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Acer Swift 3 OLED review an OLED laptop under $1 000

By Mark Coppock September 5, 2022 Share Acer Swift 3 OLED MSRP $1,230.00 Score Details DT Recommended Product "The Acer Swift 3 OLED comes with a spectacular display and impressive performance." Pros Solid midrange build Spectacular OLED display Excellent productivity performance Good keyboard 1080p webcam Cons Touchpad is too small Below-average battery life Acer has been slow to jump on the OLED laptop bandwagon. But finally, the company has brought an OLED panel to its popular midrange 14-inch laptop, the Swift 3. Contents SpecsOLED yes but at what cost Sometimes faster does mean fasterA cost in longevityEverything else is ho-humA decent first go at an OLED machineShow 1 more item This is more than just the standard Acer Swift 3 with a better 90Hz OLED screen swapped in. This laptop is also thicker to handle its 45-watt 12th-gen processor, so you should expect some better performance out of this 14-inch laptop. Price is important though, and although the base configuration comes in under $1,000, my review unit landed at $1,230. Fortunately for Acer, there’s enough to justify a slightly higher price, making the Acer Swift 3 OLED a solid upgrade over the original.

Specs

Acer Swift 3 OLED Dimensions 12.32 inches by 8.43 inches by 0.70 inches Weight 3.09 pounds Processor Intel Core i5-12500H
Intel Core i7-12700H Graphics Intel Iris Xe RAM 8GB LPDDR5
16GB LPDDR5 Display 14-inch 16:10 WQXGA+ (2,880 x 1,800) OLED 90Hz Storage 512GB PCIe 4.0 SSD
1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD Touch No Ports 2 x USB-C 4.0 with Thunderbolt 4
2 x USB-A 3.2. Gen 1
1 x HDMI 2.1
1 x 3.5mm audio jack Wireless Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 Webcam 1080p Operating system Windows 11 Battery 57 watt-hours Price $930+

OLED yes but at what cost

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends OLED used to be reserved for the cream of the crop, but lately, it has dropped into some affordable laptops. For example, the HP Pavilion Plus 14 also offers a 90Hz OLED display for just $800 with equivalent specs to the high-end Acer (except for a smaller 256GB SSD). That’s just one configuration, mind you, and if you use HP’s custom configurator, the price is higher. The Asus Vivobook S 14X is another midrange laptop with an OLED display, this one running at 120Hz, that’s $1,100 for the same Core i7 CPU, 12GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. The Asus is also available at around $900 when configured identically to the $930 Swift 3 OLED. Point is — the Acer Swift 3 OLED is right in the same ballpark as many of its close rivals, but it needs to offer something unique to rise above. To start with, the Swift 3 OLED’s 14-inch 16:10 display is excellent and competes well against both midrange and premium alternatives. You can tell from the table below that, outside of color accuracy that’s slightly behind the best, the Acer’s panel is bright, colorful, and offers the usual OLED inky blacks. It’s a display that will please just about everyone, including creatives and content creators. Brightness
(nits) Contrast sRGB gamut AdobeRGB gamut Accuracy DeltaE
(lower is better) Acer Swift 3 OLED
(OLED) 439 31,380:1 100% 97% 1.31 HP Pavilion Plus 14
(OLED) 398 27,830:1 100% 95% 0.78 Asus Vivobook S 14X
(OLED) 403 27,930:1 100% 99% 1.07 Acer Swift 3
(IPS) 368 1,330:1 98% 75% 1.51 Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7
(OLED) 406 28,380:1 100% 95% 0.87 Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro
(IPS) 369 1,340:1 100% 80% 1.65 Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon
(OLED) 397 27,590:1 100% 96% 0.88 It’s a great display for Netflix binges too, though the Acer Swift 3 OLED’s audio doesn’t quite match it. The speakers are good enough, with sufficient volume for a small office and clear mids and highs that are fine for system sounds and the occasional YouTube video. But if you want to watch a movie, you’ll want more bass than the two upward-firing speakers provide, so a pair of headphones or external speakers are likely to be appreciated.

Sometimes faster does mean faster

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends As I mentioned earlier, manufacturers have installed Intel’s 45-watt 12th-gen CPUs in 14-inch thin and light laptops with varying success. In some cases, performance was thermally limited to the point where there was little advantage over Intel’s 28-watt CPUs with fewer cores. The most common alternative CPU is the 28-watt 12-core/16-thread Core i7-1260P. As we can see from the table below, the Swift 3 OLED performs more in line with the 14-core/20-thread Core i7-12700H in the larger and thicker Dell XPS 15 across all our benchmarks. The HP Pavilion Plus 14 and Asus Vivobook S 14X are closer to the Core i7-1260P in Geekbench 5 and our Handbrake test while running faster in Cinebench R23. One test where the Swift 3 OLED fell behind was PCMark 10 Complete, which tests a mix of productivity, multimedia, and creative tasks. Note that I’ve listed both balanced and performance mode results, achieved by using each manufacturer’s utility for dialing in CPU frequencies and fan speeds. Mark Coppock/Digital Trends All these laptops throttled to one extent or another, but the Swift 3 OLED managed to maintain its performance more consistently. Because it’s limited to Intel’s Iris Xe graphics, it will not break any records with applications that use the GPU to speed up certain tasks, like Adobe’s Creative suite. But, for demanding productivity workflows and CPU-intensive creative apps, the Swift 3 OLED is a strong performer. Geekbench
(single / multi) Handbrake
(seconds) Cinebench R23
(single / multi) PCMark 10
Complete Acer Swift 3 OLED
(Core i7-12700H) Bal: 1,698 / 10,972
Perf: 1,708 / 11,287 Bal: 90
Perf: 85 Bal: 1,676 / 10,764
Perf: 1,715 / 11,069 4,983 HP Pavilion Plus 14
(Core i7-12700H) Bal: 1,462 / 8,531
Perf: 1,472 / 8,531 Bal: 104
Perf: 102 Bal: 1,523 / 8,358
Perf: 1,716 / 10,915 N/A Asus Vivobook S 14X
(Core i7-12700H) Bal: 1,595 / 6,692
Perf: 1,681 / 7,175 Bal: 113
Perf: 102 Bal: 1,757 / 10,339
Perf: 1,792 / 12,051 5,378 Dell XPS 15 9520
(Core i7-12700H) Bal: 1,470 / 9,952
Perf: 1,714 / 11,053 Bal: 100
Perf: 77 Bal: 1,509 / 11,578
Perf: 1,806 / 13,313 4,940 Acer Swift 3
(Core i7-1260P) Bal: 1,708 / 10,442
Perf: 1,694 / 10,382 Bal: 100
Perf: 98 Bal: 1,735 / 9,756
Perf: 1,779 / 10,165 5,545 Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7
(Core i7-1260P) Bal: 1,717 / 9,231
Perf: 1,712 / 10,241 Bal: 130
Perf: 101 Bal: 1,626 / 7,210
Perf: 1,723 / 8,979 5,760 Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED
(Ryzen 7 6800U) Bal: 1,417 / 6,854
Perf: 1,404 / 7,223 Bal: 112
Perf: 111 Bal: 1,402 / 8,682
Perf: 1,409 / 8,860 5,647 The Swift 3 OLED’s gaming performance was surprisingly poor, even by integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics standards. I’m not sure why the laptop was so slow, hitting just 11 frames per second in Fortnite at 1200p and epic graphics, but it’s definitely not a gaming machine. I only include these results to stress the point.

A cost in longevity

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends With performance as a strength, the next question is, how long does it last on a charge? Using the faster CPU and a high-res OLED display should strain the 57-watt-hour battery, which isn’t large for a 14-inch laptop. In our suite of battery tests, the Swift 3 OLED did OK compared to the other 45-watt laptops in our comparison group while falling behind the 28-watt machines. That’s to be expected, and it’s one of the costs of using the faster chip — although battery life is another area where the Acer beat the HP Pavilion Plus 14. Overall, the Swift 3 OLED won’t last a full day’s work, meaning you’ll need to carry the power brick along with you. Web browsing Video PCMark 10
Applications Acer Swift 3 OLED
(Core i7-12700H) 6 hours, 9 minutes 7 hours, 23 minutes 7 hours, 48 minutes HP Pavilion Plus 14
(Core i7-12700H) 4 hours, 29 minutes 7 hours, 29 minutes 5 hours, 48 minutes Asus Vivobook S 14X
(Core i7-12700H) 6 hours, 20 minutes 8 hours, 18 minutes 7 hours, 1 minute Acer Swift 3
(Core i7-1260P) 8 hours, 2 minutes 14 hours, 10 minutes 10 hours, 1 minute Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7
(Core i7-1260P) 9 hours, 10 minutes 12 hours, 45 minutes 8 hours, 32 minutes Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED
(Ryzen 7 6800U) 8 hours, 4 minutes 13 hours, 13 minutes N/A

Everything else is ho-hum

In terms of its design, the Swift 3 OLED benefits most from the switch to a taller 16:10 display over the non-OLED version’s old-school 16:9 panel. That makes the laptop look more modern and provides a more productive experience. Otherwise, the same silver chassis with simple lines and no bling makes for a minimalist design that borders on boring. HP’s Pavilion Plus 14 is a more attractive laptop. The build quality remains the same, with an all-aluminum chassis that resisted most bending and flexing during my testing. It’s a solid build for a midrange laptop, although again, the Pavilion Plus 14 wins, by a hair in this case. The Swift 3 OLED is thicker than the non-OLED model at 0.70 inches versus 0.63 inches and heavier at 3.09 pounds versus 2.76 pounds. Again, that’s necessary to accommodate the faster and hotter CPU. Despite its uptick in thickness and weight, the Swift 3 OLED is a reasonably sized 14-inch machine. Connectivity remains a strength, with Thunderbolt 4 and the latest wireless standards on hand. The 14-inch laptop typically has advantages over 13-inch machines when it comes to plugging in, and the Swift 3 OLED maintains that trend. Mark Coppock/Digital Trends The Swift 3 OLED’s keyboard seems to be the same as on the other model, with light and snappy switches and plenty of key spacing. The keycaps are large enough, although the silver keys are hard to read with the backlighting turned on with any ambient lighting. On the other hand, the touchpad is also the same as the previous model, which is a shame — given the taller display, there’s more room on the palm rest for a larger touchpad. It works well enough with quiet and precise buttons, but it’s just too small. The display isn’t touch-enabled, which I always miss. Mark Coppock/Digital Trends The webcam is a 1080p version, which is welcome, and it provided a bright image with Acer’s Temporal Noise Reduction technology helping out in low-light conditions. It’s a good webcam for videoconferencing. Finally, Windows 11 Hello passwordless login support is provided by a fingerprint reader embedded in the power button, which is precisely the right spot. It worked quickly and reliably during my testing.

A decent first go at an OLED machine

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends In the end, there’s much to like about the Swift 3 OLED. It leverages its faster CPU, unlike some other 14-inch machines, and its OLED display is as good as it gets. Its build quality is solid for a midrange machine, although not the best in its class, and its connectivity and keyboard are excellent. The touchpad’s too small and the battery life is too short, which are the laptop’s two most significant weaknesses. But even so, it competes well against the two most pertinent alternatives in the HP Pavilion Plus 14, which is available in one configuration for around $400 less, and the Asus Vivobook S 14X, which is closer in price. And you’re only paying $100 more compared to the non-OLED Swift 3, which makes the OLED version a relative bargain. The Swift 3 OLED’s price might be a smidge too high, but it’s mostly justified. So, should you buy it? Yes, if faster performance to go with the spectacular display is your objective. You’ll suffer in battery life, but outside of the one incredibly low-cost HP Pavilion Plus 14 configuration, the Swift 3 OLED provides a compelling enough value to belong on anyone’s shortlist.

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