Acer Swift 3X Review – Value-Focused Practicality
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Appearance - 7.5/10
7.5/10
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Features - 7.5/10
7.5/10
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Materials - 8/10
8/10
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Performance - 7.5/10
7.5/10
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Portability - 8/10
8/10
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User Experience - 8/10
8/10
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Value - 7.5/10
7.5/10
Summary
The Acer Swift 3X is a solid choice if you want an ultraportable productivity laptop with Thunderbolt 4 included.
Overall
7.7/10Pros
+ Good build quality
+ Hinge gives slight lift for better aiflow
+ Thunderbolt 4
+ USB-C PD charging as an alternative solution
+ RAM and storage configuration is perfect to start off with
+ Easy to bring around
+ Fingerprint scanner works fast and reliably
Cons
– Display is a little dim
– Speakers are subpar
– No touchscreen support
– No SD card reader
– A little pricey
Unboxing the Acer Swift 3X
Let’s kick off our Acer Swift 3X review with the unboxing. Inside the box, you will find the following items:
- 65W power adapter
- USB-C cable
- User guide and warranty
- The Acer Swift 3X laptop itself
Appearance
The Acer Swift 3X doesn’t stray far from the Swift series design. It follows a more simple, elegant design that is suited for this type of laptop. The lid has a rather solid, metallic build with the Acer logo in the center. For our Acer Swift 3X review unit, we have the Steamy Blue colour option, but you can also choose Safari Gold if that suits you more.
Open up the lid and you’ll see the 14-inch Full HD IPS display with relatively slim bezels. The top and bottom bezels are thicker, with the top housing the built-in webcam and the bottom having the Acer logo. You also get a backlit chiclet keyboard, trackpad, fingerprint scanner, and product stickers.
On the left side, you have the proprietary charging port, HDMI port, USB-A port, and USB-C port. As for the right side, you have a 3.5mm combo audio jack, another USB-A port, LED indicators, and a Kensington Lock. It’s worth noting that if open up the lid, the bottom part of the display will give the laptop a bit of a lift for improved airflow.
Moving over to the bottom, you have two long air vents, four rubberized stands, speaker grilles, and product stickers. There are 11 exposed screws here, with one screw hidden behind a “Warranty Void” sticker.
Overall, the Acer Swift 3X has a more modern design that should easily fit in with office and study environments. I personally wished that it had more colour choices so more people can get a laptop that feels more personal to them.
Specifications
CPU | Intel Core i7-1165G7 @ 2.4 GHz (up to 4.7 GHz Boost), 4C/8T, 10nm SuperFin, 28W TDP |
RAM | 16GB LPDDR4X |
GPU | Intel Iris Xe Max Graphics |
Storage | 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD |
Software | Microsoft Windows 10 Home |
Connectivity | Wireless 802.11ax Wi-Fi Bluetooth 5.0 Wired 1 x RJ45 LAN 2 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A 1 x Thunderbolt 4 1 x HDMI 2.0 |
Display | 14″ (1920 x 1080) 60Hz IPS Acer ComfyView display |
Audio | 2 x speakers 4 x digital microphones 1 x 3.5mm combo audio jack |
Power | 65W power adapter 56 WHr Li-polymer battery |
Dimensions | 322.8 x 212.2 x 17.95 mm |
Weight | 1.37 kg |
Performance
Starting off with CrystalDiskMark, the storage drive in the Acer Swift 3X performed more than adequately. It should be more than enough for most people so you can expect fast boot ups and minimal loading times, if any. In case you’re wondering, it is the 512GB SK Hynix BC511 SSD.
On Cinebench R15, the Acer Swift 3X performed well enough. The single core score of the Intel Core i7-1165G7 is very high but the multi-core score is clearly lagging behind the competition. This isn’t a surprise given that the CPU isn’t designed for high performance.
As for Cinebench R20, it seemed to perform noticeably better. Among ultraportable laptops, it had the best score in both single core and multi-core performance. It’s shaping up to be a powerful contender within this product segment.3
On Unigine SuperPosition’s 4K Optimized benchmark, the score is relatively low but typically, a laptop of this kind would score less than 1000 points. This shows that the Intel Iris Xe Max Graphics is a noticeable upgrade over the older Intel UHD Graphics. However, it will still be dwarfed by something like the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, which isn’t exactly a strong performer on its own.
The same can be said with 3DMark’s Time Spy benchmark, with the Acer Swift 3X scoring low for the same reason. It’s still an admirable score given what’s powering the laptop but essentially, don’t expect too much from this laptop in terms of graphics processing.
While we would normally continue with PCMark, we couldn’t get it to run properly. It will start the first part of the test, and then fail soon after. Due to the limited time we had with this review unit, I couldn’t figure out an alternative in time. As such, we will have to skip it for this one.
Looking for a gaming laptop instead? Check out our review of the Acer Predator Triton 500 2020 by clicking right here.
User Experience
The Acer Swift 3X is an ultraportable laptop with some new technology which sets it apart from the usual. It is powered by the Intel Core i7-1165G7 with Intel Iris Xe Max Graphics. On the memory side, you get a speedy 512GB SSD storage, SK Hynix BC511, and 16GB DDR4 RAM with a clock speed of 4266MHz. It runs rather quietly and I didn’t get any thermal issues throughout. I have no complaints here as it has everything you need to get started and you won’t need to upgrade anything anytime soon.
As for the display, the 14-inch display works well enough. You get good viewing angles and vibrant colours with it. Full HD resolution is a reasonable expectation with this, although it would be nice if it came with a 1440p resolution display. One downside here is that the display is rather dim, so you may find yourself using it close to 100% brightness for the most part.
The Acer Swift 3X has a decent array of ports. You get a Thunderbolt 4 port, two USB-A ports, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. Similar laptops tend to have lesser ports, such as having multiple USB-C ports and no USB-A ports, so I’m fine with this. It also supports USB-C PD charging, which is incredibly handy. What would have been nice is if they included an SD card reader. Given that it includes a Thunderbolt 4 port, you have better expandability potential with this as you can transfer files faster, connect up to two 4K displays with it, more dock / hub options, and more.
As for the keyboard, we have a white backlit chiclet keyboard with no Numpad. It’s a decent enough experience with short travel distance and large key size so it’s easy to press. I would have personally liked it more if it has a more tactile feel. The trackpad works fine and is rather wide, but nothing much to say about it. You’re better off using your own mouse.
Not to forget, this laptop does come with a fingerprint scanner. It works reliably and fast, so I would recommend sticking to this for security and convenience. I’ve only had it fail to read my fingerprint once after using it for 2 weeks, so it should work great for everyone else as well.
In the sound department, you have the DTS Audio software where you can optimize your listening experience on speakers and with your headset. It has four presets that you can use; Music, Movies, Games, and Custom Audio. You can also tailor your experience further using the graphic equalizer. As for the speakers themselves, it’s rather soft even at max volume. Moreover, the sound produced here is a little hollow with bass essentially being non-existent. It’s best to use your favourite pair of headphones or external speakers for a more immersive audio experience.
If you’re looking for something more premium, check out our review of the ASUS ROG Zephyrus by clicking right here.
Acer Swift 3X Verdict
The Acer Swift 3X is a good ultraportable productivity laptop. It has good build quality, the CPU performs well, Thunderbolt 4 is great to have, it supports USB-C PD charging, the RAM and storage configuration is perfect to start off with, it’s easy to bring around, and the fingerprint scanner is both fast and reliable.
However, the display is a little dim, the speakers are subpar, there’s no touchscreen support, and it has no SD card reader built in. At RM4,599, it may be a little pricey but you do get what you pay for and the competition tends to be priced even higher. After all, you definitely have no need to upgrade the memory here and it’s good to go from the start. At the end of our Acer Swift 3X review, I award this with our Silver Pokdeward.
Big thanks to Acer Malaysia for letting us use this laptop for the purpose of this review.