The AMD-powered Acer Swift Edge laptop is a mild reminder of the Intel tax. 

The Acer Swift Edge clamshell announced today is a gentle reminder of the so-called Intel tax. The PC offers a larger screen with more expensive display technology and pixels than the ultralight Acer Swift 5 with similar specs for the same price. The other big difference between the two laptops is that the new Swift Edge uses AMD Ryzen 6000 processors while the Swift 5 uses 12th generation Intel processors.

This Friday, Acer is releasing the Swift Edge in the US with an eight-core Ryzen 7 6800U processor, 4MB L2 cache, 16MB L3 cache, and a clock speed of 2.7GHz, which can be boosted up to 4.7GHz. Paired with 16GB LPDDR5 RAM and 1TB PCIE 4.0 SSD, it will cost $1,500.

This is the same MSRP as the Swift 5 at the time of writing and when we reviewed it in July. For that price, you get an Intel Core i7-1260P with four high-performance cores (2.1-4.7GHz), eight efficient cores (1.5-3.4GHz) and 18MB of L3 cache, plus the same the same RAM and storage specs as the aforementioned Swift. edge configuration.

Swift Edge and Swift 5 also have a similar set of ports: two USB-C ports (although the Intel PC ports are Thunderbolt 4 certified and operate at up to 40 Gb / s, not the 20 Gb / s ports of Swift Edge), two USB-C C. Ports A (USB 3.2 Gen 1), one HDMI 2.1 port, and a 3.5mm jack.

However, Swift Edge can have a noticeable advantage when it comes to the screen. It has a 16″non-touch OLED display at 3840×2400 resolution compared to the 14″IPS touchscreen at 2560×1600 resolution on the Swift 5. The OLED screen has 100 percent DCI-P3 color gamut, up to 500 nits of brightness and VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 certified. In our review of the Acer Swift 5, we recorded 541 nits and 83.1 percent DCI-P3 coverage.

Of course, there’s more to a laptop than its specs; we’ll need to take a closer look at things like build quality (the Swift Edge has a magnesium alloy body), sound, webcam, and display in action. But an early look at those specs shows you can upgrade elsewhere if you’re interested in an AMD processor rather than an Intel processor.

And there is a good reason to be. Our Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 review tested a Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U processor with the same specs (Swift Edge should eventually be offered in the US with this processor, Acer rep confirmed Ars Technica) and found impressive performance, including longer battery life and an integrated Radeon graphics card. 680M graphics compared to 12th generation Intel mobile chips. The Swift Edge won’t necessarily be as powerful as the $1,900 business-focused ThinkPad, but the Ryzen 6000 has potential that Acer can tap into.

Just as there is often a so-called Intel tax on PCs, there is usually a tax on OLED battery life as well. Acer claims the Swift Edge’s 54Wh battery delivers up to 10.5 hours of video playback, eight hours of web browsing, and 7.5 hours in MobileMark 2018. These are better numbers than the smaller Swift 5 with a 56Wh battery claims (14, 14 and 7.5 hours respectively).

The Acer Swift Edge is a new addition to Acer’s thin and light Swift clamshell line, which includes the flagship ultra-light Swift 5, as well as the Swift X AMD and Swift X Intel, which include dedicated graphics cards. Swift Edge continues a trend we’ve seen over the past few years as AMD chips are increasingly being used in not only more laptop models, but more expensive designs as well. The “Edge”moniker may also help AMD shatter the reputation that many consumers see its chips as a budget alternative to Intel.

The Swift Edge will go on sale this Friday for $1,500 as listed above (WeU SFA16-41-R7SU). It should eventually start with the Ryzen 5 6600U and go up to 32GB of memory, but an Acer spokesperson told Ars it may not sell those configurations in the US.