Acer Swift X 14 (SFX14-71G) review – going to a gunfight with a knife


    Temperatures and comfort, Battery Life

    Max CPU load

    In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

    Average P-core frequency; Average E-core frequency; CPU temp.; Package Power

    Intel Core i7-13700H (45W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
    Acer Swift X 14 (SFX14-71G)1.36 GHz @ 3.23 GHz @ 80°C @ 80W0.40 GHz @ 1.95 GHz @ 54°C @ 20W0.60 GHz @ 3.16 GHz @ 83°C @ 50W
    MSI Stealth 16 Studio (A13V)3.77 GHz @ 2.34 GHz @ 87°C @ 101W3.61 GHz @ 2.32 GHz @ 87°C @ 91W3.62 GHz @ 2.43 GHz @ 87°C @ 92W
    Acer Swift Go 14 (SFG14-71)3.13 GHz @ 2.34 GHz @ 75°C @ 67W3.08 GHz @ 2.32 GHz @ 91°C @ 66W2.46 GHz @ 1.83 GHz @ 89°C @ 43W
    MSI Pulse 15 (B13V)3.70 GHz @ 2.36 GHz @ 86°C @ 96W3.52 GHz @ 2.37 GHz @ 87°C @ 89W3.23 GHz @ 2.54 GHz @ 77°C @ 87W
    MSI Vector GP773.86 GHz @ 3.08 GHz @ 89°C @ 135W3.75 GHz @ 3.10 GHz @ 94°C @ 128W3.24 GHz @ 3.00 GHz @ 81°C @ 90W

    Unfortunately, the Acer Swift X 14, and its 100W power adapter’s love-hate relationship with Intel Core i7-13700H’s P-cores can never be recovered. Apparently, the device prefers to run the E-cores to very high values, yet completely neglects the P-cores.

    Real-life gaming

    NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 2 min)GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min)GPU frequency/ Core temp (Max Fan)
    Acer Swift X 14 (SFX14-71G)1484 MHz @ 72°C @ 50W1481 MHz @ 75°C @ 50W
    Lenovo Yoga Pro 7 (14″, 2023)1718 MHz @ 72°C @ 58W1714 MHz @ 74°C @ 58W
    ASUS TUF Gaming F15 FX5071954 MHz @ 77°C @ 95W1935 MHz @ 81°C @ 95W
    Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-47)2018 MHz @ 71°C @ 91W2003 MHz @ 75°C @ 91W
    ASUS Vivobook Pro 15 OLED (K6502)1755 MHz @ 70°C @ 62W1755 MHz @ 70°C @ 62W
    Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Pro (16″, 2022)1702 MHz @ 71°C @ 61W1695 MHz @ 73°C @ 62W
    Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 (15″, 2022)2002 MHz @ 70°C @ 84W1985 MHz @ 72°C @ 85W
    Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3i (15″, 2022)1910 MHz @ 73°C @ 82W1912 MHz @ 71°C @ 82W
    Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-58)2021 MHz @ 70°C @ 94W2009 MHz @ 73°C @ 94W
    Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 (15″, 2021)1885 MHz @ 76°C @ 85W1866 MHz @ 82°C @ 85W
    Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3i (15″, 2021)2004 MHz @ 82°C @ 88W1991 MHz @ 86°C @ 88W
    ASUS Vivobook Pro 15 OLED (K3500)1605 MHz @ 69°C @ 49W1610 MHz @ 68°C @ 50W
    Dell Vostro 15 75101729 MHz @ 74°C @ 64W1710 MHz @ 78°C @ 65W
    ASUS VivoBook Pro 16X OLED (N7600)1576 MHz @ 68°C @ 50W1571 MHz @ 69°C @ 50W
    Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Pro (16″)1651 MHz @ 72°C @ 55W1636 MHz @ 75°C @ 55W
    HP Victus 16 (16-e0000)1824 MHz @ 73°C @ 75W1814 MHz @ 73°C @ 75W1822 MHz @ 73°C @ 75W
    MSI Katana GF661675 MHz @ 73°C @ 60W1660 MHz @ 78°C @ 60W1699 MHz @ 67°C @ 60W

    On the bright side, the RTX 3050 performs just as expected, managing to max out its 50W TGP budget.

    Comfort during combined load

    Even though it has only one fan, the laptop can become a bit loud. Plus, there is a noticeable coil whine. We shouldn’t skip the part where the entire keyboard gets very warm during gaming. Not to mention the part north of the keyboard, which runs at almost 50°C.

    Battery

    Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. This device has a 76Wh battery pack. It lasts for 10 hours and 50 minutes of Web browsing, or 8 hours and 56 minutes of video playback.

    In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

    Acer Swift X 76Wh, 4-cell


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    Steve Guy
    Steve Guy
    2 years ago

    Thanks for the review. One question. Can the P-Core responses be addressed through software updates are is this a hardware issue?