Acer Swift X 16 review: RTX 3050 shines in multimedia laptop

The Acer Swift X 16 basically differs from the Acer Swift 3 (SF316) only in the graphic cards, with the former using Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3050 . The multimedia laptop is powered by either a Core i5-11320H or a Core i7-11390H QuadCore CPU – Tiger Lake Refresh with a 35-watt TDP. No AMD variant is on offer like its little brother, the Acer Swift X 14 .

The RAM is always a soldered 16 GB of LPDDR4X-4266, while the PCIe 3. 0 SSD holds 512 GB. Of particular interest for our review is whether the display and multimedia performance benchmarks are appropiately reflected in the price of US$ 1,200.

After all, competing devices such as Dell’s Inspiron 16 Plus , Lenovo’s IdeaPad 5 Pro 16 and Asus’ VivoBook Pro 16X are not to be underestimated. The grey-bluish and matte aluminium casing has a high-quality feel and is quite stable; there is minimal flex on the palm rest. The hinges are tight so that the screen only teeters a little, but allows for one-handed opening at the same time.

However, the lid could have been a little more torsion-resistant and it fares less well under selected applications of pressure. But this is hardly a problem in everyday use. The workmanship shows no gaps or protrusions and the maximum opening angle is a relatively small 130 degrees.

Owing to the 16. 1-inch screen in 16:9 format, the Acer Swift X is slightly longer, but less wide and comparatively light at 1. 8kg.

The Swift 3 weighs about 130 grams less due to the lack of a dGPU. All other comparison devices offer a 16-inch display in 16:10 format and weigh around 2 kg. The ports on the Acer Swift X are all sufficiently spaced so as not to block each other.

An HDMI 2. 0 port and DisplayPort 1. 4 via Thunderbolt 4 are available for external displays.

There are also two USB-A 3. 2 Gen1 ports, one on each side. An audio jack and a Kensington device are also on offer, but no SD card reader or LAN port.

Charging takes place via a proprietary connection or USB-C. Thanks to the plugged-in Intel AX201 WiFi 6 module, transfer speeds are at a very good level. Only Huawei’s Matebook 16 is somewhat faster in terms of sending.

Bluetooth 5. 0 is included, but there are no options for WWAN and NFC. As is often the case, the quality of the built-in 720p webcam (1,280 x 720) leaves much to be desired: the image is noisy, blurred and washed out.

The DeltaE values (10. 4 on average) provide average color accuracy at best. There is no webcam aperture or IR for Windows Hello, but there are dual-array microphones with noise reduction.

In addition to the TPM 2. 0 security chip, there is a Kensington lock device (nano) and a fingerprint reader that does its job quickly and reliably with a simple touch of the finger. No accessories are included, apart from the 90-watt LiteON brand power supply that is needed for the Nvidia GPU.

Acer is set on environmentally friendly packaging for the Swift X – very little plastic is used. After loosening 12 small Torx screws, the baseplate can be easily removed with the help of a flat plastic spatula. The RAM is completely soldered, but there are two M.

2-2280 slots. The WLAN module and screwed battery are replaceable, and the fans can be cleaned. In most countries, Acer offers a 1-year limited warranty on its laptops.

This may vary, so be sure to check with your supplier before purchase. The keys of the Swift X are a little smaller, especially the top row, the NumPad and the vertical arrow keys. Key travel is short, the pressure point well dosed and the resistance clear.

Overall, fast typing is possible on the single-level backlit Acer keyboard, which also does its work pleasantly quietly. The layout is good, with double assignments for “Pos1/End” and some multimedia functions (play, pause, rewind). The keyboard yields slightly under pressure, but this is not an issue when typing.

The clickpad measures a large 12. 5 x 8 cm and gliding the mouse pointer is child’s play on the smooth surface. The integrated buttons in the lower touchpad area have a short travel, require more force than usual to click and provide moderate feedback (for the reviewer’s taste).

The matte display of the Acer Swift X measures 16. 1 inches, but retains the 16:9 format (good for media, less suitable for office tasks), while the competition often uses 16:10. The resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels is fine on 16 inches, which means the Windows scaling can remain at 100% (optimal image sharpness).

A disadvantage is the low brightness of the measured 264 nits, which is sufficient indoors, but suboptimal. There are no alternative display options. Furthermore, the brightness falls again in battery mode to only 180 nits.

The contrast ratio (1,725:1) and black level (0. 16 nits) are very good for an IPS display and the low DeltaE values result in adequate color representation. The panel’s response times are neither good nor bad, but are sufficient for casual gaming.

No PWM flickering was detected. The panel itself is fundamentally solid, but competing laptops in our comparison chart have consistently better panels with higher resolutions and brightness values. The Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Pro 16 also has a 120 Hz refresh rate, while the Asus Vivobook Pro 16X has a 4K OLED panel.

Acer promises complete sRGB coverage, which is confirmed by our measurement of 95. 7%. For the Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 color spaces, we registered 66.

8% and 65. 1%, respectively. This makes semi-professional image and video editing possible.

The display is already calibrated quite well ex works, but we were able to improve the results even more. As always, our ICC color profile is available for download next to the illumination graphic. For outdoor use, the Acer Swift X 16 can only be used in the shade.

Despite its matte surface, the display is simply not bright enough to stand up to the sun. Acer offers exactly two CPU options for its Swift X 16: An Intel Core i5-11320H with 4. 5 GHz Turbo (in our model) and a Core i7-11390H with 5 GHz Turbo.

Both are quad-core processors. The laptop usually comes with a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 and 16 GB of soldered LPDDR4X-4266 RAM. As for storage space, 512 GB SSD (PCIe 3.

0) is the standard, although a 1 TB SDD is offered in some configurations in other countries. Overall, this level of hardware is sufficient for multimedia purposes such as simple video editing, audio editing or FHD gaming, and for general office use. Acer provides three different power modes that can be toggled via the key combination “Fn + F”: “Silent”, “Normal” and “Performance”.

These directly influence the fan volume and performance limits. The fans are thus significantly quieter in Silent mode, and less intrusive in Normal mode (relative to Performance mode). Turbo Boost is not affected and raw CPU performance is only slightly reduced in Silent mode – under constant load (6% thermal throttling).

The GPU is never throttled, but the extra 5 watts of “Dynamic Boost” is only available in Performance mode. The quietest setting is achieved under the Windows option “Best Power Saving” + Acer’s Silent mode. Our benchmarks were conducted in Performance mode, while the battery runtimes (web surfing & video) were determined in Balanced mode.

The Intel Core i5-11320H is a quad-core CPU with a 35-watt TDP and a base clock of 3. 2 GHz. Turbo is specified as 4.

5 GHz. The CPU is roughly the same as the Core i5-1155G7 , which can be configured between 15 and a maximum of 28 watts. Under Turbo, the Intel processor initally draws 55 watts at 4.

15 GHz. The power consumption then drops permanently to the specified 35 watts after less than a minute, so that the base clock of 3. 2 GHz comes into play.

The Swift X brings up the rear in the comparison field in terms of performance. In battery mode, the CPU can still consume 25 watts, but performance drops by ~25%. The system works very quickly and without lags, even while working with multiple tabs and playing a 4K YouTube video in the background.

The PCMark 10 scores are relatively close to each other in our comparison field. The Acer Swift X stands out the most in terms of AIDA64/memory scores, likely due to its fast LPDDR4X RAM. DPC latencies are surprisingly high, which is why we repeated the test several times, but with very similar results: 0.

04 seconds of delay is very slow, so that real-time applications (audio/video) are not recommended. Acer should urgently improve this with a BIOS update. As is so often the case, the cause is the core module driver.

4K YouTube playback causes a CPU load of 13% and almost 30% for the Intel GPU. The Samsung PM991 PCIe 3. 0 SSD shows average speeds.

After a few minutes, however, it drops by ~40%, apparently due to overheating. The Samsung PM991 also shows this behaviour in some of our other laptop tests and is therefore not specific to the Acer Swift X 16. In contrast to the Swift 3 , there is a second M.

2 slot for another SSD. Acer’s Swift X 16 comes with an Intel Xe G7 (96EUs) iGPU and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 in the smallest variant with a 35-watt TGP + 5-watt Dynamic Boost. This ensures that new games can be displayed in Full HD at medium to high details and allows for the rendering of some videos.

The boost clock of 1,057 MHz is surpassed with an average of 1,209 MHz, which is due to the Dynamic Boost. The GPU temperature does not even climb to 60 °C. Faster gamers in our comparison field are only the Asus Vivobook Pro 16X (by ~20 %) and Dells Inspiron 16 Plus (by ~40 %), which allow their RTX 3050 a higher TGP (50 and 65 watts, respectively).

The IdeaPad 5 Pro 16 with GTX 1650 can be outperformed by 10 to 25% depending on the benchmark/game. In battery mode, the GPU performance drops by about 15%. The one-hour Wichter 3 stress test shows fairly stable performance levels based on the FPS curve The Swift X 16 is equipped with two medium-sized fans and two heat pipes.

Unlike the Swift 3 , the CPU shares the cooling system with a dedicated GPU. As a result, the fans get louder under load, and gaming also results in irregular fan behavior, but in longer intervals, so it doesn’t really stand out. While 41 db(A) under load is not quiet, it is significantly less annoying than a traditional gaming laptop.

The comparison devices with a dedicated GPU are at roughly the same level, but the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus with a higher 55 W TGP gets louder. Acer’s own Silent mode makes things even quieter. When surfing the web, the fans often stand still; at a slightly faster surfing speed, there are short “bursts” at comfortable volumes.

When gaming, temperatures remain within limits and nothing gets noticeably hot or annyoing in any way. Hotspots only occur under the combined stress test, especially above the keyboard. The Asus Vivobook Pro 16X remains significantly cooler despite the RTX 3050 , while Dell’s Inspiron 16 Plus heats up more noticeably.

Under pure CPU stress, the Intel Core i5-11320H clocks at 3 GHz (200 MHz below the base clock) and reaches 73 °C. Under pure dGPU stress, the RTX 3050 clocks at 700 MHz, which corresponds to its base clock. Combined load (FurMark + Prime95) reduces the CPU to 2.

4 GHz, while the GPU throttles only slightly at 600 MHz. Temperatures are around 75 °C and 65 °C, respectively. A good result.

The combined consumption is 25W (CPU) + 35W (GPU) = 60 watts. In gaming, this amounts to 15W + 40W. In battery mode, 15W + 30W.

The speakers produce sound of a substandard quality, which should not be the case in a multimedia laptop. Sounds are too quiet, there is hardly any bass and even the mids and highs are only reproduced with limited accuracy. The use of external audio peripherals via the 3.

5mm jack or Bluetooth is thus recommended. The Swift X is thirsty in standby, demanding a full 3 watts. Idle values, on the other hand, are mediocre and roughly on par with our comparison field.

Under load, machines with a 45 watt CPU + higher TGP can consume significantly more power – up to 100 watts – which benefits performance. Acer’s Swift X 16 extracts a maximum of 63 watts from the mains. The power supply is therefore sufficiently sized at 90 watts.

The battery life of ~8 hours when surfing the web at 150 nits is acceptable, but it comes last in our comparison field. The Swift 3 without dGPU lasts over one and a half hours longer, and Lenovo’s IdeaPad 5 Pro 16 achieves a 50% longer runtime. The compact Acer Swift X 16 is fairly light at 1.

8kg and quiet under load thanks to Acer’s well-implemented power modes. Input devices are good, while Thunderbolt 4 improves connectivity, although an SD card reader as well as a LAN port are lacking. The graphics performance of the robust multimedia office hybrid is sufficient for Full HD gaming or occasional content creation.

The latter also benefits from the 16-inch screen’s 95% sRGB color space. This is also ideal for media enjoyment, but a 16:10 format would be more advantageous for working. Considering the rather high price, Acer could have installed a more powerful version of the GeForce RTX 3050.

For US$ 1,200, you get a high-performance, relatively quiet and compact work device for multimedia tasks. Unfortunately, the 16-inch display is a little too dark and does not keep up with the competition, also in terms of speakers and battery life. Considering that this is supposed to be a multimedia laptop, a few things annoy us.

For example, the too-dark display, the poor speakers, the webcam and the high DPC latencies. Moreover, the RAM is soldered and the battery life of 8 hours is mediocre for the laptop class. Asus’ Vivobook Pro 16X delivers better performance in almost all areas: brighter 4K OLED display, a AMD Ryzen HX CPU, longer runtimes, better speakers and graphics performance (higher TGP).

We can also make similar statements about the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus and the much cheaper Lenovo Ideapad 5 Pro 16 . Readers are advised to check directly via Acer’s website for availability in their country. Keep in mind that Acer offers a variety of configurations of the SFX16-51G that vary from location to location.

In the following examples, differences to our reviewed model ( SFX16-51G-5388 : Intel Core i5-11320H, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, 16 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD) are highlighted in bold: US , starting at US $ 1,199. 99 (Intel Core i7-11390H , Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050Ti , 16 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD) UK , starting at GBP£ 1,199. 99 ( Intel Core i7-11390H , Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050Ti , 16 GB RAM and 1 TB SSD) Canada , starting at CAD$ 1,299.

99 (Intel Core i7-11370H, Intel Iris Xe Graphics , 16 GB RAM and 512 GB SDD) Prices are as of 18. 07. 2022.

For comparison, our reviewed device had a retail price of EUR 1,200 (US$ 1,200). .