LAPTOP | £1,300 from Acer www.snipca.com/47480
Top gear
We last reviewed a version of the Acer Swift Edge 16 back in Issue 651 (page 24). That model is still available from Currys, with a £200 price reduction, taking it to £1,099. The model we’re reviewing here, however, is the very latest edition and comes with a faster processor – the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U of the previous model has been updated to the newer 7840U, so double-check the specifications before you buy.
This upgrade is a good move, because performance level was one of the few gripes we had about the previous model. Our benchmark tests revealed the processor runs around 60 per cent faster when pushing a single core to its limits, and around 30 per cent faster in multi-core tests.
These results were similar to those we saw in our previous favourite laptop – the Acer Swift 3 – but the results in graphics tests are superior here, running around 50 per cent quicker. That makes it a better all-rounder, and is one of the reasons why it has replaced the Swift 3 as our top-rated laptop (see page 30).
Other plus points include the screen and the overall design. It has a gorgeous 16in OLED panel, with a 120Hz refresh rate, a sharp resolution of 3840x2000 pixels and a 16:10 aspect ratio that makes it great for browsing the web and working in documents. Its colour reproduction is excellent and its contrast is pretty much perfect. It’s also very bright, meaning you can use it outside in sunlight. The screen on the Acer Swift 3 is decent, but it’s not an OLED.
In its design, the unit manages to be sleek and attractive, despite its 16in screen and sprawling surface area. It’s only 13mm thick when closed and it weighs just 1.25kg, which is incredibly light for a 16in laptop.
This size allows it to accommodate a full-sized keyboard complete with a number pad, which is useful for anyone who regularly works with stats and figures. The trackpad, meanwhile, is smooth and responsive.
We were also impressed with the generous selection of ports, which includes two USB-C ports – both of which are capable of delivering 65W of charge and driving a DisplayPort monitor. There’s also two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI socket, a microSD card reader and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
SPECIFICATIONS
Eight-core AMD Ryzen 7 7840U processor • 16GB RAM • AMD Radeon shared graphics • 16in 3840x2000-pixel OLED screen • 1TB SSD • 2x USB-C ports • 2x USB 3.0 ports • 1x HDMI port • 1x
