Acer Swift Edge 16 review: A lightweight 16-inch laptop with an OLED display

If you're looking for a particularly lightweight laptop with a decent display size, then you might like the Swift Edge 16 from Acer. Thanks to its low weight of just over 1.2 kg, the 16-inch laptop is not only suitable for use on your desk, but also cuts a fine figure on the move. Its installed OLED panel, on the other hand, faces the usual advantages and disadvantages. While its black level, contrast and response times are impressive, its flickering and highly reflective surface can prove to be problematic for certain people. Meanwhile, professional users will be pleased with its lush color space coverage (virtually full AdobeRGB and DCI-P3 coverage).

Its connectivity doesn't have to hide behind the competition either, as it features 2x USB 4, for example. The laptop's input devices are good, but not totally outstanding. The quality of its case is similar. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 5 8640U, which we have yet to test, delivered good performance both in the CPU benchmarks and its iGPU values (Radeon 760M). There is room for improvement in terms of its speaker sound, emissions and battery life, as the device's idle consumption is surprisingly high.

Price-wise, the different configurations of the Acer Swift Edge 16 vary quite a bit—our test configuration usually retails for around $1,000.

The Swift Edge 16's design is more understated, and it looks quite compact for a 16-inch device thanks to its small dimensions (keyword: height). Its surfaces feel neither cheap nor extremely high-quality and feature solid stability overall. We also have nothing negative to say about its hinges. With a weight of 1.24 kg, the Acer offspring's weight is clearly below the competitor devices that we have selected for this article. You can find out more about its case (and its interior) in our review of the externally identical predecessor model with the Ryzen 7 7840U.

Acer has equipped its 16-inch laptop with four USB ports (2x Type-C 4 incl. DisplayPort & 2x Type-A 3.0) as well as an audio jack, an HDMI 2.1 output and an opening for Kensington locks. Unfortunately, the device's integrated microSD card reader only achieves low speeds at the level of USB 2. Things look better when it comes to its wireless module from MediaTek (RZ616), which at least achieves very good values when receiving data.

Its webcam has a resolution of 1,440p, which is significantly higher than that of most competing products and delivers quite sharp images by laptop standards—although they are somewhat lacking in color accuracy. The device comes with a very light and compact 65-watt power adapter (USB-C) as an accessory. Acer not only uses cardboard as packaging material, but also some plastic.

OLED panels have always been a matter of taste. On the one hand, they boast great contrast ratios and rich blacks compared to other panel types such as IPS, but on the other hand, sensitive users may have difficulties with the flickering that's typical of OLEDs (in this case 120 to 240 Hz). Due to its reflective surface, outdoor use may also become an issue, even if its average brightness of around 400 cd/m² is more than decent. One of the highlights, however, is its large color space coverage, which leaves nothing to be desired. Gamers, on the other hand, will be delighted with its short response times.

The Swift Edge 16 is intended for users who are looking for a versatile and portable device that is suitable for typical everyday applications such as office, video and web work. (Occasional) gamers won't be terribly happy with its Radeon 760M iGPU, as we will see in a moment.

You can choose between Quiet, Normal and Performance profiles via the manufacturer's AcerSense tool. While its TDP and CPU performance don't or hardly differ, deviations can be found in its GPU performance and noise development. With the exception of the battery test, all measurements were carried out using the Performance profile.

Like its predecessor—the Ryzen 5 7640U—the Ryzen 5 8640U contains six cores that can process up to 12 threads in parallel via SMT. There is also a 16 MB L3 cache on board and a 4 nm manufacturing process is used (Zen 4 architecture). In the case of the Edge 16, the speed of the Ryzen 5 8640U is roughly comparable to the Intel Core 7 150U, whereas the Ryzen 7 7840U in the old Swift is on average a little more than 10% faster. It deserves praise for its constant power delivery (see Cinebench loop), which isn't always a matter of course.

Its system performance is also impressive. During PCMark 10, the new Swift Edge took second place among the comparison devices. The laptop copes with everyday tasks without any major difficulties.