With all When we talk about “AI laptops” (and, well, AI everything), it’s natural to wonder how much these advancements will cost you. The first laptops to feature Intel’s new Core Ultra CPU and neural processing units, which help speed up artificial intelligence tasks, haven’t been cheap; some models like the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra go up to $3,000.
But there is good news. He Acer Swift Go 14 (I tested the SFG14-73T-75FA model) it’s the most affordable Intel Core Ultra laptop I’ve tested to date, and at just $800 it’s the first to break the $1,000 barrier. Clearly some sacrifices have been made to get there. The question is: are they decisive factors?
The new Swift Go at least covers the basics. Its 14-inch touchscreen with 1,920 x 1,200 pixels is about the minimum acceptable resolution I’d consider today. The screen is moderately bright, although there are plenty of flashier laptops on the market. Processing comes courtesy of the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU, a healthy step up from the bolder entry-level Core 5 chip. There’s 16GB of RAM and a 1TB solid-state drive to back it up – decent specs.
Photography: Acer
A tour of the device reveals a surprisingly robust collection of ports considering the laptop’s small size: two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, a full-size HDMI output, two USB-A ports, and a microSD card slot. All ports are located on the sides of the device, as the display hinge is designed in such a way that the back of the lid folds back to cover the back of the laptop base, eventually hitting the desk and raise the keyboard a couple of millimeters at an angle. .
Performance is better than expected considering the Swift Go 14’s specs, returning above-average benchmarks in overall productivity and graphics work. For a laptop without a discrete graphics processor, it even performed well in AI-based benchmark tests, outperforming other laptops with more advanced CPUs on the same tasks. How excited will you be then that Swift Go 14 includes a dedicated Copilot key on the keyboard, making it easy to quickly access Microsoft’s new (and still in beta) “everyday AI companion.” As for battery life, I managed exactly 11 hours of reduction in a full brightness test on YouTube, a little above average for the field.
Another innovation on the laptop is its new “multi-control touchpad,” which is made of Gorilla Glass and features backlit media controls that activate whenever you’re playing audio or video, such as when you’re in Windows Media Player or on YouTube. in a browser window. It’s a handy way to interact with the pause/play and volume controls if you’re using your laptop to watch a movie at arm’s length, but keep in mind that these controls don’t appear on all websites, including video previews. videos that can be played in Chrome or Edge Browser when you are not active on YouTube or another streaming platform.