Many of the best laptops use typical integrated graphics, but more GPU power is sometimes needed for games or more demanding applications. The Acer Swift X with RTX 3050 Ti graphics is now on sale for just $800, a 27% discount from the original MSRP.
The Acer Swift X is a 14-inch laptop, complete with an AMD Ryzen 7 5825U processor, a discrete NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics card, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. The display is a full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS screen, with an aspect ratio of 16:9 — a taller ratio would be better for most productivity tasks, but it’s perfect for gaming and streaming videos.
The Acer Swift X has plenty of connectivity options, too. You get two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, one USN 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A connector, a full-size HDMI 2.1 port, a headphone/microphone combo jack, a fingerprint reader for Windows Hello, Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5.2. There’s a standard barrel DC plug for charging — the USB Type-C port can also be used for power, but it might not deliver enough power to keep the laptop’s battery from draining during heavy workloads.
This is an excellent package for $800, especially if you’ve been in the market for a Windows laptop that has more GPU power than a typical ultrabook. The Ryzen 7 CPU gives you 8 cores and 16 threads for typical productivity tasks, and the NVIDIA GPU boosts performance in video editing, gaming, on-device AI, and other functions. The RTX 3050 Ti isn’t a high-end gaming card, but you should be able to play many modern PC games at medium or low settings, and less-demanding titles like Minecraft or Deep Rock Galactic should be perfect.
If you’re on the fence, check out the Acer Swift X review from our sister site, Review Geek. The laptop earned a score of 6/10, earning points for its slim and light design, powerful processor, and great battery life. The main criticism from that review were a high price tag and limited gaming ability — both of which are harder to complain about at this 27% price cut.