Over the past few years, the Acer Swift laptop line has had a common denominator when it comes to design, retaining the concept of mobility in a laptop that turns out to be extremely light, to the detriment of its chassis finishes. .
It doesn’t mean you’re buying a cheap or entry-level laptop. On the contrary, since the new Acer laptop is committed to including the new generation of Intel Core processors in its configuration.
Design and build quality
The weight of the Swift 3 barely exceeds a kilogram, which gives it a certain advantage in personal and professional environments in which the public above all seeks mobility and lightness, although for this you have to give up more finishes. premium.
In fact, part of the success lies in this fact, in using plastic materials for its back and base covers, which does not mean that it can also guarantee high performance at a very good price.
On the other hand, it also helps that Acer offers us a 14-inch display screen in the body of a 13-inch laptop, due to the reduction of bezels and the optimization of bezels, with the possibility to handle a resolution of 1920. x 1080. pixels.
In terms of handling, the screen can be folded down to a surprising 180 degree angle, so it is completely flat and parallel to the table. Now, due to the type of hinge mechanism involved (a little stiff), we are going to have to help each other with both hands for the manipulation.
As a novelty compared to the previous generation of Swift 3, we note the incorporation of the fingerprint sensor which is now located on the right side, just below the arrow-shaped keys to be able to use it for the purpose of unlock the equipment.
To close this section we see that by removing 10 Phillips screws we can access its interior, where we can see the battery, the processor fan, the dissipation column, the Wi-Fi connectivity module and the memory of 512 NVMe storage. .
It is obvious that most of the equipment is not acquired by thinking of extensions, and even less of this type of notebook. However, it is heartwarming to see how the replacement of certain items, such as storage, can be done at no additional cost from an authorized technical service.
Since the RAM used is LPDDR4X type, the modules are soldered to the motherboard, so we recommend that you choose as many as possible at the time of purchase, as you will not be able to expand it afterwards.
Keyboard and touchpad
The keys, for my taste, are somewhat reduced in size, which could easily be improved by simply reducing the distance that Acer left between them. Even if it takes some getting used to, big toes will have a hard time.
This doesn’t mean that the location of the keys is entirely appropriate, with a generous size for those considered primary, such as the space bar, the ‘Shift’ keys and the ‘Enter’ key. Obviously, we don’t have a numeric keypad on the right side.
To turn on the equipment, we again depend on pressing the power button that is revealed to us in the form of the ‘Fn’ key located at the top. There is no possibility of keyboard backlighting, but this is another of the extras that would increase its price.
Compared to touchpad, is generous and responds quite well to hand gestures and interactions, despite the fact that again plastic finishes were used for the touch zone, in order to lower the final price of the equipment.
Acer has introduced slight changes in its Swift 5 models that give the notebook a different face, such as the fact that the keyboard can be dark gray, as well as the equipment casing. In the Swift 3 we tested, the much more traditional black key layout on the gray base is retained.
Screen
La pantalla es de tipo IPS Full HD de 14 pulgadas, sin posibilidad de manejo táctil, con promesas to ofrecer a maximum brillo level of 340 nits and a total cobertura del espacio de color sRGB, lo que significa que es lo suficientemente brillante para trabajar in any place.
Color space coverage is also very good, with 98% of the full sRGB gamut and 78% of the Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 color spaces covered. Viewing angles are also good horizontally, but less vertically.
On the sound side, we appreciate the screen printing on the base of the laptop itself, with the sound logo ‘dts’ which indicates that the speaker system is stereo. The highs sound clear, but the low tones do not prevent the sensation of a canned sound when you turn up the volume.
Either way, the laptop sounds great if you plan to use it to consume video content, and even if you’re one of those people who usually make video calls without using a headset, despite that we also have a 3-inch mini-jack connector. , 5 mm.
The 720p quality webcam is good enough if you don’t have big claims. Autoexposure can be a bit hazy and dark compared to more expensive laptops, but its superior mount keeps it away from the noise of the keys.
Connectivity and ports
Since it’s not a slim laptop, the good part is that we have a good range of connectors and ports. That’s an advantage over other budget laptops and we honestly like it.
On the right side we have the full-size Kensington lock, in addition to the aforementioned audio connector, a USB 2.0 port that provides speeds of 40 Mbps and two handy little indicators that tell us if the laptop is charging and l battery status.
Already on the left side we have the typical circular shaped Acer dedicated charger, a USB C port, the full size HDMI video port, as well as an additional USB A type to which we can connect any compatible USB stick or disk external 3.2 Gen 1.
I measured the file transfer and it stays at 977Mbps making it a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port with a nominal capacity close to 10Gbps. The USB C port also stands out for its compatibility with DisplayPort for additional external displays.
We don’t have Thunderbolt 3 ports, but you’ll rarely see this advanced interface in these types of cheaper laptops priced under $ 900. Being an Intel technology, you also won’t see it in laptops with AMD processors.
Performances and references
The equipment we received for testing is the model (SF314-59), which has an 11th generation Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor with a speed of 2.4 GHz.
Performance tests were performed with Windows 10 Home, with an amount of 16 GB RAM and a 512 GB NVMe drive. There is no dedicated GPU in this model, all processing being handled by the chip. Intel Xe integrated into the processor.
While there are many and varied tasks that you can accomplish with this equipment because it offers performance in abundance, the graphics section is where you can find the most trouble.
Running the PC Mark 10 up to three different times we got an average score of 4717, which is slightly higher than what the Swift 3 from the year before gave us at the time.
In the productivity and digital content creation section, the lack of an independent GPU weighs heavily on the team. But it won’t be a major obstacle if you happen to tackle basic photo editing or do less serious retouching work.
Look at the following graph from landmarks the results we have achieved compared to its immediate competitors.
Autonomy and charge
The Swift 3’s charger is 64 watts, and although compact in size, it actually looks like a basic power supply, with a small Acer proprietary charging connector that could suffer over time. .
The good news is that the specs of the device tell us that it supports USB-Power Delivery, so in theory you can charge it with any aftermarket USB-PD charger. I tried one from HP and had no problem.
We did the video loop playback test to check its battery life and found that it’s easy to go past 10 hours and 35 minutes of use with brightness locked at the 120 nits level, enough to tackle a working day.
Regarding the charge, the 65 Wh allows us to recharge the Swift 3 in an average time of three hours. Now, if you want to hit 90% charge, in just over 2 hours and 15 minutes you will have seen the number exceeded, starting from zero.
Pricing and availability
If the Acer Swift teams stand out, it’s because they know how to deliver good performance at a price of demolition, and this is something for which we have recognized these teams on several occasions. Again, the Acer Swift 3 manages to keep its price at $ 799.
It’s not bad at all and you will hardly be able to find a similar configuration of CPU, RAM, and storage at this price point. In addition, Acer boasts on its equipment of being the “Customer Service” of the year in 2021.
The competition is stiff on laptops in this range and if you want to know which ones have the most interesting configurations, take a look at our ranking of the best laptops of the year.
The LG company has the range Gram 14 also very light and with good performance. However, you will see how the price does not drop below 1000 $ in any way.
Companies like Huawei have portable equipment Matebook with good finishes without sacrificing performance, but the configuration options are much rarer compared to the customization offered by high-end brands like Acer.
Verdict
The Swift 3 is a laptop designed for mobility, with enough performance to tackle most of today’s tasks, as long as you aren’t going to focus on photo editing or editing. editing videos at a professional level.
It also does not have dedicated graphics to ensure a good experience with the games. But for under $ 800, you get the latest generation of Intel Core processors, plenty of RAM, and enough storage.
The more of a better backlit keyboard, a touchpad Other than plastic, or a better quality screen would be welcome, as well as the implementation of Thunderbolt or Ethernet ports. However, for the price it presents, you will hardly find anything similar.
Characteristics
- 14-inch Full HD IPS display (1920×1080)
- Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor
- Integrated Intel Xe graphics card
- 16 GB RAM
- 512 GB of storage (1 TB optional)
- Connectors: 1x USB-A 2.0, 1x USB-A 3.1, 1x USB-C
- HDMI and headphone jack
- Kensington lock slot
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac / ax and Bluetooth 5.0
- Fingerprint reader
- 65 Wh battery
- Windows 10 Home operating system
- Dimensions 320x217x16mm
- Weight 1.19 kg
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