Acer is bringing its Swift Go line into the Copilot+ PC era at CES 2026, and the pitch is pretty clear: take the premium look and feel it has been chasing for years, bolt on Intel’s latest Core Ultra Series 3 silicon, sprinkle in some genuinely useful AI tricks, and keep it all in a form factor you can still throw into a backpack without thinking twice.

What matters for most people, though, are the two workhorses in this family: the Swift Go 14 AI and the Swift Go 16 AI. These are the “everyday” machines in Acer’s new Swift AI stack, designed to hit that zone where you get a good OLED screen, modern ports, and all the Windows 11 Copilot+ extras, without stepping up to the more exotic (and more expensive) Swift 16 AI or the ultra-light Edge series.​

Both Swift Go AI models are built around Intel’s new Core Ultra X9 388H chips with integrated Intel Arc B390 graphics, the same CPU tier Acer is using in its flagship Swift 16 AI, which means these “mid-tier” Swifts are actually carrying top-end silicon. On paper, that gives them more than enough grunt for creative workloads like Lightroom, 4K video timelines with a bit of AI upscaling, and, of course, the wave of on-device AI features Microsoft is layering into Copilot+ PCs. Acer is backing that up with up to 32GB of LPDDR5x memory and up to 1TB of PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage, so you’re not immediately forced into cloud juggling just to keep projects alive.

Design-wise, Acer is clearly trying to step out of the “budget plastic” shadow that used to trail its mainstream laptops. The Swift Go 14 AI and Swift Go 16 AI both use laser-etched aluminum chassis that look more like something you’d expect from a pricier Ultrabook, with a hinge that lets the display fold flat to 180 degrees. The weight comes in at around 1.12kg for the 14‑inch and 1.36kg for the 16‑inch, which keeps them comfortably in thin‑and‑light territory without chasing the extreme grams-first compromises of the Edge series.

If you care about the screen—and for AI‑heavy workflows like code review, design, or simply juggling a dozen Chrome tabs, you probably should—both sizes offer a healthy range of OLED options. On the 14‑inch Swift Go AI, Acer is starting at a 14‑inch WUXGA (1920 x 1200) OLED panel and scaling up to a 2880 x 1800 WQXGA+ option, all in a 16:10 aspect ratio, with up to 400 nits of brightness and full DCI‑P3 coverage on the higher tier. The Swift Go 16 AI mirrors that philosophy with 16‑inch OLED panels that also range from 1920 x 1200 up to 2880 x 1800, again in 16:10 and tuned for 100% DCI‑P3, giving you a decent canvas whether you lean toward media consumption or content creation.​

Battery is one of the quiet stories here. The Swift Go 14 AI gets a 71Wh pack, while the larger Swift Go 16 AI uses a slightly smaller 70Wh unit, which is still generous considering the relatively light chassis. Acer isn’t shouting specific hour counts for these two models the way it is for the Swift 16 AI, but with Intel’s latest efficiency cores and OLED’s ability to shut off pixels on darker content, these are clearly tuned for a full workday with typical productivity loads.​

The camera and audio setup feel very “2026 laptop,” in a good way. Both sizes move to a 5‑megapixel IR webcam with HDR, which should look noticeably cleaner than the 1080p cameras of a couple of generations ago, and they tie into Human Presence Detection so the laptop can wake when you sit down and lock when you walk away. Audio comes from dual DTS:X Ultra‑tuned speakers with anti‑vibration support and a triple microphone array, plus Acer’s PurifiedVoice tech to cut down background noise on calls—useful if you’re working from a noisy café or a shared office.

Connectivity is very much next‑gen. Both Swift Go AI sizes support Intel Killer Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, so if you’re on a newer router, you can actually start seeing the lower latency and higher throughput that Wi-Fi 7 is supposed to deliver. The port selection is refreshingly complete for a thin‑and‑light: two Thunderbolt 4 USB‑C ports, two USB 3.2 Type‑A ports, HDMI 2.1, and a headphone jack, which means you can drive high‑resolution external displays and high‑speed storage without drowning in dongles.​

Acer is also leaning into the “AI laptop” branding with its own software layer on top of Windows 11. Both Swift Go AI models come flagged as Copilot+ PCs, which unlocks Microsoft’s newer features like Click to Do—a system that understands what’s on your screen and offers quick, context‑aware actions for images and text—and deeper Copilot integration for voice and vision interactions across the OS. On top of that, Acer bundles its own suite: PurifiedView for webcam enhancements, VisionArt to help manage eye strain and visuals, User Sensing for presence‑based behavior, and the new My Key, a programmable key that can launch apps, sites, or specific Windows functions with a single press.​

Where the Swift Go 14 AI and 16 AI sit in Acer’s own lineup is also important context. Above them, you have the Swift 16 AI with its wild, giant haptic touchpad and per‑key backlighting, and the Swift Edge series that chases ultra‑light designs and MIL‑STD 810H‑grade durability. The Go models don’t get those headline tricks, but in exchange, they aim to be the “sensible” choice: more approachable pricing, still‑premium OLED displays, the same class of CPU, and a more conventional but user‑friendly multi‑control touchpad that doubles as a media and conferencing control surface.

For buyers, the practical questions are size and timing. The Swift Go 14 AI and Swift Go 16 AI are both set to roll out as early as late Q1 2026 in some regions, with North America and Australia broadly pegged for Q2 2026 and EMEA getting a head start in March. Exact configurations and pricing will vary by market, but positioning them as “high value in the premium thin and light segment” makes it clear Acer wants these to be the default Swift AI choice for anyone who doesn’t need workstation‑class specs but still wants modern AI hardware and a good OLED panel.​

If you look at the overall Copilot+ PC landscape emerging at CES 2026, Acer’s Swift Go 14 and 16 AI slots in as the kind of machine you could recommend to a wide range of users—students, remote workers, casual creators—without too many caveats. You get current‑gen Intel AI hardware, Wi-Fi 7, solid battery capacity, and OLED in sizes that fit both commuters and desk‑bound users, wrapped in a chassis that finally looks and feels like it belongs in a premium lineup. The bigger question will be how aggressively Acer prices these in each region—and whether that “Go” badge can finally shake off its old mid‑range connotations in a world where AI is quickly becoming the new baseline for PCs.