Acer on Tuesday introduced a pair of AMD Ryzen 8040 series laptops. Not surprisingly, given its chips’ dedicated neural processing units (NPUs), the company is marketing the 2024 Acer Swift Edge 16 and Swift Go 14 as AI workers. Windows 11 machines support OLED displays, Radeon 780M graphics and 32GB of RAM.
The Ryzen 8040 chip series, revealed in December, features a proprietary AI Engine that AMD claims makes it 1.4 times faster than its predecessors in Llama 2 and AI vision model performance. Acer says the Swift Edge 16 and Swift Go 14 will deploy the NPU for AI-related tasks like PurifiedVoice (removing background noise in calls and notes) and PurifiedView (blurring backgrounds in photos and correcting your eye position in video calls).
Like most newer Windows machines (incl Acer models were presented at the CES 2024 exhibition), laptops have a special Microsoft Copilot button on quick keyboards AI queries like ChatGPT. (Copilot accesses Microsoft and OpenAI servers through the cloud instead of using the machines’ on-device NPU.)
Both machines include AMD chips Microsoft’s Pluto security coprocessor. Introduced in 2020 through a partnership with AMD and Intel, it helps protect your credentials, encryption keys, and personal data from hackers by providing security right on the processor.
Acer Swift Edge 16
Acer markets the Acer Swift Edge 16 as optimizing performance without compromising on portability. All device variants have a 16-inch OLED panel with WQXGA (3200 x 2000) resolution and a 120 Hz frame rate with a 0.2 ms response time. It supports the DCI-P3 color gamut and VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification for 100 percent (what it should be) accurate and nuanced visuals.
The laptop’s Ryzen 7 8840U processor is joined by AMD Radeon 780M integrated graphics. The notebook has up to 32 GB LPDDR5 RAM and 2 TB PCIe 4.0 SSD storage. Depending on your configuration, it supports Wi-Fi 7 or Wi-Fi 6E.
The Swift Edge 16 weighs 2.71 lbs and is 12.95 mm tall. It is covered in a magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis and has a 54 Wh battery. It includes two USB-C ports (with USB4 speeds up to 40Gbps), two USB-A, one HDMI 2.1 and one microSD slot.
Acer Swift Go 14
The smaller of the pair, the Acer Swift Go 14 has an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS octa-core processor with AMD Radeon 780M graphics. (Cheaper configurations will trade in a Ryzen 7 8845HS or Ryzen 5 8645HS.) The machine runs on up to 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM and a 2TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD.
The top-end 14-inch variant will have a WQXGA (2880×1800) OLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate. Another version will replace this with a 1920 x 1200 IPS panel with touch capabilities. The device’s hinge can extend up to 180 degrees, and its glass trackpad is 44 percent larger than the previous model. Supports Wi-Fi 6E.
Thanks to its smaller footprint, Acer is marketing the Swift Go 14 as a more portable version. However, it’s about seven percent heavier than its 16-inch counterpart at 2.91 pounds. It ships in configurations with a 65 or 50 Wh battery.
Both models have 1440p QHD webcams, although only the Swift Go 14 is listed as having a privacy cover. The smaller model is lighter on ports than the 16-inch model, while the larger one forgoes a pair of USB-A ports. The Swift Go 14 has two USB-C ports (both support USB4 speeds), an HDMI 2.1 connector, and a microSD slot.
Price and availability
The Swift Edge launches in North America on March 16, starting at $1,300. Meanwhile, the Swift Go starts at $700 on April 14. Aside from its entry-level models, Acer has yet to detail how pricing will break down across the various configurations.
