Acer Swift 3 OLED review: a ok first effort

Acer Swift 3 OLED

MSRP $1,230.00

“The Acer Swift 3 OLED comes with a spectacular show and spectacular efficiency.”

Professionals

• Stable midrange construct
• Spectacular OLED show
• Glorious productiveness efficiency
• Good keyboard
• 1080p webcam

Cons

• Touchpad is simply too small
• Under-average battery life

Acer has been gradual to leap on the OLED laptop bandwagon. However lastly, the corporate has introduced an OLED panel to its widespread midrange 14-inch laptop, the Swift 3.

That is extra than simply the usual Acer Swift 3 with a greater 90Hz OLED display screen swapped in. This laptop can be thicker to deal with its 45-watt Twelfth-gen processor, so it is best to count on some higher efficiency out of this 14-inch laptop. Worth is vital although, and though the bottom configuration is available in underneath $1,000, my review unit landed at $1,230. Thankfully for Acer, there’s sufficient to justify a barely increased value, making the Acer Swift 3 OLED a stable improve over the unique.

Specs

OLED, sure, however at what value?

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OLED was once reserved for the cream of the crop, however recently, it has dropped into some inexpensive laptops. For instance, the HP Pavilion Plus 14 additionally provides a 90Hz OLED show for simply $800 with equal specs to the high-end Acer (aside from a smaller 256GB SSD). That’s only one configuration, thoughts you, and in the event you use HP’s customized configurator, the worth is increased.

The Asus Vivobook S 14X is one other midrange laptop with an OLED show, this one operating at 120Hz, that’s $1,100 for a similar Core i7 CPU, 12GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. The Asus can be accessible at round $900 when configured identically to the $930 Swift 3 OLED.

Level is — the Acer Swift 3 OLED is correct in the identical ballpark as lots of its shut rivals, however it wants to supply one thing distinctive to rise above.

To begin with, the Swift 3 OLED’s 14-inch 16:10 show is superb and competes properly towards each midrange and premium options. You may inform from the desk beneath that, outdoors of shade accuracy that’s barely behind the perfect, the Acer’s panel is shiny, colourful, and provides the same old OLED inky blacks. It’s a show that can please nearly everybody, together with creatives and content material creators.

It’s an awesome show for Netflix binges too, although the Acer Swift 3 OLED’s audio doesn’t fairly match it.

The audio system are ok, with adequate quantity for a small workplace and clear mids and highs which are tremendous for system sounds and the occasional YouTube video. However if you wish to watch a film, you’ll need extra bass than the 2 upward-firing audio system present, so a pair of headphones or exterior audio system are more likely to be appreciated.

Typically quicker does imply quicker

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As I discussed earlier, producers have put in Intel’s 45-watt Twelfth-gen CPUs in 14-inch skinny and light-weight laptops with various success. In some instances, efficiency was thermally restricted to the purpose the place there was little benefit over Intel’s 28-watt CPUs with fewer cores. The most typical different CPU is the 28-watt 12-core/16-thread Core i7-1260P.

As we are able to see from the desk beneath, the Swift 3 OLED performs extra in keeping with the 14-core/20-thread Core i7-12700H within the bigger and thicker Dell XPS 15 throughout all our benchmarks. The HP Pavilion Plus 14 and Asus Vivobook S 14X are nearer to the Core i7-1260P in Geekbench 5 and our Handbrake check whereas operating quicker in Cinebench R23.

One check the place the Swift 3 OLED fell behind was PCMark 10 Full, which exams a mixture of productiveness, multimedia, and inventive duties. Be aware that I’ve listed each balanced and efficiency mode outcomes, achieved through the use of every producer’s utility for dialing in CPU frequencies and fan speeds.

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All these laptops throttled to at least one extent or one other, however the Swift 3 OLED managed to keep up its efficiency extra constantly. As a result of it’s restricted to Intel’s Iris Xe graphics, it is not going to break any information with purposes that use the GPU to hurry up sure duties, like Adobe’s Inventive suite. However, for demanding productiveness workflows and CPU-intensive inventive apps, the Swift 3 OLED is a powerful performer.

The Swift 3 OLED’s gaming efficiency was surprisingly poor, even by built-in Intel Iris Xe graphics requirements. I’m undecided why the laptop was so gradual, hitting simply 11 frames per second in Fortnite at 1200p and epic graphics, however it’s positively not a gaming machine. I solely embrace these outcomes to emphasize the purpose.

A price in longevity

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With efficiency as a energy, the following query is, how lengthy does it final on a cost? Utilizing the quicker CPU and a high-res OLED show ought to pressure the 57-watt-hour battery, which isn’t massive for a 14-inch laptop.

In our suite of battery exams, the Swift 3 OLED did OK in comparison with the opposite 45-watt laptops in our comparability group whereas falling behind the 28-watt machines. That’s to be anticipated, and it’s one of many prices of utilizing the quicker chip — though battery life is one other space the place the Acer beat the HP Pavilion Plus 14. Total, the Swift 3 OLED gained’t final a full day’s work, which means you’ll want to hold the facility brick together with you.

All the things else is ho-hum

By way of its design, the Swift 3 OLED advantages most from the swap to a taller 16:10 show over the non-OLED model’s old-school 16:9 panel. That makes the laptop look extra fashionable and offers a extra productive expertise. In any other case, the identical silver chassis with easy traces and no bling makes for a minimalist design that borders on boring. HP’s Pavilion Plus 14 is a extra enticing laptop.

The construct high quality stays the identical, with an all-aluminum chassis that resisted most bending and flexing throughout my testing. It’s a stable construct for a midrange laptop, though once more, the Pavilion Plus 14 wins, by a hair on this case. The Swift 3 OLED is thicker than the non-OLED mannequin at 0.70 inches versus 0.63 inches and heavier at 3.09 kilos versus 2.76 kilos. Once more, that’s essential to accommodate the quicker and warmer CPU. Regardless of its uptick in thickness and weight, the Swift 3 OLED is a fairly sized 14-inch machine.

Connectivity stays a energy, with Thunderbolt 4 and the newest wi-fi requirements readily available. The 14-inch laptop sometimes has benefits over 13-inch machines relating to plugging in, and the Swift 3 OLED maintains that pattern.

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The Swift 3 OLED’s keyboard appears to be the identical as on the opposite mannequin, with gentle and snappy switches and loads of key spacing. The keycaps are massive sufficient, though the silver keys are onerous to learn with the backlighting turned on with any ambient lighting. Alternatively, the touchpad can be the identical because the earlier mannequin, which is a disgrace — given the taller show, there’s extra room on the palm relaxation for a bigger touchpad. It really works properly sufficient with quiet and exact buttons, however it’s simply too small. The show isn’t touch-enabled, which I at all times miss.

Mark Coppock/Digital Developments

The webcam is a 1080p model, which is welcome, and it offered a shiny picture with Acer’s Temporal Noise Discount technology serving to out in low-light situations. It’s a very good webcam for videoconferencing.

Lastly, Home windows 11 Howdy passwordless login help is offered by a fingerprint reader embedded within the energy button, which is exactly the suitable spot. It labored shortly and reliably throughout my testing.

An honest first go at an OLED machine

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Ultimately, there’s a lot to love in regards to the Swift 3 OLED. It leverages its quicker CPU, not like another 14-inch machines, and its OLED show is pretty much as good because it will get. Its construct high quality is stable for a midrange machine, though not the perfect in its class, and its connectivity and keyboard are wonderful. The touchpad’s too small and the battery life is simply too brief, that are the laptop’s two most vital weaknesses.

Besides, it competes properly towards the 2 most pertinent options within the HP Pavilion Plus 14, which is offered in a single configuration for round $400 much less, and the Asus Vivobook S 14X, which is nearer in value. And also you’re solely paying $100 extra in comparison with the non-OLED Swift 3, which makes the OLED model a relative cut price. The Swift 3 OLED’s value is likely to be a smidge too excessive, however it’s principally justified.

So, do you have to purchase it? Sure, if quicker efficiency to go together with the spectacular show is your goal. You’ll endure in battery life, however outdoors of the one extremely low-cost HP Pavilion Plus 14 configuration, the Swift 3 OLED offers a compelling sufficient worth to belong on anybody’s shortlist.

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