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The arrival of spring is for many an annual reminder to deep clean the house. After a long winter allergens and dust can build up inside, impacting your family’s health and wellbeing. Instead of dreading this chore, imagine a world in which a clean home is effortlessly maintained. Enter the Dreame X50 Ultra, the company’s newest robot vacuum—a smart home companion designed to eliminate the stress of cleaning and promote a healthier living environment. Even if you already have a robot vacuum, the Dreame X50 Ultra is worth your attention: we’ve seen this technology advance in leaps and bounds over the years, and the X50 Ultra is a premium cleaning robot with all the bells and whistles. A climbing robot Dreame For the Dreame X50 Ultra, the “leaps and bounds” part is literal: this robot vacuum can climb steps of up to 6cm—well, 4.2cm if it’s a single step and 6cm if there’s a secondary threshold. Unveiled at CES 2025, the Dreame X50 Ultra is the perfect addition for homes with different levels, easily swinging up and navigating small steps and thresholds. It will also come in handy to “jump” over chair legs and other low furniture, or even clothes racks if you use any. While many robot vacuums can clear some obstacles, the X50 Ultra is the first to use the ProLeap system. Not only can this robot vacuum climb steps, but it can also dodge under furniture. Yes, you read that right: it can lower its LiDAR sensors so it can fit under the couch, needing a minimum of 89mm clearance. Since couches and beds are so difficult to move around, a lot of dirt and dust can collect beneath them. This is something you no longer need to worry about with the Dreame X50 Ultra—it simply turns on the lights and uses its cameras instead of the top sensors for navigation of that space. Dreame While LiDAR navigation will deliver a detailed map of your home and furniture placement and help with obstacle avoidance, there are more sensors than we can count on the X50 Ultra. There are even two sensors on the bottom that will intelligently detect height and obstacle clearance for better navigation. Those same sensors will also help identify up to 200 types of objects. View Deal on Dreame X50 Ultra Killer suction power We’ve already established the Dreame X50 Ultra is highly versatile and can handle cleaning up everywhere, including under furniture, but we also need to consider how it will handle the rest of the house. This particular model delivers jaw-dropping 20,000Pa suction power. That’s more than enough to pick up any type of dirt off hard floors and will easily handle all sorts of carpets, too. Whether you have pets or not, you’ve almost certainly dropped plenty of hairs on the floor, too. The X50 Plus features the HyperStream detangling DuoBrush, an innovative design that will prevent hair tangling in its cleaning mechanism. Its 100% anti-entanglement is certified by TÜV SÜD. These two brushes with rubber strips work in opposite directions, throwing hairs and dust upward instead of allowing it to tangle. It means you won’t need to detangle and remove hair from the roller after every cleaning job. This technology is also responsible for the robot’s proficiency at picking up dust from all surfaces, including from between carpet fibers, without making too much noise. Mopping for truly clean floors Vacuuming is a necessary part of keeping your home clean, but truly clean floors also require a good mopping. Thankfully, Dreame X50 Ultra can do just that. Even better, one of the robot’s circular mops will extend to reach the edges and corners better than other robot vacs with mopping functionality. Your entire floor will be squeaky clean. And we know what you’re thinking: what about my carpets? The X50 Ultra won’t make your carpets soggy. It can lift the mopping pads by up to 10.5mm to avoid most low-pile carpets, and you can also use the app to mark the presence of carpet and tell the robot to avoid the area when mopping. Enjoy hands-free cleaning The Dreame X50 Ultra charging station isn’t there simply to power up your robot, it also takes all the hassle out of maintenance–without you needing to lift a finger. This means you can enjoy completely hands-free cleaning. It has a slew of jobs, starting with automatically emptying the dust box straight into a 3.2l dust bag. This bag will take around 100 days to fill on average, but the exact count will depend on how fast dust bunnies gather on your floors, how much your pets shed, and so on. The X50 Ultra charging station is also responsible for filling up the robovac’s water tank, adding cleaning solution, draining the water once the job is complete, washing the mops with hot water, and then hot air drying the mops. It will then run a self-cleaning cycle, scrubbing any leftover dirt from the base. You can separately purchase a water hookup kit for the Dreame X50 Ultra, which allows you to connect the robot to a faucet and a drainage pipe. In this way, you can skip lugging around heavy water tanks when they need changing for truly set-and-forget functionality. View Deal on Dreame X50 Ultra Pet-friendly cleaning Dreame If you have pets at home, you may already know that they have a tendency to stalk robotvacs while they clean. Dreame X50 Ultra has some smart features to keep them safe. With Dynamic spot-cleaning for people and pets, the robot will keep track of where everyone is, avoid stepping on any toes, and revisit those spots later in the cleaning cycle once the area has been vacated. Pet owners can also decide whether or not the robot should avoid pet bowls and litter boxes altogether using the app. You can use the Dreame X50 Ultra to keep an eye on your pets while you are away from home, too. The companion app lets you view real-time video from the robot while it’s cleaning and even lets you talk to your pets. Plus a button in the app will send the X50 Ultra to find and take a photo of your fur baby for ultimate peace of mind. Spring cleaning, spring sale The Dreame X50 Ultra robot vacuum retails for $1,699.99, but you can get it with a massive discount if you act fast. Starting March 25th and through March 31st, you can buy the Dreame X50 Ultra for just $1,359.99 both on Dreame‘s website or Amazon. That’s a fantastic deal on a product that will not only tackle spring cleaning for your floors, but also make daily management of this task a lot easier. Limited-time deal: Save $340 on Dreame X50 Ultra View Offer Read...

The firewall is one of the most important security features in a computer environment. In the classic sense, a firewall is set up on an appliance, such as a computer that fulfills just a single, narrowly defined task — those found in companies, public authorities, and scientific institutions, for instance. A firewall of this type monitors the connection between two networks, such as the internal LAN and the internet, to prevent against unauthorized access. There are also personal firewalls such as the one that’s preconfigured in Windows, or available as freeware or as a paid software solution. In contrast to a classic firewall, a personal firewall does not protect an entire network, but only the individual computer on which it is installed. It’s the barrier that prevents any harmful elements from accessing the files that you have stored locally. The Windows firewall Microsoft calls the integrated Windows firewall the Windows Defender Firewall. This is the most important thing to know about the Defender Firewall: As the configuration of a firewall is a complex matter and requires a lot of prior knowledge from the user, Microsoft has defined three standard configurations for the Defender firewall. Which of these is activated depends on the selected network profile. If you select the public profile in the Windows Settings under “Network and Internet,” Windows seals off the computer from the outside world. In this case, the computer cannot be found on the network and it is not possible to share files and printers with other users. If you are not connected to a domain, you can choose between two network profiles in Windows, “Public” and “Private.” If you select “Public,” Windows largely closes the doors.Chris Hoffman / IDG However, if you set the private profile, you can share folders, files, and printers with others and use apps for internal communication. Windows also provides a domain profile for professional networks. Windows Firewall in practice The Windows firewall is active immediately after the operating system is installed and analyzes all incoming data packets to determine whether they have been requested by an application. This is called Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI), so the Windows firewall is a Stateful Packet Inspection firewall. However, programs such as Facebook Messenger or remote maintenance tools such as Teamviewer would not work if they were unable to receive unsolicited messages or calls. When they are installed behind a firewall, they therefore open one or more ports via which they receive incoming messages. They also customize other firewall settings. Readjustment by the user is not necessary. Teamviewer and other applications that react to signals from outside set the Windows firewall accordingly during installation. Foundry Verdict on the Defender firewall The Windows firewall protects the computer from malware that has infiltrated another PC and now wants to spread via the network. It is therefore strongly recommended not to deactivate it. However, at least in the default setting, it cannot prevent malware that has managed to infect one computer from trying to spread it to other PCs. Specialized firewall applications can do this better. Firewalls from third-party manufacturers The Comodo firewall can block applications, hide the PC in the network, and list which programs are currently connected to the internet. However, it only comes in a complete package with an antivirus program.Comodo If you travel a lot and use your notebook to connect to other people’s LAN and WLAN networks, you naturally have no control over the router settings. In this case, we recommend using a third-party firewall. The Comodo Firewall, which is sold as part of the Comodo Internet Security package, is widely used. Unfortunately, the package can only be installed as a whole, and the setup also includes the Comodo antivirus program. Once the installation is complete, click on the shield icon labelled “Protection” on the left-hand side and click on “Firewall” in the next window. You can then prohibit or allow applications to connect to the internet, you can block incoming connections via port blocks or have them reported, you can manage your network connections and the active connections to the internet. If you are travelling and in a foreign WLAN, for example, it is advisable to hide the ports and only allow the applications that you actually need. In some cases, you may need to allow several program files to access the internet. You can often find information on this from the manufacturer or in the help forums on the internet. Mobile PCs require a more comprehensive protection function than stationary computers. A more configurable and feature-rich firewall from a third-party manufacturer is recommended for them. Sandbox for isolation Sandboxes are a component of many personal firewalls. Under “Protection,” you can access Comodo’s sandbox function, which is called “Containment” here. A sandbox is used to run individual, selected applications in a closed memory area where it cannot cause any damage to the rest of the PC. In a sandbox, for example, suspicious downloaded EXE files and other programs can be executed without the user having to worry about catching a virus. You must first activate the Windows sandbox via “Programs and Features” in the Control Panel.Foundry Windows Pro also has a sandbox, but you have to activate it first. (It’s not available for Windows Home.) To do this, open the Control Panel and go to “Programs and Features” in the icon view. In the following window, click on “Enable or disable Windows features,” scroll down, and tick the box next to “Windows sandbox.” get windows 11 pro for cheap Windows 11 Pro After confirming with “OK,” Windows installs some files and then reboots. After logging in, you will see a window with a second Windows desktop. To test programs there, you can copy them to the sandbox using the clipboard. You can close the sandbox window like any other window. To open it again, enter Windows Sandbox in the search field of the taskbar and press Enter. Further reading: Be safe! How I set up a ‘Paranoid PC’ with Windows Sandbox to surf the risky web Professional firewall for home use Professional firewalls usually run on appliances, i.e. their own hardware, and therefore cost several thousand dollars. However, there is a cheaper option: The free open-source firewall Ipfire is also available for the Raspberry Pi from version 4b with 1GB RAM and more. The software can shield entire networks from the outside world, is easy to use, and even offers an optional intrusion detection system (IDS) that monitors for changes that are typically caused by malware. With IDS, however, the memory expansion should be 4GB or more. Read...

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Look just about anywhere, and you’ll see news of tariffs. A trade war has broken out between the U.S. and select countries—the American government is now imposing taxes on goods arriving from China, select products from Canada, and all steel and aluminum imports. But while the headlines spout flat numbers like 20 percent on Chinese imports and 25 percent on steel, the tariffs’ effect on tech gear isn’t as clear cut. To understand the whole situation, I spoke with industry insiders. What they said is a sobering warning to consumers: We’re about to get hit hard. You can read our full rundown on the tech tariffs to understand the deeper details, but if you only have time for the highlights, read on. You’ll get up to speed quicker, so you know how to plan your tech purchases for the coming weeks and beyond. Spoiler: A bumpy ride is headed our way. Buckle up. Tariffs keep going up TSMC First announced on February 1, the tariff on goods arriving from China began at 10 percent on February 4. Then on February 27, the U.S. government announced a raise to 20 percent, effective March 4th. Meanwhile on March 12, tariffs of 25 percent started on all steel and aluminum imports. This move increased the tax on aluminum from 10 percent. No exemptions are allowed. Currently, the U.S. government continues to suggest future tariffs, along with potential increases. For example, in mid-February, President Trump proposed a 25 percent tariff upon semiconductors starting April 2, with the possibility of raising them much higher over time. These tariffs can stack—for example, any steel and aluminum imports from China would be taxed at a 45 percent rate. Buy soon to avoid paying higher prices Companies don’t make a lot of money on tech products. Think 6 to 15 percent—a stark contrast to software, which has profit margins as high as 70 to 80 percent. Because of this reality, businesses that import goods from their factories in China can’t absorb this sudden tax hike. It’s too big. Retailers also can’t cushion the blow, as evidenced by Best Buy and Target telling shoppers to expect immediate price increases. For some devices, you can still find them at lower prices—either reflecting “just” the effect of the original 10 percent tariff, or even the pre-tariff cost. Your luck will depend on how much stock was brought over before the March tariffs took effect.  The more popular the product, the more likely a constant stream of units come from China, rather than one big shipment. Its price will go up faster. For items that sell more slowly or have a bigger sitting inventory, the tariffs will have a more delayed impact. The short version: Currently, the sooner you buy a new device, the cheaper it’ll be. All tech devices are affected Matthew Smith / IDG During the first Trump administration, tariffs were applied selectively. This time, these taxes apply across the board on all imports from China—the primary source for most electronics produced in the world. So whether a laptop or a cheap printer, if it’s produced in China, it’s subject to this tax. Same goes for even the smallest of accessories, like adapters and cables. Manufacturers have already begun looking into moving production (or more of their production) to other countries, like Vietnam and India. However, the process is slow. Building up factories capable of complex production demands takes time — months, if not years, depending on the product. Expect ongoing price chaos Nobody knows what’s going to happen next—which is why the tariffs keep appearing in the news. And businesses are scrambling to keep up. Your favorite companies can’t give a straight answer on what to expect because they’re still figuring that out for themselves. Any predictions they made for the year (forecasts) have to now be redone. However, the task is hard to do when the tariffs keep rising and spreading, and more may still come. Companies have to pay upfront for tariffs in order to pass customs. This unexpected cost can’t be deferred; the duties must be paid for the product to enter the U.S. When I spoke with industry insiders, many said they were still talking with their partners (like distributors and retailers) about what comes next. But even when that gets worked out now, it will likely change as U.S. government policy changes. Overall, any price shifts will be unpredictable—even on a downward trajectory. Even if tariffs suddenly went away, costs will drift down based on how stable U.S. fiscal policy is, and how much remaining stock was brought into the country during the levies. People outside the U.S. will feel the hit, too Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry Economists view tariffs as problematic—in the country that enacts them, they can slow the economy, hurt local industries, and spike costs for consumers. But a trade war can hurt more than just the country that starts them. Most vendors think globally when setting up their production, and that’s reflected in their logistics. So for example, when Canadians buying from a store that utilizes a U.S-based fulfillment center, they’ll feel the pinch of the U.S.’ tariffs on Chinese imports, too. But most tech vendors sell worldwide—so the impact of higher production costs will still ripple outward to buyers across the globe, in a couple of different ways. (Read on.) MSRPs will be even more meaningless Manufacturers give list prices so consumers know what to expect at retail. But as vendors absorb more production costs (like scaling up factory output in countries outside of China) and scale back on the amount of product available (because demand drops as prices rise), we may be in for another round of highly inflated street prices. Multiple industry insiders say they don’t want to be caught with too many parts or products on hand that they can’t sell. Other ancillary costs may go up as well as companies scramble to comply with tariff demands—more hours must be spent on figuring out new logistics, as well as the full letter of the law. If Nvidia, AMD, or Intel launch a new GPU at $200, but partners’ rising costs limit their ability to shave their margin thinner or even produce as many cards, that means demand may cause street prices to shoot way beyond the expected list price. Innovation may slow Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry Industry insiders have hinted that without a stable economic environment, investment in new products may become more limited. The size of the company and how diverse its product lineup will influence the ability to commit. On store shelves, that may result in fewer choices for available models, or less push on evolving standard features. Announced specs like Wi-Fi 7 and PCIe 7.0 might become an even further point in the distance. You should read reviews carefully As someone who writes reviews, I always want to think people read every word. But realistically, most people don’t—and if you’re looking for high value from your purchases, you could end up disappointed. With prices changing unpredictably, the final opinions in tech reviews may become outdated by the time you read them. So in this uncertain market, dig into a review’s details. Find out what user experience to expect, the level of performance, and what quirks exist. Since street prices could end up notably different than the MSRP quoted to the reviewer, you’ll need to decide for yourself if the actual price is worth the experience. For someone else, paying an additional $300 for a niche laptop may be worth it. For you, maybe not. Read...

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The easiest way to add more connectivity to your laptop is with a simple accessory called a hub. And right now, Anker’s 5-in-1 USB-C model is only $18.84 on Amazon, a marked 46% drop from its MSRP. This hub has a sleek design that’ll look gorgeous with any laptop on any desk in any environment. Just pop this out of your bag, plug it into your laptop’s USB-C port, and connect your accessories to it. There’s a full-sized HDMI with 4K support, a USB-C with 85W pass-through charging, another USB-C with 5Gbps data throughput, and dual 5Gbps USB-A. That’s a great selection at such a cheap price, allowing you to plug in an external 4K monitor, your laptop’s charging cable, a portable SSD, and some peripherals. It’s great for a workstation, but not so much for a gaming laptop because the 4K HDMI only goes up to 30Hz. You’ll be zipping files around in a flash with those USB ports. Plus, with how small it is, you can easily throw it into your bag with minimal hassle. Take advantage of this amazing 46% discount and get the Anker 5-in-1 USB-C hub for $18.84 while you still can. Also, while you’re here, check out some of the other amazing deals we found in the lead up to Amazon’s Big Spring Sale event next week. A USB-C hub with these ports is a bargain for just $19Buy now at Amazon Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Sharp, bright display Enjoyable keyboard Respectable CPU performance Long battery life Cons Drab design IPS display can’t match OLED in contrast or color Mediocre integrated graphics performance Our Verdict The Acer Swift Go 14 AI is a competent Snapdragon-powered laptop with long battery life, but it doesn’t stand out from the crowd. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips turned heads in 2024 thanks to their combination of great CPU performance and battery life. However, as the months have passed, they’ve become important for another reason: they’ve put serious downward pressure on the pricing of budget and mid-range laptops.  The Acer Swift Go 14 AI is a solid Qualcomm-powered laptop with a good mix of performance and battery life. However, it faces competitors that offer more for less. Acer Swift Go 14 AI: Specs and features The Acer Swift Go 14 AI has a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor, specifically the X1P-42-100. It also has 16GB of RAM and 1TB of solid-state storage—a respectable but typical, configuration for a laptop priced around $1,000. Model number: SFG14-01-X006 CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus (X1P-42-100) Memory: 16GB LPDDR5x-8448 Graphics/GPU: Qualcomm Adreno  NPU: Qualcomm NPU up to 45 TOPS Display: 14.5-inch 2560×1600 120Hz IPS Storage: 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD Webcam: 1440p 30fps camera with physical privacy shutter, dual array microphone Connectivity: 2x USB-C 4 with DisplayPort and USB Power Delivery, 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 1x 3.5mm combo audio jack Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Fingerprint reader in power button Battery capacity: 75 watt-hours Dimensions: 12.6 x 8.9 x 0.7 inches Weight: 2.91 pounds Operating System: Windows 11 Home Extra features: USB-C to HDMI adapter Price: $999 MSRP from Acer, roughly $837 retail at Best Buy Acer lists the laptop at $999, which is a bit much for what the laptop offers. However, the laptop is often discounted at Best Buy and more competitive when sold for around $850 or less. The Acer Swift Go 14 AI is currently available in just one configuration, which is the model I reviewed.   The Acer Swift Go 14 AI is a competent mid-range laptop. It benefits from excellent battery life, an enjoyable keyboard, and a bright, high-resolution IPS display.  Acer Swift Go 14 AI: Design and build quality IDG / Matthew Smith The Acer Swift Go 14 AI follows the company’s usual tactic of delivering a simple, competent, but generic chassis that doesn’t impress or offend.  It has a grayish-silver exterior that’s attractive at a glance, and the materials provide a nice metallic luster that will at times catch the light in a room. Acer’s branding is minimal as well with only two small Acer logos on the display lid. However, the laptop’s design is a bit boxy and old-fashioned (though it’s not too thick at roughly 0.7 inches) and the materials used feel a bit thin. The display lid shows no flex when opening or closing the laptop, but the lower chassis wavers slightly when typing or picking up the laptop from a corner. The design is best described as functional. It does the job, but it doesn’t make an impression.  Acer Swift Go 14 AI: Keyboard, trackpad IDG / Matthew Smith A spacious keyboard spans the Acer Swift Go 14 AI’s interior. It provides well-sized keys with only some left-side keys such as Tab, Caps Lock, and Shift, noticeably smaller than normal. Even so, they remain large enough that I didn’t have to adjust my muscle memory.  Key travel is good and keys activate with an enjoyable spring and slight tactile click. The typing experience isn’t incredible, but it’s better than budget competitors like the Dell Inspiron 14 and Lenovo IdeaPad 5x.   The touchpad is less impressive, but fine. It measures about five inches wide and three inches deep, which is the typical touchpad size for a 14-inch Windows laptop. It’s responsive, multi-touch gestures work well and the touchpad surface provides a physical click for right and left-click actions (though tap-to-click also works). However, most laptops in this category offer a nearly identical touchpad experience.  Acer Swift Go 14 AI: Display, audio IDG / Matthew Smith Acer ships the Swift Go 14 AI with a 14.5-inch IPS display with a native resolution of 2560×1600 and a refresh rate up to 120Hz.  Choosing an IPS display instead of an OLED display puts the Swift Go 14 AI at a disadvantage in image quality next to competitors like the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED. IPS has worse contrast and less vibrant color than OLED, which causes the display to look less dynamic and realistic.  But that’s not to say the Swift Go 14 AI’s display is bad or even mediocre. It’s a competent, sharp, and colorful IPS screen that generally looks good even if it can’t match OLED. The Acer’s display is bright and has an anti-glare finish that makes the display more comfortable to view in a bright environment than competitive laptops with an OLED display.  Whether the Swift Go 14 AI’s display makes sense will depend on your needs. A competitor with OLED will have better image quality in games and movies. However, the Swift Go 14 AI’s display has benefits in productivity and portability. Audio quality isn’t a strength of the Swift Go 14. It has downward-firing speakers that may sound muffled, depending on the surface the laptop is placed on. They’re not loud and lack low-end, which leads to muddy and often harsh sound. The speakers are fine for podcasts and most YouTube videos, but I wouldn’t recommend them for music, games, or movies.  Acer Swift Go 14 AI: Webcam, microphone, biometrics The Acer Swift Go 14 AI ships with a 1440p webcam and dual-array microphone. Webcam resolutions up to 1440p aren’t hard to find in 2025, but if you’re coming from a slightly older laptop or comparing against a 1080p or 720p webcam, the Swift Go 14 AI’s camera will feel like a huge upgrade. It’s sharp and colorful. I found the dual-array microphone serviceable, too. It easily picked up my voice even when I spoke softly but also did a good job rejecting repetitive background noise. The audio quality is still hollow and distant, as typical for such microphones, but it’s fine for Microsoft Teams or Google Meet.  Biometric login is provided by a fingerprint reader in the power button. I prefer facial recognition, but the fingerprint reader does the job. It works reliably in most situations but will be fooled if your fingertip is slightly damp or dirty (so don’t swig a Coke before you log in).   Acer Swift Go 14 AI: Connectivity IDG / Matthew Smith A pair of USB-C 4 ports with DisplayPort and USB Power Delivery provide the bulk of the Acer Swift Go 14 AI’s connectivity. These ports are useful not only for data connections but are also used to charge the laptop and can connect to external displays. Both USB-C are on the left side, so keep that in mind if you want to connect a USB-C hub or dongle.  Acer also provides a pair of USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports and a 3.5mm audio jack. The laptop lacks Ethernet and HDMI-out though, in the second case, Acer side-steps the lack of HDMI by including a USB-C to HDMI adapter in the box. Wireless connectivity is good, as the laptop supports both Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. These are the latest versions of each standard. I didn’t experience wireless connectivity issues in my time with the laptop. Acer Swift Go 14 AI: Performance The Acer Swift Go AI has a Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 chip, which sits at the bottom of the Snapdragon X Plus line and is the second least performant Snapdragon X Plus chip overall. It has eight cores and a maximum single-core clock of 3.4GHz. The chip is paired with 16GB of LPDDR5x 8448 MT/s memory and 1TB of M.2 PCIe 4.0 solid state storage.  IDG / Matthew Smith The Acer Swift Go 14 AI gets off to a reasonable start in Cinebench R24, though it depends on your perspective. It performs well among price-competitive systems and looks particularly good when compared to Intel Core Ultra chips, which fail to keep up in this heavily multi-threaded CPU benchmark. However, the Asus Zenbook S 15 underscores a problem the Swift Go 14 faces. That model has a better Snapdragon X Elite chip with 12 cores and the four extra cores provide a significant upgrade.  That’s a problem for the Swift Go 14 because some laptops with the Snapdragon X Elite sell for as little as $800. IDG / Matthew Smith CPU core count isn’t the only way Qualcomm downgrades the Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 relative to its more capable siblings. It also turns down the IGP performance with a quoted specification of 1.7 TFLOPs, down from 4.6 TFLOPs in the best Snapdragon X Elite chips. Unfortunately, that translates to a big decrease in GPU performance. The Acer Swift Go 14 AI scored just 16,179 in 3DMark Night Raid. That’s a large decrease from the Asus Zenbook S 15, which has a Snapdragon X Elite chip and scored 25,917. The Asus Vivobook S 14 with Intel Arc 140V graphics is over twice as quick in this benchmark. This is the Acer Swift Go 14 AI’s biggest weakness and it’s particularly weak against Intel-powered alternatives, as most in this price bracket will indeed have Intel Arc 130V or Arc 140V graphics. Put simply, I wouldn’t recommend the Swift Go 14 AI if you want to play recent 3D games or accelerate 3D productivity software.   Acer Swift Go 14 AI: Battery life The Acer Swift Go 14 AI has a sizable 75 watt-hour battery. That’s towards the upper end of battery size for a 14-inch laptop. The large battery and efficient Qualcomm Snapdragon boost the laptop’s battery life to more than 19 hours in our standard battery test, which loops a 4K file of the short film Tears of Steel. IDG / Matthew Smith As the graph shows, the Swift Go 14 AI’s battery life doesn’t set records, but it does come in towards the high end of what’s typical for modern Windows laptops. I also saw great battery life in my day-to-day work, which includes a lot of time spent in Microsoft Word, Affinity Photo 2, and a web browser. Using the laptop for four hours drained the battery by about 30 percent. The laptop’s low power consumption means it only requires a 65-watt charger and the charger that ships with the laptop is quite small. Even so, you might feel comfortable leaving the charger at home. The Swift Go 14 AI charges over USB-C, so a wide variety of chargers can power it, including those that provide less than 65 watts (though charging will be slow and might not happen at all when the laptop is in use).  Acer Swift Go 14 AI: Conclusion The Acer Swift Go 14 AI is a competent mid-range laptop. It benefits from excellent battery life, an enjoyable keyboard, and a bright, high-resolution IPS display.  However, the Swift Go 14 AI’s value is hampered by the specific Snapdragon X Plus and the laptop’s $999 MSRP. While the chip is a fine performer in CPU tests, frequent discounts on laptops with Snapdragon X Elite chips like the Asus Vivobook S 15 make it difficult to recommend a similarly priced Snapdragon X Plus laptop  If the Swift Go 14 AI dips below $800, however, it’s a good choice for people who need long battery life alongside decent CPU performance. Read...

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