News Acer’s AMD-powered Swift Edge laptop is a gentle reminder of the Intel...

Acer’s AMD-powered Swift Edge laptop is a gentle reminder of the Intel tax 

Enlarge / Acer introduced the Swift Edge laptop in the present day.

Acer

Acer’s Swift Edge clamshell introduced in the present day is a gentle reminder of the so-called Intel tax. The PC provides a bigger display with costlier show expertise and pixels than a equally specced Acer Swift 5 ultralight for the identical worth. The opposite massive distinction between the two laptops is that the new Swift Edge opts for AMD Ryzen 6000 processors, whereas the Swift 5 makes use of Intel twelfth Gen CPUs.

Acer is releasing the Swift Edge in the US this Friday with a Ryzen 7 6800U, carrying eight cores, 4MB of L2 cache, 16MB of L3 cache, and a clock velocity of 2.7 GHz that may increase to 4.7 GHz. Mixed with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 1TB of PCIE 4.0 SSD storage, it’s going to have a $1,500 MSRP.

The Swift Edge weighs 2.58 pounds and is 0.55 inches thick.
Enlarge / The Swift Edge weighs 2.58 kilos and is 0.55 inches thick.

Acer

That is the identical MSRP that the Swift 5 has as of writing and after we reviewed it in July. For that worth, you get an Intel Core i7-1260P with 4 efficiency cores (2.1-4.7 GHz), eight environment friendly cores (1.5-3.4 GHz), and 18MB of L3 cache, plus the identical RAM and storage specs as the aforementioned Swift Edge configuration.

The Swift Edge and Swift 5 have related port choice, as nicely: two USB-C ports (though, the Intel PC’s ports have Thunderbolt 4 certification and work at as much as 40Gbps, reasonably than the Swift Edge ports’ 20Gbps), two USB-A ports (USB 3.2 Gen 1), one HDMI 2.1 port, and a 3.5 mm jack.

Enlarge / The Intel-based Acer Swift 5.

Scharon Harding

Nevertheless, the Swift Edge may have a notable, nicely, edge, in the case of the display. It has a 16-inch, 3840×2400 OLED non-touch show, in comparison with the 14-inch, 2560×1600 IPS touchscreen on the Swift 5. The OLED display is specced with 100% DCI-P3 coloration protection, as much as 500 nits of brightness, and VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification. In our Acer Swift 5 evaluation, we recorded 541 nits and 83.1 % DCI-P3 protection.

In fact, there’s extra to a laptop than its specs sheet; we might need to get a nearer take a look at issues like construct high quality (the Swift Edge has a magnesium-alloy chassis), audio, the webcam, and the show in motion. However an early take a look at these specs reveals you could improve in different places in the event you’re all in favour of an AMD CPU over an Intel one.

And there is good motive to be. Our Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 evaluation examined an equally specced Ryzen 7 Professional 6850U (the Swift Edge ought to finally be provided on this US with this CPU too, an Acer rep confirmed to Ars Technica) and located spectacular efficiency, together with typically stronger battery life and built-in Radeon 680M graphics in comparison towards Intel’s twelfth Gen cellular chips. The Swift Edge will not essentially be as highly effective as a $1,900, business-focused ThinkPad, however Ryzen 6000 has potential for Acer to leverage.

Simply as there’s often a so-called Intel tax on PCs, there’s often an OLED tax on battery life, too. Acer claims the Swift Edge’s 54 Wh battery can last as long as 10.5 hours of video playback, eight hours looking the internet, and seven.5 hours on the MobileMark 2018 benchmark. These are higher numbers than the smaller Swift 5 claims with its 56 Wh battery (14, 14, and seven.5 hours, respectively).

Enlarge / There’s additionally a 1080p webcam in the Swift Edge.

Acer

Acer’s Swift Edge is a new addition to Acer’s Swift lineup of thin-and-light clamshells, which incorporates the Swift 5 flagship ultralight, and Swift X AMD and Swift X Intel, which each embrace devoted graphics playing cards. The Swift Edge continues a pattern we have seen over the previous few years as AMD chips more and more discover their means into not simply extra laptop fashions, however extra higher-end designs. The “Edge” moniker may assist AMD shake a repute that has many shoppers contemplating its chips as a finances various to Intel.

The Swift Edge launches this Friday at $1,500 as specced above (SKU SFA16-41-R7SU). It ought to finally begin at a Ryzen 5 6600U and go as much as 32GB of reminiscence, however an Acer rep informed Ars that it could not promote these configurations in the US.

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