Intel Panther Lake, or (probably) Core Ultra 300 series chips, are well on their way to launch. We’ve seen previews throughout this year including at Computex 2025, which really show off the improved performance, power efficiency and the capabilities of that integrated GPU.
But one question we didn’t think would be answered until CES 2026 was what laptops will get this new chip? Well, Acer jumped the gun at IFA 2025 and announced the Swift 16 AI — the first laptop officially unveiled to come armed with Panther Lake.
And while the specifics on how much faster or longer-lasting Team Blue’s new silicon is are thin, nor was a release date announced, I can safely say that this system looks incredible.
Panther power
There is some information about Panther from previous demos. For example, we’re seeing next generation Cougar Cove P-cores (performance cores) and Darkmont E-cores (efficiency cores), which are built on Intel’s 18A node process. Intel claims this will make the chipsets 25% faster and 38% more efficient.
As for the total AI performance, this looks set to get an uplift from the current Lunar Lake generation from 120 trillion operations per second (TOPS) to 180 TOPS. This beefing up will come from both that updated NPU and a more powerful GPU, which is rumored to sport 12 Xe3 cores — a 50% bump on Lunar Lake.
But it’s that GPU I’m most excited about, as it should give access to the new wave of XeSS tech and really make AAA games run smoothly on an iGPU laptop. In something this thin, that could be a game changer.
Of course, the jury is out on how this will compete with the likes of AMD’s upcoming chips codenamed Medusa, or whether it stands a chance against the M5 MacBook Pro. But Intel is definitely on the right footing here.
The touchpad is an ocean
We’re used to touchpads getting bigger and bigger, but this is something else. Acer is bigging this up as the world’s largest haptic trackpad with stylus support, and it shows. This surface is huge in person, and it starts to cross over into being more than just a pointing device.
Adding stylus support makes a world of sense here as a pad this big could easily be used for handwriting or even illustration. Plus, with a haptic engine over a physical click, it should give you that nice snappy feedback we’ve come to know and love from the likes of the MacBook trackpad.
OLED goodness
Then there’s the display, and Acer is pulling out the big guns here. You can spec this machine with up to a 16-inch 3K OLED running at a buttery smooth 120Hz. If the AAA gaming chops of Panther Lake are legit, this is a mouthwatering proposition.
Plus, the color accuracy of OLED means that you’ll be able to do creative work with confidence in the correct hues of the panel. Specs-wise elsewhere, you’ve got up to 32GB LPDDR5X RAM, Wi-FI 7, Bluetooth 6 and 2x Thunderbolt 4 ports.
Outlook
Of course, this is just a first look. I’ll have firmer thoughts about the Panther Lake-armed Swift 16 AI when we can properly test and review it. But pooling the times we’ve dabbled with Intel Core Ultra 300 series, the rumors and leaks, and seeing the Swift in person, I can’t help but get hyped.
It’s a gorgeous-looking laptop with a tasty OLED display, a massive touchpad and sharp, premium stylings. So far, Acer is ticking all the right boxes. Now they’ve just got to stick the landing.
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