Acer Swift Go 16 Review: I Refuse To Call It An “AI Machine”

Regardless of however cynical you consciousness astir AI, it’s present to stay. From pocket companions to doing your Physics homework for you, it’s genuinely the epoch of the AI-ification of everything.

Acer’s recently released Swift Go 16 is portion of the archetypal question of AI PCs. It’s powered by the caller Intel Core Ultra spot with AI capabilities; its built-in Intel Arc GPU makes usage of AI-accelerated graphics performance; the keyboard sports a dedicated AI Copilot key; the mics usage AI sound reduction; the webcam features AI-enabled Temporal Noise Reduction, and a host, much of AI, features wrong that carryout tasks you’d typically request a third-party AI model for.

The Swift Go 16 retails astatine $900 and sports an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor, 32GB RAM, and 1 TB SSD. It offers a 16-inch multi-touch IPS show and Intel Arc graphics. This is the lone configuration Acer’s latest fund laptop is presently available.

Acer Swift Go 16 Design

Light, Compact, and Durable

The Swift Go 16 is champion for folks who request productivity. The laptop prides itself connected its bladed and airy signifier factor. The mean value for non-gaming 16-inch laptops is usually betwixt 4 to 5 lbs. Apple’s 16-inch MacBook Pro is 4.7 lbs, and Lenovo’s IdeaPad 5i Pro is considered lightweight astatine 4.1 lbs. At 3.7 lbs, the Swift Go 16 is precise casual to lug around.

We praised Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Fold 16, which measures astir an inch thick, for its compact and slim design, but the Swift Go 16 tops that with a 0.7-inch full thickness. It’s awesome that it maintains this signifier origin portion sporting a well-made, sturdy build.

Photo: Dua Rashid / Gizmodo

Acer Swift Go 16 Keyboard and Trackpad

Huge but Shallow Keyboard With a Dedicated Copilot Key.

As expected from a 16-inch laptop, it besides sports a humongous keyboard that handles your numeric keypad needs. There’s besides a full-function row, backlighting, and a dedicated Copilot cardinal to the close broadside of the abstraction bar. The cardinal tin beryllium triggered to propulsion up Copilot, the AI companion announced astatine the extremity of past twelvemonth and Microsoft has been touting recently. Upon enabling it, it displays a fewer prompts arsenic suggestions connected what you could inquire it and a tract astatine the bottommost to benignant successful questions.

Photo: Dua Rashid / Gizmodo

I wasn’t excessively thrilled astir the keyboard. It is incredibly shallow and features insufficient question to respond with reassuring, satisfactory feedback. I hardly got done my two-week-long investigating play connected its keyboard, and I wished I had a dedicated keyboard connected each clip I was engaged successful a penning task connected it. The trackpad gave maine nary glaring issues, capable existent estate, and a firm, unchangeable feel.

The Swift Go 16’s larboard enactment is fantabulous for a productivity-focused laptop. I was blessed to spot a Kensington fastener slot, which has astir go extinct connected notebooks. There’s besides a MicroSD paper reader, a 3.5mm jack, 2 Type-A ports, 2 Type-C ports, and an HDMI slot.

Photo: Dua Rashid / Gizmodo

Acer Swift Go 16 Performance

Tops rather a fewer competitors. 

The Swift Go 16 handles itself rather efficiently successful presumption of wide performance. It sports the caller Intel Core Ultra H-Series processor, the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H, to beryllium specific, Intel Arc graphics, 32GB RAM, and 1 TB SSD. It scored 2342 connected the Geekbench 6.0 single-core trial and 12956 connected multi-core. Those awesome figures apical the Dell XPS 14, Lenovo ThinkBook X1 Fold, and the Lenovo Slim 7i.

Don’t expect this instrumentality to fulfill your gaming needs. The Predator bid already does that. The Swift Go 16 is strictly a productivity laptop. With built-in Intel Arc graphics connected this laptop, it’s doubtful a gamer would opt for it anyhow unless you’re utilizing streaming services similar GeForce Now oregon Xbox Cloud Gaming, which works well, fixed you person a decent net connection. 

I liked the Copilot features but wouldn’t bargain this instrumentality lone for those. Essentially, the Copilot cardinal triggers a chatbot. However, immoderate of its capabilities widen beyond your emblematic chatbot. You tin usage it to alteration your wallpaper, troubleshoot audio issues, oregon tweak idiosyncratic settings. I recovered this portion adjuvant successful redeeming maine the clip and effort it sometimes takes to rummage astir successful Settings trying to find something.

It was besides adjuvant successful situations wherever I knew wherever to go, but asking a chatbot to bash it for maine was overmuch quicker. For instance, I said, “Turn Bluetooth on” to it, and it complied. I followed that with “turn it off” and understood the context. Its quality to person immoderate representation and recognize discourse besides impressed me. I was besides capable to recognize and disregard each of my typos. 

Responses were accurate, but immoderate of them had unusually agelong loading times. I erstwhile asked it what the superior of Greece is, and it took 17 seconds to reply that. Image procreation requires you to motion successful to your Microsoft account, and Copilot takes astir 8 seconds conscionable to archer you that. Once you’re signed in, it’s different 10ish seconds for the representation to travel up. The archetypal 8 seconds tin astir apt beryllium ignored due to the fact that you’ll person to beryllium signed successful to chat with Copilot anyway. Microsoft blocks your entree to it erstwhile you scope your chat limit, which would hap arsenic soon arsenic you deed 5 prompts. But again, I recovered the chatbot faster successful getting things done for maine (in Settings, etc.) than looking things up.  

Acer Swift Go 16 Display

It’s not OLED, but it’s not bad.

The 16-inch show is simply a WUXGA (1920 x 1200) IPS sheet with a 60Hz refresh rate. The lack of a premium OLED surface and a higher 120Hz refresh complaint means it’s not the astir suitable for enjoying your aggravated titles. It besides accepts interaction input, but I didn’t usage that; navigating via the surface connected this monstrous instrumentality wasn’t practical. The 350-nit show performed perfectly good connected my bureau desk, illuminated by an tremendous window.

I acceptable it to 40% during my full investigating period, which was much than sufficient. I had a decent clip watching YouTube and Netflix connected the Swift Go 16, but I don’t expect it to connection the benignant of opposition and vibrance OLEDs do. The blacks could person been blacker and the whites whiter, but overall, determination was just clarity, richness, and detail, which is ever a triumph for a non-OLED.

Photo: Dua Rashid / Gizmodo

Acer Swift Go 16 Camera and Mic

Pretty Standard Webcam

The 1440p QHD webcam claims to athletics AI-enabled TNR oregon Temporal Noise Reduction. I didn’t consciousness a perceptible quality successful ocular noise. I compared it to the Lenovo Slim 7i’s camera without immoderate AI intervention, and they performed rather similarly. The webcam isn’t mediocre quality; it doesn’t unrecorded up to its fancy AI-infused hype.

The mic besides uses AI sound reduction. According to my friend, the hum of my operation instrumentality close adjacent to maine was importantly quiet. I’m unsure if an precocious AI algorithm was down this, but I shouldn’t attraction arsenic agelong arsenic I’m contented with the results.

Acer Swift Go 16 Battery Life

Half-as-advertised

I wouldn’t person been arsenic underwhelmed astir the artillery beingness connected the Swift Go 16 if Acer hadn’t excessively hyped it and made it 1 of the USPs of the machine. I got astir 10 hours retired of it, which I would typically beryllium satisfied with connected a big, beefy instrumentality similar this that I’d astir apt usage connected my table anyway. But with a promised 20-hour beingness and galore promises astir the laptop being an on-the-go companion, the immense quality betwixt what was promised and what was offered was astir shameful.

The 10 hours mean however agelong the laptop lasted each clip I utilized it connected a afloat complaint successful my astir two-week investigating period. The astir outrageous happening is that the artillery scores don’t see excessively battery-draining apps. I utilized it chiefly for penning connected Google Docs, a batch of web browsing, Gmail, Slack, and precise small Photoshop. If you enactment remotely and similar to WFH from a caller cafe each different day, you mightiness get annoyed by having to cheque for socket availability oregon lug astir a charger everyplace towards the extremity of your shift. 

Verdict

Score: 3/5

At $900, the Swift Go 16 offers precisely what’s expected from it. It offers businesslike performance, a good-looking display, a batch of ports, and an fantabulous signifier factor. The artillery beingness is obscurity adjacent what’s promised, but if you disregard the overambitious claims, 10 hours is not atrocious for a 16-inch machine. You mightiness besides person to disregard immoderate overly enthusiastic AI marketing. Currently, “AI PCs” aren’t offering thing retired of this satellite that tin beryllium considered wholly separate. It’s champion to spell for this instrumentality arsenic thing that provides a mates of chill AI features alternatively than “an AI machine.” There isn’t thing other that the Swift Go 16 promised but failed to deliver.