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Acer are updating their popular lineups of Swift Go and Swift X portable laptops for 2024, and down below we’ll discuss the specs and important particularities and updates of these generations.
The 2024 Acer Swift Gos are available as the Swift Go 14 (SFG14-73) and Swift Go 16 (SFG16-72) size variants, with 14-inch and 16-inch displays, respectively. Both with 16:10 OLED panels. Both now built on Intel Core Ultra Meteor Lake platforms with Intel Arc graphics. And both slim and portable designs with no major compromises and competitive prices.
The 2024 Swift X 14 (SFX14-72G) is a more powerful 14-inch laptop in a still portable package, and available with a 14.5-inch 120Hz 2.8K OLED display. This time around, the hardware was bumped to Core Ultra processors with up to 32 GB LPPDR5x memory and up to RTX 4070 dedicated graphics, shipping with Studio Drivers by default. Not sure whether the cooling and power settings were updated over the previous generation, alongside the bump in GPU specs.
Let’s go over these models a bit more in-depth.
2024 Acer Swift Go 14 (SFG14-73), Swift Go 16 (SFG16-72)
Here’s a complete specs sheets of the two Swift Go variants.
| 2024 Acer Swift Go 14 SFG14-73/T | 2024 Acer Swift Go 16 SFG16-72/T | |
| Display | 14-inch, 16:10, non-touch, glossy 2.8K OLED, 90 Hz, 400 nits, 100% DCI-P3 |
16-inch, 16:10, non-touch, glossy, 3.2K OLED, 120 Hz, 400 nits, 100% DCI-P3 |
| Processor | Intel Meteor Lake, up to Core Ultra 7 155H | Intel Meteor Lake, up to Core Ultra 7 155H |
| Video | Intel Arc | Intel UHD + up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 6GB (??W) |
| Memory | up to 32 GB LPDDR5x-6400 (soldered) | up to 32 GB LPDDR5x-6400 (soldered) |
| Storage | 1x M.2 PCIe gen4 2280 slot | 1x M.2 PCIe gen4 2280 slot ?? |
| Connectivity | WiFi 7 2×2 with Bluetooth 5.2 | WiFi 7 2×2 with Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Ports | 2x USB-A 3.2, 2x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, audio jack, microSD card reader, Lock | 2x USB-A 3.2, 2x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, audio jack, microSD card reader, Lock |
| Battery | 54 Wh, 65W USB-C charger | 65 Wh, 100W USB-C charger |
| Size | 313 mm or 12.32” (w) x 218 mm or 8.58” (d) x from 14.9 mm or .59” (h) | 355 mm or 13.98” (w) x 246 mm or 9.69” (d) x from 19 mm or .75” (h) |
| Weight | ~1.25 kg (2.75 lbs) for non-touch + charger | ~1.65 kg (3.6 lbs) for non-touch + charger |
| Extras | aluminum clamshell chassis with 180 hinges, white backlit keyboard and updated touhcpad (125 x 77 mm), QHD 2.5MPx IR webcam with shutter, 3-mic array, stereo speakers, dual-fan single-heatpipe cooling module |
aluminum clamshell chassis with 180 hinges, white backlit keyboard and updated touchpad (125 x 77 mm), QHD 2.5MPx IR webcam with shutter, 3-mic array, stereo speakers, dual-fan dual-heatpipe cooling module |
These laptops are the mainstream portable lineups available from Acer, in either the 14-inch or the 16-inch space.
They’re both aluminum chassis and built fairly well, but with rather basic and crude finishings, so not as nice-feeling as some of the higher tier options. Both offer the same sets of ports on the sides, and both are clamshell chassis with 180-degree hinges.
The displays are 16:10 formats with OLED panels on both, available in non-touch implementations. Touchscreen options are available as well in some markets, but those are IPS panels.
And since these are OLEDs, the image quality is beautiful, with punchy colors and excellent contrast, but these panels don’t get very bright and are glossy, so not ideal for bright-light use. They’re not ideal for dark-room use either, as these OLEDs flicker at sub 50% brightness settings and Acer do not implement any technology to counteract this caveat, unlike other brands.
The inputs are quite good on these laptops, though, with black keys and crisply feedback, plus updated larger touchpads for these 2024 updates – 125 x 77 mm, vs 104 x 64 mm on the 2023 Swift Go models.
The other notable updates are on the inside, where both models are Intel Evo designs built on Intel Meteor Lake hardware platforms, with Intel Core Ultra processors and Arc graphics. As we know by know, this is quite capable multi-purpose hardware, and a notable upgrade in GPU capabilities over the past Intel-based implementations.
However, the performance of these Intel platforms is highly dependent on the power settings and cooling capabilities of each device, and these Swift Go models are rather basic at that. Both get single-radiator cooling with two small fans and either a single (on the Go 14) or dual (on the Go 16) heatpipe. So don’t expect amazing performance or thermal or acoustics from these devices.
Don’t expect great audio, either. That’s been a common culprit of entry and mid-level Acer devices over the years, and I doubt it’s better this time around.
Battery life should be fine, though, even if the batteries inside these Acer Swift Go models are a little smaller capacities than on some of the competing options. But Meteor Lake is efficient, so I wouldn’t worry about battery life. Oh, and both of these ship with USB-C chargers, which is still rather uncommon in the budget price class.
Long story short, the Acer Swift Go 14 and Swift Go 16 have been popular series in the affordable price segments on their tiers, and I expect the same for the 2024 updates. With Meteor Lake, these benefit from a notable bump in performance and improved efficiency. Just make sure you’re fine with the particularities of the OLED displays and the rather weak audio.
The Swift Go 14 starts at 749 USD in the US and 1099 EUR in Europe. The Swift Go 16 starts at 799 USD in the US and 1149 EUR in Europe. Those are MSRP prices, but expect considerable discounts later in the year.
2024 Acer Swift X 14 (SFX14-72G)
| 2024 Acer Swift X 14 SFX14-72G | 2023 Acer Swift X 14 SFX14-71G | |
| Display | 14.5-inch, 16:10, non-touch, glossy, 2.8K OLED, 120 Hz, 400 nits, 100% DCI-P3 |
14.5-inch, 16:10, non-touch, glossy, 2.8K OLED, 120 Hz, 400 nits, 100% DCI-P3 |
| Processor | Intel Meteor Lake, up to Core Ultra 7 155H | Intel 13th gen Raptor Lake, up to Core i7 H |
| Video | Intel Arc + up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 8 GB (??W) | Intel UHD + up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 6GB (5oW) |
| Memory | up to 32 GB LPDDR5x-6400 (soldered) | up to 32 GB DDR5-4800 |
| Storage | 1x M.2 PCIe gen4 2280 slot | 1x M.2 PCIe gen4 2280 slot ?? |
| Connectivity | WiFi 7 2×2 with Bluetooth 5.3 | WiFi 6E 2×2 with Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Ports | 2x USB-A 3.2, 2x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, headphone&mic, microSD card reader, Lock | 2x USB-A 3.2, 2x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, headphone&mic, microSD card reader, Lock |
| Battery | 76 Wh, ??W USB-C charger | 76 Wh, 100W USB-C charger |
| Size | 333 mm or 13.1” (w) x 228 mm or 8.98” (d) x from 17.9 mm or .7” (h) | 333 mm or 13.1” (w) x 228 mm or 8.98” (d) x from 17.9 mm or .7” (h) |
| Weight | ~1.53 kg (3.5 lbs) + charger | ~1.53 kg (3.5 lbs) + charger |
| Extras | aluminum clamshell chassis with 180 hinges, white backlit keyboard, FHD 2MPx IR webcam, stereo speakers, the same single-fan dual-heatpipe cooling module ?? |
aluminum clamshell chassis with 180 hinges, white backlit keyboard, FHD 2MPx IR webcam, stereo speakers, single-fan dual-heatpipe cooling module |
The Acer Swift X 14 lineup is a beefed up, but still portable and competitively priced, 14-inch series, meant for heavier multi-purpose use and more demanding loads at times. This 2024 generation is built on the same Meteor Lake hardware discussed earlier, but allows for higher sustained power settings. Plus, it also gets a dGPU and a more advanced thermal module to cope with all these.
However, the thermal module has been the culprit of past Swift X 14 models, a design with a single-fan and single-radiator, barely adequate for this chassis in longer sustained loads.
At this point, I cannot tell whether this has changed in any way for the 2024 update, but the press materials don’t mention anything on this matter, so I expect it has not. Thus, I’m a bit skeptical on the overall capabilities of this update, especially in the RTX 4060/4070 configurations that are now available. So make sure to look into some detailed reviews if you have this laptop on your list and plan on running workloads and games on it.
This aspect aside, the 2024 Swift X 14 is pretty much the same laptop as the 2023 model, and you’ll find plenty of details and reviews on it online. It’s been an appreciated series, especially due to its competitive pricing in some markets such as the United States over rivals such as the Asus Zenbook 14X or the Lenovo Slim Pro 9i. I expect the 2024 model to retain its pricing advantage, especially if Acer are recycling the chassis and merely updating the hardware for this year.
I also expect this 2024 generation to run a bit more efficiently on battery power than the 2023 model, which has been one of the major complaints of that generation. Meteor Lake helps with that, and the 76 Wh battery is pretty hefty for a 14-inch laptop.
These aside, the Swift X 14 is a fairly portable 14-inch laptop, at ~1.5 kilos, and a rather generic Acer design with so-so build quality and standard particularities and ergonomics. It also offers good IO and rather mediocre speakers, like most other Swift models.
It does offer the 14.5-inch OLED 120Hz display, though, one of the better available in 14-inch devices. It’s non-touch, which means the image quality is clear, but suffers from flickering at low-brightness, like the majority of other OLED laptops out there. Not sure whether Acer offer IPS display options as well, but they might and you might want to consider those over the OLED.
That’s about it on these 2024 Acer Swift updates. Hopefully I get to follow-up with more extensive reviews, but that’s going to be difficult, since Acer are no longer willing to send us review units anymore. In the meantime, get in touch in the comments section if you have any feedback or questions that I could help with.
