Acer - Swift Go 16 AI – Copilot+ PC – 16” 2K OLED Touchscreen Laptop – Intel Core Ultra 5 322 – 16GB Memory – 512GB Storage - Vapor Silver

## Design One of the first things I noticed was how light this laptop feels compared to its size: it's only 3 pounds. The 16-inch OLED screen is sharp and colorful, making it great for watching movies or working in a code editor. The laptop itself is thin at 0.62 inches. On the left side of the laptop is a full-size HDMI port, a USB-A 3.2 port, and two USB-C ports. On the right side is another USB-A 3.2 port and a headphone jack. The keyboard is backlit and contains a numeric keypad on the right side. ## Performance This Acer Swift Go 16 CoPilot+ PC contains an Intel Core Ultra 5 Series 3 processor, which is part of Intel's 2026 Series 3 family of chips. This processor is capable of 50 NPU TOPS, meeting the requirements for CoPilot+ PCs to handle some AI tasks on-device. The processor is also energy efficient, and Acer says this laptop can achieve up to 23 hours of battery life. As with most Windows 11 systems, the initial setup can take a couple of hours while many of the components download before you even get to the desktop. Each AI feature seems to require a hefty model download, as well. If you're purchasing this for a college-bound student, you might want to do most of the setup on your home's speedy Wi-Fi instead of waiting until you get to the likely over-utilized Wi-Fi at the dorms. The laptop did come with some bloat, and it took time to uninstall the preinstalled apps like Dropbox, ExpressVPN, Google Play Games, McAfee, Solitaire (not from Microsoft but a 3rd party), Amazing Block Blast, and App Explorer. ### Acer AI Exclusives After becoming familiar with Microsoft's AI features in previous CoPilot+ laptops, I was happy to see that Acer included some AI apps of their own. The laptop includes an "Acer Intelligence Space" app that features some of Acer's locally AI-powered apps; however, I believe they were intended for a machine with a dedicated GPU and not the NPU found in this unit. First, I installed "Acer AI Agent," which is advertised as "an integrated AI interface powered with large language models". Upon launch, the app offered to install llama3.1:8b or llama3.2:3b models, which are open-source models that can run locally. However, when asking the agent why the sky is blue, I saw the integrated GPU processor spike and not the NPU. So this application does not seem to utilize the NPU in the laptop. Next up was "Acer Qubi," which is advertised as "a humanized AI robot interface." When it opened, the interface looked exactly the same as "Acer AI Agent" and even used the same models I downloaded (I later noticed a whimsical robot animation hiding in the corner). It offered to change some computer settings, so I asked it how I could set the battery to charge only to 80%, a fairly standard feature most Windows laptops offer. After utilizing the GPU again (not the NPU), it simply replied, "Error. The application does not exist." After a quick (non-AI) internet search, I found this setting can be changed in Acer QuickPanel. Third, I opened "Acer AI Image Generator (Plus)" with low expectations given the experience with the previous two apps. For the image generation prompt, I entered, "a happy puppy on a sunny beach." It created a random, unrelated image of a building, but after rebooting the system and trying again, it did indeed create an image of a cute puppy on the beach. I did notice some NPU activity during this task, but again mainly the GPU seems to be utilized for the image generation. Your next question might be what to do with these images, and the app offers to set the image as your desktop wallpaper or a background for the video conferences. ### CoPilot+ Standard Offerings Of course, this laptop comes with the features that are part of Microsoft's standard CoPilot+ offering. - Sticker Generator in Paint: You can create simple, cartoonish "stickers" to add to your creations with a text prompt, such as "cat with sunglasses". Some results are fairly good, some were way off. Cool feature, but I'm not sure how often I'll use these "stickers." - Co-creator in Paint: Another local AI tool in Paint that won't generate images from scratch for you, but it will help build upon your sketches to create an image using the local AI NPU. - Image Creator in Photos: There's a similarly named "Image Creator" in *Paint*, but it's not local nor free. However, "Image Creator" in *Photos* is local and free. Unlike Co-creator, this actually can create images from scratch using local AI, although it still calls out to the Internet to make sure the generated images are safe. While using this feature, I noticed the NPU did indeed spike to 100%. Results are sometimes OK, but not as good as you would get from a hosted AI model. - Restyle Images in Photos: You can make some artistic edits to your photos (such as impressionist, renaissance, and pixel art) using the NPU's local AI processing. I've noticed these operations take around 10-15 seconds and spike the NPU to 100% utilization. The results are OK, but not as good as you would get with a hosted AI image generator. Plus, you still need to sign in with your Microsoft account so it can make sure the images you generate meet safety standards. - Super Resolution in Photos: This upscales photos that were taken with an older camera or smartphone using the local NPU. - Windows Studio Effects: With this feature, the local AI NPU helps enhance your webcam video by blurring the background, auto-framing the shot, and performing noise cancellation on the microphone's audio in real time. I found this feature works well and utilizes about 15% of the NPU. - Recall: A somewhat controversial feature, Recall takes periodic screenshots of your activity on the PC and uses local AI to make it searchable, allowing you to easily find something you were working on previously. - Live Captions: This hidden feature can be enabled by pressing the Windows key + CTRL + L. The local NPU can transcribe and translate over 40+ languages in real-time when watching videos. I put on a Spanish news video and the English captions were quick and mostly accurate, with NPU utilization hovering around just 4-5%. - Click to Do: Although Microsoft marks this feature as still in "preview" at the time of the review, this is one of my favorite local AI features as it allows you to summarize text on your screen. However, you can only select what's currently on your screen, and if it fits on one screen, it probably doesn't need summarized, but I'm still glad to see the feature there. It also allows you to select text that is in an image that you normally wouldn't be able to highlight. Press Windows key + Q to invoke this feature. ## Battery Life Using the AI features does dig into the battery, but doing some light web browsing used about 5-15% of the battery per hour for me. It should definitely be enough to get you through the work or school day, and it can be recharged with most USB-C chargers (30+ watts) and seems to work fine with my home USB-C dock for multiple monitors. ## Summary The Acer Swift Go 16 AI laptop is extremely portable and has a large, beautiful screen making it great for carrying to and from the office or the campus. I like to see the focus on *local* AI processing to help with privacy, and hopefully Microsoft (and Acer!) expand upon these features in the future. Battery life should last the whole day for most use cases. Acer even includes a soft carrying case which is a nice touch!

Highlights: * Thin and light for its screen size * HUGE trackpad * Beautiful OLED touchscreen * Keyboard has a dedicated numpad although reduced-size * Smallish USB-C PD Charger included * Clear 5MP Webcam with physical privacy shutter * 2x USB-C (Thunderbolt 4), 2x USB-A ports, 1x HDMI and 1x 3.5mm headphone jack on the sides * Trackpad has embedded backlit media control functions during playback * Great battery life * Fun but questionably useful AI features Considerations: * Windows 11 - love it or hate it * Huge trackpad can get in the way of typing * Cramped numeric keypad Overview: This traditional clamshell laptop is relatively thin and light for its 16” screen size. The 2k OLED touchscreen has great colors, perfect contrast and high enough resolution to bring everything to life with vibrant clarity. The full-size backlit keyboard has comfortable keys with a dedicated numeric pad. The huge trackpad takes up nearly half of the bottom section of the laptop and even has embedded backlit media control icons during playback. Windows 11 with CoPilot adds AI smarts to nearly anything you want to do and the processor and memory are perfectly fine for most daily activities but might drag a bit when pushed hard. Setup: There’s not much to it. Plug in the provided 65W AC to USB-C power cord to either of the two USB-C ports on the left edge to charge it up. An LED near those ports changes from Amber to Blue when fully charged. Open the lid and walk through the typical Windows 11 setup stuff. That’s it. Once Windows is done doing its setup thing, you can launch the Acer tools with the special Acer button on the keyboard and use that to register your new laptop and do a few other housekeeping tasks. Usage: Laptops with 16” screens typically have a larger footprint and are best suited for those who use it either as a desktop replacement with occasional mobile use, or who value the screen size more than portability. That said, this Acer Swift Go is one of the most portable Windows laptop of this size that I have used. The aluminum chassis is stiff and stable while also keeping the travel weight lower. By the numbers, this 3lb notebook should feel heavier but the size masks that expectation and the unit surprises with how light it feels. The beautiful 2K (WUXGA, 1920x1200) OLED touchscreen is framed by a thin bezel with rubberized material all the way around to cushion the lid when closed. At the top is a 5MP video camera with a physical privacy shutter. Next to the camera are sensors for Windows Hello biometric authentication and a pair of microphones. I’m still not 100% a fan of using Windows 11 with touch, but it works well enough if that’s your thing. The keyboard is roomy with large backlit keys and there’s even a dedicated numeric keypad; although its keys are a tad smaller than normal. The keyboard is not really designed with gaming in mind (no inverted “T”, etc.) but it should be comfortable enough for standard typing. Copilot has some good dictation capabilities that might reduce your reliance on that keyboard anyway. The trackpad is HUGE! It’s taller than the keyboard and takes up about 2/3 of the wrist rest area. The physical click is appreciated, but is not available on the entire pad - just the lower areas. When playing media, there are backlit touch icons on the trackpad for media navigation. Most keyboards have these as physical keys on the top row but this Acer has them embedded in the trackpad instead. They work well enough and the trackpad is roomy enough to still allow for standard mousing around the icons when needed or you can dismiss the media control functions and use the whole thing for mousing even during playback. I did notice that the keyboard backlight turns off after a few seconds while watching media, but the trackpad icons remain lit the whole time. There are six ports available including HDMI for video output and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left edge should provide enough speedy connectivity for just about anything you might want to connect. The two USB-A ports (one on either side) should provide sufficient options for lower-powered devices such as wired mice, keyboards or USB-A cables for devices. The built-in WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 will connect to just about anything wireless, too. I used this notebook for some typical household stuff; web browsing, watching media, writing and editing documents, and it all worked without any lag or delays. The stereo speakers appear to come out of the sides of the palm rest area and sound OK. Not a ton of low-end but overall clear enough with good volume. Video calls/conferencing worked great with the built-in 5MP camera and microphones. I then loaded up some of the tools that I use for work like Figma and Photoshop. While everything still functioned, things got a tad less responsive with large files open in both at the same time. This is where the 16GB of memory shows its limitations. The 512GB SSD is fast enough for reading and writing files, but hardcore work in multiple simultaneous apps might slow things down just a bit with the limited RAM. Overall, this notebook is fast enough to use as a desktop replacement for all but the most strenuous work. It’s also thin and light enough to take with you to be productive at a coffee shop, classroom or take traveling. The 16” screen size dictates the laptop’s footprint but it is thin and light enough to move around to take with you comfortably.

The Acer Swift Go is an impressively lightweight laptop for a 16-inch device. It is nicely constructed using recyclable materials, and the smooth surface feels cool and comfortable while typing. This specific model features a 2K OLED touchscreen display, Intel Core Ultra 5 processor, 16GB of RAM, integrated graphics, a 5MP front-facing camera, and 500GB of storage. It comes equipped with two USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, one HDMI port, and a headphone jack. For connectivity, it supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth. The setup process was very simple, requiring only a Microsoft account for the Windows installation. The entire setup, including initial updates, took approximately 10 minutes. Performance has been excellent overall. The laptop handles heavy usage and multitasking smoothly without noticeable lag, and it remains extremely quiet during operation. The touchpad is large, smooth, responsive, and supports multi-finger gestures very well. Fingers glide across the surface effortlessly. The keyboard feels good to type on, although the keys are slightly clicky for my taste. The backlighting is bright, and I especially like how the lights automatically turn off a few seconds after you stop typing. You can continue using the mouse while the keyboard stays off, and the lights instantly come back on once a key is pressed. That is a thoughtful feature for battery saving, and I do not recall seeing it implemented this well on previous laptops I have owned. It also supports Microsoft Copilot and includes a dedicated Copilot key. The OLED display is bright and vivid with vibrant colors, although some colors can appear slightly oversaturated at times. The touchscreen is very responsive, and surprisingly, it is not nearly as much of a fingerprint magnet as I expected, which is a nice bonus. The integrated speakers are loud, though the sound quality itself is somewhat flat. The 5MP camera supports 1080p photos and video. Image quality can look a bit grainy, but it works perfectly fine for video conferences and Windows Hello. Battery life is another strong point of this laptop. You can easily get through an entire day on a single charge. After three days of moderate use with standby time in between, I still had approximately 54% battery remaining. This is one of those devices you can casually use throughout the day, put aside, and return to later without constantly worrying about plugging it in. Overall, this is a budget-friendly and eco-friendly laptop that offers a lot for the price. Thanks to its lightweight design, it is excellent for school, work, and traveling. Acer also includes a travel sleeve case in the box, which is a nice addition. It performs well, stays quiet, and features a beautiful OLED display that is excellent for media consumption. However, if you are a gamer this definitely wont cut it. Inside the box, you get the laptop, travel sleeve case, power adapter, and manuals.

Love the distinct color so vibrant. Keyboard easy to manage

Not as visually pleasing or user friendly as my previous Lenovo. Returned and went back to Lenovo.