This is one of the things that Acer always seems to get right with its products: value. With the Swift X, Acer has done that again (SFX14-41G-R1S6). In addition to having an AMD Ryzen 7 5800U processor, it has RTX 3050 Ti graphics and 16GB of RAM. It costs $1,099.99 for all of these things, as well. Besides that, it comes in a package that weighs less than three pounds.
AMD Ryzen laptops don’t work well when they don’t have power. It’s enough to make you notice. Neither Acer nor AMD is to blame for this; it’s all AMD’s fault! However, AMD’s Ryzen processors are cheap enough that these high-performance parts can be put together in less expensive boxes. Even though there are many good things about this camera, there are also many bad things about it: Even if you don’t like Acer’s bloatware, it’s easy to get rid of it.
The Swift X is good in general. It looks good, is light, strong, and easy to use. We called it our favorite Acer laptop in our roundup, but we didn’t say it was the best one.
Acer Swift X (2021) pricing and availability
At $949, you can get the Acer Swift X. It’s on sale right now.
The Acer Swift X came out in the second half of 2021, and it was a tablet. It has an AMD Ryzen 5 5600U, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 graphics, 8GB LPDDR4X RAM, and a 512GB SSD. It costs $949.99. $1,099.99 is the price of the model that Acer sent us to review. It includes a Ryzen 7 5800U, an RTX 3050 Ti, and 16GB of RAM, which makes it faster and more powerful. It’s a big deal for $150 more.
All models come with a 14-inch FHD screen. When it comes to the Swift X, there aren’t a lot of options to choose from.
Acer Swift X Specs
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 5800U Octa-Core Mobile Processor 1.9GHz with Precision Boost up to 4.4GHz (up to 16MB L3 cache) |
|---|---|
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050Ti Laptop GPU with 4 GB of dedicated GDDR6 VRAM and 1035 – 1410 MHz Boost Clock; NVIDIA Ampere streaming multiprocessors. It supports NVIDIA GeForce Experience, 2nd Gen Ray Tracing Cores, 3rd Gen Tensor Cores, NVIDIA DLSS, NVIDIA WhisperMode 2.0, NVIDIA Resizable BAR, NVIDIA Dynamic Boost 2.0, NVIDIA GPU BoostTM, NVIDIA Advanced Optimus, Microsoft DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, Game Ready Drivers, HDCP 2.3 |
| Body | 12.71×8.35×0.7in (322.8×212.2×17.9mm), 3.06 (1.39kg) |
| Display | 14-inch 1920 x 1080, IPS LED-backlit display with 100% sRGB color gamut, 300 nits, 16:9 aspect ratio; Wide viewing angle up to 170 degrees |
| Memory | 16GB LPDDR4X onboard memory |
| Storage | 512GB NVMe SSD |
| Audio | DTS Audio featuring optimized bass response and micro-speaker distortion prevention Two built-in front-facing stereo speakers Acer Purified.Voice Technology with Dual Built-in Microphones Acer TrueHarmony Technology Compatible with Cortana with Voice |
| Ports | USB Type-C port USB 3.2 Gen 2 (up to 10Gbps) DisplayPort over USB Type-C, USB charging Two USB 3.2 Gen 1 port (one featuring power-off charging) HDMI 2.0 port with HDCP support Combo headphone/microphone-in jack |
| Wireless and networking | Intel Wireless Wi-Fi 6 AX201 802.11ax Dual Band (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) featuring 2×2 MU-MIMO technology Supports Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Battery | 59 Wh 4-cell Li-ion battery providing up to 17 hours of battery life (Based on MobileMark 2014 test results) |
| Security | Acer Bio-Protection Fingerprint Solution featuring Computer Protection and Windows Hello Certification; Kensington lock slot |
| Webcam | HD webcam (1280 x 720 resolution) supporting Super high dynamic range imaging (SHDR) |
| Input | Backlit keyboard with Precision Touchpad supporting Windows Modern Touchpad gestures |
| Material | Aluminum chassis & palm rest; Mylar touchpad; plastic surrounding display |
| OS | Windows 10 Home |
| Price | $1,099.99 |
Design: The Acer Swift X comes in two-tone Safari Gold
There are two-tone color schemes in colors like Steam Blue, Prodigy Pink, and Safari Gold. This makes it look pretty, but also unique. It’s only a little over three pounds, which is very light for a machine that has a lot of power inside.
If you have a Ryzen 6000 laptop with a USB4 port, you can’t use it right now.
People can choose from Steam Blue, Prodigy Pink, and Safari Gold when they buy the Acer Swift X (SFX14-41G). Besides, I’m a little jealous of the Steam Blue. The one Acer sent me is Safari Gold, though. There’s a two-tone look to all of them. They all have silver sides and keyboards, so they look great together. To make things more interesting, I like how Steam Blue looks with silver.
Because this laptop is so light, Acer says that the chassis is made of aluminum. This is a big deal because this thing only weighs about three pounds. NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU is part of the weight, so keep that in mind. I thought it would be made of a magnesium alloy that didn’t feel as good, but this is really nice.
Display: The matte screen makes up for the low brightness
The color gamut tests aren’t great, but it does a good job of blocking glare from the screen.
It’s a shame, but the webcam is still 720p.
The screen on the Acer Swift X is 14 inches wide and has a resolution of 1,920×1,080, so there’s nothing crazy going on here. A lot of movies are now being made with newer aspect ratios, like 16:10 or 3:2. This one is still 16:9; it doesn’t use any of them. It has a brightness of 300 nits, is anti-glare, and is Full HD.
It does have a wide viewing angle, which is what the spec sheet says. That means you can look at it from any angle and it won’t look different in color. There are also small bezels on every side. There is a lot that I like about this machine’s screen for me. Read also; REVIEW: Apple iPhone 13 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
In our tests, we once again find that the display on a high-end computer isn’t very good. It can do 97 percent sRGB, 69 percent NTSC, 74 percent Adobe RGB, and 73 percent P3 color.
Brightness reached 306.2 nits, which is a little more than what was promised. Another good thing about the contrast is that it topped out at 1,040:1, which is still pretty good.
In the end, the display on the Acer Swift X isn’t going to win any awards, but it’s still pretty good.
Keyboard: The backlit keyboard on the Acer Swift X hasn’t really changed
The backlit keyboard is very sturdy and comfortable to use.
The keys on the Acer Swift X feel good, but I don’t think there’s anything new about this. It’s easy and comfortable to type on, and of course, it has backlighting.
This is always a good thing: The keys don’t move at all or make a lot of noise. Below the keyboard is a Microsoft Precision touchpad that’s made of mylar, which is a material that’s very strong. The size is fine for me, but I’d like it to be a little bigger, so I could use all the space.
As you type, there’s also a fingerprint sensor to your right of the keyboard. For Windows Hello, this is the only way to use it on this computer because there is no IR camera that can recognize your face. When all is said and done, it’s actually a pretty good fingerprint sensor.
Performance: AMD Ryzen 5000 is great
When the AMD Ryzen 7 5800U and the NVIDIA RTX 3050 Ti graphics cards work together, they are powerful. Unfortunately, AMD’s processors lose a lot of speed when they don’t have power. Acer adds a lot of bloatware to its PCs, but it’s easy to get rid of.
Swift X is all about power and dedicated graphics. It fits into the Swift brand. As a result, that brand is all about being very light. With an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti and a weight of just over three pounds, Acer did a great job here.
There’s also the AMD Ryzen 7 5800U, which is a good CPU. You can see a lot of laptops with AMD Ryzen processors that are good value for the money, like this one. A Core i7-1185G-7 would cost more to put in here. That’s not the case when you don’t have power, though. You get what you pay for. In order to get a high-end processor at a lower price, you have to give up some power when you’re on the go. Read more; IPAD MINI 2021 REVIEW: A LITTLE DIFFERENT
Finally, this is a great laptop for work and photo editing. For video editing, at least if you do it a lot, I think you should get a computer that has better graphics. You can do the same thing if you’re playing a game.
Battery life is pretty good
On the Acer Swift X, the battery lasts for a good long time. Most of my estimates came in between five and five-and-a-half hours, which is a good range to work with. This is how it’s used in the real world, and it’s based on how much the battery drains and how long it takes to get from 100% to 0%.
Intel-powered PCs usually have recommended power settings, but with AMD, I’m really forced to use the best performance setting, so that’s what I did here, as well. Then, set it to recommended or balanced will make it last even longer. But, as I’ve said a few times now, you’re already giving up some performance by unplugging the machine.
Who should buy the Acer Swift X (2021)?
The Acer Swift X is a laptop that can be used by most people. Finally, it has the power to do both works and be creative at the same time, while still being as thin and light as an ultrabook. It’s a very impressive thing.
Keep in mind that this machine has its flaws. It still has a 720p webcam, but when it doesn’t have power, it doesn’t work as well. If you don’t like it, you can just get rid of it once.
