as good as the better haptic touchpads. That’s OK, though, at this laptop’s price. It will take more time for haptic touchpads to be standard on all but premium
Webcam and connectivity
The Swift Edge 16 has a solid connection of ports, with a mix of USB4 (similar in performance and functionality to Intel’s Thunderbolt 4 standard) and legacy ports. The only disappointment is the microSD card reader versus a full-size reader, but some recent 16-inch
The webcam is reasonably hi-res at QHD (2560 by 1440). It provides good-enough quality. There’s no infrared camera for Windows 11 Hello facial recognition, but the fingerprint reader embedded in the power button works well enough.
Performance
The Swift Edge 16 uses the AMD Ryzen 7 8840U chipset. That’s not AMD’s most recent chipset — currently the very powerful Ryzen AI 300 series, which we reviewed in the Asus ProArt PX13 and ProArt P16. Instead, the Ryzen 8000 series remains the company’s mainstream laptop lineup, and the Ryzen 7 8840U is aimed at thin and light
In our standard suite of benchmarks, the Swift Edge 16 was reasonably competitive but fell behind in a few. It did well in the PCMark 10 Complete benchmark that runs a combination of casual, productivity, and creative tasks. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 running the Snapdragon X Elite was the fastest among this comparison group, but it was also limited in how we could test it given that many benchmarks haven’t been written to run natively on Windows on Arm. The same applies to applications across the board, where the Samsung might run an application in emulation and so likely slower than the others.
Overall, I’d rate the Swift Edge 16 more than fast enough for demanding productivity users. Creators will find the integrated Radeon Graphics 780M to be a limiting factor, as will gamers.
Geekebench 6 (single/multi) |
Cinebench R24 (single/multi/GPU) |
Handbrake (seconds) |
PCMark 10 Complete |
|
Acer Swift Edge 16 2024 (Ryzen 7 8840U / Radeon Graphics 780M) |
Bal: 2,353 / 10,072 Perf: 2,359 / 10,169 |
Bal: 96 / 584 / N/A Perf: 98 / 602 / N/A |
Bal: 90 Perf: 82 |
6,843 |
LG Gram 16 2-in-1 (Core Ultra 7 155H / Intel Arc) |
Bal: 1,819 / 8,493 Perf: 2,224 / 11,192 |
Bal: 97 / 430 / N/A Perf: 101 / 725 / N/A |
Bal: 88 Perf: 86 |
6,233 |
HP Spectre x360 16 (Core Ultra 7 155H / RTX 4050) |
Bal: 2,234 / 11,878 Perf: 2,246 / 11,821 |
Bal: 104 / 577 / 6,672 Perf: 104 / 591 / 7,290 |
Bal: 131 Perf: 93 |
5,812 |
Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 (Snapdragon X Elite / Adreno) |
Bal: 2,957 / 15,358 Perf: 2,935 / 15,614 |
Bal: 126 / 996 / N/A Perf: 126 / 996 / N/A |
N/A | N/A |
Dell XPS 14 (Core Ultra 7 165H / RTX 4050) |
Bal: 2,334 / 13,070 Perf: 2,344 / 12,818 |
Bal: 100 / 772 / 5,811 Perf: 101 / 681 / 5,738 |
Bal: 84 Perf: 72 |
5,992 |
Acer Swift X 16 (Ryzen 9 7940HS / RTX 4050) |
Bal: 1,840 / 11,741 Perf: 1,893 / 11,681 |
Bal: 104 / 827 / 8,392 Perf: 105 / 933 / 8,439 |
N/A | N/A |
Apple MacBook Air 13 (M3) |
Bal: 3,102 / 12,078 Perf: N/A |
Bal: 141 / 601 / 3,049 Perf: N/A |
Bal: 109 Perf: N/A |
n/a |
Battery life
AMD chipsets tend to be more efficient than Intel’s, while Qualcomm now rules Windows
In our web browsing test, the Swift Edge 16 lasted just 4.25 hours. By comparison, the LG Gram 16 2-in-1 hit 9.5 hours and, while we haven’t tested the MacBook Air 15 with the M3 chipset, the MacBook Air 13 M3 managed 19.5 hours and the 15-inch model is likely to last longer. In our video looping test, the Swift Edge 16 lasted for 4.5 hours compared to the LG Gram 16 at 12.25 hours and the MacBook Air at 19.5 hours. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 lasted for 12.5 and 14.5 hours, respectively.
Those aren’t great results. In fact, they’re pretty bad, and some other large-screen
Display and audio
The Swift Edge 16 has a 16.0-inch 3.2K (3200 by 2000) OLED display running at up to 120Hz. That’s plenty sharp, and the refresh rate promises a smooth
My colorimeter loved this display as well. Brightness was very good at 410 nits, not the best I’ve seen lately but still very high. Colors were wide at 100% of sRGB, 98% of AdobeRGB, and 99% of DCI-P3, and accuracy was incredibly good at a DeltaE of 0.69 (less than 1.0 is considered excellent). Finally, contrast was very high at 14,230:1. That’s not the highest I’ve seen with OLED, but at these levels it’s just a measurement thing. Blacks were essentially perfect.
It’s pretty much true that if a laptop has an OLED display, it will be excellent for productivity users, creators, and media creators. The Swift Edge 16 is no different.
Audio was just OK, with two upward-firing speakers providing good enough audio for the usual system sounds and some like streaming. If you want to watch action movies or listen to music, then you’ll want a good pair of
There are too many flaws to compete
The Swift Edge 16 is reasonably affordable, and it has a great OLED display. Performance is more than enough for demanding productivity, and it’s very light. It’s a highly portable laptop for productivity users and media consumer who can benefit from a large display.
However, the chassis is a bit too flexible, even for similar