The Acer Swift 3 is the new budget laptop type the Taiwanese maker, whose pas jobs include a $9,000 or £9,000 (about AU$15,120) gaming laptop to the world's thinnest Ultrabook.

Therefore, you'd be excused for believing Acer would have a similar route using the Swift 3. However if the Acer Swift 7 is Acer's flagship, the Acer Swift 3 is a more affordable, more viable version of that.

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However, as soon as you get beyond the surface, the Acer Swift 3 will blow your mind with strong components that feel right at home inside the all-aluminum chassis.

Thus, if you're looking for the ideal laptop for each and every day workloads, the Acer Swift 3 may be exactly what you're looking for. It does not possess the most effective hardware available on the current market, or the maximum svelte build, but it will make full use of its 15-inch Full HD display, 3.53 lbs of heft and 0.71-inch framework.

Price and availability

The Acer Swift 3 starts off to $499 in the United States, Using a Comparable model for £699 in the United Kingdom, and in Australia for AU$999. The entry level US model provides you a 7th-generation Intel Core i3 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. The United Kingdom model bumps up the RAM to 8GB of DDR4.

But like most laptops you'll discover at 2018, the Acer Swift 3 comes in a range of options, each finish with exceptional specifications and pricing. Additionally, it ought to be noted that the Acer Swift 3 has since been upgraded with 8th-generation Intel Kaby Lake Refresh processors.

But if you would like the most effective version of the Acer Swift 3, the top-end model will set you back $849 at the United States, but reaches out in £749 and AU$1,399 at the United Kingdom and Australia, respectively. That's mostly because of the strongest Acer Swift 3 taking advantage of an Intel Core i7 processor in the United States, rather than the UK's restricted Core i5 chip. The only other distinction is the storage, that can be restricted to some 256GB SSD in the United Kingdom, rather than the 512GB readily available in the United States.

That's exactly what we have been sent with this review. For $599, US users may pick up the exact same model that you see to the best. But you need to think about that you are going to be stuck using the 1080p display, so if you're looking for a 4K display, you will need to look elsewhere.

Design and features

One of the very commendable options made in the production of the Acer Swift 3 is the addition of legacy ports -- the most noteworthy of which can be just two USB 3.0 connections along with also an SD card slot. Nevertheless, laptop futurists do not have to worry, since there's still just one USB 3.1 Type-C port sitting snugly on the left side of the device.

Additionally, the keyboard -- it seems far better than Apple's 12-inch clamshell of the past, and is thankfully complemented with nifty backlighting (of which there aren't any degrees, such as"off").

When you look beneath the directional keys, you will observe that this pint-sized fingerprint reader, designed to be used along with Microsoft's Hello login feature. It did not function perfectly on the first go, but it is still a fantastic improvement as soon as you get used to how the slender design does not really match up to that of your finger.

One of the very commendable options made at the production of the Acer Swift 3, is the addition of heritage ports -- the most noteworthy of which can be just two USB 3.0 connections along with also an SD card slot. Nevertheless, laptop futurists do not have to worry, since there's still just one USB 3.1 Type-C port sitting snugly on the left side of the device.

Additionally, the keyboard -- it seems far better than Apple's 12-inch clamshell of the past, and is thankfully complemented with nifty backlighting (of which there aren't any degrees, such as"off").

When you look beneath the directional keys, you will observe that this pint-sized fingerprint reader, designed to be used along with Microsoft's Hello login feature. It did not work flawlessly on the first go, but it is still a fantastic improvement as soon as you get used to the way the slender design does not really match up to that of your finger.

Performance

One of the Acer Swift 3's most redeeming attributes is its own performance. Regardless of which model you go for, you are getting full-on Intel Core U series processors, not the low-frequency Y series processors you'd see in the Swift 7 rather than the Core m3 you'd see in an entry MacBook.

This places the Acer Swift 3 to the exact same playing field as much more costly machines. Performance-wise, it is not too far off by the $999 (£979, AU$1,499) Surface Laptop or even the $1,049 £1,199 (£1,199, AU$2,299) Asus ZenBook UX310UA. Despite coming up short in regards to screen resolution, its specs are somewhat like the two of these devices.

While we can not compare the Acer Swift 3's benchmarks into the Surface Laptop -- thanks to the Microsoft notebook running Windows 10 in S Mode -- the Swift 3 overcome the Asus ZenBook in each evaluation that contested its processor and graphics. From the DirectX 11 Sky Diver benchmark, for example, the Acer Swift 3 scored 1,870 points more than the ZenBook.

Also worth noting is that the Swift 3 achieved almost double the frame rate of the ZenBook UX310UA from the Cinebench OpenGL evaluation, asserting 42 frames per second (fps) contrary to the ZenBook's 21.69 fps. Therefore, we are convinced that the Acer Swift 3 features a definite edge when it comes to graphical output, which makes it the most popular winner for light gaming and other media-focused tasks.

Down-firing audio woes

Where the Acer Swift 3 does not triumph is using its sound. We are still not certain why laptop makers continue to put speakers on the bottoms of laptops -- it seems counter-intuitive to us. Notably on a regular, non-hybrid notebook similar to this , there is not any excuse for it.

The audio on the Acer Swift 3 is effectively muted as a result of this conclusion to the stage where we can not tell when the speakers could otherwise be some good. However, at the headphone jack is in place in addition to Bluetooth and four USB ports in the event you're keen on providing your particular pair of earbuds or even over-the-ear cans.

Battery life

In the PCMark 8 battery life test, the Acer Swift 3 was able to beat out the Asus ZenBook UX310UA, albeit only a small number of moments. More specifically, the Swift 3 lasted 4 hours and 18 minutes compared to the ZenBook's 4 hours and 13 minutes.

That's not a really noticeable distinction, for certain, but it does go to show that you don't have to fork over more than $1,000 for adequate performance paired with a decent battery life. Much more impressive, however, are the results exhibited from the Acer Swift 3 at our TechTnet film evaluation, in which we loop the movie Guardians of the Galaxy in 1080p before the system dies.

Therein, this laptop outperformed the Asus ZenBook UX310UA by more than 3 hourshaving lived a total of 8 hours and 3 minutes of Chris Pratt-infused action-comedy. It came strikingly near the Surface Laptop, that lasted 8 hours and 47 minutes in Windows 10 S, a lean client-esque operating system famous for its improved energy efficiency.

General assessment

With strong components as well as battery lifetime, the Acer Swift 3 does not just rock the profile even standout appearances, but it has got the specs of a laptop that should charge a few hundred bucks more. What is more, a broad trackpad, backlit keyboard and wide array of ports give even the MacBook Air a run for the money.

But it is unfortunate that, what with all the positive things we must say about it, the Acer Swift 3 looks every bit like a budget laptop. Not almost as distinguished in its own design as other laptops available on the current market, like the HP Spectre or the Lenovo Yoga 910, it is difficult to speak about the Acer Swift 3 without mentioning how simple it is. Additionally, the speaker scenario does not get it any justice.

But in case the Acer Swift 3's aesthetic and lackluster speakers do not turn you off, and you won't find much better than the Acer Swift 3 to $599 (£749, AU$1,399).