Acer has resisted the temptation to go for a radical design overhaul, presumably in the name of economy, and this brings us to what is, arguably, the most interesting thing about the Swift Go 14: it’s cheaper than the Swift 3 OLED. The AMD Acer Swift 3 flew by the Intel model (7:31), as well as the 7:56 category average. Meanwhile, the HP Envy 13 (11:11) just barely beat the Acer Swift 3 by two minutes. Acer Swift 3 (AMD) review: Webcam

Our review unit outpaced the ultra-portable laptop average (15:02) during the Handbrake video-editing test, taking 12 minutes and 59 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p. However, the HP Envy x360 crushed everyone by transcoding the same footage in just 8 minutes. The MacBook Air scored solidly at 9 minutes and 15 seconds. Microsoft Surface Pro 7+, on the other hand, scored a slow 23 minutes and 41 seconds. A little light gaming isn’t out of the question either. The Metro: Last Light Redux benchmark scored nearly 49fps at 1080p, which is really rather good for a Core i5 laptop using Intel’s integrated Xe graphics processor. Even the 2016 Doom reboot ran pretty smoothly at around 50fps although I did have to reduce the resolution to 1,280 x 720 and video detail settings to medium.There aren’t a lot of extras to get excited about with the Acer Swift 3 (2021). Pretty much the only way it goes beyond the basics is with a thin fingerprint scanner that we get to work about one in ten times we use it — not so unusual in our experience with laptop fingerprint scanners. The webcam is as basic as they come as well. The Acer Swift 3 isn’t a game-changer. Its design is nice with some cool chrome accents that give a touch of flair. You will get decent performance out of the 11th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU and solid rendering from the Intel Iris Xe GPU, but it won’t blow you away. 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. 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. While it may not be the most luxurious Windows 10 ultraportable on the market, it’s certainly one of the most keenly priced. The question is, can you spend less and do even better?

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 The downward-firing stereo speakers sound okay for the price; they’re a little thin overall, but do feature some decent bass. 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 During our synthetic benchmark tests, the Acer Swift 3 scored 6,205 in Geekbench 5.4, which surpassed the ultra-portable laptop average score of 5,342. The HP Envy x360 ( AMD Ryzen 7 5700U processor, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB PCIe SSD) bested our Swift with a score of 6,851. This crushed the MacBook Air’s score of 5,962 (M1 Chip, 16GB 1TB SSD)as well as the Surface Pro’s score of 4,825 (Intel Core i5-1135G7 CPU, 16GB, 256GB SSD).The Acer Swift 3 has a pair of tinny speakers located on the underside of the chassis. These stereo speakers aren’t nearly loud enough for my liking and the bass is awful. Whether you’re playing Mozart or Slayer, music comes across sounding whiny and metallic. It’s fine for Zoom calls and YouTube videos but that’s about it. Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 (2020) review: Performance and battery life We estimate Windows 11 support will end in October 2031. However, this laptop may be compatible with a future version of Windows that gets support beyond this date USB Type-C port supporting:USB 3.2 Gen 2 (up to 10 Gbps), DisplayPort over USB-C, USB charging 5 V; 3 A, DC-in port 20 V; 65 W

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. The Acer Swift 720p webcam is standard and performs well. Like most webcams, the color is a little off in tone and the details are grainy, especially if the lighting isn’t right. If you need better quality, I suggest purchasing an external webcam. However, the Swift 3's camera will be sufficient for Zoom and Google Meet calls. Acer Swift 3 software and warranty The Acer Swift 3 stayed pretty cool after we streamed a 15-minute, fullscreen 1080p video on it. The underside of the laptop reached 84.5 degrees Fahrenheit, staying way below our 95-degree comfort threshold. The center of the keyboard reached 80.5 degrees while the touchpad stayed at 76.5 degrees. The laptop’s hottest point was located on the underside, to the left of the vents, and even then it stayed below our 95-degree comfort threshold, only getting to 87.5 degrees. Acer Swift 3 (AMD) review: Software and warranty Wi-Fi 6E-compatible devices are required to reach the stated speeds/benefits of Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax).

Affordable, compact, well made and with an excellent display, the latest Acer Swift 3 has no real weaknesses

Measuring 12.7 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches and weighing 2.6 pounds, the Swift 3 is slightly lighter than the MacBook Air(2.8 pounds and 12 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches). Both being much lighter than the HP Envy x360 15which comes in at 4.42 pounds, 14.1 x 9.6 x 0.74 inches. Our lightweight champion is the Microsoft SurfaceBook Pro 7+, which came in at (11.5 x 7.9 x 033 weighing a waifish 1.8 pounds. Acer Swift 3 ports Let’s take a moment of silence for the tragic color coverage of the Swift 3’s display. According to our colorimeter, the ultrabook’s screen reproduces just 62% of the sRGB color gamut, which is four percentage points less than the Intel variant (66%). The category average crushed the Swift 3’s color coverage (91%). The HP Envy 13 is the most colorful competitor with a decent 99% sRGB gamut coverage. Both CPU variants employ integrated graphics. On the Intel laptop, you’re getting Intel Iris Plus Graphics, while on the AMD machine you’re getting RX Vega 7 graphics. In the GFXBench OpenGL benchmark (above), the Intel machine edges in front but in DirectX based games (below), the Ryzen chip streaks ahead. 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. The Swift 3 brings all-day battery life and more to the plate. This means you will be able to run around all day and not worry about having to search for an outlet. When we ran the Laptop Mag Battery Test, which consists of continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, the Acer Swift 3 lasted for 14 hours and 48 minutes, which crushed the ultraportable average (12:45). The HP Envy x360 came in second with a runtime of 11 hours and 23 minutes. The MacBook Air finished third (9:31) and the Surface Pro 7+ is, again, in last place (8:49). Acer Swift 3 heat

There’s also some convenient support for Windows Hello, which can work either via the webcam or the fingerprint sensor. 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. The Acer Swift 3 speakers, which are located on the bottom sides of the laptop, provides sound that is simply mediocre. While listening to “Hate Me” by Blue October, I noticed that guitars sounded clear and bold, including the bass that came through accurately. However, the vocals sounded so low, almost like someone was covering their mouth while trying to sing to me. Even with the volume at 100%, the speakers didn’t play any music very loud, which can be chalked up to the Swift 3 being designed with bottom-firing speakers. 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.At just 251 nits of brightness, the Acer Swift 3 fell short compared to the 285-nit mainstream laptop average and the 387-nit HP Envy 13. However, it did surpass the Intel version of the Swift 3, which peaked at 224 nits. The Acer Swift 3 comes with Windows 10 Home, which means there's a fair amount of bloatware, including Skype, Netflix, Dropbox, Microsoft Solitaire Collection, and Spades. A weight of 1.14kg also means this is one of the lighter mid-range laptops out there, resulting in a super-convenient design for the likes of students who need to move from lecture to lecture. The Swift Go lineup marks Acer’s transition from the Swift 3’s 16:9 format to the increasingly common 16:10 thanks to a 2,880 x 1,800 matrix. According to Acer the display now takes up 90% of the lid rather than 85% as in the Swift 3 which looking at the 4.2mm side bezels seems about right. Its 14-inch display features a relatively thin bezel, even with the top one housing a handy webcam. Unfortunately, this isn’t a flip-down panel, and nor is it a touchscreen.