Acer Swift 3 SF313-52-50CR Specs and Details

Specifications Acer Swift 3 SF313-52-50CR

Chassis, connectors, screen of the Acer Swift SF313-52-50CR

The Swift 3 is famous in the Acer office range and among the best ultrabooks in its category. For 2020, Acer has revamped as it should be its “best seller” in 13 inches and offers it a lithium-magnesium-aluminum alloy case. This hybrid material crossed on the Swift 5 and 7 so far is known for its strength but also and above all for its lightness. Thus, the Swift SF313-52-50CR can advance 1.19 kg on the scale only. The format has also been compacted and shows a thickness of 16 mm for a limited space (302 x 234 mm).

The keyboard is backlit in white on several levels of brightness. It is rather practical in the dark but otherwise, during the day, the white on the silver keys has the opposite effect and complicates the readability of the lettering. In this case, it should be simply deactivated.

We find the angular silhouette of its big brother in 14 inches (Swift 3 SF314-57) to which Acer has associated on this model a most neutral matt silver surface. The care taken in the finishes is visible and the assembly is quality even if some details betray its “mid-range” positioning like its dark plastic frame around the screen.

Speaking of it, the 13.5-inch screen cultivates a feeling of significant immersion thanks to an amplified edge-to-edge design but above all to an extended QHD (2256×1504 px) definition . This screen definition offers a high display density and a feeling of sharpness, appreciable even on 13 inches to enjoy your High Definition content in the best conditions and to magnify characters and details without losing precision. Besides, we can’t recommend an enlarged scaling (125% or more) enough to get content at the right size. Bright (400 nits)and visible from all angles (IPS panel), the screen is covered with a glossy (shiny) surface which will tend to reflect the ambient light. This is the price to pay for a more colorful and vivid perception than facing a mat / satin screen. Note also the unconventional format of the 3: 2 screen which will offer a little more space on the height and thus allow you to browse a text by scrolling a little less than on traditional 16: 9. This is ideal for productivity.

Finally, the connections are distributed on the sides of the box and accommodate everything you need, and even a little more. There are a total of three USB ports including a USB 2.0 (right, for the mouse), a USB 3.1 port and a versatile USB Type-C Gen2 . Surprise, the latter supports Thunderbolt 3 , a format hitherto reserved for high-end PCs which offers speeds of up to 10 Gbps as well as video output and charging in particular. There is also an HDMI output as well as a biometric reader (under the keyboard, on the right) to secure your data and authenticate you to your session with a simple touch of your finger (Windows Hello). The WiFi module takes advantage of the latest 802.11 AX standardand Bluetooth 5.0 is also on the menu. The SD card reader is absent on the other hand.

Performance, battery life of the Acer Swift 3 SF313-52-50CR

The 10th generation Ice Lake processor will propel the ultrabook into versatile spheres. It is a low consumption Quad Core i5-1035G4 which significantly gains in power compared to its predecessors (i5-8565U Whiskey Lake / i5-10210U Comet Lake) thanks to a finer engraving (10 nm). Essentially, it fully supports everyday use (Web browsing, Office processing, video) and masters the more demanding applications very well, requiring multi-core architecture (video editing, advanced Photoshop, light Lightroom, etc.) . Opposite, the 8 GB RAM provides a fluid multitasking environment.

The difference is more noticeable at the level of the graphics chip integrated into the processor, in this case the Intel Iris Plus G4 . Intel is boosting its integrated solution, which can now range between a GeForce MX230 and an MX250. Note however that this solution depends above all on the cooling system adopted by the manufacturer, Acer here. Anyway, at this level, you should be able to play some fairly recent FHD games in good conditions and work on tasks that need dedicated resources (still in fairly limited proportions).

Another fundamental element here, the storage is entrusted to a 512 GB NVMe PCIe SSD . This significantly improves the overall responsiveness of the system on a daily basis. Based on a PCIe interface faster than SATA3, the SSD ensures shortened load times, almost instant Windows launch and very fast file copies. What’s more, its capacity is quite honest and can accommodate a good part of your game library.

Let’s finish with a notion of autonomy. Despite the small profile of the ultrabook, Acer still managed to slide a 56 Whr battery, allowing it to offer more than 10 hours of autonomy . A force to take it with you for a full day.