PhoneSentral Tech in Simplicity
Acer recently refreshed its Acer Swift 3 line-up and I had the opportunity to use the Acer Swift 3 for a month before writing this review.
As you may know, the Swift 3 has many variants, and the one I had in my hands was the SF314-44-R6K6 variant which had 16GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD storage space and was running on the new AMD Ryzen 5 5625U processor which is the newer variant of the popular Ryzen 6 5500U.
Built and body
The small size laptop looks quite good in person and everything looks very silver-ish and nice.
I like the keyboards and the layout of the ports, but I noticed the touchpad started fading away after weeks of use as you can see below.
Also, while the laptop is said to be made of aluminium, it doesn’t feel that way, giving a more ‘made with plastic’ vibe.
I also didn’t like the power button which I felt very fragile and cheap.
The backlit keyboard is nice to use and type with while I do appreciate the sensitivity provided by the touchpad.
Screen
The screen is an IPS Full HD screen with Acer ComfyVIEW LED-backlit TFT LCD.
On default settings, the display looks rather dim and I didn’t really like it.
However, if I manually adjusted the brightness, the screen was good enough for my liking although I still get a sense that it is using a protective layer which makes the display rather ‘dull’.
Processor, RAM, storage space and graphics
I really can’t complain about the AMD Ryzen 5 5625U processor which is paired with 512GB of SSD storage space and 16GB of RAM.
With basic task, the laptop performs admirably and 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage space means I will not need to upgrade the laptop in such areas for quite sometime.
Gaming is also possible, as I managed to play games like FIFA 2023.
However, don’t expect top level graphics as it was rather just average.
Audio
The laptop comes with a 3.5mm audio jack and two stereo speakers which I think perform well and are clear enough when listening to music or movies.
Both speakers come out of the left and right of the laptop and are well balanced.
Ports
There’s two USB-C connectors/ports, one HDMI 2.1 port, two USB ports and one 3.5mm audio jack.
The spread of the ports are nice, but unfortunately there’s no card ports which I think would be a great addition for any laptop.
Not having one meant I will still need to carry an extra dongle to plug in any miniSD cards.
Also, the USB-C also acts as the power in dock for the laptop so if I am charging the laptop, one USB-C would be taken up.
Mobility
A laptop should be below 1.5kg if it was to be mobile, and the Acer Swift 3 is just that being at 1.35kg. It is lighter than most of its competitors making it one of the most mobile laptops at this price range.
It’s also interesting that despite its weight, it can still retain a 14-inch screen and offer good battery life.
In case you are wondering, the laptop is just over 32cm wide, and 21 cm in length, which is slightly bigger than an A4 paper.
Power and battery
As mentioned above, the battery life of the Swift 3 is good, in which it is rated at 14 hours on a normal use by Acer themselves.
I have not calculated it exactly, but I can tell you this. On my normal use of a laptop (which is about 1 – 3 hours a day for typing and surfing), I only charge the laptop once a week for the past month.
The power indication is not accurate as it can offer hours of use, yet still ask me to plug in the devices.
Either way, I am still very happy with the power retention of this 3 cell 45W battery.
Price & where to buy
Compared to laptops with similar specification, the pricing of the Acer Swift 3 is fair in my opinion.
Despite being a new model, it’s priced at RM3,299 with Acer themselves able to go as low as RM2,700-ish when there’s a sale.
This puts the laptop at the bargain corner against a lot of heavyweight brands like HONOR, Asus, Infinix, HP and Lenovo which are priced slightly higher.
To get the promotional prices, buying the Swift 3 online is highly recommended.
Acer Swift 3 review conclusion
Personally I think the laptop is perfect for content creators looking to do work on-the-go.
It has a large storage space, very decent 16GB RAM, and weighs 1.25kg.
This makes it perfect for travelling.
Nonetheless, if one is looking into style, this one narrowly misses out in my opinion, but since looks are subjective, I can still recommend this to anyone regardless.
