Acer Swift 3 Thin & Light Laptop, 14" Full HD IPS, AMD Ryzen 7 4700U Octa-Core with Radeon Graphics, 8GB LPDDR4, 512GB NVMe SSD, Wi-Fi 6, Backlit KB, Fingerprint Reader, Alexa Built-in

So I just got this laptop. I have been playing with it for 2 days. Im comparing it with a Lenovo Idealpad 7 slim. I like the weight on this machine and it actually seems snappier than the Lenovo. There has been a lot of talk about the screen. I didnt think it was that bad. I went outside on a bright sunny day and both the Lenovo and this one were equally hard to see. The lighted keyboard turns off quick but I saw a setting in bios that might fix that. I didnt try it. What I didnt like is the battery life. I was playing with the laptop watching videos and benchmarking the CPU, after 2.5 hours the battery was weak and i needed to plug it in. The lenovo is still going. I need this laptop for work. The weight is an awesome thing but the battery life kills it for me so I will probably be returning it. But if you are on a budget I think this is totally worth it as the Lenovo is $200 more even with a coupon. I had a Swift 13.3 for 2 years and no issues so I am happy with Acer quality.

I try really hard not to do same-day delivery reviews, no matter how great I think the product is because you can never tell on that first day what might go wrong later. However, I am actually confident and happy enough with this one to go for it. If I make amendments later, they won't likely be anything that changes this rating. (updated 6/19/20 - one week, using it for work in web design and content creation, still love it) I needed a business-appropriate laptop. My requirements for this were pretty simple: something with a sharp but conservative appearance, MOBILE (not heavy or bulky), but also just as powerful (or capable of being just as powerful) as my much larger personal laptop. It came down to this and the Lenovo Flex. I chose this because the design was all metal, and I liked Macbook Airs when working as an Apple systems manager for their durability, style, and mobility. It's just a shame the RAM is not upgradeable (it's soldered). The RAM on the Lenovo Flex is not upgradeable either, though. It also comes with a weaker processor (Ryzen 5, which isn't quite on the i7's level). I doubt anyone will need more than 8 to 16GB of RAM in the lifetimes of these laptops. I knew that if I got a Ryzen 5 that would just make me want the Ryzen 7 processor more (you can never upgrade processors in a laptop). So, despite toting less RAM, Swift still came out as the winner both in design and performance when I compared it up close to the Flex online. I worried a bit when I read a review that complained about the screen and graphics on Swift being almost unusable. But I clearly had nothing to worry about. Those professional reviewers sometimes can get so snobby with hardware, they set the bar higher than anyone in the real world would ever set it. The screen is semi-matte. I have very sensitive eyes, sensitive enough that I often have to wear blue light blocking glasses to deal with sunlight, bright indoor lights, or computer light. Even the slightest flicker is noticeable to me in a very uncomfortable, painful kind of way that strains my eyes. There's the tiniest amount of flicker in this display. It is NOTHING like the reviews have been describing, which made me afraid I wouldn't be able to use this laptop. It's VERY easy on my eyes after switching the AMD Radeon settings to Enhanced and High Res (which simultaneously smoothes and sharpens up the text, making it more legible). It also does NOT have a glossy, highly reflective screen. The screen is semi-matte at the worst (honestly, it's not even that much), and it's full matte once it's turned on. Evidently Acer has switched displays after the complaints (they tend to be good about doing things like that). It gets super bright, and the colors are close to true as far as I can tell - only publishing something is going to reveal the truth there, which I haven't done yet. But again, I can't believe what a close call it is to a Macbook Air. The graphics performance: It's not a gaming laptop, though I'm sure it is good enough to play most games on medium and would be PERFECT for a student. It's definitely strong enough to perform smoothly for graphic artists, photographers, and anyone that tends to keep a ton of tabs open in their browser. Smooth scrolling and rendering, no lag or glitching. I cannot compliment the Ryzen 7 processor enough. I am moving from an 8th gen i7 and the Ryzen 7 is WAY more responsive and less prone to freezing or errors. I can very easily believe it maxes out at 4ghz. Those eight cores handle multitasking like a true champ. I was worried the RAM would give me some issues with work because it's only 8gb and it's also underpowered to help boost battery performance. So far, I've been surprised to find that this low-powered RAM actually keeps up with me despite my issues with never exiting or closing windows, lol. The keyboard is extremely comfortable if you have small to medium-sized hands. There is some time to adjust to the smaller form factor. Large handed people will immediately hate the keyboard because it's compact. This being said, it IS a large keyboard as far as COMPACT keyboards go, and it is 100% identical to the keyboard on the Macbook Air. Same feel and everything. Backlit keys, which you can switch on or off. Something SUPER cool is that Acer figured out how to include a Numlock and number keypad on it by marking some of the letter keys with numbers, then adding a Numlock. (check my pictures) If you turn on the manual equalizer in the audio settings and crank it up, the speakers actually get really loud, and they're nice that way too (no rattle, no stress on the drivers). By default though, I can easily see tons of folks complaining about the speakers not getting loud. They don't get loud at all by default. With the equalizer maxed out, I would compare them to a mini Bluetooth speaker. In short, don't buy this for audio unless you're planning on connecting it to different speakers. For normal casual usage, like watching YouTube videos or streaming movies, the built-in speakers should be just fine. The lid is very well hinged. The screen is reinforced as well. Dropping it may cause some cosmetic damage, but it should hold up in most cases. At the worst, you'll be looking at a little cosmetic damage (scratches, dings) and a busted screen. Which is better than what you could face with the typical plastic body. I once dropped a plastic body laptop off the back of my car (I was an idiot and left it on the hood). It totally destroyed the body... the laptop still worked, but there was bare PCB board everywhere. It was ugly, lol. Now, there are complaints about battery life on this, but I haven't had any problems. I also didn't go with default settings in some key areas, though. I changed the Radeon settings to focus more on battery life than performance. Then I changed the power settings to best battery life. Now, I don't consider this to be much, especially with my huge collection of background apps, but considering complaints saying the battery wouldn't last more than an hour... hmmm. I'm not seeing it. I've been on battery for an hour now, and have 12h 46m remaining after charging to 98%. I'm guessing the expected battery life will hang somewhere between 4.5h and 6h on medium. Overall, it's a great machine and an awesome value in my book. I have no idea why the pro reviewers thought so poorly of it (though they did give it respect as a budget laptop). Maybe they were comparing it to more expensive laptops instead of comparing it to other models in this price range....? Or maybe the older version of this was really that bad. Whatever. I'm sticking with this because IT WORKS. Update: Two months later... it's still running like the day I got it. I'm actually shocked that it continues to perform so well on 8GB of energy saving RAM. I am guessing the difference lies in a combo of using a better processor and using a solid state drive. My other laptop has an A12, which is quad core and goes up to 3ghz - this Ryzen 7 is octacore and goes up to 4ghz. The Care Center app has a function in it to make the battery only change to 80% when it's plugged in (saves the battery cells from being burned out). So despite using it plugged in all the time, I have not lost any battery health. It still goes for six hours or more off battery.

This laptop does a whole lot of everything right, especially for the price. I only have one gripe, which was the screen. BUT, I did my research on this laptop BEFORE I purchased it, and knew what I was getting into. First, the Pros: -This is a super clean, thin and light laptop! The design is very clean and sleek, almost targeting a MacBook-like esthetic. Its small form factor is perfect for a work / school laptop, and where I don't require much intense performance or storage out of it, has some excellent battery life. -This battery is a monster. I didn't believe its claim of up to 10 hours (I only expected like 5), but it truly does perform. Its power efficiency is impressive, especially with... -The AMD 4700U Processor, is a beast amongst laptop chips. Its very quick, clocking down around the 2.0 Ghz mark to save battery, and ripping up to 4.1Ghz for gaming - which is better than ALOT of gaming laptops on the market that triple the price of this laptop. -The SSD is also super snappy, quick boot-ups, getting you right to work. -The Keyboard is pretty standard flat keys, which I found super easy to get used to. Standard layout minus the Pgup/dn keys. -The trackpad is solid too, really no noticeable issues there. -Other stuff like the fingerprint sensor, USB C PD, and I/O are solid. Now for the Cons: -The screen is pretty mediocre at best. I could probably stand the color but its really not that bright. I knew it wasn't going to be brighter than my previous work laptop, but they really cheaped out on the panel. I color managed the panel to get the colors a little better, but my screen also came with a greenish red tint, which I mostly got rid of in calibration. The brightness however, is what it is. -Coming from a much more solid and thick charging connector, this barrel connector scares me. I understand that PD chargers aren't cheap, however this is one of the smallest plugs I've ever seen. Definitely going to try and replace that with Type C when I get a chance. It charges fine, but its VERY thin. -The power button is on the keyboard. Its a shortcut by their terms... make sure you don't accidentally turn your computer off when using backspace or delete. Haven't done it in the month I've had it but, still. -Spacebar isn't backlit...why? Couldn't tell you. That's pretty much it! My biggest thing for a potential buyer - the screen isn't ideal. But for the price, I can guarantee you that you wont find another laptop of the same quality. ESPECIALLY when you can do battery efficient work by day, and thrash on the AMD Ryzen CPU by night. Just weigh the screen consideration before purchase. This isn't my main computer by any means, so the screen is what it is. BUT, for the price, its well within a reasonable budget.

I've had this laptop for about a week and I have to say that for this price point this is a difficult machine to beat. Super snappy processor. Solid build quality. I actually quite like the keyboard, which has a light but satisfying "click" to keystrokes. The fingerprint reader is a nice feature as well. This thing runs pretty quiet, which is a new thing for me. I've been using a custom-built PC for quite a while, which is filled with fans and sounds like it. This thing barely feels like it's on while I'm using it. This laptop has handled everything I've thrown at it with absolute ease. I even booted up an older game and while it did get a little toasty, it didn't miss a beat. I wouldn't call this a "good" gaming option, but, it'll certainly allow you to play some older games if the mood strikes you. I will say that playing this game for about an hour definitely drained the battery pretty quickly. Just something to keep in mind. I haven't tried using the speakers extensively, but they seem fine. I use headphones 99% of the time anyways, and I had zero issues hooking up my bluetooth headphones. I haven't tried the webcam either, but I'd be curious how much it drains the battery and puts strain on this machine. For 90% of generic computer users, this laptop will absolutely fit your needs. It's not going to change your life. It's not going to knock your socks off. It will handle everything that an average user will throw at it, however. For the price point, I couldn't be more satisfied. Here are my only gripes: Is the screen the best thing I've ever seen? No. But I'm perfectly fine with that tradeoff. I'm not a graphic artist and I'm not doing image editing on this laptop. I'm using this to do web browsing, occasional coding, and watching the videos. For these use-cases, I couldn't be happier with the performance. The bloatware is a pain. You will probably need to take a solid 30-45 minutes after first boot just cleaning out the trash that Acer puts on the machine. Is it really that big of a deal? No. But it's annoying. Watching lots of video or using resource-intensive software (eg. games) can drain the battery pretty quickly, from what I've observed. Casual web browsing, word processing, etc. doesn't seem to put a dent in battery life though. If I wanted a gaming laptop, I would have gotten a gaming laptop. That's not what this is, and I'm fine with that. Whoever thought it was a good idea to put the on/off key in the spot of the delete key should be thoroughly ridiculed. Infuriating to keep putting the laptop into sleep when trying to delete something.

This is a great laptop. I was worried about the screen when reading reviews, but watched several online videos and reviews and liked what I saw. I have zero issues with the screen. It is bright enough and plenty clear. I personally think mention of the screen as a negative are based more on reviewing the tech specs and having to come up with a negative for this machine. Because let's face it, at this price point, you have to come up with something negative to say. This is a truly great piece of technology. Probably, the best laptop I have ever used; either for work or for personal use. Boot up is extremely fast. Battery life will last all day. Screen is sufficiently bright even in a well lit room with several large windows in the middle of a summer day. I am not a power user, but I do use Adobe xD and Figma and work with photos, no issues or concerns there. Keyboard feels great and is quick. Touch pad is solid. Build quality is high. Lightweight and a joy to use. My biggest gripes are: bloatware, but that is easy to remove and the stickers--which were also easy to remove. Is it a MacBook Pro? No, but it's also not $2000 and honestly, I have my doubts that a Mac would offer a better experience for a majority of users. At this point, I have zero regrets purchasing this computer. Acer and AMD did something very impressive with this machine.

Now I check the negative reviews, and all the problems with this computer are true and listed (other than customer service which I've not contacted). This Acer computer rates one star for the price (which is good), but apparently you get (or not) what you pay for. Since I now need a new laptop, the cost for only eight months of use is not exactly great. The first problem I noticed was that the speakers crapped out after about a month. Initially they were fine (not great), but now the speakers put out fuzzy awful noise. I only use the speaker now if I need to listen to a YouTube video, and my head hurts after a couple of minutes of horrible audio. As other raters have noted, there is a problem with the touch pad. When typing, the curser will jump back in the middle of text and wreck documents. Or, a couple of paragraphs will suddenly highlight and when you hit the next keystoke, BOOM . . . your carefully crafted paragraphs disappear. This cropped up about two months in to owning the computer. Another serious issue is that the whole computer locks up just about every day and sometimes more than once in a day. Nothing saves, so you just lose whatever you were working on when the computer randomly locks up. Then, it may take several hard starts to get it going again. You get a black screen a couple of times before the computer decides to work. The loose port others mentioned is a real thing. I will be typing, and the charge cord will just fall out. There are two USB ports. It took six months before I even knew one was a USB port, because the USB plug does not fit in there well. The one on the right side seems to connect okay, but it is loose, so I have to jiggle it to make a connection with the photo card reader. I do like the size of the computer and the lighting around the keys. I picked the Acer because of those two features. They are rather moot points though with all the other problems. I sure don't want to carry my Acer anywhere with all the problems, and it is no joy trying to do serious work at home with it when I know that my work may disappear or suddenly erase, or the whole computer may lock up or go black.

Love this laptop, I owned an Acer Aspire long back with 3rd gen i3, now coming back to Acer family was definitely worth it, especially with the AMD variant as AMD has stepped up its game considerably. Overall Verdict it is a bang for you buck and you should definitely go for this if you budget is $1k-$1.4k coz this laptop will outperform most others in that price range. Pros: 1. Costs only $703 with Taxes 2. Latest AMD Ryzen 7 4700U chip blows processing out of the window, worth the price tag 3. Lightweight and Easy to carry. 4. Excellent build quality 5. Can run games like GTA V and Civ VI. 6. 10-20 seconds bootup time. Cons: (expanding on cons because they are minor and not a deal breaker) 1. GTA V needed to be run on marginally lesser graphics settings and default configuration gives graphical memory full error. 2. Pg Up, Pg Down, Home and End keys are place weirdly, may take some time to get used to. 3. Power button is a key on top right next to delete, so you can accidentally turn your system off while hitting delete. 4, Function key is inverted, there is no option to disable/toggle the function key by Long Pressing Fn (this is the only major issue I felt and I hope it is addressed via a future software update). 5. Screen is good for me, I have never felt any dimness or lack of nits noticeable. Also colors felt decent unlike the Dave Lee review where I think he may have seen a green tinge due to the greenish default screensaver. Again not an issue for me.

Purchased this laptop as an upgrade and I must say, I’m thoroughly impressed! The keys are so smooth to type on, coming from a writer who’s on her laptop for 5+ hours a day, and the battery life on this laptop is incredible. The screen is so bright, clear, and neat. The thin bezels add onto the clean sleek look, and the overall build quality feels premium. I watched a movie on it, three to be exact, and the sound quality and volume is great, acceptable some would call it. It’s enough for you and a small group of friends to enjoy either a movie, a show, or even a YouTube video together. I also game a little bit on this laptop, placing it at best performance mode and tweaking around with the graphics settling for the ultimate gameplay, and it runs smoothly! I played League of Legends for like 2 hours the other day and only experienced a small bit of heat, but I blame that on the heatwave my city was going through. The game ran smoothly for me, no lag and no awkward graphics on it. Very smooth gameplay compared to my previous laptop. Do I recommend this laptop for anyone looking for quality on a budget? Hell yeah! This laptop will not disappoint!