I just received the Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 laptop and reviewed it. I found lot of good things about it. In this article, I am gonna share everything about that. So, let’s get started.
Technical Specs of Acer Swift 3 SF314-57
- CPU: 1GHz Intel Core i5-1035G1 | 10th Gen | 4 Cores
- GPU: Integrated Intel UHD
- RAM: 8GB DDR4 | 2400MHz | Dual channel | Upgradable up to 32GB
- Storage: 512GB PCIe-based NVMe SSD
- Display: 14-inch Full HD | IPS & Anti-glare panel | 264 Nits
- Battery: 48Wh Li-ion | 4 Cells
- Wireless connectivity: Intel Wi-Fi 6 | Bluetooth 5.0
- Weight: 1.19 Kg (2.6 lbs)
- Laptop dimensions: 32 x 21.7 x 1.6 cms
- Best laptops under Rs 50,000 in India
- Best laptops under Rs 60,000 in India
The Build Quality
The Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 laptop has a pretty solid metal build. The display lid is made of aluminum whereas the rest part of the laptop is made of magnesium-aluminum alloy. It’s really really lucratively designed.
The Acer logo on the display lid gives a pretty stunning shine. The smooth matte gray finish easily attracts the fingerprints. But, you can easily clean it using micro-fiber cloth. In addition, I found no surface colour change over-the-use.
Dimensions and Weight
The dimensions of this Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 are 12.6-inch in width, 8.5-inch in depth, and 0.6-inch in height. In addition to that, I have also measured the weight using Propert’s weighing scale.
- For laptop only: 1.19 kg (2.6 lbs)
- For laptop + Accessories: 1.45 kg (3.2 lbs)
Here, I have checked the laptop’s weight is its charging accessories, so that, you can get an idea about the total weight you may need to carry while travelling.
When compared it with other laptops under Rs 60,000 in India, I found this Acer Swift 3 the most lightweight.
Display
The Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 laptop has a 14-inch FHD display with 60Hz refresh rate. In addition, it delivers good viewing angles, thanks to the IPS panel. The screen contrast ratio is 1170:1, which is higher than our lower recommendation (1000:1). The display is surrounded by 4.5mm side bezels to make you feel more premium and also gives you higher screen-to-body ratio.
In case of this laptop, I have no option to check for G-Sync availability because it has no NVIDIA GPU. It’s not a dedicated gaming laptop. But, it can fulfil your gaming needs up to certain limit.
To check the screen colour reproduction, I have tested screen colour gamut using Spyder 5 PRO. And, here are our results of 3 tests for SRGB, AdobeRGB, and NTSC.
As you can see the results are not up-to-the-mark to meet the goals of content creators like photo and video editors. But, this result is perfectly fine for office-level jobs.
See in the below chart where this laptop in the comparison of other laptops of nearly similar prices.
In addition to that, I have also tested the brightness of this laptop in terms of display nits. And, here are my results.
So, At LaptopRadar.In, our review unit has reached almost 264 nits, which is very near to the minimum value we recommend (290-300 nits).
When compared it with other laptops under Rs 60,000 price, Acer swift 3 has secured 2nd position and that’s pretty awesome.
To check the screen flex, I have intentionally moved the screen up and down using fingers. I found a little bit of flex there but, to be frank, it wasn’t an issue for me. Acer has made a display lid of aluminium metal which contributes more in durability and lowers the weight possibly.
The hinge runs mostly along the base, which also contributes to lower the screen flex. In addition, the hinge allows you to turn the display to 180-degree right back to the keyboard, that’s nice.
When I have tried to open the display using one finger, I have also lifted the base along with display. That shows the uneven distribution of weight across the hinge.
Keyboard
The Chiclet keyboard of the Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 laptop has metal island. When pressed it down hard using fingers, I found a little bit of flex. But, to be frank, It wasn’t problematic for me. Even during aggressive typing, I found no flex problem there. The keys are black in background and have white coloured-text, which is recommended.
The keyboard also has a zonal white backlit. It is able to illuminate the secondary functions fully also. Remember that Mi Notebook 14 Horizon has no backlit on the keyboard.
When it comes to typing experience, it was really good for me. The keys were giving consistent tactile feedback and were travelling 1.45mm distance down. The distance we recommend for tactile feedback is 1.5mm. But, this keyboard is pretty fine.
However, the keys are a little bit noisy but you will find them considerably silent when compared to the dedicated mechanical keyboards. Furthermore, like many other 13-14 inches laptops, the Power button is placed next to Delete key. But, it won’t create problem during typing since you’ve to long-press it to execute the function assigned to it.
On the keyboard, there are 4 arrow keys which are small and not well-placed. In addition to that, Page Up and Down keys are very near and above the left and right arrow keys. So, you may press wrong key accidentally.
If I compare it with Mi Notebook 14 Horizon (review) or Asus VivoBook 15 M513, then this laptop has a lot better keyboard.
- Best wireless keyboard mouse comb in India under Rs 1500
Touchpad
The Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 has 4.1-inch plastic surface touchpad. While performing gesture activities, I found touchpad smooth, accurate and responsive. The impressive matter is that it supports Windows precision drivers.
In addition, it has two button integrated at the bottom. However, for gaming, it’s not a good. You have to buy a dedicated gaming mouse.
RAM
The Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 laptop comes with 8GB of 2400MHz LPDDR4 Dual Channel RAM. And, Acer allows you to extend it up to 32GB, which is quite awesome. You have a much option for better multitasking.
In addition to that, below I have compared it with the RAM of other laptops of Rs 60,000.
- Mi Notebook 14 Horizon: 8GB DDR4 | 2666MHz | Single Channel | No upgrade option (read full review)
- Dell Inspiron 3593: 8GB DDR4 | 2666MHz | Single channel | Upgradable to 16GB
- Asus VivoBook S14 S403JA: 8GB LPDDR4X | 3733MHz | Dual channel | Not upgradable
- Lenovo Ideapad S340 81VV008TIN: 8GB DDR4 | 2666MHz | Dual channel | Not upgradable
- Acer Aspire 5 A514-52G: 8GB DDR4 | 2400MHz | Dual channel | Expandable to 12GB
- Lenovo IdeaPad S145: 8GB DDR4 | 2400MHz | Single channel | Upgradable to 12GB
- HP 14s DR1009TU: 8GB DDR4 | 2666MHz | Dual channel | Upgradable to 16GB
- Dell Inspiron 14 3493: 8GB DDR4 | 2666MHz | Single channel | Not upgradable
- Acer Aspire 3 A315-23: 8GB DDR4 | 2666MHz | Single channel | Upgradable to 12GB
CPU and GPU Performance
The Intel Core i5-1035G1 CPU and Intel UHD GPU is powering the laptop’s performance. In addition, it got 512GB of PCIe-based SSD storage. So that, you will be able to open and edit large files smoothly.
CPU and GPU Benchmarks
To check the performance CPU, I have conducted the Cinebench tests. Cinebench score represents the CPU’s performance.
As you can see in the above chart, the Cinebench R20 single and multi core scores are 411 and 1142 respectively without a use of cooling pad. When the cooling pad used, no change detected. It means, don’t buy a cooling pad because its use has shown no effect on the performance score.
In addition to that, see in the below where this Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 is, when compared to other laptops of price nearly Rs 60,000.
So, our review unit is found at 5th position in the comparison of Cinebench R20 single core score comparison. It’s pretty fine. The Core i5 laptop should be above 400 score at least.
In the above chart of Cinebench R20 multi core score comparison, this laptop is at the second-last position. However, the score isn’t good but also not bad. It’s above 1100, which is fine.
In addition, I have also checked Geekbench 5 benchmark performance.
In a test by Geekbench 5, the Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 laptop has achieved 1180 score on single core and 3674 score on multi core. See where it’s when compared with other laptops under Rs 60,000.
In the comparison of Geekbench 5 single core score, this laptop is at 1st position. Mi Notebook 14 Horizon has Intel Core i7 processor. But, it’s at 3rd last.
Again, the GB multi score is quite impressive.
Now, what does this scores tell?
It tells the performance of the laptop. The higher the score, the higher the performance. Here, you have to consider the multi-core score. Take a note that, Geekbench doesn’t put an excessive load on the CPU like Cinebench R20. And, Geekbench considers mainly productivity tasks like emailing, browsing, multitasking, and etc, to evaluate the hardware.
And, these ways cannot give you an idea about the cooling solution. Because tiny tasks don’t make much stress on the CPU. Hence, If the laptop has a higher Geekbench multi-core score means its capability for productivity is much better. But, at the same time, information about thermal throttling and the cooling solution will remain unanswered by this tool.
Average CPU and GPU Clock Speeds
The Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 has Intel Core i5-1035G1 which has a base speed of 1.0GHz and can be overclocked to 3.6GHz.
The average CPU and GPU clock speeds were measured by performing the stress test using AIDA64 tool. The average of 3 runs is in the below image.
As Intel UHD GPU is integrated on the same board, I’ve not checked its speed separately. The CPU clock speed was 2675 during stress test at an auto fan and raised by 3MHz when the cooling pad was introduced. It gives you an idea that cooling pad is nearly useless to buy for this laptop for performance increment.
Furthermore, as Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 is not a gaming laptop, I don’t have to check it for TDP as it isn’t required here. I would have done it if this was a gaming laptop.
Video Editing Performance
In this test, I have exported the 16 minutes and 13 seconds long video in YouTube 4K H.264 preset using Adobe Premier CC. And I have repeated the same test 4 times further to show you the average result.
So, during my test of video export in 4K preset, the Acer laptop has ended up in on average 30 minutes and 17 seconds. That’s too much.
I’m a little bit disappointed because of performance during video export. Till now, I have criticised the Mi Notebook, but I think I’ve to upvote it in this section. Also, it’s worth to mention that Acer laptop wasn’t all-time smooth during video editing.
Thermal Performance
I’ve performed the thermal performance test using AIDA64 tool to check whether a cooling pad is useful in temperature reduction or not.
So, you can see that the use of a cooling pad has no noticeable effect. That’s the only outcome of this test. Furthermore, in the following chart, I have compared the temperatures of laptops measured during stress test at an auto fan.
As per the above chart, this machine is at middle that shows the average temperature of the processor during the processor-intensive tasks like video editing, gaming, and like. That directly reflects the average-efficient thermal management when compared to other laptops shown in that chart.
In addition, I have also checked for laptop’s exterior temperature.
- At idle: Keyboard and palm rest were cool.
- During stress test at auto fan: Palm rest was cool and Keyboard was at mid 40 degrees C. The exterior above the function keys was hot.
- With the use of cooling pad: I found similar results to just above test.
Noise Emitted by Fans
At idle, the fan was completely silent. During the stress test, the noise has raised like crazy (41dB).
In addition, also find Acer’s position in terms of fan noise emission when compared to laptops of price under Rs 60,000.
You can see in the above chart that Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 comes with the most silent fan whereas Dell Inspiron 14 3493 has the most noisy fan when I ran the stress test at auto fan.
Camera and Microphone
The camera is good but a little bit below-average in terms quality in capturing the face. Microphone is also not different in recording the voice. In addition, The camera of the Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 doesn’t support Windows Hello unlock.
Overall, I have rated both 4 out of 10. Here is the position of this Acer device when compared with other laptops of Rs 60,000 price.
Speakers
The 2 down-firing speakers are placed at the front corners of the sides underneath the laptop. In addition to that, while watching the YouTube video, Digitech’s sound level meter has measured the sound level was 72dB and changing around it.
As you can in the above image, Acer’s speakers deserve much improvement in terms of loudness.
Fingerprint Sensor
The fingerprint reader is located on the right side below the arrow keys. Thanks to Acer, it does support Windows Hello unlock. It allows you to log in to the device and other supported services very fast and secure.
Ports
On the left side, there are the following ports from left to right.
- 1 x Power input
- 1 x HDMI 2.0
- 1 x USB 3.1 Gen-1 Type-A
- 1 x Thunderbolt 3 port with support for charging
You can see that there two laptops, Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 and Asus VivoBook S14 S403JA, that they have thunderbolt-3 port.
Ports on the right side of laptop.
On the right side, there are the following ports from left to right.
- 1 x 3.5mm audio/combo jack
- 1 x USB 2.0
- 1 x Kensington lock
On the back, there are only air exhausts. And, on the back cover, there is two belts of air intake vents.
Battery
The Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 laptop has 48Wh battery.
It has lasted for 89 minutes during the continuous stress test and for 441 minutes while watching YouTube videos at 50% of screen brightness, keyboard backlightings off, and background apps disabled.
Storage
Let me tell you that this Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 has a 512GB of PCIe-based SSD storage. I have measured its speed and performance using CrystalDiskMark. CrystalDiskMark is a tool most popular for the measurement of storage’s performance.
You can see that it’s too fast at reading and writing. The reading speed is almost 2407MB/sec and writing speed is almost 1486MB/sec.
Final Conclusion
The Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 is really a premium laptop. The build quality is so durable, thanks to the metal build and the design is quite lucrative. The display is perfect for college students and office works but not for professional photo and video editors. It’s enough bright. The keyboard is pretty tactile. The touchpad is quite smooth, responsive, and accurate, and also uses Windows precision drivers. The camera and microphone are little below-average but okay for non-frequent video conferences. The impressive thing is that Acer has put a thunderbolt-3 port, which is quite awesome. In addition, it has a fingerprint sensor, which supports Windows Hello unlock also. When it comes to performance, the CPU benchmarking tools have shown impressive results. All this laptop lacks is a dedicated graphics. The speaker of this laptop needs improvement. Overall, a good laptop for office jobs, programmers, and can also fulfil your gaming needs at beginner-level.
READ ARTICLES ON LAPTOP REVIEWS:
- Mi Notebook 14 Horizon laptop review
- Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 laptop full review
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