The speaker system can’t quite match the display for quality, though, despite carrying DTS certification. To start with there’s not a lot of volume on offer: at 1m distance, I measured an average of 71dB from a pink noise source and 72dB with peaks of 79dB from a music source. That’s pretty average. There’s not much in the way of bass, either, although the definition is good and there’s no break-up even at maximum volume. You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph. Conclusion

Battery life could be better. I got 4-1/2 hours at 100% brightness, while surfing the net and watching streaming videos. "Good enough" for my needs, but probably a little too short for others. Fortunately, you can use a portable power bank to recharge the laptop via the USB-C power port. Installing of our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light. The touchpad was the coolest location on the laptop, coming in at 76.5 degrees Fahrenheit (24.7 degrees Celsius). The center of the keyboard, between the G & H keys, came in next at 84.5 degrees Fahrenheit (29.2 degrees Celsius), while the bottom of the laptop was the hottest location. Registering hottest just to the left of the underside vents that span most of its bottom-center, the laptop here hit 87.5 degrees Fahrenheit (30.9 degrees Celsius).On the illustration below we can see how the temperature changes around 140 cd/m2 (which is 65% on this device). High notes are where the Swift 3’s speakers performed best. Using a-ha’s Take On Me as a test, I was impressed by how similar it sounded to my Sennheiser headphones or Logitech speaker & subwoofer system. I didn’t notice any dropped notes, and even the song’s highest frequencies weren’t tinny at all. The Swift 3 features a 14-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) display that isn't the crispest on the market, but which is more than enough for most purposes. Several hours of HD streaming movies looked excellent bright enough in all but the most direct sunlight. While watching a trailer for The Broken Heart Gallery, I noted that the picture was very crisp and clear, and it would have been enjoyable to watch, but the dullness of the color really took away from the whole experience. In a scene showing off an urban landscape, the faded appearance of the light and color distracted me from what I was seeing. Considering that the whole movie is supposed to be about art, it’s hard to enjoy when the color is so bland. Moving to the left side of this ultrabook there is nothing but the essentials we can see – Two USB 3.1 ports, one ordinary and Sleep and Charge (meaning it could charge a device even when the laptop is not technically on). Other than that there is a USB type-C port, which we like (USB Type-C all the way!), and full-sized HDMI port, partnered by the tiny hole where the charger would go. We won’t take a lot of your precious time talking about ports, because there are only two more – ordinary USB 2.0 and an SD card reader for them creators. Sadly no RJ45 port is present on this device, but it is what it is.

Our battery life test, where we loop a 1080p video, ran for 7 hours and 6 minutes, about the same as older models of the Swift 3, but on the PC Mark 10 battery test, the Swift 3 ran for 6 hours and 12 minutes on performance mode with a balanced power profile and made it a full eight hours on a modest battery saver mode and balanced power profile. As what may have been expected, the color production wasn’t great for the Acer Swift 3. According to our colorimeter, the Acer Swift 3 produced 62% of the sRGB color gamut, falling short of the Intel Swift 3’s 66%, and falling below the HP Envy 13’s 99%. It doesn’t even come close to the category average of 91%. Acer Swift 3 (AMD) review: Keyboard and touchpadThe AMD Acer Swift 3 flew by the Intel model (7:31), as well as the 7:56 category average. Meanwhile, the HP Envy 13 (11:11) just barely beat the Acer Swift 3 by two minutes. Acer Swift 3 (AMD) review: Webcam The Acer Swift 3 (2020) is an affordable Ultrabook, but that does come at a cost. There was a decent amount of bloatware on the Swift 3 when we got it, but nothing that a ten minute sweep through the Windows Control Panel's app management utility couldn't clear up. Being used by million people around the world the colors from the sRGB gamut are the most common and their accurate reproduction is of key importance for the quality of the screen.