The Acer Swift 3 punches well above its ultralight-weight
The Acer Swift 3 (2020) may be, for several reasons, considered a budget laptop. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s underpowered or cheaply made. Cheaper laptops don’t usually come with big expectations, but the Swift line is a bit different, its previous iterations having regularly ranked as among our favorite Ultrabooks. And, that hasn’t changed with the 2020 model. It’s hardly a perfect laptop. The Acer Swift 3 (2020) comes with some of the previous models’ flaws, such as the tinny, downward-facing speakers. However, it does improve upon the performance and battery life over the older models. We’d go so far as to say that while most would look toward the Dell XPS 13 for a premium Ultrabook, this cheaper laptop’s performance is not that far off, offering better value for a much lower price of entry. The Acer Swift 3 (2020) is an ideal pick for anyone who wants to get a fantastic Ultrabook without breaking the bank just to get one. And, for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it’s expected to get even more affordable with some decent discounts. We recommend waiting until then to hit that buy button until Black Friday and Cyber Monday roll around at the end of November. The 14-inch Acer Swift 3 (2020) model we reviewed is the $699 model (around £565, AU$1070), which features a 10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G1 processor,8GB of DDR4 RAM, integrated Intel UHD graphics, and a 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD. The cheapest Swift 3 configuration, available for $499 (around £405, AU$765), features an AMD Ryzen 5 3500,4GB of DDR4 RAM, and AMD Radeon Vega 8 graphics. For the $799 version (around £645, AU$1220), the Acer Swift 3 comes packed with a 10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G4 CPU,8GB of DDR4 SDRAM, an M.2 PCIe 512GB SSD with Intel Iris Plus graphics. Acer continued its minimalist design aesthetic with this year’s Acer Swift 3. Definitely taking a cue from the Apple MacBook Air, the thin, lightweight aluminum chassis should feel familiar to anyone acquainted with earlier Acer Swift 3 models. The matte-silver finish with polished Acer logo on the back is about as flashy as the laptop gets, and – for some – that’s exactly what they’re looking for. Needless to say, you will have to supply the personality yourself. The Swift 3 measures in at 12.6 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches and weighs 2.7 pounds, making the device incredibly portable without feeling flimsy. In fact, once our cat got bored with the box and decided to investigate the power cable, she brought the open, running laptop down off a three and a half foot tall desk onto a hardwood floor and bolted, leaving no visible or noticeable damage to the exterior or the internals of the laptop.
