The Acer Swift Go 14 offers portability, a good battery life, and is suitable for general use with respectable performance. The lower price makes it an attractive option for everyday tasks, light engineering work, and it has a touchscreen. On the other hand, the MSI Stealth 17 is a high-performance laptop with a larger screen, much greater storage and RAM, and a powerful graphics card, making it ideal for intensive gaming, 3D rendering, machine learning, and demanding engineering tasks. However, the Stealth 17 is heavier, has a shorter battery life, and is significantly more expensive. Choose the Swift Go 14 for mobility and value or the Stealth 17 for top-of-the-line performance and larger display. 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
Good battery life
Advantages of the MSI Stealth 17
Very good for general use
Excellent for engineering and design
Excellent for gaming and AI
Very good for software development
Very good for content creation
Very good overall display quality
Best in class speakers
Excellent keyboard
Key differences
General Use
7.7/10
8.7/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
300.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
384.0 nits
8.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
5.5 Hours
8.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
9.0/10
9.0/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
6.4/10
The MSI Stealth 17 is very good for general use, while the Acer Swift Go 14 is good.
The Acer Swift Go 14 is a solid choice for general use with a lightweight design and longer battery life, suitable for those prioritizing portability and endurance over sheer power. In contrast, the MSI Stealth 17 offers a more powerful CPU and substantially more RAM for intensive tasks, a higher quality screen, and superior speakers, making it a better fit for users who need top performance and are less concerned about carrying a heavier device with shorter battery life.
Gaming and AI
6.4/10
9.1/10
3.7/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.7/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
8.7/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
8.0/10
The MSI Stealth 17 is excellent for gaming and AI, while the Acer Swift Go 14 is only fair.
The Acer Swift Go 14 comes with an integrated Intel Iris Xe GPU and has a screen refresh rate of 60Hz, which provides a fair gaming and 3D performance, while the MSI Stealth 17 is equipped with a high-end Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU and a much higher screen refresh rate of 240Hz, resulting in excellent gaming and 3D capabilities.
Engineering and Design
7.2/10
9.4/10
7.4/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.5/10
3.7/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.7/10
16.0 GB
RAM
64.0 GB
The MSI Stealth 17 is excellent for engineering and design, while the Acer Swift Go 14 is good.
The MSI Stealth 17 is excellent for engineering and design due in part to its higher-performance CPU, more RAM, and a superior GPU compared to the Acer Swift Go 14, which still offers good performance with a solid processor and graphics but has less RAM and a less powerful GPU. Additionally, the MSI has a higher quality screen with better color accuracy and brightness, while the Acer maximizes portability with its lighter weight and smaller size, along with having an excellent battery life.
Content Creation
7.6/10
8.8/10
7.4/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.5/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
16.0 GB
RAM
64.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The MSI Stealth 17 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
8.5/10
7.4/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.5/10
16.0 GB
RAM
64.0 GB
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
8.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
9.0/10
The MSI Stealth 17 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
8.6/10
14.0in
SIZE
17.3in
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
300.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
384.0 nits
The MSI Stealth 17 has a better screen than the Acer Swift Go 14 for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
The Acer Swift Go 14 offers a pleasant visual experience for everyday tasks and engineering work with its resolution and panel type presenting crisp images and its brightness enhancing visibility, though it lacks the high refresh rates crucial for smooth 3D rendering and immersive gaming. The MSI Stealth 17 shines in both general and engineering uses with its high resolution and bright display providing sharp and vibrant visuals, aided by a wide color gamut that ensures precise color reproduction necessary for design work, but like the Acer, it doesn't cater to demanding 3D applications and games due to the limited refresh rate. For general use and professional design, both laptops are capable, but for a seamless 3D and gaming experience, their screen qualities fall short, necessitating consideration of alternatives with faster refresh rates.
Battery
8.0 Hours
5.5 Hours
The Acer Swift Go 14 has 8 hours of battery life. The MSI Stealth 17 has 5.5 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
Fair
14.0in
SIZE
17.3in
2.7 lbs
WEIGHT
6.1 lbs
0.5in
THICKNESS
0.7in
The Acer Swift Go 14 has excellent portability, while the MSI Stealth 17 has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Cost
$793
$3,899
$0
$1,000
$2,000
$3,000
$4,000
The Acer Swift Go 14 has a price of $793 and the MSI Stealth 17 costs $3,899.
"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 MSI Stealth 17 Studio is a laptop with a quiet RTX 4080 for almost every occasion. The MSI Stealth 17 Studio is equally capable of high-level media processing and playing current games. It remains pleasantly quiet, even if a few percentage points of power have had to be sacrificed in the process. But, it is not quite perfect: To some extent, the Stealth 17 is well thought out. It packs tons of graphics power and high-end components in a slim case. The laptop's cooling system can be set such that, noise-wise, it doesn't even reach low volume. However, small flaws cloud otherwise exceptionally positive impressions."
Get a great deal on the Acer Swift Go 14 or the MSI Stealth 17
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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