Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
Technically, the screen is a very solid performer. It refreshes at 90Hz and has a pixel density of 243ppi so it’s smooth and sharp. And it’s bright, too, hitting peaks of 502cd/m2 in my tests. That’s not quite a match for the Samsung Galaxy Book’s 526cd/m2 but this is still a very good result. There’s an abundance of colour with the panel able to reproduce 119% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut (equivalent to 116% of Adobe RGB or 169% of sRGB). Acer includes the DTS Audio Processing app, which provides some sound settings for customization. Its main sound modes are music, gaming, movies and custom audio (where you manually balance treble, vocals and bass). However, I preferred the sound with the app turned off, as there was a better balance to the vocals and instruments over the other modes. Acer Swift 3 (AMD) review: Performance There’s no doubt that the Swift 3 is a smart-looking laptop, with an all-silver outer shell helping to provide some business-class looks. It’s also nicely built and doesn’t feel cheap in the slightest, being comprised of some high-quality metal and plastics with a smooth finish. Both laptops have a 14in IPS non-touch Full HDdisplay.You can also get the Acer Swift 3 (2020) with an Intel Core i5-1035G1, but it’s harder to find online. Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 (2020) review: Price and competition Lenovo’s Yoga Slim 7 did better thanks to its AMD Ryzen 7 chipset but we will have to wait for Intel 12th-geneneration Alder Lake processors to filter down to the more affordable end of the market before we see those sorts of numbers from a Core i5 chip. Benchmark numbers to one side, however, for everyday computing needs and office productivity tasks, the Swift 3 has more than enough power.
We can brush the worries aside, though, as our own use of the Acer Swift 3 has put the battery to test in real life, and it holds up quite well. Thanks to the anti-glare display, it’s easy to keep running the Acer Swift 3 without needing to crank the brightness to 100% at all times, helping conserve battery some. And, even spending a whole day writing, editing, reviewing, and YouTubing on Chrome with way too many tabs open, the laptop doesn’t leave us looking for a power outlet at midday. Software and features The Acer Swift 3 will absolutely wow you with how long it lasts on a single charge. While continuously browsing the web at 150 nits of brightness, the Swift 3 lasted 11 hours and 9 minutes. It will definitely last you your whole work day and then some. It also offers fast charging, so for 30 minutes of charge you can get 4 hours of use. Configuration tested: Intel Core i7-13700H CPU, Intel Iris Xe iGPU, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, 14in, 90Hz, 2,880 x 1,800 OLED non-touchscreen. The Swift 3 took 11 minutes to transcode a 4K video to 1080p on our HandBrake test. Though that sounds like a long while, it outperformed the mainstream laptop average of 20 minutes and 33 seconds. The Intel Swift 3 took 21 minutes and 26 seconds, while the HP Envy 13 took 23 minutes and 38 seconds. When taking a typing test on 10fastfingers.com, I managed to hit 48 words per minute, which is not far off from my 53 wpm average. But while it was easy to type on the laptop, the palm rest area was tiny, which led to my accidentally brushing against the touchpad.Under the hood, you’ll find it features a 5th-gen AMD Ryzen 5 5500U processor with six cores and twelve threads. This helps it to achieve some pretty high-flying scores in our benchmark tests on Geekbench 5 and PC Mark 10, with the Swift 3 noticeably beating off the competition thanks to two extra cores of power. Except for the plastic bottom cover, the Swift 3 is made entirely from aluminium and feels very solid. It looks smart, too, thanks to the all-over matte effect silver finish, which seems to be impervious to fingerprints. To measure the battery life, we reduced the brightness down to around 50% and ran the PCMark 10 battery benchmark, which simulates various office tasks until the battery tank is empty. There’s also some convenient support for Windows Hello, which can work either via the webcam or the fingerprint sensor. Wi-Fi 6E-compatible devices are required to reach the stated speeds/benefits of Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax).
It’s a shame about the display because the Ryzen 7-based Swift 3 comfortably outperforms its Intel Core i7-1065G7 rival on all other fronts and with both laptops supported 8GB RAM that’s no mean feat. Note that the RAM is soldered in and there are no free slots for expansion but you shouldn’t need more on a machine of this specification. The quoted brightness of the Swift 3 is 300 nits, meaning it hits our usual target and therefore offers a sharp display overall. The panel works well in pretty much all light levels but may not be as good as other laptops with higher brightness figures if you’re outside in brighter environments. Performance Acer hasn’t decided to spring any surprises with the Swift 3’s display. It utilises a handy 14-inch FHD (1920×1080) IPS panel, which is a good size for a compact laptop and gives you a useful amount of real estate. There’s also 8GB of DDR4 RAM, which worked well for intense tasks such as having plenty of Chrome tabs open with media playing and Spotify, too. You could even edit a video on the Swift 3, albeit a 1080p one.
Affordable, compact, well made and with an excellent display, the latest Acer Swift 3 has no real weaknesses
The Micron 1TB SSD that shipped with my review machine had fast sequential write speeds, too, at 3,127MB/sec while the sequential read speed of 3,110MB/sec was only meaningfully beaten by the Samsung Galaxy Book 3. Acer does go a bit beyond the brief with its software, but not in a good way. We get some officious software, Acer Jumpstart, popping up notifications here and there. If they were notifications for ways it can improve the system performance, maybe we shrug it off. But, when it’s a large promo for Forge of Empires, we’re inclined to uninstall the software on the spot. While watching a trailer for The Broken Heart Gallery, I noted that the picture was very crisp and clear, and it would have been enjoyable to watch, but the dullness of the color really took away from the whole experience. In a scene showing off an urban landscape, the faded appearance of the light and color distracted me from what I was seeing. Considering that the whole movie is supposed to be about art, it’s hard to enjoy when the color is so bland.
Great Deal 
New Comment