Acer Swift 3 (SF315-41)

acer swift 3 review

Acer Swift 3 is a laptop that delivers the performance expected by professionals with a sleek, modern design. It is capable of playing light-to-medium gaming, with Radeon RX Vega 10 integrated GPU that is built into the Ryzen 7 2700U APU.

The stylish brushed aluminum body of the Swift 3 (SF315-41) is built to be durable and to have a beautiful design. The small flat screen on this PC is a 1080p IPS with a glossy finish, and it also has serious protection in the form of Gorilla Glass. Intel’s (wait for it) M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD keeps your data safe, while 8 GB DDR4 RAM speeds up your system without any hiccups.

The article below outlines the features of this Acer Aspire 7 multimedia laptop, with its strong and weak points.

Specification

CPUAMD Ryzen 5 2500U
Quad-Core, Eight-Thread
2.0-3.6 GHz 15W TDP
AMD Ryzen 7 2700U
Quad-Core, Eight-Thread
2.2-3.8 GHz 15W TDP
Intel Core i5-8250U
Quad-Core, Eight-Thread
1.6-3.4 GHz 15W TDP
GPURadeon Vega
8 Compute Units
Up to 1100MHz
Radeon Vega
10 Compute Units
Up to 1300MHz
NVIDIA GeForce MX150
2 GB GDDR5
RAM8 GB DDR48 GB DDR48 GB DDR4 (Standard)
16 GB DDR4 (Optional)
Storage256 GB SATA SSD512 GB SATA SSD256 GB SSD
Display15.6″ 1920×1080 IPS
Networking802.11ac Qualcomm QCA6174A
2×2:2 MU-MIMO
Bluetooth 4.2
I/O2 x USB 3.0
1 x USB 2.0
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C
HDMI
SD Card Reader
Battery48Wh, 45W AC Adapter
Dimensions370 x 255 x 19.05 mm
14.59 x 10.04 x 0.74 inches
Weight2.2 Kg
4.85 lbs
2.2 Kg
4.85 lbs
2.1 Kg
4.63 lbs
Pricing (MSRP)$749.99$949.99$799.99

Design and Features

Whether it’s the beauty of brushed aluminum or the comfort of silver, Acer Swift 3 has all the reasons you could expect for a premium laptop. There are no signs that the device is bending, which is consistent with its advertised durability. Also, this laptop is not the lightest one at two kilograms, but it sure seems tough – a feeling that will last since this laptop is going to take a lot of beating in backpacks or handbags.

The hinge is pretty tight and the screen will not shake when you open it. This gives a stability that allows for a better viewing experience.

The Acer, 15.6 inch, 1920 x 1080 IPS display has a glossy finish and the Web camera is located on the top of the screen. It also has Acer branding on the bottom of it.

When we open the lid, we find a full-size low profile keyboard inserted in this 15.6-inch body. We find the keys just as they were described to be by other users: small and mushy. After getting used to it though, everything else seems normal.

This is not the most ideal keyboard for hardcore gamers. The red LED lets you know when the keyboard needs to recharge or it’s low on battery, and the aluminum weave is a big plus. And again, this is a really great keyboard for work and versatility!

The “typing device” is a touchpad with keys embedded in the bottom part of it. It also has a fingerprint reader that works fast but isn’t the best.

There is nothing on the left side of this laptop. There are two USB 3.1 ports, one regular USB port and the one that says Sleep and Charge, meaning it could charge a device even when the laptop is not technically on. The other is a type-C port that we like (USB Type-C all the way!), and an HDMI port, with a hole where the magnetic strip would go unless you want to use adapters.

We will stop talking about these ports now, because there are only two left to discuss – USB 2.0 and an SD card reader. Sadly no RJ45 port can be found on this device, yet that is what it is.

Display quality

Acer Swift 3 (SF315-41) has a FullHD IPS panel, with a serial number BOE NV156FHM-N48. The size of the screen is 15.6 inches with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. With an aspect ratio of 16.9 and a pixel density of 142 pixels per inch, the screen becomes “Retina” from at least 60 cm away.

Acer Swift 3 (SF315-41) has comfortable viewing angles. Some images can be found here to help you decide what is right for you.

angles boe nv156fhm n48 1

The maximum brightness value is 233 cd/m2 in the middle of the screen and 221 cd/m2 average on the whole surface. The maximum variation is 19%. There are two values in the sRGB standard. The color temperature on a white screen is 6000K, equal to a bit warmer than the sRGB standard (6500K).

Sound

The external sound quality of Acer Swift 3 is good, with clear low, mid, and high frequencies.

Software

Our operating system is Windows 10 Home edition, which comes with the device.

Battery

Have an ultra-mobile experience with the Acer Swift 3 SF315-41 Laptop. It runs on a 4-cell battery made of Li-ion and 3320mAh power to give you a maximum of up to 7 hours of use time. Just forget looking for a charging point outside because this laptop has ideal settings for wireless browsing, gaming and working on the go.

Verdict

Intel is difficult to beat because they have the best processors with quality. We need a machine that has the same or better performance than Intel but is easier on our budget without sacrificing an amazing quality. The Ryzen 7 2700U provides great performance, and Acer Swift 3 (SF315-41) is a great computer for everyone. AMD has made major improvements to its GPUs and has been able to reach a much higher margin than before. The Radeon RX Vega 10 that comes on the Acer Swift 3 is almost on par with competing cards. They are also available as part of a Ryzen 7 2700U review now.

The laptop’s display is one of the most important features – its hardware features. It’s close to a brilliant screen because it has poor sRGB coverage, and thanks to its not so good color reproduction, it has a very low score. It also has an excellent contrast and viewing angles as well as being comfortable for gaming. It also felt cool through the experience with some of the best separation between the first levels of the grey area – probably worth highlighting

Final Thoughts

If we’re honest, that pretty much sums up our experience with the Swift 3 as a whole. During testing, this laptop kicked out a fairly mixed bag of results, both in outright terms, and in the sense that performance in the same test varied widely over the course of multiple runs.

We found some drawbacks of the device. One thing that was disappointing is that the device does not have an RJ45 port. Another was that it lacks 1Gbit speed, which is common these days with wireless connections. The keyboard and trackpad on this device are not up to par with other laptops, but we can’t help but wonder why they didn’t put a stronger engine in the PC or even get rid of it entirely.

We appreciate the Acer Swift 3 (SF315-41) and look forward to testing more of the company’s machines in order to learn how Acer did with their product.

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