Acer Swift 3 SF314-43-R6NE: Review Of Powerful Mid-Range PC

Finding a budget-friendly laptop that offers both power and performance can be a challenging task. Many laptops in the affordable price range often compromise on specifications, leaving users in search of a balance between cost-effectiveness and capability. Under this scenario, the Acer Swift 3 SF314-43-R6NE emerges as a shining contender, defying the odds with its impressive features, affordable price, and popularity amongst customers.

Packed with key specifications that deliver a punch, the SF314-43-R6NE proves that affordability doesn't have to mean sacrificing performance. With an AMD Ryzen 7 5700U Octa-Core Processor, AMD Radeon Graphics, 16GB LPDDR4X RAM, and a 512GB SSD, this laptop is ready to take on a variety of tasks with ease. 

Without further ado, today we set out to uncover everything there is to know about this compelling bad boy that's sure to fulfill all your computing needs and then some. Are you ready?

Acer Swift 3 SF314-43-R6NE: In-depth Review of a Killer Laptop

Design, Display, and Keyboard

The Acer Swift 3 SF314-43-R6NE showcases a sleek and modern design. Its all-metal aluminum chassis gives it a premium look and feel while ensuring durability and portability. The laptop weighs under 3 pounds (2.65 to be precise), making it lightweight and easy to carry around. The slim profile and compact form factor make it a great companion for users who are always on the move.

The 14-inch Full HD IPS display of the SF314-43-R6NE delivers vibrant and accurate visuals. With its 16:9 aspect ratio and an impressive 85.73% screen-to-body ratio, you get to see more of the display and enjoy an immersive viewing experience. The ultra-narrow bezels further enhance the visual experience, providing a more expansive view of your content. 

Whether you're watching movies, editing photos, or working on documents, the display offers sharp details and vivid colors, something many customer can attest to. 

The keyboard on the Acer Swift 3 is backlit, allowing for comfortable typing even in low-light environments. The keys offer a responsive and satisfying typing experience, enabling efficient and accurate typing. The backlit feature enhances visibility, making it easier to work in dimly lit spaces. The overall design and layout of the keyboard contribute to a comfortable and productive typing experience.

There's also a fingerprint reader on hand which we will tackle later on in this review. 

Performance

The Acer Swift 3 SF314-43-R6NE is a laptop that offers impressive performance capabilities, making it suitable for a wide range of tasks and applications. Powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U Octa-Core Processor, this laptop delivers robust and efficient performance. With a base clock speed of 1.8GHz and a maximum boost clock of up to 4.3GHz, the processor ensures smooth and responsive operation even during demanding tasks.

The eight CPU cores of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U processor provide ample processing power for multitasking, content creation, and productivity applications. Whether you're editing photos and videos, running virtual machines, or working on complex spreadsheets, this laptop can handle it with ease. The processor's high clock speeds and efficient architecture result in snappy performance and smooth operation.

Furthermore, the laptop is equipped with 16GB LPDDR4X RAM, which ensures smooth multitasking and efficient performance. The generous amount of RAM allows you to run multiple applications simultaneously without experiencing significant lag or slowdowns. This is particularly beneficial for power users, content creators, and professionals who need to work with resource-intensive software or perform heavy multitasking.

It should be noted, however, that RAM can not be expanded on this notebook. Fortunately, 16 GB is more than enough for most power users.

In terms of storage, the laptop features a 512GB NVMe solid-state drive (SSD). The ample storage capacity allows you to store a large number of files, documents, multimedia content, and applications without worrying about running out of space. Additionally, the fast and responsive nature of the SSD ensures quick access to your data and smooth system operation.

Furthermore, the AMD Radeon Graphics integrated into the laptop deliver decent graphics performance. While not as powerful as dedicated graphics cards, the AMD Radeon Graphics can handle casual gaming, multimedia playback, and light photo or video editing. 

It ensures smooth visuals and enhances the overall multimedia experience. Whether you want to enjoy your favorite movies or play some less demanding games during your downtime, this laptop can deliver a satisfying experience. 

If you're looking for a laptop with a dedicated graphics card to work on graphic-intensive tasks but you don't want to go down the gaming laptop path we would suggest taking a look at the Acer Swift X SFX14-42G-R607. On the other hand, if you don't need dedicated graphics and you're just planning to use the laptop on a fairly casual setting another interesting alternative worth looking into is the recently reviewed Asus VivoBook 14 F1404ZA-AS51.

Overall, the Acer Swift 3 SF314-43-R6NE offers impressive performance capabilities. The powerful AMD Ryzen 7 5700U Octa-Core Processor, 16GB RAM, and fast SSD storage combine to deliver smooth multitasking, quick application loading, and efficient overall system performance. Whether you're a professional, student, or casual user, this laptop can handle a wide range of tasks, ensuring a seamless and productive computing experience.

What Are People Saying?

The Acer Swift 3 SF314-43-R6NE has garnered widespread positive feedback, with users and reviewers alike praising its performance, design, and value for money. The general consensus is that this laptop offers impressive power and responsiveness, making it suitable for a wide range of tasks and multitasking scenarios. The AMD Ryzen 7 5700U Octa-Core Processor has been widely applauded for its performance capabilities, enabling smooth operation of resource-intensive applications and efficient multitasking.

The laptop's sleek and lightweight design has also been well-received. Users appreciate its portability, making it easy to carry around for work or travel. The all-metal aluminum chassis not only enhances durability but also adds a premium touch to its overall aesthetics, giving it a high-end look and feel.

The display quality of the SF314-43-R6NE is another highlight, with users expressing satisfaction with the vibrant colors, sharp details, and wide viewing angles offered by the 14-inch Full HD IPS display. The narrow bezels and high screen-to-body ratio contribute to an immersive viewing experience, allowing users to maximize the available screen space for productivity, media consumption, and content creation.

Furthermore, the laptop's connectivity options, including Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2, have received positive feedback for their reliability and fast data transfer speeds. Users appreciate the stable and lag-free internet connections provided by the dual-band Wi-Fi, which is especially useful in crowded Wi-Fi environments.

Battery life is an essential aspect of any laptop, and the Acer Swift 3 SF314-43-R6NE has been praised for its long-lasting battery - something we will cover in the next section of this review -. Users have reported that the laptop can easily last a full day of use, allowing them to work, stream media, and browse the web without the constant need to recharge. The fast charging capability is also highly appreciated, enabling users to quickly top up the battery when needed and get back to their tasks.

Overall, the general consensus is that the laptop offers excellent value for its performance, design, and features. Users find it to be a reliable and capable laptop that caters to a wide range of needs, from professionals requiring powerful performance for work tasks to students and casual users seeking a versatile and portable device for everyday use.

Connectivity and Battery Life

The SF314-43-R6NE offers reliable connectivity options to keep you connected wherever you go. It features 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6, which provides fast and stable wireless internet connections. The dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies, combined with MU-MIMO technology, ensure a reliable and lag-free internet experience, even in crowded Wi-Fi environments. Bluetooth 5.2 is also included for seamless wireless connectivity with compatible devices.

The port selection is ok but nothing to write home about. Specifically, it features a single USB Type-C port, two USB Type-A ports (one with power-off charging), an HDMI port and an audio jack. Pretty much the same connectivity setup we've seen on the 17-inch HP 17-cn2099nr. No ethernet port to be found.

When it comes to battery life, the laptop offers impressive longevity. With a full charge, the Acer Swift 3 SF314-43-R6NE can last up to 12.5 hours, providing all-day productivity and entertainment - according to the manufacturer -. In our experience, in reality, this translates into roughly 8 hours of real usage which is still pretty good.  

Additionally, the laptop supports fast charging, allowing you to quickly recharge the battery when needed. A 30-minute charge can provide up to 4 hours of video playback, ensuring that you can get back to work or entertainment in no time.

Special Features

The Acer Swift 3 SF314-43-R6NE comes with several special features that enhance the overall user experience. The laptop features a biometric fingerprint reader, which works in conjunction with Windows Hello to provide secure and convenient sign-in options. 

Acer's Purified Voice technology is another notable feature of this laptop. It incorporates enhanced digital signal processing to cancel out background noise, improve speech accuracy, and enhance far-field pickup. This results in clearer and more accurate voice calls, making communication more seamless and enjoyable. This is not just a gimmick, it actually does provide a smidge better audio quality in calls though it still can't replace the use of a proper set of conference headphones. 

It's also worth pointing out that the laptop comes with Acer's proprietary Acer BlueLightShield Technology which does a pretty good job at reducing blue light emissions so that you don't strain your eyes when working with this laptop late at night. 

What's the Verdict?

The Acer Swift 3 SF314-43-R6NE is a feature-packed laptop that offers powerful performance, a vibrant display, and a sleek design. With its AMD Ryzen 7 5700U processor, generous RAM capacity, and fast SSD storage, it delivers smooth multitasking and efficient operation. The AMD Radeon Graphics provide decent graphics performance for everyday use, while the respectable connectivity options ensure reliable and fast internet connections. 

The special features, such as the biometric fingerprint reader and Acer's Purified.Voice technology, enhance security and communication. Overall, the Acer Swift 3 SF314-43-R6NE is a highly capable and versatile laptop that caters to the needs of productivity and entertainment users alike. We would definitely recommend this laptop for someone looking to buy a portable yet powerful laptop that won't burn a hole in their bank account.