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 sec | 0:15 – 0:30 sec | 10:00 – 15:00 min |
---|---|---|---|
Acer Swift X 14 (SFX14-71G) | 1.36 GHz @ 3.23 GHz @ 80°C @ 80W | 0.40 GHz @ 1.95 GHz @ 54°C @ 20W | 0.60 GHz @ 3.16 GHz @ 83°C @ 50W |
MSI Stealth 16 Studio (A13V) | 3.77 GHz @ 2.34 GHz @ 87°C @ 101W | 3.61 GHz @ 2.32 GHz @ 87°C @ 91W | 3.62 GHz @ 2.43 GHz @ 87°C @ 92W |
Acer Swift Go 14 (SFG14-71) | 3.13 GHz @ 2.34 GHz @ 75°C @ 67W | 3.08 GHz @ 2.32 GHz @ 91°C @ 66W | 2.46 GHz @ 1.83 GHz @ 89°C @ 43W |
MSI Pulse 15 (B13V) | 3.70 GHz @ 2.36 GHz @ 86°C @ 96W | 3.52 GHz @ 2.37 GHz @ 87°C @ 89W | 3.23 GHz @ 2.54 GHz @ 77°C @ 87W |
MSI Vector GP77 | 3.86 GHz @ 3.08 GHz @ 89°C @ 135W | 3.75 GHz @ 3.10 GHz @ 94°C @ 128W | 3.24 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 3050 | GPU 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 @ 50W | 1481 MHz @ 75°C @ 50W | – |
Lenovo Yoga Pro 7 (14″, 2023) | 1718 MHz @ 72°C @ 58W | 1714 MHz @ 74°C @ 58W | – |
ASUS TUF Gaming F15 FX507 | 1954 MHz @ 77°C @ 95W | 1935 MHz @ 81°C @ 95W | – |
Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-47) | 2018 MHz @ 71°C @ 91W | 2003 MHz @ 75°C @ 91W | – |
ASUS Vivobook Pro 15 OLED (K6502) | 1755 MHz @ 70°C @ 62W | 1755 MHz @ 70°C @ 62W | – |
Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Pro (16″, 2022) | 1702 MHz @ 71°C @ 61W | 1695 MHz @ 73°C @ 62W | – |
Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 (15″, 2022) | 2002 MHz @ 70°C @ 84W | 1985 MHz @ 72°C @ 85W | – |
Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3i (15″, 2022) | 1910 MHz @ 73°C @ 82W | 1912 MHz @ 71°C @ 82W | – |
Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-58) | 2021 MHz @ 70°C @ 94W | 2009 MHz @ 73°C @ 94W | – |
Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 (15″, 2021) | 1885 MHz @ 76°C @ 85W | 1866 MHz @ 82°C @ 85W | – |
Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3i (15″, 2021) | 2004 MHz @ 82°C @ 88W | 1991 MHz @ 86°C @ 88W | – |
ASUS Vivobook Pro 15 OLED (K3500) | 1605 MHz @ 69°C @ 49W | 1610 MHz @ 68°C @ 50W | – |
Dell Vostro 15 7510 | 1729 MHz @ 74°C @ 64W | 1710 MHz @ 78°C @ 65W | – |
ASUS VivoBook Pro 16X OLED (N7600) | 1576 MHz @ 68°C @ 50W | 1571 MHz @ 69°C @ 50W | – |
Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Pro (16″) | 1651 MHz @ 72°C @ 55W | 1636 MHz @ 75°C @ 55W | – |
HP Victus 16 (16-e0000) | 1824 MHz @ 73°C @ 75W | 1814 MHz @ 73°C @ 75W | 1822 MHz @ 73°C @ 75W |
MSI Katana GF66 | 1675 MHz @ 73°C @ 60W | 1660 MHz @ 78°C @ 60W | 1699 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.
Brightness: 180 nits; Display Mode: SDR
Time to Full Discharge: Higher is Better
Thanks for the review. One question. Can the P-Core responses be addressed through software updates are is this a hardware issue?