If you prioritize a lightweight and portable laptop with excellent screen quality, long battery life, and sufficient performance for general use, the Acer Swift Edge 16 is a suitable choice due to its OLED display, higher portability score, and longer battery life. On the other hand, the MSI Pulse GL66 offers superior performance for 3D rendering, machine learning, engineering tasks, and gaming, thanks to its more powerful processor and GPU. However, it is heavier and has a lower battery life. The Acer is generally less expensive, but if you require a laptop primarily for performance-intensive tasks and gaming, investing in the MSI may be worthwhile despite the higher price. 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 overall display quality
Very good portability
Good battery life
Advantages of the MSI Pulse GL66
Good for gaming and AI
Very good speakers
Very good keyboard
Key differences
General Use
7.9/10
7.3/10
3200 x 2000
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
383.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
245.0 nits
7.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
4.0 Hours
6.7/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.0/10
8.8/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
7.0/10
The Acer Swift Edge 16 and MSI Pulse GL66 are both good for general use, though the Acer Swift Edge 16 is somewhat better.
The Acer Swift Edge 16, with its lighter weight and high portability score, is suitable for general use due to its convenient size and reasonable battery life, alongside a high-quality OLED screen that provides sharp images and vibrant colors. In contrast, the MSI Pulse GL66, while heavier and less portable, also fits general use purposes with ample power, robust heat management, and solid build, but it offers inferior screen color quality and less battery life than the Acer Swift Edge 16.
Gaming and AI
6.7/10
7.2/10
4.0/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.1/10
3200 x 2000
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
120Hz
REFRESH RATE
144Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
No
8.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
6.5/10
The MSI Pulse GL66 is good for gaming and AI, while the Acer Swift Edge 16 is only fair.
PerfectRec’s Gaming and AI Score strongly emphasizes graphics processing capability, while also taking into account other factors that impact suitability for gaming and AI work.
Engineering and Design
8.1/10
7.5/10
8.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
4.0/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.1/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Acer Swift Edge 16 is very good for engineering and design, while the MSI Pulse GL66 is good.
The Acer Swift Edge 16 is equipped with a high-resolution OLED screen, suitable for precision in engineering and design tasks, and its AMD Ryzen CPU and Radeon GPU effectively handle compute-intensive tasks, but it is lighter which is ideal for portability.
Content Creation
8.1/10
7.2/10
8.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
3200 x 2000
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Acer Swift Edge 16 is very good for content creation, while the MSI Pulse GL66 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
7.0/10
8.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
3200 x 2000
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
6.7/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.0/10
The Acer Swift Edge 16 and MSI Pulse GL66 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
6.8/10
16.0in
SIZE
15.6in
3200 x 2000
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
120Hz
REFRESH RATE
144Hz
383.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
245.0 nits
The Acer Swift Edge 16 has a better screen than the MSI Pulse GL66 for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, software development, and content creation.
The Acer Swift Edge 16 offers a high-resolution display with vibrant colors and high brightness, making it ideal for regular tasks and detailed engineering work where clarity and color accuracy are crucial. However, it lacks a high refresh rate, which is critical for smooth visuals in Gaming and 3D applications, resulting in a less optimal experience in those areas. The MSI Pulse GL66, with its fair screen capabilities, provides an adequate experience for both general use and engineering tasks due to decent color reproduction and brightness, but similar to the Acer, it falls short for gaming and 3D needs due to a lower refresh rate.
Battery
7.0 Hours
4.0 Hours
The Acer Swift Edge 16 has 7 hours of battery life. The MSI Pulse GL66 has 4 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
15.6in
2.7 lbs
WEIGHT
4.6 lbs
0.5in
THICKNESS
0.9in
The Acer Swift Edge 16 has very good portability, while the MSI Pulse GL66 has good portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Cost
$820
$1,399
$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
The Acer Swift Edge 16 has a price of $820 and the MSI Pulse GL66 costs $1,399.
"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."
"The MSI Pulse GL66 has a lot of potential for improvement. Although the RTX 3060 is only able to use 105 watts, we still liked the gaming performance, particularly since this also makes the Pulse comfortably efficient but not slow by any means. Neither the dark display with its lame response times, nor USB 2.0 or the lack of Thunderbolt will please real gamers. The use of a sticker factory seal, which is at least questionable, also won't inspire any enthusiasm. It is obvious that the laptop is really designed for price-conscious gamers."
Get a great deal on the Acer Swift Edge 16 or the MSI Pulse GL66
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 MSI
MSI, also known as Micro-Star International, is a Taiwanese technology corporation. MSI is known for their wide range of gaming devices. Their series include the entry-level Cyborg/Thin and Sword/Katana series, the mid-range Bravo/Delta and Crosshair/Pulse series, and their high-end Vector, Raider, Stealth, and Titan GT series. At every performance level, MSI offers a variety of devices with varying balances between performance, battery life, weight, and price, making them a solid option to consider at every price point.
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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