Acer’s AMD Swift Edge laptop is a nice reminder of Intel’s tax

Today Acer’s Swift Edge clamshell was announced as a nice reminder of the so-called Intel tax. The computer offers a larger screen with more expensive display technology and more pixels than the ultra-light Acer Swift 5 for the same price. Another big difference between the two laptops is that the new Swift Edge chooses AMD Ryzen 6000 processors, while Swift 5 . uses Intel 12th generation central processing units.

Acer is launching the Swift Edge in the US on Friday with the Ryzen 7 6800U, carrying eight cores, 4MB of L2 cache, 16MB of L3 cache, and a clock speed of 2.7GHz that can increase to 4.7GHz. Along with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 1TB of PCIE 4.0 SSD storage, it will have a $1,500 MSRP.

This is the same MSRP as the Swift 5 As of this writing And when we reviewed it in July. For that price, you get an Intel Core i7-1260P processor with four performance cores (2.1-4.7GHz), eight effective cores (1.5-3.4GHz), and an 18MB L3 cache, plus the same RAM and storage specs as Swift above mentioned edge configuration.

Swift Edge and Swift 5 have a similar port selection as well: Two USB-C Ports (although Intel PC ports have lightning strike 4 certified and operates at up to 40 Gbps, instead of 20 Gbps for the Swift Edge ports), two USB-A ports (USB 3.2 Gen 1), an HDMI 2.1 port, and a 3.5 mm jack.

However, Swift Edge can have a notable advantage when it comes to the display. It measures 16 inches, 3840 x 2400 OLED Non-touch screen, compared to a 14-inch, 2560 x 1600 IPS touchscreen on the Swift 5. The OLED screen features 100 percent DCI-P3 color coverage, 500 nits brightness, and VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification. in our area Acer Swift 5 reviewWe recorded 541 nits and 83.1 percent of our DCI-P3 coverage.

Of course, there’s more to the laptop than its spec sheet; We’ll have to take a closer look at things like build quality (the Swift Edge has a magnesium alloy chassis), audio, webcam and screen in action. But an early look at these specs shows that you can upgrade elsewhere if you’re interested in an AMD CPU rather than an Intel.

And there’s a good reason for that. our Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Review I tested an equal-spec Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U (the Swift Edge should eventually be offered in the US with this CPU as well, an Acer rep confirmed to Ars Technica) and found great performance, including stronger battery life overall and integrated Radeon 680M graphics when compared With 12th generation Intel chips for mobile phones. The Swift Edge won’t necessarily be as powerful as the $1,900 business-focused ThinkPad, but the Ryzen 6000 has the potential to take advantage of Acer.

Just as there is often a so-called Intel tax on PCs, there is usually an OLED tax on battery life as well. Acer claims the Swift Edge’s 54 Wh battery can last up to 10.5 hours of video playback, eight hours of web browsing, and 7.5 hours on the MobileMark 2018 benchmark. Those are better numbers than the smaller Swift 5 claims with a 56Wh battery (14, 14, 7.5 hours straight).

Acer’s Swift Edge is a new addition to Acer Swift’s lineup of thin and light oysters, which includes the lightweight flagship Swift 5, and Swift XAMD And the Swift X Intel, and both include dedicated graphics cards. The Swift Edge continues a trend we’ve seen over the past few years as AMD chips increasingly find their way into not just more laptop models, but more high-end designs. AMD’s “Edge” moniker may also help shake the reputation of many consumers who view its chips as a budget alternative to Intel.

The Swift Edge launches Friday at $1,500 as shown above (SKU SFA16-41-R7SU). It should eventually start with the Ryzen 5 6600U and go up to 32GB of memory, but an Acer representative told Ars it might not sell these configurations in the US.