Gas gas gas: Acer Swift X SFX14 with Ryzen & GTX

We reviewed Acer's 14-inch Swift X SFX14 with a GTX 1650. Can a compact, 1.4-kilogram 14-inch laptop unleash the full potential of the GeForce GTX 1650 GDDR6? Is one fan enough? This is all the Swift X has available for cooling. If the answer is yes, that would make the thin Swift a true value king, since the base model starts at just 800 Euros (~880 USD).

The GeForce GTX 1650 is an entry-level graphics card for gamers and wipes the floor with current iGPUs from AMD or Intel. While this also holds true for our test device, the GDDR6 GTX GPU does not quite match the standards set by the identical chip in other laptops. Is the single fan at fault? Most likely, since the AMD APU is prioritized and able to run at a higher TDP than the GPU. In return, the noise levels while gaming are moderate and while idling in iGPU mode, the Swift X is almost silent.

Despite our criticisms: The performance level Acer has achieved in a 1.4-kg (3.09 lbs), thin 14-inch form factor is impressive. The gaming performance relative to the price category is excellent. On top of that, the AMD Ryzen 5 5500U tops the CPU performance rating and even outclasses a Core i7-1165G7 (Acer Swift 3X).

We were pleased with the other features as well: Real-world runtimes of about ten hours thanks to iGPU switching are the result of a modern laptop. The low weight, high maximum brightness of 400 nits, solid chassis, and input devices fit for daily use complete the package. There is no Thunderbolt, which is instead exclusive to the Intel variants. The type-C port supports Power Delivery and DisplayPort. However, due to the high energy consumption of the graphics card, Acer includes a 90-watt barrel charger, which should be used to power the 14-inch laptop.

Despite all our praise, there is still one more drawback - which costs our test device a "Very good" rating. The MediaTek Wi-Fi chip's download speeds are downright atrocious even after repeating the test multiple times. Since the upload speeds are at least moderately fast, there is hope that this is a driver issue that can be fixed via an update for the Wi-Fi drivers in the future.

More details and benchmarks can be found in our in-depth review of the Acer Swift X SFX14 GTX 1650.