The Acer Swift Go 14 is significantly less expensive, offering a balance of price and performance, while the Apple MacBook Pro 16 is more costly but provides superior performance and screen quality. If a high-resolution, larger screen and longer battery life are crucial, particularly for demanding engineering tasks or creatives needing color accuracy, the MacBook Pro stands out. For a more budget-friendly option with decent capabilities and a touchscreen, the Acer is suitable for general use. The MacBook Pro is not as portable due to its weight and size but excels in performance areas. 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 Go 14
Excellent portability
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023)
Very good for general use
Very good for engineering and design
Good for gaming and AI
Very good for software development
Very good for content creation
Excellent overall display quality
Best in class overall build quality
Best in class battery life
Best in class speakers
Best in class keyboard
Key differences
General Use
7.7/10
8.8/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
3456 x 2234
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
300.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
487.0 nits
8.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
17.5 Hours
8.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
9.5/10
9.0/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
7.6/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) is very good for general use, while the Acer Swift Go 14 is good.
The Acer Swift Go 14, with a lightweight design and respectable battery life, is convenient for mobility and adequate for daily tasks, thanks to its capable processor and full HD screen. In contrast, the Apple MacBook Pro 16 offers superior performance with a more powerful processor and higher resolution Mini LED display, along with longer battery life and top-tier speaker and keyboard quality, making it an exceptional choice for more demanding general use at the expense of higher weight and cost.
Gaming and AI
6.4/10
7.5/10
3.7/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
6.2/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
3456 x 2234
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
No
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
No
8.7/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
8.7/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) is good for gaming and AI, while the Acer Swift Go 14 is only fair.
The Acer Swift Go 14, with its Intel i7-1355U Iris Xe graphics and a 60Hz screen refresh rate, is fair for gaming and 3D applications, but lacks the more capable performance of the Apple MacBook Pro 16's Apple M3 Pro GPU and higher 120Hz screen refresh rate which is better for 3D work; however, it's important to note the MacBook Pro's limitation in gaming due to the incompatibility of many popular games with macOS.
Engineering and Design
7.2/10
8.9/10
7.4/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
3.7/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
6.2/10
16.0 GB
RAM
18.0 GB
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) is very good for engineering and design, while the Acer Swift Go 14 is good.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) leads in engineering and design due to its more powerful Apple M3 Pro CPU and GPU, a stunning high-resolution Mini LED screen, and a larger RAM capacity that outpaces the Acer Swift Go 14's Intel i7 processor, IPS display, and lower RAM capacity. While the MacBook Pro offers superior screen quality and performance essential for demanding tasks, the Swift Go 14 is lighter and more portable, which might be conducive for users requiring mobility and lesser intensive use cases.
Content Creation
7.6/10
8.9/10
7.4/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
3456 x 2234
16.0 GB
RAM
18.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) is very good for content creation, while the Acer Swift Go 14 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
7.6/10
8.9/10
7.4/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
16.0 GB
RAM
18.0 GB
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
3456 x 2234
8.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
9.5/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) is very good for software development, while the Acer Swift Go 14 is good.
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
6.8/10
9.3/10
14.0in
SIZE
16.2in
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
3456 x 2234
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
300.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
487.0 nits
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 has a better screen than the Acer Swift Go 14 for general use, AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
The Acer Swift Go 14 offers a satisfying visual experience for general tasks and engineering due to its resolution and brightness, but it falls short for gaming and 3D applications because of its lower refresh rate. The Apple MacBook Pro 16 excels with its high-resolution, bright screen and wide color coverage, making it ideal for general use and professional design work, but like the Acer, it isn't optimized for 3D because of a refresh rate that isn't as high as specialized gaming laptops. For those into engineering and general use, the MacBook Pro is superior, but neither laptop is the best choice for gaming or 3D tasks that require high refresh rates.
Battery
8.0 Hours
17.5 Hours
The Acer Swift Go 14 has 8 hours of battery life. The Apple MacBook Pro 16 has 17.5 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
Excellent
Good
14.0in
SIZE
16.2in
2.7 lbs
WEIGHT
4.7 lbs
0.5in
THICKNESS
0.6in
The Acer Swift Go 14 has excellent portability, while the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) has good portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
7.4/10
10.0/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) has best in class build quality, while the Acer Swift Go 14 has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$793
$3,099
$0
$1,000
$2,000
$3,000
$4,000
The Acer Swift Go 14 has a price of $793 and the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) costs $3,099.
"The Acer Swift Go 14 is a surprising machine. Its performance, display, and battery life leave little to be desired from a device at this price. You might think it’d be cheaper given the “Go” in the name, or thinner given its close competition with thin-and-light laptops, but it manages to strike a decent enough balance between its capabilities and hardware to really stand out as an exceptional value."
"The Apple MacBook Pro 16 2023: M2 Max challenges GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. The new MacBook Pro 16 2023 with the M2 Max SoC is the most powerful laptop Apple has on sale right now. While we do not get the expected performance and efficiency improvements from completely new 3 nm chips, which we expected ahead of the launch, the 2023 model is still a solid update. The CPU of the M2 Max can be up to 20 % faster than the old model and we also see an advantage of 25-30 % for the GPU with 38 cores. However, both components also consume more power, so the efficiency did not change that much under maximum load."
Get a great deal on the Acer Swift Go 14 or the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023)
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 Apple
Apple, an American technology company, is one of the world’s largest company in terms of market capitalization. Their MacBook laptops feature a slim, minimalistic design, class-leading battery life, and premium display and speaker quality. In 2020 Apple switched from using Intel processors to their own silicon chips which have excellent performance and efficiency. The macOS operating system is the second most widely used OS, after Windows.
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.
By the numbers
380
Laptops evaluated
48,640
Laptops stats compiled
13
Proprietary Laptops ratings developed
131,295
Recommendations made
28,448
Consumer hours saved
About the laptop team
Joe Golden, Ph.D
CEO and Laptops Editor
Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
Jason Lew
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Jason is a staff expert and software engineer that has been making laptop recommendations for 7 years and moderates one of the largest laptop subreddits.
Chandradeep Chowdhury
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.
Craig Russell
Laptops Expert
Craig is a UK-based laptops expert. Craig works in IT, where he recommends and supports laptops and PCs for clients and has been recommending laptops on Reddit for five years.