Acer has announced an exciting new laptop in the lead-up to Microsoft Build. The company's first AI laptop is the Acer Swift 14, which packs the latest Snapdragon X Series chips. Overall, it sounds like a powerful laptop, but it definitely shifts its focus to AI features instead of the specs we normally pay attention to with a new Windows laptop.
There are multiple Swift 14 models, some featuring the Snapdragon X Elite platform and others with Snapdragon X Plus chips. Regardless of model, they all include the world's fastest NPU for laptops, the Qualcomm Hexagon, to enable on-device AI processing. Acer says it delivers 45 Trillion Operations Per Second (TOPS), which the company says will allow it to offer new AI experiences.
"These next-generation AI PCs see significant leaps in AI processing power enabled by Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus, unlocking brand new experiences that we know users will love," said Jerry Kao, COO of Acer.
While the AI features are the main thing that makes the Swift 14 models stand out, the specs are impressive all around. The more expensive model has the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 processor, and the cheaper model has the Snapdragon X Plus X1P-64-100 chip. The more expensive Elite laptop offers 12 cores up to 3.4 GHz, and the more affordable Plus model offers 10 cores up to 3.4 GHz. For graphics, Acer included a Qualcomm Adreno with up to 3.8 TFLOPS.
You can get different RAM configurations, but the highest is 32 GB dual-channel LPDDR5X-8533 SDRAM. Up to 1 TB of SSD space is also available.
The display is another standout feature, with the laptop offering a 14.5" WQXGA
screen with a 2560x1600 resolution. It packs a 120Hz refresh rate with an optional touchscreen.
While we don't normally make much of laptop cameras, the 1440p QHD IR camera offered on the Acer Swift 14 sounds promising. Between the higher-than-average resolution and the IR capabilities, it sounds like a laptop camera that'll prevent needing a nicer external model.
Physically, the laptop is light, though not slim enough to blow you away at 3.7 pounds.
The cheapest configuration of the Acer Swift 14 is $1,099, with prices going up from there for models with the Snapdragon X Elite processor, more RAM, and a larger SSD. All configurations include the Qualcomm Hexagon NPU, so you'll get the AI features no matter how much you spend. If you're interested in grabbing one, the company is launching it in July.
