I tested the Acer Swift 14 AI for two weeks - if you need a new work laptop, this one is close to perfection

Acer Swift 14 AI: Two-minute review

With so many laptops hitting the scene at the moment, Acer has thrown it’s hat in the ring with the Acer Swift 14 AI. This mighty laptop has swept me off of my feet almost immediately and could very well be a contender for one of the best laptops on the market right now.

Boasting a gorgeous OLED screen, I was stunned by the visuals I was getting when watching videos or editing pictures. You also get a great battery life which will last you all day when working and with some juice left in the tank afterwards. While it didn’t live up to the 17 hours claimed by Acer, it came in pretty close at 14 hours. I took some issues with the design because it just felt a bit clunky, but this is something that you likely wouldn’t notice unless you were specifically looking for issues.

Coming in at $1,199 / £899 / AU$1,899 (currently on sale in the UK), this laptop is on the pricier side, with similar alternatives also coming in around this price point. However, when factoring in the sale price, I am genuinely gobsmacked that you’re able to get a laptop of this quality in terms of both hardware and performance, for less than £900 ($1,200).

Acer Swift 14 AI: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? $1,199 / £899 / AU$1,899
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

The Acer Swift 14 AI comes in at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$1,899, which is definitely not a budget-friendly option when it comes to laptops, however you get some very good specifications for this price point. You can currently pick it up in most regions. It’s on sale at Currys in the UK at the moment, with the Intel edition sitting at a much more affordable £899. On the US side of the map, you can pick it up on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, Newegg, and other similar retailers.

Alternatives on the market include the Asus Zenbook A14, which has similar specs and also features an OLED screen. It sits at a higher price point of $1,399.99, though. Another alternative is the Apple MacBook Air 2024 edition, which features the M3 chip and comes in at $1,199. This makes the Acer Swift 14 AI a great option to pick up while it's on sale, but it’s still decent value when it's not.

Value: 5 / 5

Acer Swift 14 AI: Specs

You can get an Intel or a Qualcomm version of the Acer Swift 14 AI. In the UK these are the same price, however the sale over at Currys only applies to the Intel version, which does make the Qualcomm one more expensive. Elsewhere in the world, you’ll also spend more on the Qualcomm edition as it can deliver more power. All of the rest of the specifications are the same.

As of right now, you can’t configure these specifications, however considering everything other than the processor is identical it doesn’t seem like you’d need to. The Acer website does state that this laptop comes with up to 32GB of RAM suggesting that other configurations may be in the works.

Acer Swift 14 AI: Design

When first unboxing the Acer Swift 14 AI, I was somewhat underwhelmed. While it is housed in a high quality and sturdy chassis, it doesn’t have any particular flare in terms of design. It weighs in at 1.28kg (2.82 lbs), which is definitely lightweight, but not the lightest option on the market with the Asus Zenbook 14 coming in at under a kilogram (2.2 lbs).

Something that particularly irked me when using this laptop was the fact that the edges weren’t rounded off properly which made it feel a bit clunky. You’ll also find a slightly thicker bezel around the webcam which again subtracts from the sleekness of the design. However, the Acer Swift 14 AI is 1.49cm (0.59 inches) thick, which keeps it slimline. It’s easy to stick in a backpack or sleeve and take on the go with you.

You get two USB-C ports, either can be used for charging. You also get two USB-A ports which is greatly appreciated. As someone who uses a range of peripherals, whether it be a USB headset, keyboard, mouse or extra monitors, I found there were enough ports for me to use this laptop as part of my workstation, just about. You also get an HDMI port.

The chassis of this laptop is made of metal rather than plastic like some other lightweight alternatives making for a more premium feel. The keyboard is very low profile, making for satisfying key presses. You’ll find that the keys are the same texture as the rest of the laptop too rather than being made from plastic which again contributes to the higher quality feeling.

Design: 4 / 5

Acer Swift 14 AI: Performance

Using the Acer Swift 14 AI did feel like a bit of a step down from the Asus Zenbook A14 I just tested, however at £200 less this is to be expected. Using it on the go wasn’t as satisfying as my typical MacBook Air despite it being a similar size and weight, with it feeling more clunky when putting it in my bag.

When booting up the laptop, I was stunned by the screen. The 2K OLED panel is gorgeous and makes for a fantastic experience when watching videos or movies. For creatives who design graphics or video assets, seeing the screen bring your creations to life through color is amazing. With most laptops being able to deliver great performance, they now have to stand out with other features and the OLED screen does a great job of this.

While this laptop isn’t made for intensive tasks, I still put it to the test. Things like basic photo and video editing on Abode Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Pro worked absolutely fine, and while Premiere Pro did feel a bit sluggish, it was by no means unusable. Taxing 3D animation is certainly off the table here but using this laptop for standard everyday productivity is perfectly fine.

I was sure to try multitasking here too, with a range of programs open at once and to my surprise, it functioned quite well even with just 16GB of RAM. Even being in a video call while also creating a PowerPoint and watching a video, the laptop didn’t stutter at all. This felt like a decent upgrade from my old Macbook Air which immediately starts whining when I open a second Chrome tab.

Even when using this laptop on the go, it stayed very quiet which was great. One of my biggest fears is booting up my MacBook on a train and its begins to sound like a rocket taking off, and I never had to worry about that with the Acer Swift 14 AI.

Of course you get the benefits of CoPilot+ with this laptop too but for me this is no longer a standout feature and instead just expected.

Performance: 5 / 5

Acer Swift 14 AI: Battery life

When using the Acer Swift 14 AI in my day to day life I found that the battery life was pretty impressive. It wasn’t a device you could go days without charging by any means, but you could certainly get through a full workday and still have some battery left over at the end of the day.

Acer claim that this laptop boasts 17 hours of battery life and our testing came in pretty close…but no cigar, at 14 hours of continuous video playback - which is obviously not how many people will be using their device on a day-to-day basis.

Battery life: 4 / 5

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How I tested the Acer Swift 14 AI

I spent two weeks using the Acer Swift 14 AI as my every day laptop for work and leisure. I was sure to use the device all day for my typical work day, and then also watched videos, movies and browsed social media on it in the evenings. I took it on the go with me to different locations where I needed to work to see how it would feel outside of my workstation. As well as using it every day I also benchmarked the laptop using a range of different benchmarking software.

First reviewed February 2025