Acer’s Swift 3X includes Intel’s new Iris Z Max Discard GPU

I like Acer’s Swift 3 line because it really has its finger on the essential features of the students. The Swift 3 doesn’t look fancy and doesn’t come with any cutting-bricks and whistles. But it’s hard and portable with good performance and solid battery life – and best of all, it’s affordable.

I’ve spent some time checking out the slightly scaled up version of Acer’s Swift 3X, the Acer Swift 3, it looks, feels and is built like the Swift 3 with significant exceptions: it has an independent GPU.

The Swift 3X has Intel’s new Iris Zax Max, Intel’s new Disrat GPU (laptop variant of the DG1). With its slim and portable build (three pounds and 0.7 inches thick), this Swift seems to have a slightly different structure from its predecessor: amateur creators, students who need photo and video editing for class, or the media looking to get a job Such professionals. This is a preview unit done on the go which is not final, so I wasn’t able to run any graphics benchmarks – we can wait for those results when the full product hits the shelves in December.

My test configuration includes a quad-core Core i7-1165G7, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage and is priced at $ 1,199 – coming in the premium field. An interesting midrange option is the base model, which gives you a Core i5, 8GB RAM and 512GB storage for 899.99. (Acer made sure that “prices are approximate until finalized.”)

My first impression is that this is a Swift 3 and by it. It looks nice but unattractive. You can choose between “Steam Blue” and “Safari Gold”. The screen bezel isn’t small, but it’s still small enough to definitely give the display a beautiful look (and the fold-under hinge hides the bottom). The Acer screen claims an 84% screen-to-body ratio, a slight improvement from the Swift I reviewed earlier this year (.7.73 percent). The Swift is usually a bit heavier and a bit heavier than the 3s, but that’s understandable because it has independent graphics. I still have no problem carrying it in a backpack or briefcase.

I’m a fan of the fingerprint reader, which is reliable and conveniently located under the keyboard. I also like the choice of port, which has everything you need: a headphone jack, an HDMI, a USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, two USB-A, and a Kensington lock slot.

On the other hand, I don’t like both the keyboard and the touchpad. It’s a little shallow and a little stiff, respectively, and the material looks a bit plastic. It’s all quite forgivable at several points in the 600-700 DL where many Swift 3 models live – at 19,199, it seems a little out of place.

There are some questions that I am pleased to answer with the final model. First: cooling. I put the preview unit through some of the daily office fee tasks (writing, emailing, spreadsheets, copying files, downloading content, etc.) and noticed that the fans seem to be working very hard – they were loud enough when I was multitasking. Really a little disruptive. Acer says there will be several fan modes – it wasn’t enabled on this model, but I hope there is a silent profile that can help calm things down.

Second: the screen, because the Acer Swift 3 I reviewed earlier this year had a significant weakness. That panel reproduced only 65 percent of the SRGB spectrum and hit a brightness of 218 nits. It’s just great for a user like me, but wouldn’t be recommended for creative work, which this model is supposed to target.

Like my Swift review review unit, this model has a matte screen, which reduces the glare you will see when working in bright settings, but it makes the colors on the glossy panel look crisp. Narratively, the 3X looked really nice and seems to be improving from Swift from. It has become fairly bright during my use and the colors have reproduced well. Unless I can measure brightness and gamut coverage, I can’t confidently tell you if it will work for the producers.

(It’s also a 16: 9 aspect ratio, which I’m not a fan of – I have to zoom in with the recommended DPI to work comfortably across multiple windows.)

Third, battery life – a really important consideration for non-go-workers and students of all ages. Acer claims you’ll get 17.5 hours of video playback on a single charge – I’d be shocked if this real-world used for a long time, but I couldn’t verify that claim. The 3X has a battery larger than 3 – 58.7Wh to 48Wh. The AMD-powered Swift 3 lasted about seven hours in my testing, so it will be interesting to see if this brick has a longer life span than a GPU. Whether or not to pair with.

But ultimately and most importantly, whether these systems are worth buying depends a lot on how good the GPU is. If the Swift 3X ends up providing the same performance as lower-level MX models on the market, it may have trouble distinguishing itself from systems like the $ 899 MSI Modern 14 or the $ 899 Asus Zenbook 14. (And as graphics get better with each integrated CPU generation, it makes less and less sense to buy the cards.) If cards like Intel’s GTX 1650T (which powers the રે 1,799 રે Razor Blade Stealth 13) If the level is finished, it will be great for both 3x configurations.

Photography by Monica Chin / The Verge