Acer Swift Go is a series of image laptops that was presented at CES 2023 in Las Vegas along with many other laptops and interesting gadgets. But today we are going to talk about the former, or rather about one of its representatives.
We got the junior 14-inch version (there is also a 16-inch version) of the Swift Go in the maximum modification and with an OLED display. I’m specifying the type of matrix for a reason, because there are also IPS models in the lineup, which, of course, will be cheaper. But we have a whole lot of minced meat here, which we will now get acquainted with.
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Acer Swift Go 14 (SFG14-71) specifications
- Display: 14″, OLED, WQXGA+ (2880×1800), 90 Hz, 16:10 aspect ratio, DCI-P3 100%, True Black HDR 500 certification, TÜV Rheinland Eyesafe, 500 nits brightness (peak), viewing angles over 170°
- Operating system: Windows 11 Home
- Processor: Intel Core i7-13700H Raptor Lake, 14 cores (up to 3 GHz, up to 5 GHz in Boost mode), 20 threads, 10 nm
- Graphics: Intel Iris Xe Graphics
- RAM: 16 GB, LPDDR5
- Storage: PCIe Gen4 SSD 1 TB
- Interfaces: Wi-Fi 6E (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz + 6 GHz), 2×2 MU-MIMO, Bluetooth 5.2
- Camera: 1080p (60 fps) with TNR noise reduction function
- Ports: 2×USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1×HDMI 2.1, 2×USB Type-C 4 (Thunderbolt 4), 1×3.5mm combo audio jack, microSD card reader, Kensington lock
- Sound: DTS, dual microphone with AI noise cancellation (Acer Purified.Voice)
- Battery: 65 Wh
- Body material: aluminium-magnesium alloy
- Dimensions: 31.3 × 21.8 × 1.5 cm
- Weight: 1.3 kg
Positioning and price
If you look at the Acer Swift laptop line, it is divided into four main sub-series:
- Swift – classic business models of premium quality;
- Swift X – powerful gaming solutions with discrete graphics cards;
- Swift Edge – lightweight ultrabooks for hybrid work;
- and, finally, Swift Go – productive youth laptops for working on the go, based on Swift 3 with 13th-generation Intel processors.
The Swift Go itself meets the requirements of the Intel Evo programme and is available in two sizes – 16″ and 14″. This allows you to choose between a more stationary device with a large screen, or opt for maximum mobility. In addition to the modifications in terms of memory capacity and chipset, the Swift Go line also offers a choice between IPS models, which can be purchased at a lower price (starting at around $1008), and OLED models, which cost from $1350. Such flexibility in modifications allows you to make the best choice for everyone and for any budget, and all within the framework of one model. In my opinion, the solution is excellent and convenient for the end user.
Acer Swift Go design
The Acer Swift Go 14 (SFG14-71) has a modern and interesting appearance. The 14-inch device with dimensions of 31.3×21.8×1.5 cm weighs only 1.3 kg. It is not very thin, but due to the diagonal, it is quite mobile and not heavy. The laptop is available in several colours, and we received it in probably the most interesting colour – noble bronze. The lid is made in this colour, and the rest of the elements have a warm metallic shade. It is not yet “gold”, but the colour is warmer than the standard silver. The lid also features an unobtrusive brand logo, as well as a pair of silicone feet that support the display when the laptop is open.
Except for the bezels around the display, the entire body is metal and has a nice matte texture. If you turn the laptop over, you can see the air intake grille for the cooling system, small perforations on the sides for the speakers, and five rubberised feet that prevent slipping on the surface.
There are hot air outlets at the rear.
On the left side there is a pair of USB-Type-C with Thunderbolt 4, as well as HDMI 2.1 and one USB Type-A. On the opposite side are two LED indicators, a microSD card reader, a 3.5 mm audio jack, another USB-A and a Kensington lock.
Let’s open the laptop and see what it looks like from the “working” side. We see a 14-inch screen with an aspect ratio of 16:10 and thin bezels around it, among which the top and bottom stand out. The top bezel houses the camera, the camera indicator to the left of it and a couple of microphone holes on the sides. The lower one has the company’s logo on it.
The keyboard is a classic laptop keyboard without a NUM pad and it is slightly recessed into the case. Below it, in the centre, there is a touchpad with two hidden buttons. There is a small cut along almost the entire front end to make it easier to open the laptop. However, you won’t be able to do this with one hand, because the hinges are quite tight for reliability, and the weight of the bottom part is not enough to “resist” it. The quality of materials and assembly is, as always, excellent. Apart from the inability to open the laptop with one hand (sometimes it is necessary), there is nothing to complain about, even if you try hard.
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Display
The screen here is a 14-inch OLED with a resolution of 2880×1800 (WQXGA+), a glossy finish and a refresh rate of 90 Hz. Acer Swift Go has almost maximum viewing angles of more than 170°, and the peak brightness is 500 nits. This is more than enough to work under both artificial and natural light. It’s worth noting that the laptop’s display covers 100% of the DCI-P3 colour space and is certified True Black HDR 500 and TÜV Rheinland Eyesafe, which means it reduces the level of blue radiation harmful to the eyes.
The screen is excellent for working with any type of content. The high resolution provides a high pixel density, so it is well adapted for working with textual information. But for multimedia entertainment, OLED proves to be much more interesting, because the rich colour reproduction and high contrast with the signature “true black” are a special treat. Perhaps such a bright and saturated display will be a little too much for designers who need more natural colour reproduction. But the Acer Swift Go 14 (SFG14-71) has an answer to this request as well, offering a similar model with an IPS matrix. Nevertheless, it has one nuance that not everyone may like – it’s the glare, because the display coating is glossy. This does not interfere with indoor work, but if you work in bright sunlight, you will need to look for convenient viewing angles so that the reflection does not distract.
Keyboard and touchpad
The Acer Swift Go keyboard is very similar to the Acer Swift Edge keyboard. It is also of the island type, has a backlight (two brightness modes), a nice clear keystroke and a recognisable mechanical power button in the upper right corner. Optionally, it can be equipped with a fingerprint scanner, but it was not present in the test version. By the way, the buttons themselves are slightly raised so that a small hole is formed between the key and the body. This is necessary to improve the cooling system, as it increases the air intake area. And, according to Acer, this helped to increase cooling efficiency by 10%.
As for the touchpad, it is small and has two mechanical buttons along the bottom edge that duplicate the main “work” of the mouse. It is called OceanGlass because it is made of recycled materials and has a very slippery coating that provides good sliding. It is comfortable to work with the touchpad – it responds clearly to any gestures and performs perfectly as an additional control.
What’s inside the Acer Swift Go
The Acer Swift Go is powered by a 20-thread Intel CoreT i7-13700H Raptor Lake with 14 cores, 8 of which are energy-efficient and single-threaded, and 6 are dual-threaded and productive. The clock speed reaches 3 GHz and accelerates to 5 GHz in Boost mode, and the graphics are integrated with Intel Iris Xe Graphics. There is 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and the SSD in the test version is the maximum of the possible modifications – 1 TB PCIe Gen4. As for wireless modules, everything you need is also provided here – Wi-Fi 6E (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz + 6 GHz) and Bluetooth 5.2.
Thanks to this hardware, the laptop proves to be a very agile and productive device. It copes with so-called office work at an excellent level. It supports work with a dozen or so rather “heavy” tabs in Chrome with a text and image editor running in parallel and all sorts of background processes. There are no issues with performance. And Acer Swift Go was created for this purpose in the first place.
However, the 3DMark performance test shows that this laptop is not only about work, but also about leisure. It may not be able to pull off toys at 1440p, but you can get quite decent results in FullHD. Actual figures may vary, but on paper, for example, Battlefield V at 1080p on ultra settings gives more than 45 fps, GTA V – 145 fps, and Fortnite can even deliver more than 175 fps. For an “office laptop”, this is quite good. Of course, it won’t run such demanding projects, but most average games from a few years ago can be run in Full HD without any problems. Below are the test results in more detail.
And a few words about cooling. As I mentioned above, Acer Swift Go made a clever move and slightly raised the keyboard buttons to increase the area of cold air intake. But the laptop also boasts a cooling system called TwinAir, which helps to effectively dissipate heat under load.
As for the noise level, the laptop is quite quiet during normal operation. But, obviously, during the test load, it “overclocked” significantly (that’s what tests are for). Nevertheless, cooling copes with its task perfectly. Under the test load (and the tests were carried out in a row and with a network connection), only the upper left quarter of the case was heated, while the rest of the space was almost not heated.
Camera, sound and microphones
Given that the Acer Swift Go 14 (SFG14-71) is primarily designed for work, the additional features that are needed mainly for workflows are well thought out. Let’s start with the camera. It uses a QHD T-type module with a resolution of 2560×1440. It can stream or record video at 30 fps and is equipped with Acer TNR technology, which improves image quality in low light.
There are two microphones (33 mm each). They feature Acer Purified.Voice with AI algorithms and dynamic noise reduction, which makes voice quality clearer and more precise. And finally, the sound. The front-facing stereo DTS Audio speakers, located symmetrically on the sides of the bottom, are equipped with a discrete intelligent amplifier and Acer TrueHarmony technology, which reduces sound distortion. In general, the sound is quite pleasant, clear, with a good volume margin. For work calls, if you don’t use headphones, it does a good job. And in multimedia entertainment, whether it’s watching a video, a movie or listening to music in the background, it shows itself on the good side. But speakers are speakers, so to get a more surround and atmospheric sound, you need good headphones.
Battery life
The battery in the laptop has a capacity of 65 Wh. According to the manufacturer, one charge is enough for 12.5 hours of video or 10.5 hours of surfing, and testing through MobileMark 2018 gives a result of 9.5 hours. In practice, one charge lasted about 6.5-7 hours. At the same time, the optimal level of charge consumption was selected (not economy), the keyboard backlight was on, the refresh rate was 90 Hz, and a browser with a dozen tabs, text and graphic editors were open. 7 hours is almost a whole working day, especially if you add coffee breaks and lunch to the working time, you can safely count on a full day in the office, at home or anywhere else.
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Conclusions
The Acer Swift Go is definitely a worthy mobile device for working on the move or in a hybrid format. It’s compact, lightweight, beautiful (especially in bronze) and has everything you need for modern work or leisure.
The first thing to praise this laptop is its screen. The 14-inch WQXGA+ OLED with wide viewing angles and incredible colour saturation is a paradise for visuals, content creators, and creative professionals. After it, it’s a little sad to go back to my 14-inch, but still IPS. It’s also worth noting the laptop’s performance, which is backed by a 13th-generation i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, integrated Intel graphics, and an efficient cooling system. Of course, it’s not a gaming machine, but it handles workflows, browsers, and graphic editors with a solid A. And it will do so for years to come.
The Acer Swift Go 14 (SFG14-71) also has Wi-Fi 6E support, a good webcam, microphones and an audio system – for those who often make calls for business purposes, this is really important. And the battery life will last for a full working day even without switching to economy mode. Another advantage is the variety of modifications. You can choose a device to your liking not only by processor or memory capacity, but also by the type of matrix. This allows you to choose the optimal combo that you need. Therefore, Swift Go is a good option for those who are looking for a productive mobile station for work, creativity and entertainment.