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00:00I can't even start because it's a tail.
00:04Hey guys, I'm TomoTechJap and I've been given an early look at two brand new Acer laptops.
00:09We've got the Swift X14 and this bigger brother, the Swift X16.
00:16These are brand new for 2022 with a whole bunch of upgrades.
00:21Did you just die?
00:23Critical low battery.
00:25That's what you want to see when you just start a video.
00:28Okay, charging via USB-C.
00:29You'll note there's no annoying DC in adapter thing, it's all USB-C charging.
00:34But I should also say that these are pre-release models so I can't actually test the processors
00:38or run any sort of battery benchmarks just yet but I will be doing a full review on these
00:42as soon as I can so make sure you have hit that subscribe button.
00:45Now you could call me a bit of a Swifty because, well, I actually do quite like Taylor Swift
00:49but I'm also a fan of the Acer Swift series.
00:52They have got steadily more expensive over time so perhaps they're not as great value
00:56as they once were and also they don't quite offer the same premium experience as you get
01:00on say a Dell XPS, an Asus ZenBook or a MacBook Air.
01:04But they're solid and reasonably affordable and just good all-rounders, as the annoying
01:08cliche goes.
01:09So what is new with these 2022 models?
01:12Well, again, if I bring them back to the middle now that this one's not going to die because
01:16it's run out of battery life, the first thing you'll notice is we have these taller 16x10
01:21aspect ratio screens which is a big upgrade for me.
01:24I think every laptop should have a 16x10 aspect.
01:26You just get a little bit more vertical screen space and so it means we're getting a 14-inch
01:31and a 16-inch screens in reasonably compact form factors.
01:35They've really trimmed the bezels.
01:37Both laptops also now come with the latest Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake processors, the
01:41P series of chips which, again, I can't test right now.
01:44They have just been announced for these laptops, well, a bunch of laptops but these are one
01:48of the first to come with it and these will be up to 14-core chips.
01:52Not only that but we're also getting the faster new LPDDR5 RAM up from 4 on last year's
01:57model and also faster PCIe 4 SSD storage.
02:01So faster chips, faster RAM, faster storage and also faster graphics, although that's
02:06where things get a little bit complicated because the Swift X14 can actually be specced
02:11with an RTX 3050 or 3050 Ti, so a proper dedicated graphics card, although I'd imagine a fairly
02:17low wattage version given it's going to be crammed into this, whereas the Swift X16 comes
02:22with Intel's ARC GPU, it's brand new, again, we haven't tested it, so I can't say how that
02:27will compete with the 3050 or 3050 Ti, that's going to be quite an interesting test for
02:31my full review but a bit of a difference there in terms of the GPU.
02:35We're also now getting a Full HD webcam up from HD and also the latest WiFi 6E support.
02:43So the next question if you are thinking about maybe upgrading to one of these is which one
02:46should you go for?
02:47Well, there are a few differences, the graphics as I explained but also, well, you can see
02:52in the main one, the size difference, 14 inches versus 16 inches, so obviously this
02:57is a little bit more portable, it's 1.39 kilograms versus just 1.7 on the 16, which is actually
03:04very impressive for a 16-inch laptop, it's not quite LG Gram territory but I think it's
03:09sort of using a metal magnesium alloy chassis, it feels a little plasticky, they both do,
03:14but that is a lightweight material, so a 16-inch screen, 1.7 kilograms is pretty crazy.
03:20The battery capacity is slightly higher on this, I can't really make a comment between
03:23them at this point but I reckon they should be pretty consistent.
03:26But the other thing about this guy is not only does it have that bigger screen but it's
03:29also high resolution, Quad HD versus Full HD, although they are both 60 hertz IPS LCDs
03:36and also this goes up to 400 nits of brightness versus 300 on the 14, so it's a little bit
03:41brighter.
03:42So bigger screen, higher resolution, a little bit brighter but then this is more portable
03:46and also has the option for that 3050 and 3050 Ti, which is very strange that this doesn't
03:50have that, again we'll have to see how that ARC graphics compares.
03:53However, the biggest difference, and I'll tell you what, this is going to be why you
03:57want to go for the 14, look at these snazzy colours.
04:00Only the 14 for some reason comes with this, there's a couple of options and it actually
04:04does look quite good because I have to say these Swift X laptops are a bit dull looking,
04:09they're not the most exciting things in the world, they're very functional and obviously
04:12quite lightweight as well, but then a little bit of pizzazz on the back there brightens
04:17things up and it's just a shame that we don't seem to have that option on the 16.
04:21You have, well, all the colours you want as long as it's grey.
04:26So I've been playing with these two for the best part of about a week now and there were
04:29a couple of issues, things I'm not so keen on, let's do the opening test, well, there
04:35you go, you can see the 16 opens one finger, this one does not, not sure if that's a big
04:39deal to you but it just makes this feel a little bit nicer.
04:42Also both of them, I'm not a huge fan of the trackpad, they are using Microsoft Precision
04:46Drivers but it's kind of hard to show on camera, if you sort of touch at the top it doesn't
04:51move at all but then near the bottom, I'm not sure if you can hear that, I'm not even
04:55clicking it, this would be a click, I'm just sort of like gently tapping it.
05:01And this is on both, again these are pre-release models so maybe there's some engineering tweaks
05:06they can do but it's weird that it happens on both.
05:10Asus say that these come with dual speakers and DTS audio but quite frankly the speakers
05:15are pretty terrible on both, they sound tinny, not very impressive.
05:24And also, especially on the 14, I kind of wish we did have brighter screens.
05:28A 300 nit, full HD, non-touch matte screen is okay but given that this, well, as all
05:34comfortable costs about £1,000, you kind of want a little bit more out of your screen.
05:38Asus are going pretty much full OLED I think this year, 2022, which obviously is much nicer
05:44than this in terms of the contrast and also the brightness to some extent and the HDR.
05:48So the screens are fine but they're just a bit perhaps lacklustre compared to some of
05:51the new competition.
05:53So the big question then really is how much?
05:56Well the Swift X14 which will come out in sort of late February, early March will cost
06:00£999 for a 12th gen i5 and also an RTX 3050 whereas this which will come out a couple
06:07months later in April will cost £1,099.
06:10So about £100 more but we'll have to see how the performance compares and also you
06:15can get your hands on this a little bit sooner.
06:17But that does put these against the likes of the Dell XPS series, although that can
06:20be a little bit more expensive sometimes and also Asus Zenbooks, as I say a MacBook Air
06:24as well.
06:25But I am withholding judgement because, well, this isn't a review and also I can't test
06:28the performance or the battery life which are pretty important factors when it comes
06:32to buying a laptop.
06:33But still, there is a lot to like here, not least these snazzy colours, although to be
06:36fair this was on last year's model as well, but what do you reckon?
06:39Would you be tempted to buy the 14 or the 16 and if so, which one?
06:43Or if not, why not?
06:44Thank you so much for watching guys and I'll see you next time right here on the Tech Chat.