Acer's 16-inch Air weighs even less than a 13-inch MacBook Air

"Acer is announcing a new Swift Air 16 at IFA 2025, and it's an absolute featherweight of a 16-inch laptop. Weighing in at 2.18 pounds / 0.99kg with an IPS display or 2.43 pounds / 1.1kg with its optional OLED, the Swift Air is lighter than even a 13-inch MacBook Air. It also packs more ports than the MacBook, and will start at a lower price of €999 when it launches in November. (North American availability and pricing is still TBD.)"

"It kind of boggles my mind that the Swift Air 16 fits this much screen into such a light package, as it's even lighter than the LG Gram - a laptop defined by its lightness. But the reality checks start coming in once you notice some of the Swift's specs, like its thickness of 0.63 inches / 15.9mm (0.65 inches / 16.5mm for the OLED version). By contrast, the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Airs are just 0.44 inches and 0.45 inches, respectively."

"Also, while the Swift Air's AMD Ryzen AI 300-series chip options will be more than competent for everyday productivity tasks, I've seen firsthand that Apple's M4 chip outperforms them while maintaining better battery life. The Swift Air's starting config will come with a Ryzen AI 5 330 chip, and the top-end version uses the Ryzen AI 7 350. I tested the latter chip in the latest Framework Laptop 13 and it's very capable, even for a touch of light gaming."

"But the parts of the Swift Air 16 that give me the biggest pause are its HDMI spec and battery size. It's got a decent port selection with two USB-C, one USB-A 3.2, and a 3.5mm audio jack, but its video-out port is HDMI 1.4. That's very outdated for 2025, when you expect just about any $1,000-plus laptop to drive an external monitor at 4K / 60Hz or greater. HDMI 1.4 can only do 4K at a sub-par 24 or 30Hz."

The Swift Air 16 weighs 0.99 kg (2.18 pounds) with the IPS display and 1.1 kg (2.43 pounds) with the optional OLED, making it lighter than many 13-inch ultraportables and even the LG Gram. The laptop measures 15.9 mm (0.63 inches) thick for the IPS model and 16.5 mm (0.65 inches) for OLED, thicker than current 13- and 15-inch MacBook Airs. Configurations use AMD Ryzen AI 300-series chips, starting with Ryzen AI 5 330 and topping out with Ryzen AI 7 350. The IPS is 1920×1200 at 60Hz; the OLED is 2880×1800 at 120Hz. Port selection includes two USB-C, one USB-A 3.2, 3.5mm audio and HDMI 1.4. The battery is 50Wh. Pricing begins at €999 and availability starts in November, with North American details TBD.

Read at The Verge