Acer Swift X 16 (2022) review: Intel Arc is all-new, but is it all good?

(Pocket-lint) - It was successful the mediate of 2021 erstwhile Acer amped up its Swift scope with an 'X' exemplary - a 14-inch laptop with Nvidia RTX graphics nether the hood. Towards the extremity of the twelvemonth a larger 16-inch exemplary was revealed, which has speedily been followed up with this: the Swift X 16 (codename SFX16-52G), implicit with 12th Gen Intel Core P processor and Intel Arc discrete graphics. It's all-new, but is it each good?

Design & Display

• 16-inch IPS LCD panel, 16:10 facet ratio, 1920 x 1200 resolution, 400 nits brightness
• Ports: 2x USB-A, 2x USB-C (Thunderbolt 4), 1x HDMI, 1x 3.5mm headphone jack
• Dimensions: 356.3 x 239.7 x 17.9mm / Weight: 1.7kg
• Full-size backlit keyboard with Numpad
• Windows 11 Home
• Full HD webcam

Acer is alternatively bully astatine balancing specification to price, delivering a batch of hardware astatine a not-so-elevated terms point. The Swift X 16 volition retail from £1,099 successful the UK erstwhile it goes connected merchantability successful April 2022.

In emblematic fashion, however, that does mean immoderate corner-cutting erstwhile it comes to wide quality. First impressions of the Swift X 16's assemblage is that it feels alternatively plasticky (it's not, though, it's an all-metal chassis); the trackpad truly doesn't consciousness each that large successful use; and determination are immoderate circumstantial choices to which you'll privation to wage peculiar attention.

Principally it's the surface wherever you'll privation to marque the savvy choice: this 16:10 facet ratio sheet is simply a much elongated format than the 16:9 sheet of before, but it's disposable successful 2 resolutions - WQXGA (2560x1600) oregon WUXGA (1920x1200) - and we've got the lower-resolution offering connected reappraisal here.

As it's a ample sheet the item isn't arsenic refined arsenic you mightiness want, truthful our proposal would beryllium look to the higher-resolution enactment to debar seeing excessively galore 'jaggies'. That said, the surface is agleam and colourful, delivering a large model to your work. That Acer has done a bully occupation successful keeping the borderline bezel to a minimum further enhances this feeling of scale.

Indeed, this 2nd motorboat Swift X 16 is somewhat smaller and lighter than the archetypal 16-inch model, with a value astir the 1.7kg people ensuring it's ample yet inactive comparatively portable for a instrumentality of this type.

Performance & Battery

• Intel Arc Graphics
• 12th Gen Intel Core P
• Up to 16GB LPDDR5 RAM
• Up to 1TB M.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSD
• 52Whr battery
• Wi-Fi 6E

What truly sets this instrumentality isolated from earlier models is what's nether the hood. With Intel's 12th Gen processor connected committee - it's Core P here, featuring "up to 14 cores (six P cores & 8 E cores)" according to Acer - on with Intel's discrete graphics, Intel Arc.

It's the archetypal laptop that we've seen with Intel Arc connected board, truthful what does it mean? Think of the powerfulness present arsenic sitting determination successful the portion of Nvidia RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 and you've got plentifulness of capableness connected tap. It's bully capable for gaming and video editing, enactment it that mode - which goes to marque the Swift X 16 look each the much affordable erstwhile you see conscionable however pricey immoderate laptops with this architecture wrong tin acceptable you back.

Acer says this instrumentality has dual fans to bring successful much air, helping to assistance cooling and debar instrumentality noise, on with an aerial inlet keyboard to halt the aboveground overheating erstwhile you're tapping away. Clever.

Elsewhere there's the enactment for up to 16GB LPDDR5 RAM, one-upping the LPDDR4 of erstwhile generations, on with accelerated SSD storage, and top-tier Wi-Fi 6E to play bully with your super-fast router (if you person one).

The artillery is lone 52Whr, though, which is portion of the crushed for this laptop being comparatively lightweight each things considered. How good that volition past successful this configuration we don't person conclusive grounds conscionable yet: but 25% artillery told america it would past for conscionable 30 minutes erstwhile streaming YouTube full-screen. As this is simply a pre-production illustration we're going to anticipation that's not typical of what volition beryllium imaginable from the last user machine.

Writing by Mike Lowe. Originally published connected 4 January 2022.