Acer Adopts Ryzen Pro for New Swift Edge Laptop

Acer Ryzen Pro Swift Edge
(Image credit: Acer)

Acer is turning its premiere ultraportable into a bit of a business laptop. The company has debuted the Swift Edge, a 16-inch notebook using AMD Ryzen processors, up the the Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U (though also some non-Pro chips).

The laptop also features a 16:10 OLED display, which Asus claims offers 500 nits of peak brightness.

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CPUUp to AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U
GraphicsAMD Radeon Graphics
StorageUp to 1TB
RAMUp to 32GB LPDDR5
Display16-inch OLED, 3840 x 2400, 16:10
Webcam1080p
NetworkingWi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2
Starting Price$1,499.99
AvailabilityOctober 2022

The processors available include the AMD Ryzen 5 6600U, Ryzen 6 Pro 6650U, Ryzen 7 6800U and Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U. Acer is also using the Microsoft Pluton security profile, which is shipped on by default.

Those chips will be paired with up to 32GB of RAM and up to 1TB of PCIe storage, though Acer says exact specs and availability will differ based on the region where the laptop is sold.

But at 2.58 pounds (1.17 kg) and a 14.94 x 9.54 x 0.55-inch footprint, Acer's biggest claim here is that the system is large enough for work but light enough to be portable. The system has two USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2x2 ports (up to 20 Gbps), two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 port and a 3.5 mm headphone jack, which is more connectivity than many ultraportables these days. 

Acer is entering a crowded market of laptops meant to allow for working from anywhere, including stalwarts in both the business and consumer spaces like Lenovo and HP with laptop lines like the ThinkPad and Elite Dragonfly. Like those, the Swift Edge seems to skew a bit more towards enterprise with the Ryzen Pro chips and Pluton processors. The laptop is shipping this October in North America, starting at  $1,499.99. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, it will start at €1,499, while in China it will begin at RMB 7,999.

Andrew E. Freedman

Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and Mastodon @FreedmanAE.mastodon.social.

  • -Fran-
    I wish this was my laptop instead of the garbage Dell I have now... Intel has so many driver issues for practical use, it's annoying. Well, I say Intel, but I'm sure Dell probably rushed this design out the gate without properly testing and it just sucks.

    Anyway, the specs look really solid for the price.

    EDIT: I forgot to mention it's a work Laptop, so I can't just change it to whatever I want. That's the rant XD

    Regards.
    Reply
  • Alvar "Miles" Udell
    The laptop also features a 16:10 OLED display, which Asus claims offers 500 nits of peak brightness.


    Might want to fix that.
    Reply
  • DotNetMaster777
    Swift Edge nice !!
    Reply
  • bit_user
    -Fran- said:
    I wish this was my laptop instead of the garbage Dell I have now... Intel has so many driver issues for practical use, it's annoying. Well, I say Intel, but I'm sure Dell probably rushed this design out the gate without properly testing and it just sucks.
    ...
    EDIT: I forgot to mention it's a work Laptop, so I can't just change it to whatever I want. That's the rant XD
    I had the same problem. Dell laptop that was blue-screening all the time but the onboard diags & memtest always passed. I installed their "Command Update" utility and, after a few rounds of updates, stability definitely improved. Requires admin rights to install, obviously. Good luck.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    This better have ECC RAM, or else I don't see much point in Ryzen Pro...
    Reply