Ultra-Light Acer Swift Edge 15.6 4K OLED Gaming Laptop Evaluation

Acer Swift Edge 4 / 5 Very good

pros and cons

Pros

• Gorgeous 4K display with rich colors
• Excellent port selection includes 2 full USB-A slots
• Thinner and lighter than you’d expect from the spec sheet

Cons

• Can run quite hot when it’s being pushed
• More flex than I’d like in some places
• Battery life is just OK

$1,500 at Acer

Between chip shortages, supply chain breakdowns, and ongoing inflation , it may seem impossible to find a high-end laptop for under $2,000. Acer’s 16-inch Swift Edge model makes a case that it is still possible to buy an ultrabook-class laptop for not only less than $2,000, but less than $1,500 . Its thin, light chassis, Ryzen 7 CPU, DDR5 memory, and 4K display all shout “premium,” while the price is more than $500 less than a similarly sized and equipped MacBook Pro .

The Swift Edge is an excellent, budget-friendly option for the shopper who needs a solid, workhorse laptop, with one of the best 16-inch displays I’ve seen for under $2,000.

Of course, this surprisingly low sticker price comes with some concessions you should know about. High-concept design and ultrarigid construction are left behind here in favor of raw power.

The battery life’s also shorter than on pricier models. In exchange, you’re getting performance that can handle anything you throw at it – and handled quickly.

Also: OLED vs LED: What’s the difference and is one better than the other?

This review will help you decide if the balance that Acer has struck between performance, build quality, and price makes the Swift Edge the ideal laptop for you.

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Specifications

Build quality

The lid is moderately prone to fingerprints in the Olivine Black colorway.

Michael Gariffo/ZDNET

I’d say that build quality is the least impressive aspect of the Swift Edge. While there’s no single part of the laptop that’s poorly made, the majority of the materials are… serviceable. The outer shell, for example, is entirely metallic, but it’s thinner metal than most laptops with such lofty internals, and there’s more flex to it than I’d like.

The inset trackpad rises above the rest of the build a bit to provide a particularly responsive, pleasant experience in a Windows laptop.

Michael Gariffo/ZDNET

This theme continues on the keyboard. It provides an average level of typing comfort and feel, with some noticeable give in the typing deck. That said, the touchpad provides a satisfying mechanical click, and is as responsive and accurate as any I’ve used on a Windows-based laptop recently.

The 4K display, the high point of the system, is surrounded by pleasingly thin bezels, allowing its gorgeous OLED panel to shine (more on this later). The taller-than-16:9 aspect ratio also provides ample screen real estate for work and browsing websites. That beauty and practicality go a long way toward making you forget about the outer shell and keyboard that might seem at home on a much cheaper laptop.

More: The best laptops: Does Apple take the crown?

Features and ports

The pair of full-size USB-A ports is a rare treat these days, especially on a laptop this thin.

Michael Gariffo/ZDNET

The port selection on the Swift Edge is another triumph. While some expensive models add even more cost by requiring dongles and adapters, this more budget-friendly model from Acer offers two USB-A and two USB-C ports, likely enough to meet your peripheral and storage needs. It also adds additional flexibility to your setup by expanding the included HDMI 2.1 port with DisplayPort over USB Type-C support for extra monitors .

Those extra displays might struggle to compete with the built-in screen of the Swift Edge. I’ve occasionally waffled on the necessity of 4K displays under 24 inches. But here, the extreme pixel density and gorgeous color saturation (provided by the OLED panel) made me shut up and enjoy the show. Video streaming looked crisp, with deep, rich blacks, while text looked razor-sharp at all sizes.

The glossy coating is also more resistant to background glare than other models I’ve recently reviewed. Between this and the 400 nits of brightness, you shouldn’t have any issues getting work done in direct sunlight. Of course, that beautiful display does drink electricity, but we’ll discuss that more in the next section.

The included charger is on the more compact size, barely larger than the palm of my hand.

Michael Gariffo/ZDNET

About that webcam…

I should also cover the included 1080p webcam. I won’t be quite as harsh as I was about the built-in webcam in my recent review of Lenovo’s ThinkPad Z16 . The reasons for this are twofold.

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First, Acer didn’t make the webcam a showpiece, instead listing it on its spec sheet as a fairly average 1080p laptop camera, unlike Lenovo’s decision to permanently highlight it on its laptop’s lid.

Second, for all that lack of attention, it performed about the same as Lenovo’s webcam: exactly how you’d expect a middling 1080p webcam built into a laptop this thin and light to perform.

It’s not the worst I’ve ever used, but it has the slightly noisy, not-quite-as-HD-as-you’d-expect look that most laptop webcams suffer from. Still, it’s entirely usable for Zoom calls and the like.

Lastly, I’ll note that the built-in stereo speakers are fine. They won’t blow you away, but they also don’t distort your audio or get overly muddled at higher volumes either, which is nice for media consumption.

Performance and battery life

The default wallpaper does an excellent job of showing off everything from the rich, dark blacks the OLED can provide to the crisp, highly saturated 4K resolution.

Michael Gariffo/ZDNET

This is where the sacrifices in other aspects of the Swift Edge pay off. The Ryzen 7 CPU and 16GB of DDR5 RAM (the latest standard) provided exceptional performance in almost every task I put them to.

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Basic Windows and productivity actions always felt instant, even when I attempted to bog the unit down with numerous open browser tabs and several running programs.

While it couldn’t quite hold up to the Ryzen 9 CPU in that Lenovo model mentioned above, it came far closer than something with an MSRP more than $300 below that model should be expected to.

The only area where it fell somewhat short was gaming. I should emphasize that the Swift Edge is not marketed as a gaming PC. However, most high-end laptops can usually play most midrange games, even if they can’t offer usable frame rates on AAA titles. The Swift Edge’s performance is just barely usable in games like Overwatch 2 and Valorant,and fine for older titles like League of Legends or any retro and 2D games you might like. Still, I wouldn’t recommend it for more than very occasional, very casual gaming.

Gaming performance is a nice bonus in a work or school laptop, but battery life is usually paramount. Acer rates the Swift Edge at 10.5 hours for video playback and 7.5 hours per a MobileMark 2018 benchmark. I found the lower number closer to reality. Most full charges lasted around 5.5 to 7 hours. Pushing the system hard could drop that figure as low as 3 hours, while applying some modest battery-saving measures could stretch it as far as 8 hours. However, carrying out what I consider to be an average variety of tasks, I’d estimate 6.5 hours per charge is a realistic expectation.

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This means you shouldn’t expect all-day battery life. But, it was never realistic to expect a 16-inch, 4K resolution display to match the 13-inch, HD display laptops pushing over 10 hours. It’s another trade-off worth noting. If you absolutely need 10-plus hours of battery life, you’re going to have to consider a smaller, lower-resolution display, or a heavier laptop. You can’t have it all, especially at this price point.

Buy the Acer Swift Edge $1,499.99 at Acer

Bottom line

Hopefully, I’ve illustrated the high points and drawbacks of the Swift Edge in a way that will help you decide if its skills and deficits suit your needs. I believe the ideal owner would be someone who will fully exploit the larger, 4K display. If you’ll constantly struggle with the shorter battery life, or you’re just doing basic productivity work, all of those pixels will just go to waste.

However, if you’re a content creator producing photos or videos at 4K resolution or a content consumer who wants your streaming video to look its absolute best, you’ll savor all this OLED panel has to offer. You’ll also need to plug in from time to time to keep that work or entertainment uninterrupted, albeit not for long thanks to the included 65W charger.

There are laptop options that will get you a little closer to having everything, but you’ll need to shell out about $500 more, and even then you’ll leave behind things like a 4K display. This fact alone makes the Swift Edge an excellent, budget-friendly option for the shopper who needs a solid, workhorse laptop with one of the best 16-inch displays I’ve seen in a laptop under $2,000.

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Alternatives to consider

Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 $899 at Amazon

If build quality is more important to you than a 4K display, and you can afford to up your budget a little more, Lenovo’s ThinkPad Z16 is a beautifully made laptop with a powerhouse Ryzen 9 at its core.

Dell XPS 13 Plus $1,999 at Amazon

If you need something with a longer battery life, Dell’s XPS 13 Plus is amongst the latest and greatest all-day laptops, with a 13-hour-plus battery.

Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch $1,649 at Amazon

The perpetual elephant in the room whenever you’re shopping for a laptop, Apple’s latest 16-inch MacBook Pro is a battery life king with up to 21 hours of use thanks to its highly integrated, extremely powerful M1 Pro core.

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