The Acer Swift 4 features Intel CPUs, and it does indeed have Thunderbolt 4, which supports all USB4 features.
These days, connectivity is quite important when you want to consider buying a great new laptop. Not only do you need to worry about the specifications under the hood of your laptop like the CPU, RAM, and storage, but you also have to consider the port selection.
One incoming new laptop, the Acer Swift 14 (2023), comes with a lot of great ports, including two USB-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The good news is that the Acer Swift 14 (2023) also has two Thunderbolt 4 ports which are compatible with USB4 too if this is something that factors into your buying decision.
Why is it great that the Acer Swift 14 (2023) supports Thunderbolt 4?
To be clear, Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 are two different things, but Thunderbolt 4 is compatible with USB4 since both use the same USB-C connector. Thunderbolt 4 technology is the better technology since you can connect to a certified docking station, monitor, or external solid-state drive (SSD). Thunderbolt 4 also offers a bi-directional bandwidth of 40 Gbps, which is the same as USB4, to help speed up file transfer rates. Another benefit of Thunderbolt 4 is support for PCIe tunneling, which lets you connect external dedicated GPUs to your laptop, which is optional on USB4.
With Thunderbolt 4, you also can connect up to two 4K 60Hz monitors more easily without docks and even an 8K 60Hz monitor. You’re not guaranteed to get that dual monitor support with USB4 (though it can support one 8K monitor at 60Hz) and you’ll have to keep in mind that some USB4 accessories only support 20GBps link speeds. With USB4, a lot of capabilities are optional, while Thunderbolt 4 has higher minimum requirements. We’ve suggested some of our favorite Thunderbolt 4 accessories for you below, so you can get the best experience with your Acer Swift 14 (2023).
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Lenovo ThinkVision P27u-20
Thunderbolt monitor
This monitor from Lenovo is Thunderbolt 4 certified. With a single Thunderbolt cable, you can connect to this monitor and make the most out of the 3840 x 2160 resolution, and the color accuracy rated for photography.
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Plugable Thunderbolt 3 SSD
Thunderbolt SSD
This is a Thunderbolt 3 SSD, but it supports superfast data transfer rates of 40 Gbps, which is great if you want to transfer photos from your laptop to other devices, or if you want to back up your PC.
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CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 Dock
Full size Thunderbolt dock
This is a Thunderbolt-certified docking station from CalDigit. It has a high price, but it’s a great way to add a ton of ports to your Acer Swift 14 (2023). You get USB-C, USB-A, and Ethernet ports, and even HDMI to connect to extra monitors.
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Gigabyte Aorus Gaming Box
eGPU with GPU included
While most other GPU enclosures only come with the enclosure itself, this one combines both a GPU and the enclosure You get an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU in the box, along with the enclosure which has a 550W PSU.
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Lenovo ThinkPad Universal Thunderbolt 4 Dock
Lenovo Thunderbolt dock
This is another Thunderbolt dock, but this time from Lenovo. You get a lot of USB-A ports on this dock, along with Ethernet.
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Anker PowerExpand 5-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 Mini Dock
Mini Thunderbolt dock
This is a compact Thunderbolt docking station for the Acer Swift 14 (2023). It’s one of the smallest on the market, but you’ll also get fast data transfer speeds and downstream Thunderbolt, too.
Going back to the original question, there are indeed Thunderbolt 4 ports on the Acer Swift 14 (2023). You’ll see these ports on the left side of the laptop. If you want to buy the Acer Swift 14 (2023) today, you can check it out with the link below Keep in mind that the device isn’t for sale yet and will hit store shelves later in March starting at $1,400. Until it’s available, there are many other great Acer laptops with Thunderbolt that you might want to consider.
Acer Swift 14
The Acer Swift 14 is a productivity laptop with a fancy dual-tone design and the latest 13th-generation Intel CPUs. It’s the follow-up to the Acer Swift 5 and brings some changes like an even better 1440p webcam.