is a reviewer covering laptops and the occasional gadget. He spent over 15 years in the photography industry before joining The Verge as a deals writer in 2021.
The Acer Swift 14 is all over AI the place. It has powerful chip options, exceptional battery life, and loads of ports for such a portable laptop. The keyboard and trackpad are solid, which is not always a given at any price. But the screen and webcam are mediocre, and the speakers are outright terrible.
Battery life, performance, and ports are important, and it makes sense to prioritize those, even if it means cutting costs elsewhere. Those are the kinds of tough tradeoffs that budget laptops have to make.
Unfortunately, the Swift 14 AI is not a budget laptop.
Component report card: Screen: C
Webcam: D
Mic: C
Keyboard: C
Touchpad: B
Port selection: A
... continue reading