Acer also goes 8-core Snapdragon X Plus with its Swift Go 14 AI laptop

Copilot+ PCs are expensive, so much so that it’s somehow hindered its adoption. To make up for it, Qualcomm has now launched a cheaper entry-level processor, the 8-core Snapdragon X Plus, with less graphics performance albeit staying true to its AI capabilities.

Despite lackluster first benchmark performance, the opta-core SoC can actually drop the Copilot+ PCs’ prices to as low as $700-ish. A lot of OEMs have now started announcing laptops using this chip, and Acer now joined the conversation with its Swift Go 14 AI laptop.

Priced from $999.99, this laptop boasts up to 28 hours of battery life, a 14.5-inch 120Hz display, up to 32GB of LPDDR5X memory, 1TB SSD, and Copilot+ PCs’ flagship AI features. It’s launching at the IFA Berlin 2024 trade show this week.

Despite being marketed as a more affordable option, it’s only slightly cheaper than the higher-end model with a 10-core Snapdragon X Plus, which starts at $1,099. Price-wise, it’s also similar to the cheapest Surface Laptop 7 with the 10-core SoC, 13.8-inch display, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB SSD.

Besides Acer, other OEMs like Lenovo, Samsung, and Asus have also announced their opta-core powered laptops ahead of the trade show.

Recent leaks showed that Lenovo is set to launch two new laptops with this chip, the IdeaPad 5x 2-in-1 and IdeaPad Slim 5x. Samsung has also added a 15-inch variant of its Galaxy Book4 Edge laptop with this processor, while Asus has also announced the Vivobook S15 and ProArt PZ13, powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X Plus 8-core processor.

Snapdragon X Plus has been touted as the cheaper processor that can run Copilot+ PCs compared to its premium offering, the 12-core Snapdragon X Elite. Plus initially comes with 10 cores, but this 8-core addition could shake things up a bit in the market and make these Windows AI PCs/laptops even cheaper.