The Acer Swift Edge 16 offers a lightweight design and longer battery life, making it more portable; it's moderately priced and has a large OLED screen, which is great for vivid colors and deep blacks in visual tasks. However, the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio, while more expensive and heavier, provides a higher graphics performance with its dedicated GPU for tasks like 3D rendering or gaming and features a touch screen with a versatile form factor conducive to creative work. Choose the Acer for a balance between performance and portability at a lower cost, or the Microsoft if touch functionality and GPU performance are priorities despite its higher price and weight. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Acer Swift Edge 16
Very good for engineering and design
Very good for content creation
Very good portability
Advantages of the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio
Very good overall build quality
Very good speakers
Very good keyboard
Key differences
General Use
7.9/10
7.4/10
3200 x 2000
RESOLUTION
2400 x 1600
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
383.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
491.0 nits
7.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
8.0 Hours
6.7/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.0/10
8.8/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
7.8/10
The Acer Swift Edge 16 and Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio are both good for general use, though the Acer Swift Edge 16 is somewhat better.
The Acer Swift Edge 16, with its light portability and long battery life, suits users who prioritize carrying their device around, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio, featuring a more powerful CPU and RAM along with a high-quality screen, targets those needing better performance and a more vivid display but can manage with moderately less portability and battery life. Both laptops cater well to general use but excel in different aspects: the Swift Edge for on-the-go usage and the Surface Laptop Studio for more demanding tasks and better media consumption.
Engineering and Design
8.1/10
7.3/10
8.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
5.5/10
4.0/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
4.9/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Acer Swift Edge 16 is very good for engineering and design, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio is good.
The Acer Swift Edge 16, with its sharp OLED screen and efficient AMD Ryzen CPU and Radeon GPU, excels for design with rich color accuracy and detail, and its light weight enhances portability for engineering tasks on the go. The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio, meanwhile, features a flexible hinge for tablet use and a powerful Intel CPU with an Nvidia RTX GPU, perfect for engineering applications that benefit from bespoke design possibilities and high-end graphical performance.
Content Creation
8.1/10
7.4/10
8.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
5.5/10
3200 x 2000
RESOLUTION
2400 x 1600
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Acer Swift Edge 16 is very good for content creation, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio is good.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
7.9/10
7.3/10
8.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
5.5/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
3200 x 2000
RESOLUTION
2400 x 1600
6.7/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.0/10
The Acer Swift Edge 16 and Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio are both good for software development, though the Acer Swift Edge 16 is somewhat better.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Screen Quality
8.8/10
8.0/10
16.0in
SIZE
14.4in
3200 x 2000
RESOLUTION
2400 x 1600
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
120Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
383.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
491.0 nits
The Acer Swift Edge 16 has a better screen than the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, software development, and content creation.
For general use, the Acer Swift Edge 16 and the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio both offer high resolution and bright displays, making text and images sharp and easy to view, but the Swift Edge trumps with a slightly better screen. In engineering and design, accurate colors are vital, and both laptops provide wide color gamuts, ensuring precision in color work, although the Acer Swift Edge 16 may edge out with marginally superior color representation. However, for gaming and 3D applications, a high refresh rate is crucial for smooth motion, and here, both laptops may fall short as they are not built with gaming-grade screens, leading to less than ideal experiences in fast-paced visual content.
Battery
7.0 Hours
8.0 Hours
The Acer Swift Edge 16 has 7 hours of battery life. The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio has 8 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Very Good
Good
16.0in
SIZE
14.4in
2.7 lbs
WEIGHT
4.0 lbs
0.5in
THICKNESS
0.7in
The Acer Swift Edge 16 has very good portability, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio has good portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
7.2/10
8.5/10
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio has very good build quality, while the Acer Swift Edge 16 has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$820
$1,700
$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
The Acer Swift Edge 16 has a price of $820 and the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio costs $1,700.
The Acer Swift Edge 16 and Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio are both only fair for gaming and AI.
The Acer Swift Edge 16 offers robust gaming and 3D performance thanks to its AMD Radeon 780M GPU and a high screen refresh rate, which provides smooth visuals, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio's Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti GPU is also capable but may not keep pace with the most demanding games and applications.
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How the Acer Swift Edge 16 and the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio compare to other laptops
"The Acer Swift Edge 16 is a solid super thin-and-light that pairs a large, gorgeous 16-inch display with portable design that rivals the weight of LG’s superlight Gram 16. Remarkably, Acer achieves this at a lower price point without sacrificing performance. Boring design and disappointing battery life hold the laptop back from stardom, but its rivals frequently suffer in these areas, too. That makes the Swift Edge 16 an alluring value pick."
"There’s no doubt that the Surface Laptop Studio is groundbreaking. We’ve come to expect such things from the Surface lineup, so it’s always nice to see a product that exceeds our expectations. The pull-forward laptop-screen concept has been tried before, but never in a device that’s so stylish and packed with innovative features like a haptic touchpad and robust digital stylus support."
Get a great deal on the Acer Swift Edge 16 or the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio
About Acer
Acer is a prominent Taiwanese electronics brand which makes a wide range of laptops, with multiple product lines catering to personal use, gaming, and business use. They are renowned for having exceptional value for money, as they frequently offer good specifications at a lower price than other manufacturers.
About Microsoft
Microsoft is an American technology corporation. Microsoft is best known for their Windows operating system and Surface laptop series. The Surface Laptop is their standard notebook offering, while their Surface Go, Surface Pro, and Surface Studio are their 2-in-1/tablet offerings in order of increasing capability. Although Microsoft charges a premium price tag for their laptops, buyers can expect a well integrated and packaged device since Microsoft develops the Windows operating system.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
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Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Chandradeep is a staff expert and software engineer and expert in televisions and monitors. He’s been making monitor recommendations for ten years.
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