Acer Swift X 14 (2024) review

Boring on the outside, but beastly on the inside.
By Kimberly Gedeon  on 
All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.
Acer Swift X 14
Acer Swift X 14 Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
4.5/5
Acer Swift X 14
The Acer Swift X 14 may not be the most exciting laptop, but behind its boring exterior is a powerful set of internals that will handle your creative workloads like The Hulk.
Mashable Score 4.5
Wow Factor 3.5
User Friendliness 4.5
Performance 5
Bang for the Buck 5
The Good
  • Visually attractive OLED panel
  • Sturdy build quality
  • Impressive performance
  • Battery life OK for discrete GPU
The Bad
  • Fan noise gets irksome

A Mashable Choice Award is a badge of honor, reserved for the absolute best stuff we’ve tested and loved.

Table of Contents

The Acer Swift X 14 already elicited a yawn out of me — and I didn't even get past the first sentence of this intro. However, the Swift X 14 isn't meant to be some razzle-dazzle laptop that catches your attention for being the "world's first" whatever nor the thinnest, slimmest, sleekest laptop in the history of laptops.

It's just a gray laptop that wants to help you create — and it does that perfectly. With an arguably affordable price tag, the Swift X 14 offers a — er — swift CPU, and an efficient GPU, that impressed us in its benchmarks, making it one of the best laptops we've tested this year. Plus, it does all of that with a gorgeous OLED display.

Acer Swift X 14 on a table
Acer Swift X 14 Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

However, while the Swift X 14 has its areas of excellence, it has weaknesses, too. Read on to find out whether its flaws (and there aren't many) are dealbreakers for you.

Acer Swift X 14 (2024) price and specs

The Acer Swift X 14 starts at $1,299 via Amazon and comes with the following specs:

  • Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU

  • Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU with 8GB of VRAM

  • 16GB of RAM

  • 512GB of SSD storage

  • 14.5-inch, 2,880 x 1,800-pixel, OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate

The review unit I have bumps the specs to 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and a 4070 GPU. (This configuration isn't available yet.)

Acer Swift X 14 on a table
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
Acer Swift X 14
$1,299.00 at Amazon

Acer Swift X 14 (2024) design

Yawn! If the Swift X 14 was a genre, it'd be elevator music — and this is by design (no pun intended). It's not meant to catch your attention nor elicit much expression from you. Instead, the Acer Swift X 14 is designed to blend in with an office environment and have a muted, understated presence. Yes, the Acer Swift X 14 is a little bland, but you know what? I'm OK with that. Not everyone wants a laptop that is loud, brash, and in-your-face.

Acer Swift X 14
Acer Swift X 14 Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

The Swift X 14's chassis is "Steel Gray" with a shiny, silver "Acer" logo that sits on the center-top portion of the lid. The build quality is excellent, too. When I apply pressure to the deck, there's little to no give. The entire aluminum body of the Swift X 14 feels sturdy.

Acer Swift X 14
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

At first, I was disappointed that the Swift X 14 doesn't have a lip (or some sort of groove between the deck and lid), but I still found the lid easy to open, revealing a 14.5-inch OLED panel and an island-style keyboard. You can find an air-intake grid sitting above the keyboard, between the hinges. On the underside, you can find vents.

Acer Swift X 14 (2024) display

The Acer Swift X 14 has a 14.5-inch, 2,880 x 1,800-pixel display with a 120Hz refresh rate.

Acer Swift X 14 on a table displaying the Deadpool and Wolverine trailer
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

As such, navigating this 400-nit panel is a lot smoother compared to your typical 60Hz screen. It has a 16:10 aspect ratio, which means that it's slightly taller than the average laptop, which often has a 16:9 aspect ratio. In other words, you're getting more vertical screen real estate.

Acer Swift X 14 on a table displaying the Deadpool and Wolverine trailer
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

The Acer Swift X 14 display is truly a wonder. I played the Deadpool and Wolverine trailer on YouTube, and whoa-ho-ho, I could see almost every crevice on Hugh Jackson's side profile as he glumly sat in a bar as Wolverine. As he lied down on the floor in his bright-yellow suit, I could see subtle scuff marks on his attire that reveal minor wear-and-tear. Hell, I even saw web-like red veins pervading his eyeballs in another intense scene. The OLED panel on this bad boy is definitely a fun watch for my eyeballs.

The bezels that frame the Swift X 14 are relatively thin, particularly the sides. However, the top bezel is noticeably thicker to accommodate a 1080p webcam.

Acer Swift X 14 (2024) ports

The Acer Swift X 14 has a decent variety of modern and legacy ports.

Acer Swift X 14
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

On the left side:

  • HDMI 2.1 port

  • USB Type-A port (3.2 Gen 2)

  • Two USB Type-C ports (supporting USB4, Thunderbolt 4)

  • Headset jack

On the right side:

  • USB Type-A port (3.2 Gen 1)

  • Kensington lock slot

You'll also find a microSD card reader on the right side of the Swift X 14, a nod to creators.

Acer Swift X 14 (2024) audio

The Swift X 14 features upward-firing speakers, and you can tell that they were a bit of an afterthought for Acer on this laptop.

Acer Swift X 14 on a table
Acer Swift X 14 Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

I fired up "Not Like Us" on the Acer Swift X 14 on Spotify, and unfortunately, the confrontational diss track sounded a little too tinny for my tastes. The sound is OK, but bass could be punchier. On the plus side, the speakers got loud enough to fill up my medium-sized room.

Acer Swift X 14 (2024) keyboard and touchpad

I'm self-proclaimed keyboard snob. For the average user, the Acer Swift X 14 is perfectly fine and most people won't bat an eye at its keys. However, I wish the keyboard was snappier. (As a laptop reviewer, I'm more acutely aware that there are snappier keyboards on the market, including the HP Spectre x360 14.)

Acer Swift X 14 keyboard
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

Still, the Swift X 14 island-style keyboard is more than sufficient; it's springy enough to provide a precise and accurate typing experience. The touchpad is spacious, starting from the spacebar to the Copilot key. I like how it feels, too; it's not too soft nor overly resistant. It's just right.

It's also worth noting that the keyboard is backlit, making it easier to see at night. You can adjust the dual-level brightness with the Windows key and F11 button.

Also, don't let the power button located on the top-right corner of the keyboard fool you. It doubles as a fingerprint reader, too.

Acer Swift X 14 (2024) benchmarks and performance

Acer Swift X 14's design may be low-key, but the fans get pretty loud. There are three performance modes: Silent, Normal, Performance, and Turbo. Even in Normal mode, and I'm not doing a damn thing, the fans start to sound like a windy day.

Silent mode, of course, rectifies this, but it's worth noting that fan noise is slightly audible even when you're not working with apps that require heavy lifting from the internals.

Acer Swift X 14 on a table
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

On the plus side, this implies that the Swift X 14's internals are certainly working overtime for you — and that's evidenced by its praiseworthy benchmarks.

With the mode switched on to Turbo, we tested the Acer Swift X 14's Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU on the Geekbench 6 test. It delivered an impressive multi-core score of 13,386. We've tested other laptops with the same chip, like the Lenovo Slim 7, and the Swift X 14 outpaced them all.

  • Acer Swift X 14 (Intel Core Ultra 7 155H) - 13,386

  • Lenovo Slim 7 (Intel Core Ultra 7 155H) - 12,267

  • HP Spectre x360 14 (Intel Core Ultra 7 155H) - 12,955

  • Asus Zenbook Duo (Intel Core Ultra 7 155H) - 10,344

We also tested the Acer Swift X 14's Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU with the GFXBench 5.0 benchmark, which stress tests for graphics rendering tasks (e.g., motion blur, dynamic shadows, and particle simulation). It notched a score of 168 frames per second (fps). For reference, this beats the M2 chip inside the MacBook Air, which delivered a score of 99, as well as the M3 MacBook Air (i.e., 121).

Acer Swift X 14 with Cyberpunk 2077 promo image
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

Finally, the creator-focused Acer Swift X 14 isn't billed as a gaming laptop, but it does have a discrete GPU. So for those who love to game after work, I tested the Swift X 14 with the Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark. With the High preset on 1080p, the Acer Swift X 14 notched a 77 fps average. With DLSS on, a feature that uses AI upscaling to squeeze out more frames, I got a whopping 118 fps. Nice!

Acer Swift X 14 (2024) battery life

The Acer Swift X 14 endured a 1080p video rundown at 50% brightness. It lasted 8 hours and 35 minutes on a single charge.

Acer Swift X 14 on a table
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

This may not sound great to the average Joe, but honestly, when I consider that the Swift X 14 has discrete graphics and other energy-guzzling internals, this runtime is actually pretty good.

However, when it comes to gaming, the Swift X 14 lasts for about an hour before it taps out.

Acer Swift X 14 (2024) webcam

The Swift X 14 houses a 1080p webcam on the top bezel, and well, there's not much to write home about.

Acer Swift X 14 webcam selfie
Selfie image with the Acer Swift X 14 webcam Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

I snapped a photo with the webcam and there was plenty of noise on the photo. My hair lacked definition. And the colors on my top looked a bit too muted for my taste. However, as I often say as a reviewer, so-so webcams are par for the course with laptops.

Is the Acer Swift X 14 (2024) worth it?

The Acer Swift X 14 has a powerful Nvidia RTX 40-series GPU and a beastly CPU — and it only starts at $1,299. That is truly a great deal!

Overall, the Acer Swift X 14 has a darling OLED display that is a visual treat. Plus, for photo and video editors who need a machine that can handle their workloads, the Swift X 14 has plenty of graphics and processing oomph (though you can hear them working with the fan noise kicking in). Plus, there's a microSD card for creators and a fingerprint reader for security-minded users.

On top of that, you can squeeze out more than 8 hours from the Acer Swift X 14, which isn't half bad for a laptop with discrete graphics.

Everything else, including the webcam, audio, and keyboard are yawn-worthy, but they're not terrible either. Overall, I'd definitely recommend the Swift X 14 to users who want a Windows PC who can handle their creative tasks during the day — and facilitate gaming at night.

Acer Swift X 14 on a table
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
Acer Swift X 14
$1,299.00 at Amazon

How we tested

We tested this laptop's CPU performance by running Geekbench 6, and we recorded its multi-core score. We also ran a video rundown with the 1080p version of the Tears of Steel film. We kept the brightness at 50% for the battery test. For the graphics test, since this is a creator-focused laptop, we ran the GFXBench 5.0 benchmark (Aztec Ruins, 1440p, High Tier, Offscreen).

To test its gaming prowess, we ran Cyperbunk 2077 (High preset at 1080p) to determine how well it can handle graphics intensive, AAA titles. (We also tested its frames-per-second output with DLSS on.) Finally, we experimented with the display (e.g., surf YouTube and launch Netflix), explored the keyboard (i.e., we use LiveChat's typing speed test to assess its comfort levels), inspected the design and build quality, ran Spotify to test the speakers, took photos to determine webcam quality, and more.

Mashable Image
Kimberly Gedeon
East Coast Tech Editor

Kimberly Gedeon, at Mashable since 2023, is a tech explorer who enjoys doing deep dives into the most popular gadgets, from the latest iPhones to the most immersive VR headsets. She's drawn to strange, avant-garde, bizarre tech, whether it's a 3D laptop, a gaming rig that can transform into a briefcase, or smart glasses that can capture video. Her journalism career kicked off about a decade ago at MadameNoire where she covered tech and business before landing as a tech editor at Laptop Mag in 2020.

Amazon Prime Day 2024

All Prime Day Coverage




Prime Day

October Prime Day is over but these Apple AirTag deals are still live
airtag in mulberry woven case and four pack of airtags on a yellow prime big deal days background

Most Ninja kitchen gadget deals are still live post-Amazon Prime Day
Ninja Foodi and Ninja Creami on yellow grid background with various shopping-related icons through

Amazon Prime Day vs. Black Friday: When are the deals better?
Amazon package sitting on doormat in front of door

How to contact Amazon's customer service for October Prime Day purchases
illustration of brown packages

Recommended For You
Acer Nitro Blaze 7 is the newest Steam Deck competitor: Here's everything you need to know
Acer Nitro Blaze 7

Amazon's early Prime Day laptop deals are finally ramping up: Shop record lows on Apple, LG, and Acer
the 13-inch m2 apple macbook air above a green box against a blue grid background surrounded by shopping icons



Amazon deal of the day: Grab a Hisense 58-inch 4K Fire TV for an all-time low $319.99
Hisense TV, Sony speaker, Shark robot vacuum, and Acer laptop with orange gradient background with white pattern

More in Tech
Our favorite tech gifts for the gadget-loving set
collage showing newly released gadgets on top of red grid

Walmart Deals kicks off Oct. 8: Here are 12 can't-miss picks
Mashable composite

The best gifts under $50 that are great for absolutely everyone
By Mashable Shopping
a collage of gifts under $50


TikTok is in love with the Ninja Creami, but am I?
On the left, the Ninja Creami on a counter. On the right, a scoop of ice cream in a bowl.
The biggest stories of the day delivered to your inbox.
This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.
Thanks for signing up. See you at your inbox!