Review Summary
Expert Rating
If you’re shopping for a budget-friendly business laptop, there are a handful of options out there. However, few, if any, offer a package as compelling as the Acer Swift Neo. Priced just over Rs. 60,000, it brings an ultra-thin, lightweight design, a variety of ports, crisp visuals thanks to its OLED panel, and decent battery life. All wrapped in a stylish Metallic Brown chassis.
However, under the hood, it packs the Intel Core Ultra 5 115U processor. While it’s a solid chipset, it’s a little late to the game and doesn’t quite match the performance offered by some of its competitors, at least on paper. So, the real question is: does the Acer Swift Neo’s sleek exterior and solid feature set make it compelling enough for business users (and students), or should you opt for a more powerful, but power-hungry alternative for the same price? Let’s find out.
Table of Contents
Design and Display
Starting with one of the biggest USPs of this laptop, the Acer Swift Neo boasts a compact form that’s both elegant and practical. Weighing just 1.3 kg, it’s ultra-portable, meaning you can easily toss it into your backpack without worrying about added bulk. Whether you’re commuting, travelling for business, or hopping between classes, the Swift Neo won’t slow you down. Its slim profile and brushed metallic finish give it a premium feel, making it look and feel like a high-end laptop. Additionally, the matte brown colour adds sophistication, making it suitable for both professional settings and casual environments.
When it comes to build quality, the Swift Neo gets most things right, though there are a few trade-offs. The aluminium build feels solid, but the weight distribution is skewed toward the lid, leaving the base (C-section) feeling noticeably lighter. The good news is that the laptop still passes the one-handed opening test. However, there’s a bit of wobble, especially if you’re one of those who types vigorously. On the bright side, the gold trim on the hinges (which is a subjective design choice) adds a touch of flair and earns some points in terms of aesthetics.
Moving on to the display, I’m excited to see more brands embracing OLED technology. The 14-inch WUXGA OLED screen on the Acer Swift Neo offers a stunning, vivid viewing experience that’s perfect for everything from watching movies to editing photos and even working on detailed projects. As you’d expect from OLED, the blacks are deep, adding richness to HDR content.
In terms of colour accuracy, the panel covers 100% of the sRGB colour gamut and 92% of NTSC, making it an excellent option for content creators. Plus, the 16:10 aspect ratio provides extra vertical screen space, making it easier to work on spreadsheets, write reports, or have multiple windows open at once. While the refresh rate is capped at 60Hz, it’s hard to complain. In fact, given the price range and the laptop’s intended use, I’d take an OLED 60Hz panel over an IPS LCD 120Hz display any day.
Complementing the display are the dual 8-ohm speakers, which manage to get surprisingly loud. While they lack depth, the volume is impressive for such a slim chassis. Just a heads-up, the speaker grills on either side are more of a design choice—the speakers are still bottom-firing. The bass is minimal, but the vocals are clear enough for casual YouTube videos or video calls. If you’re planning to watch movies or binge shows, though, an external speaker or a good pair of headphones will definitely elevate the experience.
Ports and Connectivity
Despite its slim and sleek design, Acer hasn’t skimped on connectivity options with the Swift Neo. On the left side, you’ll find dual USB-C ports, both of which support USB power delivery, offering fast charging and data transfer capabilities.
On the right side, there’s another USB-C port, nestled between a microSD card reader and a 3.5mm headphone jack. However, it’s worth noting that this port doesn’t support USB power delivery, but honestly, that’s not a deal-breaker for most users.
While many ultrabooks would stop there, the Swift Neo takes things a step further by expanding its I/O options to the rear. Here, you’ll find a USB-A port and a full-sized HDMI port. For many professionals and students, these ports eliminate the need for dongles, which is a big win for the Swift Neo.
There’s also a nice 1080p webcam at the top, which is actually pretty good in terms of quality. The clarity is definitely noticeable, and there’s not a lot of noise that you otherwise see on competing laptops.
Finally, for wireless connectivity, Acer has equipped the Swift Neo with the latest Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 technology. This ensures fast, stable connections whether you’re browsing the web, streaming content, or transferring files. Long story short, you’ll enjoy reduced lag and faster speeds compared to older wireless standards, keeping you productive throughout the day.
Keyboard and Touchpad
Next up, let’s talk about the keyboard. Given that the Acer Swift Neo is a 14-inch laptop, the absence of a numpad is perfectly justifiable. The result? A well-spaced layout with keys that offer a satisfying amount of travel. The layout is intuitive, and I found myself comfortably typing at around 90 wpm in no time. The keys are sufficiently responsive, making typing feel fluid and natural — something that’s especially important for those who spend long hours working on their laptops.
As for the backlighting, it’s subtle but not quite bright enough for all situations. This isn’t an issue unique to the Swift Neo; laptops with white backlighting, especially those that aren’t black, often struggle with dim lighting during evening or low-light conditions. That said, it should still be sufficient for most night-time typing sessions, especially for those night owls.
Below the keyboard, the generously sized touchpad stands out. It’s both wide and tall, giving you plenty of room for gestures and navigation. The surface has a matte finish, which feels slightly different from the smoother surfaces typically found on most touchpads. While this may take a bit of adjustment, it’s not a drawback by any means, and your fingers will get used to it in no time. That said, as I passed this laptop around the team, most folks didn’t even notice the difference in texture, so it might not be a big deal to you anyway.
A cool bonus feature on the touchpad is the physical fingerprint scanner located in the top-left corner. It works seamlessly with Windows Hello for secure, quick logins. While I personally prefer Face Unlock, having any form of biometric lock on a laptop priced around ₹60,000 is a nice touch that adds to the device’s overall security. Though the fact that there’s no physical shutter or kill switch for the webcam at the top might be a red flag for some.
Performance and Battery Life
Moving on, let’s dive into performance. At the heart of the Acer Swift Neo is the Intel Core Ultra 5 115U processor, a chip that’s designed to balance power efficiency and solid performance. With a total of 10 cores, including two dedicated Performance cores, the laptop handles multitasking smoothly. For instance, you can easily work on a document, stream a YouTube video, and chat on Slack at the same time without noticeable lag. However, it’s not exactly a powerhouse when it comes to raw performance, as highlighted by our synthetic benchmarks.
In Cinebench R23, the laptop scores 4967 in the Multi-Threaded test, which is decent, but it only manages a modest 289 points in Cinebench R24. To put things into perspective, I compared the Swift Neo with the Acer Aspire Lite AL15-53, powered by the older Intel Core i3-1305U, and the ASUS Vivobook 15 with the Intel Core 5 120U. The Swift Neo holds its own against the Core 5 120U in most benchmarks, including GeekBench, though the 120U outperforms the Swift Neo in Cinebench R23 and R24. On the GPU front, the Swift Neo’s 115U processor with its 3 Xe cores does surprisingly well, consistently outperforming its competitors in 3DMark’s benchmark suite.
Now, let’s talk about battery life, which is one of the standout features of Intel’s new Core lineup, especially in the U-series. In my testing, the Swift Neo easily lasted through an entire workday, which included multitasking with several browser tabs open, having Spotify playing in the background, attending video calls, working on scripts, and watching a YouTube video during lunch. To put it into numbers, in the PCMark Battery Video Loop test, the Swift Neo lasted close to 7 hours with the screen set to 80% brightness, which is pretty good considering the price segment. You can stretch that even further by using dark mode, which reduces power consumption.
When it comes to charging, the laptop comes with a 65W USB-C charger that supports fast charging. You can also use the same charger to power your smartphone or other Type-C devices. While it’s not the most exciting or portable charger out there (there are more compact GaN chargers available), it does the job well, and for most users, that’s all that matters.
Verdict
So, is the Acer Swift Neo worth the Rs. 61,990 price tag? Well, if you’re a performance enthusiast, this one might not be for you. There are certainly better-performing laptops on the market, including some from Acer itself. For example, the Acer Swift Go 14 swaps the OLED panel for an IPS touchscreen display and comes with the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, all for around Rs. 70,000. While it’s an older model, it gives you an idea of how long this processor series has been around.
That being said, the Acer Swift Neo shines in other areas. It offers a striking design that’s not only lightweight but also sleek and stylish. You get a great OLED display, an impressive range of ports, and excellent battery life. Sure, it may not win any speed races, but not everyone needs a performance powerhouse.
For those who are looking for a well-designed, portable laptop that looks premium without breaking the bank and can handle day-to-day tasks with ease, the Swift Neo is a solid choice.
Editor’s Rating: 7.8 / 10
Pros:
- Sleek, Lightweight Design
- Stunning OLED Display
- Excellent Battery Life
- Solid Connectivity Options
Cons:
- Limited Performance for Power Users
- Dim Keyboard Backlighting