The Swift 3 line from Acer includes a variety of light, thin notebooks that are created to satisfy the technological and financial requirements of the majority of mainstream users. The Acer Swift line-up includes several models with a selection of features and processors, as well as displays in the 13.3-inch, 13.5-inch, 14-inch, 15.6-inch, and a new 16-inch size. The Acer Swift 3 is a small laptop that is built for maximum portability. you can read our article on Acer Swift 3 16-inch review. With a weight of just 2.65 pounds, it fits easily into bags and goes about daily life. The Swift 3 works well with Microsoft Office and Google Docs, has excellent battery life, and is reasonably priced despite its generic hardware and lack of power. The model we tested isn’t a good option for gaming or creating content, but if you’re looking for a lightweight laptops to get you through the workday, it’s still a choice to take into account.
Design
The Acer Swift 3 has a bland appearance that appears to have been ordered by the pound, like so many of Acer’s laptops. However, when compared to Acer’s low-cost Aspire series, this laptop’s mid-range price is evident. The Swift offers a more attractive metallic chassis with an opulent gunmetal colour when you upgrade. The key caps, which are darker and lack the sheen of the surrounding material, are our only aesthetic concern. This makes the laptop look less expensive. Keyboard backlighting is common, but because so much light leaks around the edges of each key, it serves more of a functional than an aesthetic purpose. Build quality is excellent. When moving the display or handling the laptop roughly, a small amount of flex is visible, but it is not noticeable in normal use. In comparison to the entry-level Dell Inspiron laptops and the Asus Vivobook line, the Swift 3 feels solidly built and offers a significant advantage. The Swift 3 only weighs 3.86 pounds. The majority of 15- and 16-inch laptops are lighter than that, even high-end models like the MacBook Pro 16 and Dell XPS 15. It is slightly thinner than LG’s Gram 16 at just.63 inches. The LG is lighter than the Acer, which weighs about a pound more.
Keyboard and touchpad
Acer has added a very small numeric keypad to the 16.1-inch case in addition to the keyboard with good key size. The manufacturer uses the entire width of the device, excluding the 2 cm wide borders on the left and right. Good typing performance and moderate noise development are both present. The keys are very legible even in the dark thanks to the backlight, which makes it simple to type quickly. also, you can learn our article Acer Swift 3 16-inch review. The placement of the fingerprint sensor is a little plain; it is situated in the middle, below the numpad, on the top edge of the palm rest. The middle finger can be used without discomfort, but the thumb finds it rather challenging to reach. Below the space bar and slightly offset to the left of the case is the touchpad. At roughly 12.5 x 8 cm, it is very big. Regarding functionality and haptics, there are no issues. The only thing we have to complain about is the click noise made by the two “mouse buttons” that don’t actually separate; they could be a little quieter and sound better.
Acer Swift 3 16-inch review: Display
The 16.1-inch, 1920 x 1080 display on the Acer Swift 3 is respectable for the money. Although it could be brighter and more colorful, it is about what we would expect from a laptop priced under $1,000. Chris Pratt’s red flannel appeared appropriately coloured on the panel in the Jurassic World Dominion trailer, but it didn’t stand out as much as we’d like. The outdoor theatre scene’s lighting was sufficient to show the specifics surrounding the child’s incredulous reaction. On the display, Pratt’s hair looked particularly sharp. Our colorimeter determined that the Acer Swift 3 covered 76.7% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, which is less than the 85.3% average for premium laptops. The Swift 3 nevertheless lagged behind rivals with comparable price tags like the ThinkBook 13s (86%), Aero 13 (84.7%), and Yoga 6 (77.2%). The Swift 3’s brightness of 290 nits was far below the category average of 407 nits, but it outperformed the ThinkBook 13s (267 nits) and Yoga 6 in terms of performance (276 nits). With a staggering 451 nits, the Pavilion Aero 13 however knocked it out of the park.
Audio
The audio test of the Acer Swift 3 reveals a somewhat thin sound. This is primarily caused by the bass, which is noticeably below average for all laptops tested. In contrast, the device accurately reproduces the mids and highs, ensuring that there isn’t at least audible distortion. In other words, music is lacking a little punch. Here, using Bluetooth or the audio jack for headphones is advised. However, due to its balance, sound reproduction is pleasing and suitable for video calls and similar tasks. Speakers mounted above the keyboard and on the front edge of the laptop deliver sound. They offer a rich, full sound with a hint of bass, but lack the clarity to make podcasts or shows with a lot of dialogue enjoyable. For serious listening, you’ll need headphones or external speakers.
Acer Swift 3 16-inch review: Graphics
The majority of entry-level Intel notebooks, including the Acer Swift 3, are equipped with an Intel Iris Xe Graphics processor. The benchmark’s 3DMark Fire Strike synthetic graphics score of 5,244 is below what high-end laptops should achieve (6,546). But it performed better than the entry-level integrated chips used in the ThinkBook 13s (4,172), Aero 13 (3,182), and Yoga 6 models (3,002). The Swift 3 matched the category average with a frame rate of 38 on the Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm (1080p) benchmark. In fact, it once more outperformed the ThinkBook 13s, Aero 13, and Yoga 6 (all at 32 frames per second) (22 fps).
Performance
The new Swift 3 makes do with an 11th-generation Tiger Lake Core i5-1135G7 processor with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM soldered into place in blocks of 2GB, meaning it is quad-channel. The newest Alder Lake 12th-generation Intel chips are only recently appearing in high-end laptops. With the exception of the Huawei MateBook 14s, which has a Core-i7 chip and a Performance Mode and scored 178 on our standard multi-media benchmark tool, the majority of the 14-inch compact laptops we recently tested performed exactly as expected with a score of 143. Lenovo’s Yoga Slim 7 performed better thanks to its AMD Ryzen 7 chipset, but we won’t see those kinds of results from a Core i5 processor until Intel’s 12th-generation Alder Lake processors reach the more affordable end of the market. Benchmark numbers aside, the Swift 3 has more than enough power for typical computing requirements and office productivity tasks. Additionally, playing a little casual video games is acceptable. A Core i5 laptop running the integrated Xe graphics processor from Intel achieved a Metro: Last Light Redux benchmark score of nearly 49 frames per second at 1080p, which is really quite impressive. Although we had to lower the resolution to 1,280 x 720 and set the video detail settings to medium, even the 2016 Doom reboot played fairly smoothly at about 50 frames per second.
Battery life
Certainly living up to its Intel Evo certification is the Acer Swift 3. It performs incredibly well in our battery life tests, lasting 14 hours and 31 minutes in PCMark 10 Battery Life and barely exceeding 9 hours in our video playback test. We are a little perplexed by the difference between the two scores because typically we would expect the movie playback to perform better than the other test, if not more closely align with it. also, you can check our article on Acer Swift 3 16-inch review. The battery has been put to the test in real-world use by our own use of the Acer Swift 3, and it holds up quite well, so we can set our concerns aside. The Acer Swift 3 can be used without constantly cranking up the brightness thanks to its anti-glare display, which helps some battery life. And even after a full day of writing, editing, reviewing, and watching too many tabs of YouTube on Chrome, the laptop doesn’t leave us searching for a power outlet at noon.
Acer Swift 3 16-inch review: Heat
The Acer Swift 3’s engine can become quite warm even when used lightly. The bottom reached 115 degrees Fahrenheit after 15 minutes of streaming video, which is above our 95-degree comfort limit. The centre of the touchpad and keyboard measured at 94 degrees and 75 degrees, respectively. The machine’s far rear underside reached a temperature of 124 degrees, which was its highest temperature.
Configuration options
The Intel Core i5-1135G7 model with 8GB of memory and 512GB of storage costs $799 (about £585, AU$1,095), while the Intel Core i7-1165G7 model with 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage costs $999 (roughly £735, AU$1,370). The Acer Swift 3 (2021) is currently available in the US in a variety of configurations. The UK market has not yet received these new models
Conclusion
One of the company’s most popular laptop models, the Acer Swift 3, has received some much-needed upgrades for the 2022 model, making it a fantastic laptop for the majority of users. It is excellent for remote learning or work thanks to Intel’s P series processors, up to a Quad HD display, and – possibly our favorite feature – a very good webcam. Battery life is one drawback of having such a potent CPU and a sharp display, but if you don’t need to be away from an outlet for an extended period of time, it’s a great device. However, it is not without flaws. Additionally, although it is not absolutely necessary, we would have loved to see Windows Hello facial recognition support.
