TheAcer Swift 16 AIlooks like a piece of slate.
At the least, it is a nice and pretty screen.
That thin package also has issues when I push down on its keyboard.
© Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
Its bendy and surprisingly uncomfortable.
Still, at $1,200 MSRP, you may find far better build quality elsewhere.
See Acer Swift 16 AI at Best Buy
Setting up this workhorse is another matter.
© Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo
Its a shame because the rest of the rig, including the cover, feels sturdy.
Pressing the area closest to the screen with a modicum of force can sink close to half an inch.
The keyboard also has some idiosyncrasies.
© Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo
The keys arent clacky but have a mechanical, rubbery noise thats not unpleasant, just different.
The mousepad also feels nice, but its occasionally let down with some palm rejection issues.
At least the screen can lie flat, and you have touchscreen capabilities.
© Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo
Otherwise, it all feels too substandard.
Still, it lagged behind the Snapdragon X Elite and a MacBook Airs M3 chip in pure rendering performance.
That difference becomes more stark in 3DMark graphics tests.
© Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo
The Arc 140V graphics are good enough for some purposes but not for any real heavy lifting.
Still, this PC will certainly not be the best fit for a designer, despite the lovely display.
The 256V still lags far behind in our transcoding test.
This PC is great at productivity tasks but not more intensive activities.
Its a luxurious touchscreen you’re able to muddy with your oily fingerprints.
It can reach a max resolution of 2880 by 1800 and a peak full-screen brightness of 340 nits.
The audio from the Acer Swift 16 AI sounded thin and too tinny.
I dont find webcams to be a very exciting part of the laptop puzzle.
I dont think anybody cares about your visual quality during the weeks 4th subsequent Zoom meeting.
Acers webcams also include a popup for its PureView and PureVoice.
If it helped all the other people on the other end of the call, I couldnt tell.
Nor could I see much difference with it at my end.
Thats fine, and I dont mind it running in the background.
However, the popup screen for PureView kept reappearing multiple times during my call.
Its not a 20-hour battery life, but its fair enough for most work purposes.
I can get close to a full day from it with constant use.
Its close, but not quite the 19.5-hour video playback battery life promised by Acer.
It doesnt have the build quality I would expect when spending over $1,000.
Its screen is very nice, though not very bright.
I dont find much reason to spend $1,000 on a machine that bends so much when using it.
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