In a recent survey, a bunch of students were asked about some of the most important aspects of a laptop. And what most of them mentioned about their top priorities are battery life and portability.
That is what the Acer Swift 3 is focusing on. It keeps a check on “ultrabook” boxes, but it is solid “B” kinda in that category. It’s not acceptable in some areas than the players such as Acer’s high end swift 5 and 7 or Dell XPS 13, and there is nothing which is exciting or flashy.
And that’s a feature, not any bug. Because at the price of $649 (at time of press), the question isn’t “Does this laptop knocks you?” But the question we have is “Does that perform the work perfectly, is it worth spending on this and is there anything that one is asked to compromise ?”
But yes, unfortunately, the compromises exist — we all talk about them later – but the point is that, for your Google Docs work, all the Zoom calls, your streaming, emails, and many other tasks that the students do, the Swift 3 does the trick. As it offers the both of portability and durability which arr perfect and seemingly important for the campus experience and on-the-go
lifestyles.
Now, let’s talk about some of its features –
Plus points
Great performance as per the price
Light weighted
Portable body
Backlit keyboard
So many ports
Negative Sides
Display is a bit dim
Budget-laptop design
Bloatware
No Thunderbolt 3 on AMD version
About the portability
The weight of Swift 3 is 2.65 pounds i.e. 1.2kg and thickness is 0.63 inches. That means that Swift 3 is not the lightest as the weight of Swift 5 is 2.18 pounds i.e.0.99kg and 0.59 inches. This Swift 3 isn’t that much light weighted, but yes it surely is quite portable and thinner than many other budget options which are there in the market like Acer’s Aspire 5. You wouldn’t have any
trouble carrying it around in your backpack.
Other thing is that this isn’t one of those midrange machines devices which looks as well as feels more premium than it does. Put the Swift 3 beside the Swift 5, and you will probably guess which of these two is more expensive. There is a shiny acer logo on the lid of the device and the chassis of the laptop is silvery gray. The one thing which one will particularly like is its stylish
font of “Swift” which is printed across the center hinge.
ACER SWIFT 3 SPECS (as per the reviews)
● 14-inch IPS display, 1920 x 1080
● 8-core AMD Ryzen 7 4700U 2.0GHz with boost up to 4.1GHz
● 512 GB SSD
● 8GB RAM
● 2.65 pounds i.e. 1.2kg
● Ports
○ 1 USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 with DisplayPort
○ 1 USB 3.2 Gen 1
○ 1 USB 2.0, one HDMI, one audio jack
● Fingerprint reader
● Color: Pure Silver
One thing that students will appreciate is that it seems pretty durable. The top and bottom covers are made of aluminum, and the palm rests are made up of magnesium-aluminum. There are some flex in the screen and the keyboard, but that won’t make one worry about battering it around in the backpack. There are also sturdy pads at the bottom to prevent slipping out.
One must keep in mind that the screen doesn’t flip around to tent or tablet shape (but yes it can lay flat if required) and there is no touchscreen. If you’re starting your high school or college this year, it will be worth considering whether you would like a device which lets you take notes or draw diagrams so easily.
On the sides of the device, you will find a good selection of ports. There is an HDMI, a power plug, USB-A, a USB-C, headphone jack and a Kensington lock slot. And in case you don’t like Acer’s brick, you can charge using the USB-C port. One thing that would be good to have is SD slot, but that’s okay not having that because this device is not meant for any kind of creative work.
Now if we talk about the biggest compromises, It brings you to the display if you choose the Swift 3. While testing, only 65% of the sRGB spectrum is reproduced by 1920 x 1080 panel which hits only 218 nits of brightness. For entertainment and work needs, that is not a big deal, but for those who need to do artistic work or want their videos to look as gorgeous and attractive as they can. (These people should look at other higher-end options like the Swift 5.)
The other compromise is it’s 16:9 aspect ratio, which usually makes multitasking a pain and in today’s era multitasking is what everyone does so this creates a problem in multitasking as most of us stacks multiple windows side by side. Though there are Swift 3 models with 3:2 displays though they are expensive but worth considering in case you think you would get benefitted from
that extra screen space.
There are a few things to like about the panel. The unobtrusive bezels measured 5.5 mm on sides, giving the device a modern, professional and preferable look. A 82.73 per cent screen to body ratio is what claimed by Acer. Glare effects in bright settings is mitigated by Matte Finish at the expense of some contrast.
The keyboard is on the shallower side. The webcam is grainy but yes it captures serviceable pictures and the feature of facial recognition is not there but that’s not a big point at this price.
The touchpad is good as it supports precision gestures, but yes it requires a firm press. The fingerprint reader is one of its handy feature which is integrated in the system and is below the keyboard. It’s quite reliable and fast (it takes less than a second to authenticate).
In other words, Swift 3 is fine in almost every category. But if we talk about the areas where the device is punching above these are weight class and performance. And we all know that the one thing with which no one can afford compromising is the device performance and that we are getting perfect in this device.
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