It’s been about a year since Microsoft first hyped up Copilot+ PCs—Windows laptops built around Qualcomm’s Snapdragon ARM chips, promising outrageous battery life and some loosely defined “AI” magic. The pitch was bold: a laptop that lasts forever, remembers everything you do, and handles more of the thinking so you don’t have to. The dream? A smarter, longer-lasting, always-ready PC.
The reality, as always, is more complicated. After a year of buzz, I wanted to see what’s actually changed. So I picked up the $1,599 Acer Swift Go 14 AI, powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Plus processor, and used it as my daily laptop for a few weeks—emails, writing, research, Netflix, YouTube, you name it. I have thoughts.
Design & Build: Clean, Light, Unapologetically Boring
The Swift Go 14 looks exactly how you’d expect an ultrabook to look: a plain silver slab of aluminum, no flashy colors, no RGB—just a minimalist, professional machine. It doesn’t turn heads like the M4 MacBook Air or the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED, but Acer’s 2025 design refresh does look sharper than the unit I tested.
At just 1.35 kg, it’s light, portable, and easy to toss in a backpack. I traveled with it, including interstate flights, and never felt weighed down. The build is sturdy with minimal flex, though it doesn’t have the dense, premium feel of Apple’s MacBook Air.
The 14.5-inch 2560×1600 IPS display running at 120Hz is sharp, vibrant, and buttery smooth when scrolling. The matte finish reduces glare—ideal for bright spaces. But let’s be honest: it’s not OLED, and with competitors like Asus and Lenovo offering OLED panels at similar price points, that’s a downside.
The keyboard is tactile and satisfying for long typing sessions. The touchpad is spacious, responsive, and premium-feeling. The QHD webcam (1440p) is one of the better ones I’ve tested, with solid light handling and some AI-powered image enhancements that actually make a difference. Ports are also a highlight: two USB-C with DisplayPort and charging, one USB-A, a headphone jack, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4. Everything just worked—no fuss.
Performance: Fast Enough—With Limits
Powered by the Snapdragon X Plus, 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM, and up to a 1TB SSD, the Swift Go 14 handles day-to-day tasks with ease. It’s quiet, stays cool, and is genuinely pleasant for productivity work—email, web, content writing, streaming.
But this isn’t a machine for power users. While many mainstream apps like Edge, Office, Spotify, Adobe Creative Cloud, and CapCut now have native ARM versions, some key apps still struggle. Davinci Resolve 20 runs but stutters, especially during heavy edits like 4K timeline scrubbing.
The moment you dip into x86 emulation, it’s hit-and-miss. Some apps work fine, others lag, and some—like OBS Studio—won’t launch at all. Gaming is even worse. Steam technically opens, but most games don’t run. AAA titles either fail to recognize the GPU or run so poorly they’re unplayable. Even Xbox app doesn’t allow local game installs, limiting you to cloud streaming—a huge miss.
A handy tip: before you buy anything for Windows on ARM, check www.worksonwoa.com to see if your must-have apps are compatible.
AI Features: More Gimmick Than Game-Changer
AI is the headline feature of Copilot+ PCs, but so far, it feels like empty calories. The real-time subtitles in video calls are genuinely impressive, accurately handling fast speech and accents. The AI-powered camera features—background blur, image sharpening—also work surprisingly well. Combined with Acer’s PurifiedVoice 2.0 noise reduction, video calls look and sound crisp.
But beyond that? Not much. The AI image generators feel tired, and Microsoft’s much-hyped Recall feature (which logs everything you do for easy retrieval) is intriguing but raises major privacy concerns. Copilot itself remains a glorified web app—it doesn’t even tap into the laptop’s dedicated NPU for on-device AI processing. Third-party AI tools like CapCut also show no noticeable performance difference compared to non-AI laptops.
Right now, AI on Windows laptops is more marketing than meaningful. It’s not a reason to buy.
Battery Life: The True Highlight
This is where the Swift Go 14 shines. Thanks to ARM efficiency and a 75Wh battery, I regularly hit 13+ hours of real-world use—emails, docs, web, streaming, and even some light video editing. With more conservative use, I could see 15-16 hours.
It doesn’t match the fantasy 28-hour figure Acer quotes (which is based on local video playback in airplane mode), but it’s still enough for a full day or even two without hunting for a charger.
However, x86 laptops like Lenovo’s Yoga Slim 7i Aura are now offering similar battery life with better app compatibility and faster performance. And since Acer offers Swift models with Intel and AMD chips, those versions arguably make more sense for most people.
Final Thoughts: A Glimpse of the Future—But Not There Yet
The Acer Swift Go 14 AI shows how far Windows on ARM has come—and how far it still has to go. It nails the fundamentals: it’s light, well-built, has a solid screen, decent ports, and exceptional battery life. It’s efficient, quiet, and polished for a first-generation Copilot+ machine.
But the software ecosystem remains incomplete. App compatibility is better but not flawless. The promised AI revolution feels hollow. And the battery advantage, while real, isn’t enough to offset the limitations when compared to modern x86 laptops.
If you love the form factor, I’d strongly suggest opting for the Intel or AMD versions of the Swift Go instead. Right now, ARM-based Windows laptops are still a glimpse of the future—but they’re not the present most people need.
Acer Australia kindly loaned the Swift Go 14 AI to PowerUp for the purpose of this review
