EXCELLENT
The Acer Swift X SFX14-42G-R607 is a budget-friendly laptop for creators and professional artists that brings some serious power to the mainstream productivity category, and class-leading battery life.
PROS
- Discrete graphics card as standard (RTX 3050 Ti)
- Competitive pricing
- Solid spec sheet
CONS
- Just one USB-C port
- Lack an SD card reader
For creators: the Acer Swift X SFX14-42G-R607 lifts the Acer Swift brand into the creative laptop market with high-quality specifications offered at a competitive price without introducing superfluous features that are seldom utilised and drive up the cost of some of the best laptops available.
As a result, neither the Dell XPS 9310’s fancy OLED display nor the Asus ZenBook 13’s narrow bezels are included in the Acer Swift X’s quest to be the thinnest or lightest laptop. Instead, it excels where it counts, including with a quick AMD Ryzen CPU and, for the first time, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics card, which is the best available for a laptop this small, even if you don’t want to spend a lot of money on the most expensive models.
Our Acer Swift X review unit is the SFX14-42G-R607 model, which pairs a capable Ryzen 7 CPU with a powerful RTX 30 Series GPU for the best real-world performance. This laptop is ideal for anyone who just needs something that gets the job done, whether they’re into gaming, creating professional content, or just being productive in general.
Acer Swift X Specs
- CPU: 8-core, 16-thread AMD Ryzen 7 5825U
- Memory: 16GB
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 14-inch, 1920×1080 IPS non-touch
- Webcam: 720p
Design
- Aluminum chassis: Blue, Gold, Pink colours
- Integrated fingerprint scanner
- Weight: 1.4kgs (3lbs)
- Thickness: 17.9mm (0.7 inches)
It’s really to the Acer SFX14-42G-advantage R607’s that it resembles other Acer Swift laptops in terms of appearance. It keeps things understated, is straightforward but not unattractive, and you won’t be embarrassed to take a photo of it from your backpack while working on your laptop in a coffee shop.
The Acer Swift X is a bog-standard laptop design for 2021, measuring just 0.7 inches (17.9mm) thick and weighing 3.06 pounds (1.39kg), yet it’s still small enough to fit in your bag for your daily commute.
Once again, despite the Swift X’s very simple appearance, it boasts a very strong chassis and hinges. There is no flex in the aluminium chassis, which provides a quality feel and replicates the silver hue of the Apple MacBook Pro 13. Even the display is quite sturdy, so you shouldn’t be concerned that it would collapse if it were to inadvertently fall off your lap.
Ports
- Ports: 1x USB-C, 2x USB-A, 1x HDMI, 1x 3.5mm headphones jack
- Wi-Fi 6 connectivity
Even by today’s standards, the Acer Swift X’s typical thickness does allow for a fair range of ports. There is a dedicated charge connector on the left, along with an HDMI, USB-A, and USB-C that may be utilised for charging.
A Kensington Lock port, a combination 3.5mm audio jack, and a USB-A connector are all located on the right. We are pleased to find standard ports on the Swift X, as bigger ports are often being reduced on laptops. We are unhappy that there isn’t an SD card in this device, especially given that Acer markets the Swift X at creative professionals and students. The right side of the laptop has enough room.
Display
- 14-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS LCD panel
- 300 nits brightness, 100% sRGB gamut
The 14-inch 1080p display on the Acer Swift X provides 300 nits of brightness and 100% sRGB colour coverage. Although we are content with it as is, a more vibrant or high-resolution display could be more beneficial for creative work.
However, this laptop is more than adequate for office work, studying, and sending a few emails. The speakers can handle a brief chat without you reaching for your headphones, but their little sound output won’t fill a room.
Touchpad & Keyboard
The keyboard is really pleasant for the price and works well for prolonged typing sessions. The travel is smooth, the individual keys are deep, and the bottoming out won’t harm your fingertips. A comfortable keyboard is often overlooked by laptop manufacturers, yet the Acer Swift X provides this much-needed luxury.
A roomy touchpad that is quick to respond to taps and swipes is located underneath the keyboard. There are several more features as well, such as a Windows Hello camera for faces or an embedded fingerprint scanner.
Performance
- AMD Ryzen 5800U processor; 16GB RMA; 512GB SSD
- Nvidia RTX 3050 Tu graphics card
- Thermal system: Fans (0.3mm blades), dual copper heat pipes
- Cited battery life: Up to 14 hours
The AMD Ryzen 7 5825U CPU in the Acer Swift X SFX14-42G-R607 has up to 8 cores and 16 threads, making multitasking a pleasure. Despite the laptop’s excellent integrated graphics, Acer complements it with a GeForce RTX 3050 Ti dedicated graphics card, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. However, that still does not qualify as a gaming laptop.
Although you still have the option to load Cyberpunk 2077 during your breaks, it seems like this RTX 3050 Ti discrete graphics card is intended to improve creative workloads like Adobe Premiere and Photoshop.
However, if you only want to play light games in 1080p, the RTX 3050 Ti is a wonderful choice. With that GPU, you can play almost everything at native resolutions, however occasionally you may need to drop quality settings in some games.
We’re only hoping that the Swift X can last as long as Acer claims—up to 14 hours—on a single charge. Overall, we think there isn’t much the laptop can’t perform based just on the feature set it offers.
Should you buy the Acer Swift X SFX14-42G-R607?
The new Acer Swift X notebook is a little, powerful powerhouse. Although it’s not really your expensive ultrabook and probably won’t draw attention when you use it at the neighbourhood coffee shop, that’s not really its intended use. This laptop was designed by Acer with one single goal in mind: to get the job done without any unnecessary frills.
The Acer Swift X SFX14-42G-R607 is undoubtedly an excellent laptop for you if you value simplicity above everything else. These days, that’s all we can ask for in a laptop, so it’s one of those you buy when productivity and price are top priorities.
Aabi Tech 