Acer has expanded its Swift Go mini PC lineup in China with a custom, more powerful configuration. The new model pairs the AMD Ryzen 7 8745H with 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD and costs 4,999 yuan (about $700).
The 8745H is an eight-core, 16-thread Zen 4 chip that comes with the Radeon 780M iGPU. Acer says the mini PC can drive 4K displays through HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4, and a full-function USB Type-C port. The Type-C port also offers 10 Gbps data transfer and 5 V 3 A output.
Upgradeability is better than one might expect at this size. There are two DDR5 slots that accept up to 2x 32 GB at 5,600 MHz, plus two M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4 slots for up to 2 TB of storage in total. The 0.7 L chassis measures 130 x 127 x 47 mm, weighs roughly 0.5 kg, and supports wall mounting. Connectivity includes dual 2.5 GbE ports, WiFi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.3. The front has two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, a Type-C port, and a 3.5 mm audio jack. The back adds USB 2.0, another USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, DP, HDMI, and a Kensington lock slot.
Acer previously offered the Swift Go mini PC with a lowly Intel N150, 8 GB of RAM, and 512 GB of storage for 2,699 yuan (about US$380), a model that suits office work, media playback, and light server duties. The Ryzen version would deliver far stronger multicore performance and a much more capable integrated GPU, which makes it a viable option for some light gaming and creative work.
The price is nearly double, though, and competition is tougher at the new tag since Beelink and Minisforum both sell small Ryzen 7 8000 series systems, and these typically offer similar performance. Some of them add USB4 and OCuLink configuration at similar pricing. Beelink, for instance, offers the SER8 mini PC with Ryzen 7 8745HS, 32 GB RAM, and 1 TB SSD for just $159 more on Amazon.
Acer counters with its brand name and a very compact body fitting dual 2.5G ports. Unfortunately, there is no word on international availability since Acer has sold the Swift Go mini PC line mainly through Chinese retailers such as JD, where the custom Ryzen version has now appeared first.