By Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41: An Ultra-Light Laptop with Cutting-Edge Features
Acer’s Swift Edge sets a new standard for premium laptops, boasting a sleek 14mm thin, 1.2kg lightweight chassis made of reinforced aluminum alloy for both durability and portability. The 16in AMOLED screen boasts a 4K resolution and a 100% DCI-P3 gamut coverage with HDR support, providing vivid colors and deep blacks, even in bright environments. The laptop also offers a comprehensive selection of ports, including two USB-Cs, two USB-As, and an HDMI output for connecting to a second display. Although it lacks Thunderbolt 4, it compensates with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.
| SPECIFICATIONS | |
|---|---|
| 8-core AMD Ryzen 7 6800U processor | AMD Radeon graphics |
| 16GB LPDDR5 RAM | 16in AMOLED non-touch panel, 60Hz, 3,840 x 2,400 resolution |
| 1TB M.2 PCI-E Gen4 SSD | Wi-Fi 6E |
| Bluetooth 5.2 | 2 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 |
| 2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 | HDMI |
| 3.5mm jack | 1080p webcam |
| 54Wh battery | Windows 11 Home |
| 357 x 242 x 14mm (WDH) | 1.2kg |
| 1yr RTB warranty | |
m Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. Anyone looking to use this laptop for Zoom calls will be pleased by the crisp 1080p webcam, with an integrated IR scanner for facial recognition logins via Windows Hello.
There’s a fingerprint reader too, while the microphone employs Acer’s “PurifiedVoice” technology to scrub background noise from calls. Unfortunately, the speakers don’t live up to the rest of the package – they’re fine for watching YouTube videos, but a lack of clarity makes music less enjoyable.
There’s plenty of speed here, with AMD’s Ryzen 6800U ensuring the Swift Edge felt responsive. A score of 6,498 in PCMark 10 was a highlight – faster than any of the 20 laptops in our group test – but a 7,743 result in Geekbench 5’s multicore test flags that this chip has eight cores compared to the 12 or more of rivals. AMD’s integrated graphics is superior to Intel’s Iris Xe alternative, as shown by a result of 2,233 in 3DMark Time Spy, but if you want to play games such as Dirt 5, Warhammer III or Cyberpunk 2077 then you’ll need to drop settings to Low. Doing so produced playable (just!) results of 40fps, 34fps and 33fps respectively. And the 1TB drive proved speedy: transferring large files took seconds
Acer’s decision to use a 54Wh battery naturally limits its lifespan, especially considering the power consumption of a 16-inch OLED screen. Nevertheless, it is impressive that the battery lasts close to ten hours in video rundown and light-use tests. Acer enhances its portability by including a compact USB-C charger, eliminating the need for a bulky adapter brick.
