MSI Crosshair 16 vs Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41 Comparison

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MSI Crosshair 16

16 inches | January 2023

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Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41

16 inches | October 2022

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MSI Crosshair 16 vs Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41 Comparison Overview

MSI Crosshair 16

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Acer Swift Edge SFA1...

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MSI Crosshair 16

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Acer Swift Edge SFA1...

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In this review, we will be comparing Crosshair 16 and Swift Edge SFA16-41, two laptops from MSI and Acer. MSI Crosshair 16 was introduced to market in January 2023 and Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41 was launched in October 2022. There is only 3 months difference between Crosshair 16 and Swift Edge SFA16-41 so we are expecting this to be a fair comparison regarding age and technology level.

Click for Available Configurations of the Laptops

Here is a brief look at the main features of MSI Crosshair 16 and Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41 before getting into our more detailed comparison.

MSI Crosshair 16 Key Specs

Launched in January 2023
16.0" IPS LCD, 16:10 Aspect Ratio Display
CPU: Intel Core i7 13620H
GPU: GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile 8GB
16GB Ram
359 x 259 x 26.9 mm (14.13 x 10.2 x 1.06 inches)
Weight: 2.3 kg (5.07 lbs)

Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41 Key Specs

Launched in October 2022
16.0" OLED, 16:10 Aspect Ratio Display
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 6800Uâ€‹
GPU: Radeon 680M
8GB Ram
356.7 x 242.3 x 12.95-13.95 mm (14.04 x 9.54 x 0.51-0.55 inches)
Weight: 1.17 kg (2.58 lbs)

Let's read on the following sections in order to better understand in detail how Crosshair 16 and Swift Edge SFA16-41 compares and decide which one is better for you.

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through my links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Reasons to choose MSI Crosshair 16 over Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41

Refresh Rate	144 Hz vs 60 Hz	Smoother media experience
Screen Type	Matte vs Glossy	potentially less reflections on screen
GPU Fabrication Process	4 nm vs 7 nm	Newer Generation GPU
GPU FLOPS	19.6 TFLOPS vs 3.686 TFLOPS	Dedicated GPU unit
GPU Type	Dedicated vs Integrated	More RAM Options
Upgradable RAM	Yes vs No	Connect more device at the same time
Number of USB-A Ports	3x USB 3.2 vs 2x USB 3.2	Fast way to input numbers
Numeric Pad	Yes vs No

Reasons to choose Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41 over MSI Crosshair 16

Weight	1.17 kg vs 2.30 kg	1.13 kg lighter
Screen-to-Body Ratio	~85.9% vs ~79.8%	Larger screen area ratio
Side Bezel Thickness	6 mm vs 7.2 mm	1.2 mm thinner bezels
Screen PPI	283 ppi vs 142 ppi	More pixels per inch
Screen Resolution	3840 x 2400 pixels vs 1920 x 1200 pixels	Higher pixel count screen
Max Brightness	400 nits vs 300 nits	Brighter Screen
CPU Fabrication Process	6 nm vs 10 nm	Newer Generation CPU
Fingerprint Sensor	Yes vs No	Easy login with fingerprint
Webcam Resolution	1920 x 1080 vs 1280 x 720	Higher Resolution Camera
Number of USB-C Ports	2x USB 3.2 vs 1x USB 3.2	Connect more device at the same time

Common Strengths of Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41 and MSI Crosshair 16

Launch Dates	January 2023 vs October 2022	Both laptops are recent models
Fast Charging Support	Yes vs Yes	Charge the battery in a shorter time
RAM Type	PCI-E Gen 4.0 (4x) vs PCI-E Gen 4.0 (4x)	Fast RAM type
Upgradable Storage	Yes vs Yes	Option to increase the Storage size
SSD Type	NVMe vs NVMe	Faster Data Transfers
Wi-Fi Standard	v6 vs v6	Fast and Reliable Wi-Fi Connections
Bluetooth Standard	v5.2 vs v5.2	Fast and Reliable Bluetooth Connections
HDMI Output	1x HDMI 2.1 vs 1x HDMI 2.1	Connect to External Displays via HDMI cable
VGA Output	No vs No	Connect to External Displays via VGA cable
Ethernet RJ45 Port	Yes vs Yes	Fast connection to Network via ethernet cable
Keyboard Backlight	Yes vs Yes	Easily see the keys under low light

Common Weaknesses of Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41 and MSI Crosshair 16

Touchscreen Capability	No vs No	No Touchscreen Capability

MSI Crosshair 16 vs Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41: Physical Specs Comparison

In this section, we will be comparing the physical specifications and body features of the MSI Crosshair 16 and the Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41.

Physical Specs
Weight	2.3 kg (5.07 lbs)	1.17 kg (2.58 lbs)
Surface Area	930 cm2 (144.1 inches2)	864 cm2 (133.9 inches2)
Screen to Surface Ratio	~79.8%	~85.9%
Side Bezel Thickness	~7.2 mm	~6 mm
Weight per Inch of Screen	0.14 kg/inch	0.07 kg/inch
	0.308 lbs/inch	0.154 lbs/inch
Colors	Black	Black, Silver, Gray, Blue

Comparison of the MSI Crosshair 16 and the Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41 External Dimensions

Weight

Crosshair 16 weighs 2.3 kg (5.07 lbs), whereas the Swift Edge SFA16-41 weighs 1.17 kg (2.58 lbs). There is a notable difference in weight between these two laptops. The weight difference between the two laptops is not significant.

Weight Comparison

Displays size 16.0-16.9 inches

MSI Crosshair 16 2.30 kg

Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41 1.17 kg

Min 1.17 kg

Average 2.07 kg

Max 3.00 kg

Thickness Comparison

Displays size 16.0-16.9 inches

MSI Crosshair 16 26.90 mm

Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41 13.00 mm

Min 12.30 mm

Average 20.35 mm

Max 30.80 mm

Another value that we use for comparing the weights of the laptops is the Weight per Inch of Screen, which is calculated by dividing the total weight of the model with its usable diagonal screen size. This value for the MSI Crosshair 16 is 0.14 kg/inch.In comparison, this value for the Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41 is 0.07 kg/inch.Here are some of the best performing laptops in this area:

Microsoft Surface Go 4: 0.05 kg/inch
LG Gram SuperSlim 15.6 2023: 0.06 kg/inch
Asus ProArt PZ13 HT5306: 0.06 kg/inch
Asus Zenbook A14 UX3407: 0.06 kg/inch
Dell Latitude 7330: 0.07 kg/inch
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen 2: 0.07 kg/inch
LG Gram 14 2022: 0.07 kg/inch
LG Gram 14 2-in-1 2022: 0.07 kg/inch

MSI Crosshair 16 vs Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41: Internals (CPU, GPU, RAM, Battery, SSD, etc.) Comparison

CPU Comparison

CPU Model	Intel Core i7 13620H	AMD Ryzen 7 6800Uâ€‹
Base Frequency	2.4 GHz	2.7 GHz
Turbo Frequency	4.9 GHz	4.7 GHz
Number of Cores	10	8
Number of Threads	16	16
L3 Cache	24 MB	16 MB
Integrated GPU	Intel UHD Graphics (64EU)	AMD Radeon 680M
CPU Fabrication Process	10 nm	6 nm

Above you can see the CPU options and the CineBench and GeekBench test scores for both laptops, which gives an idea about what kind of performance difference you may experience between the MSI Crosshair 16 and Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41.

You may also read reviews of latest laptops with the same CPUs and compare them:

Laptops with: Intel Core i7 13620H

Laptops with: AMD Ryzen 7 6800Uâ€‹

GPU Comparison

GPU Model	GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile 8GB	Radeon 680M
Base Clock Frequency	1395 MHz	2000 MHz
Boost CLock Frequency	1695 MHz	2200 MHz
TGP (Total Graphics Power)	115 W	50 W
Nvidia Optimus	MUX
Type	Dedicated	Integrated
FLOPS	15.62 TFLOPS	3.379 TFLOPS
Memory Size	8 GB	System Shared
Memory Type	GDDR6	System Shared
Memory Bus	128 bit	System Shared
Memory Speed	2000 MHz 16 Gbps effective	System Shared
Shading Units Cores	4608	768
TMUs	144	48
ROPs	48	32

GPU is as critical as the CPU for graphic heavy applications and the table above gives a picture of how the two GPU compares. FLOPS is a measure of a GPU's performance based on the number of floating-point arithmetic calculations that the processor can perform within a second. MSI Crosshair 16 has a FLOPS value of 19.6 TFLOPS whereas the Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41 ' has a FLOPS value of 3.686 TFLOPS. If graphical performance of the laptop is important for your use type, the Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41 may be the better choice between these two setups.

RAM Comparison

RAM	16GB 32GB 64GB	8GB 16GB
Memory Bus	2x8 GB	2x4 GB
RAM Clock	5200 MHz	5200 MHz
RAM Type	DDR5	LPDDR5
Upgradable	Yes	No
Max RAM Size	64 GB
Total Slots	2
Memory Bus	PCI-E Gen 4.0 (4x)	PCI-E Gen 4.0 (4x)

With a larger RAM capacity of 16 GB, the Crosshair 16 offers an advantage for multitasking and resource-intensive applications compared to the Swift Edge SFA16-41's RAM capacity of 8 GB.

LOCAL LLM Compatibility Evaluation

This quick guide shows what types of large language models (LLMs) each of these laptops could support, based on their respective hardware specifications. It's meant to help you compare their suitability for running AI models locally.

MSI Crosshair 16

Acer Swift Edge (SFA16-41)

Small Models(1-3B):Examples: Phi-2, Qwen-1.8B

✔Run smoothly.

Medium Models(7-8B):Examples: Mistral-7B, Qwen-7B

✔Good performance.

✖Not supported.

Large Models(13-30B):Examples: Mixtral, Qwen-14B

✖Not supported.

Extra-Large Models(65B+):Examples: LLaMA2-70B, Qwen1.5-72B

✖Not supported on most systems. Requires high-end GPU or advanced setup.

Note: Optimized (e.g., 4-bit) models may run on limited hardware. Performance depends on runtime and setup.

In addition to RAM capacity, the type of RAM can significantly impact performance, with newer RAM types often offering higher speeds compared to others. Therefore, selecting RAM types with the latest DDR number can be a suitable choice based on your requirements.

BATTERY

BATTERY	90 Wh	54 Wh
Battery Type	Li-Po	Li-Ion
Replaceable	No	No
Fast Charging	Yes	No
Charging Port Position	Left	Left
Charge Power	240 W	65 W

Moreover, the Crosshair 16 boasts a larger battery capacity of 90 Wh, offering extended usage time compared to the Swift Edge SFA16-41's54 Wh.

Battery Comparison

Displays size 16.0-16.9 inches

MSI Crosshair 16 90 Wh

Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41 54 Wh

Min 38.00 Wh

Average 74.15 Wh

Max 100.00 Wh

STORAGE
With a larger storage capacity up to 4 TB, the Crosshair 16 provides more space for storing files and applications compared to the Swift Edge SFA16-41's max. storage capacity of 2 TB.

Storage Options	512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB, 4 TB	512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB
Upgradable	Yes	Yes
Total Slots	2	1
Storage type	SSD (M2)	SSD (M2)
NVMe	Yes	Yes

If your budget allows, we recommend opting for the largest possible disk size, considering the potential increase in storage capacity needs in the future. However, please keep in mind the question 'What will the laptop be used for?' when making this decision. Of course, you can later upgrade the hard disk capacity by getting a larger disk. However, if your laptop has only one disk slot, it may not be as straightforward as a RAM upgrade, where you simply add or replace a module, as moving or cloning files to a new disk may be necessary.

MSI Crosshair 16 vs Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41: Display Comparison

The display is an essential aspect to consider when comparing the MSI Crosshair 16 and Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41 since its is the component that you interact the most and significantly impact the experience.

Screen Area and Dimensions

Now let's look at the comparison of the actual display areas of both laptops below, keeping the bezels around the screens out of the equation. Both Crosshair 16 and Swift Edge SFA16-41 screens have the same size of 16.0".The total usable screen area of the Crosshair 16 is 742cm² / 115inch² whereas the Swift Edge SFA16-41's total usable screen area is 742cm² / 115inch².

PPI (Pixels per Inch)
Additionally, the Swift Edge SFA16-41 features a higher pixel density with 283 pixels per inch (PPI), ensuring sharper image details.

Screen PPI (Pixels Per Inch) Comparison

Displays size 16.0-16.9 inches

MSI Crosshair 16 142 ppi

Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41 283 ppi

Min 137 PPI

Average 169 PPI

Max 283.00 PPI

Refresh Rate
The Crosshair 16 offers a higher refresh rate of 144 Hz, resulting in smoother motion and improved visual experience.

Brightness
The Swift Edge SFA16-41 offers a higher maximum brightness of 400 nits, delivering a brighter screen.

Brightness Comparison

Displays size 16.0-16.9 inches

MSI Crosshair 16 300 nits

Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41 400 nits

Min

40 nits

Average 413 nits

Max 1250.00 nits

MSI Crosshair 16 vs Acer Swift Edge SFA16-41 Connectivity Comparison

In terms of connectivity,

Wifi
Both laptops offer the same Wi-Fi standard (v6), ensuring fast and reliable wireless connections.

Below, you'll find a Wi-Fi Versions Table, along with their release dates and speeds, to provide a brief overview of its development.

Wi-Fi Versions and Speeds

Standard	Speed	Release Date	Network	Frequency Bands (GHz)
Wi-Fi 7	up to 40 Gbps (5 GB/s)	2023	802.11be	2.4, 5, 6
Wi-Fi 6E	up to 9.6 Gbps (1.2 GB/s)	2020	802.11ax	2.4, 5, 6
Wi-Fi 6	up to 9.6 Gbps (1.2 GB/s)	2019	802.11ax	2.4, 5
Wi-Fi 5	up to 6.93 Gbps (866.25 MB/s)	2014	802.11ac	2.4, 5
Wi-Fi 4	up to 600 Mbps (75 MB/s)	2009	802.11n	2.4, 5

* Please note that the provided transfer rates are maximum theoretical values, and real-life performance may vary based on environmental factors.

USB
Both Crosshair 16 and Swift Edge SFA16-41 have USB-A ports. Crosshair 16 has 3x USB 3.2 USB-A ports, while Swift Edge SFA16-41 has 2x USB 3.2 USB-A ports.
Both Crosshair 16 and Swift Edge SFA16-41 have USB Type-C ports. Crosshair 16 has 1x USB 3.2 USB Type-C ports, while Swift Edge SFA16-41 has 2x USB 3.2 USB Type-C ports.

Below, you'll find a table of USB ports, along with their release dates and speeds.
To mitigate the confusion caused by generation names, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) suggests using marketing names like USB 5Gbps, USB 10Gbps, and so forth, based on their respective transfer rates.

USB Type and Speeds

USB Type	Version	Speed	Date	Other Features/Explanations
USB4	Gen 4 (2.0)	80 Gbps	2022	Also known as USB 80Gbps
USB4	Gen 3×2	40 Gbps	2019	Also known as USB 40Gbps
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 2x2	20 Gbps	2019	Double the data transfer rates of Gen 2
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 2	10 Gbps	2017	Previously known as USB 3.1
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 1	5 Gbps	2017	Previously known as USB 3.0
USB 3.1	3.1 Gen 2	10 Gbps	2013	Faster data transfer rates
USB 3.0	3.1 Gen 1	5 Gbps	2010	SuperSpeed USB, improved data transfer rates
USB 2.0	2.0	480 Mbps	2000	High-speed data transfer
USB 1.0	1.0	1.5 Mbps	1996	Original USB standard

Thunderbolt
Neither Crosshair 16 nor Swift Edge SFA16-41 has Thunderbolt port.

HDMI
Both Crosshair 16 and Swift Edge SFA16-41 feature an HDMI port (1x HDMI 2.1) for connecting to external monitors.

Below, you'll find a comparison table detailing different HDMI versions, including their bandwidth, color depth, maximum resolution, and release dates. This information can be helpful in understanding the capabilities of each HDMI version and choosing the most suitable one for your needs.

HDMI Comparison Table

HDMI Version	Maximum Resolution	Bandwidth (Gbps)	Color Depth (bits)	Release Date
HDMI 2.1-2.1b	7680 x 4320 *(8K)* @ 60p 3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 120p	48.0	48	2017
HDMI 2.0-2.0b	3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 60p	18.0	48	2013
HDMI 1.4-1.4b	3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 30p	10.2	48	2009
HDMI 1.3-1.3a	2560 x 1440 @ 60p	10.2	48	2006
HDMI 1.0-1.2a	1920 x 1200 @ 60p	4.95	24	2002

* Please note that the provided resolution values represent the maximum supported resolution, and actual display quality may depend on other factors such as source content and connected devices.

SD Card Reader
Neither Crosshair 16 nor Swift Edge SFA16-41 has an SD Card Reader.

Audio Jack
Both Crosshair 16 and Swift Edge SFA16-41 are equipped with a 3.5mm Audio Jack, providing seamless connection to headphones and speakers.

To summarize the connectivity and ports details, please refer to the table below to see them listed.

Connectivity and Ports
WiFi Standard (latest: v7)	v6	v6
Bluetooth (latest: v5.4)	v5.2	v5.2
USB-A (latest: 3.2)	3x USB 3.2	2x USB 3.2
USB Type-C (latest: USB4 2.0)	1x USB 3.2	2x USB 3.2
Thunderbolt (latest: 4)	No	No
HDMI (latest: 2.1)	1x HDMI 2.1	1x HDMI 2.1
Display Port (latest: v2.0)	No	No
VGA	No	No
Fingerprint Sensor	No	Yes
Optical Drive	No	No
Audio Jack 3.5mm	Yes	Yes
Ethernet RJ45	Yes	Yes
SD CardReader	No	No
Proprietary Charging Port	Yes	No