Acer’s new Swift Air 14 wants to take on the MacBook Neo, but it may be outgunned

Acer announced the Swift Air 14, a 14-inch budget Windows laptop starting at $699 ahead of Computex 2026.

It uses Intel Core Series 3 Wildcat Lake chips, with up to 16GB RAM, 512GB storage, and a 120Hz display.

Early results suggest it trails Apple’s A18-based MacBook Neo in performance, and its NPU is not strong enough for Copilot+ certification.

The launch highlights how Windows laptop makers are countering Apple’s low-cost MacBook Neo with price, portability, battery life, and features.