Acer Swift Sf314 57 74j9 Test

At a Glance

Good's Rating

Pros

Lightweight
Loads of ports
Powerful specs

Cons

Plain design
Average display
Plastic trackpad

Our Verdict

Function trumps course in the Swift iii SF314-57, a budget-friendly ultrabook that'southward deceptively powerful and lightweight for its plain pattern.

Best Prices Today: Acer Swift 3 (SF314-57)

$375.00

Acer'due south Swift laptops are all about one affair: being lightweight. Design, performance, battery and more are all considerations of form, just when push comes to shove the priority is keeping weight low.

That makes the catchily named Acer Swift iii SF314-57 (not to exist confused with the cheaper Swift 3 SF314 from before this year) an fantabulous pick for portability – and for plenty of power at a decent cost – but you'll have to make compromises elsewhere, especially on aesthetics.

Design and build: Function over form

The Swift three is slim, calorie-free, and not very pretty.

At just 1.19kg the weight is the first thing you notice virtually the laptop, and over two weeks I never actually got over how light it feels every fourth dimension you pick it up. This would experience calorie-free for a 13in laptop, so the fact that it weighs this petty while squeezing in a 14in panel is a real achievement.

It helps of form that it's adequately slim at 16mm, though in fact you lot tin find thinner laptops elsewhere. They probably won't pack ports like this though, with space for power, HDMI, two USB-A, one Thunderbolt 3/USB-C (a particular rarity below a thou), a headphone jack, and a lock slot.

More likely information technology's the magnesium aluminium blend chassis that does the heavy lifting in saving y'all from heavy lifting. The downside is that it tin't assist merely feel rather plain, an uninterrupted matt grey that's unlikely to inspire strong feelings in anyone, and even feels a chip like plastic to the touch on.

At that place's a similar effect from the display, which boasts adequately slim bezels on the sides, but a pretty chunky one beneath the screen, all made out of a plastic that looks more than functional than anything else.

The display itself is a 1080p LCD that looks decent, though won't match the 4K or AMOLED panels you might find in laptops that cost a little more. Viewing angles are a niggling limited, but the colour range is good and brightness is an unexpected strength, in part thanks to the matt terminate, making information technology comfy to employ even in direct vivid sunlight.

Information technology's a similar story elsewhere. The backlit keyboard and plastic trackpad both go the job done, simply neither are anywhere near best-in-class. A fingerprint scanner below the keyboard offers secure access, but is slower and less reliable than you'll find in Dell or Huawei'due south recent offerings.

The speakers are thin and tinny, and worst of all are downfiring, meaning they'll be muffled beyond promise if you attempt to use this on your lap or the bed, rather than a desk. Adept laptop speakers are rarer than gold dust though, then I won't hold that against Acer too much.

At the end of the day information technology'southward a question of priorities. The Swift three is one of the lightest laptops you'll find at this price – especially for the power it packs – so if function trumps form in your books and so you lot needn't actually await much farther. But if y'all want a PC with pizazz, this own't it.

Specs and performance: Portable power

This is where Acer's priorities begin to become clear. The Swift iii may not await like much, but y'all'll struggle to observe much better pound-for-pound performance.

The model I reviewed, and the one you're likely to find in the UK, is powered by an Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU, 8GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD – the sort of specs yous'd usually observe in top-end flagship models elsewhere, and rarely beneath a grand. Throwing in Bluetooth v.0 and Wi-Fi half dozen support doesn't hurt either.

SKU variations that you may detect, particularly in other countries, include a slower Cadre i5 processor, 16GB RAM, a 1TB SSD, or an Nvidia GeForce MX350 GPU – a worthwhile upgrade for anyone hoping to game or do creative piece of work, though the integrated Iris Plus graphics will serve well plenty for everyone else.

Unsurprisingly, with those specs our review unit of the Swift three holds its ain confronting the flagships in our performance benchmarks, matching – or at least coming close to – laptops that in some cases are almost double the cost.

It'southward worth noting though that information technology also performs similarly to the AMD-powered Huawei MateBook D 14 – a similarly sized laptop that weighs a picayune more, only at £650 costs even less than the Swift three. Unless the 200g weight difference is a dealbreaker for you, the MateBook beats Acer at its own game in terms of performance for toll.

As for battery, the Swift 3 veers firmly dorsum into the middle of the road. The 4200mAh bombardment will merely about last for a day of light use, but you'll probably get a bit nervous by the cease, while information technology lasted 12 hours in our non-stop 720p video test. At to the lowest degree it charges support quickly – it topped up by 44% in half an hour – the 3rd-fastest charging we've seen in a laptop so far this twelvemonth.

Price and availability

At £849.99, the model I reviewed – and the one widely available in the UK, from Amazon and Argos – represents fairly undeniable value for money compared to 2020'due south flagship launches, and highlights that what y'all really pay for at the elevation-end are design and display quality.

For pure performance the Swift iii SF314-57 punches well above its weight, and the port selection and lightweight design will win over anyone who travels for piece of work. As long as you can look past the fact that it isn't much of a looker, there'due south not much to complain near.

The only real wrinkle is that Huawei's 2020 mid-range devices go one step further. The MateBook D 14 – and very similar Honor MagicBook 14 – match the Swift iii on performance and ports, and then might be a better buy for anyone who doesn't need the absolute lightest laptop out there.

If you're still not sure, check out our full ranking of the best laptops right now, or our pick of the best laptop deals we've found for the Great britain.

Verdict

At this price betoken, picking a laptop is all about priorities and compromises. The Swift three SF314-57 if your priorities are portability, power, and ports. Information technology's not if you intendance more about pattern, keyboard & trackpad functioning, or display quality.

In reality, Acer's priorities probably line up nicely with most laptop buyers' – especially business organization users – merely design is likely to be the sticking point for many. The Swift 3 looks fine, but functional, and is a laptop to use rather than show off. You know if that'southward a problem for you or not.

Specs

Acer Swift 3 (SF314-57): Specs

Windows 10 Home or Pro
14in Total Hard disk (1920×1080) IPS display
Upwards to Intel Core i7-1065G7
Intel Iris Plus or Nvidia MX350 graphics
4/8/16GB RAM
256/512GB/1TB SSD
1x USB-A 2.0
1x USB-A 3.1
1x USB-C/Thunderbolt 3
HDMI
Headphone jack
Kensington lock slot
Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/thou/n/ac/ax
Fingerprint scanner
Bluetooth 5.0
Stereo speakers
Up to 10 hours bombardment
320x217x16mm
1.19kg

All-time Prices Today: Acer Swift iii (SF314-57)

$375.00