Acer Swift 3 13.5" B08P5724PZ Sparkly Silver 2022

The Acer Swift 3 B08P5724PZ is a lightweight 13.5-inch laptop with a sharp 3:2 display and great port selection for the price. It's fine for students and office work, but the 8GB of soldered RAM and weak gaming performance hold it back. At around USD 589 on Newegg, it's a decent budget ultraportable, but most people will be happier spending a bit more on a newer model.

The Core i7-1165G7 is a 4-core, 8-thread chip with a 2.8GHz base clock and up to 4.7GHz turbo. In our database, this CPU lands in the 25th percentile for laptops, which means it's well behind newer silicon like the Apple M-series or Intel's 13th and 14th Gen parts. For everyday tasks like web browsing, word processing, and video calls, it's fine. But don't expect it to chew through video exports or heavy multitasking without some fan noise and waiting.

The Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics sit right around the middle of the pack, at the 49th percentile. That's enough for light photo editing, streaming, and older or less demanding games at low settings. But this is not a gaming laptop. Our data puts gaming performance at 6.1 out of 100, which is about as low as it gets. If you want to play anything modern, look elsewhere. The 512GB NVMe SSD is quick for booting and loading apps, though its storage capacity percentile of 37 means it's on the smaller side compared to many current laptops.

The Apple MacBook Pro M5 is in a completely different league on performance and battery life, but it also costs a lot more. If your budget stretches, the MacBook Pro will run circles around the Swift 3 in everything from video editing to gaming. The Lenovo Legion 5i 83F00008US is a gaming laptop, so it's heavier and bulkier, but it offers discrete graphics and far better gaming performance. If you want to play games, the Legion is the obvious choice.

The ASUS Zenbook UX3405CA-U9321TB is probably the closest competitor in terms of size and portability. It has a newer processor and better overall performance, though it may cost a bit more. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition offers a premium build, a high-quality display, and better long-term support, but again at a higher price. The MSI Creator A13V targets content creators with more powerful internals, but it's heavier and pricier. For pure portability and a tall screen on a budget, the Swift 3 holds its own, but it's outclassed on performance by nearly every competitor here.

At USD 589 to USD 669 in the US, the Swift 3 is priced like a budget ultraportable, and that's about right. The cheapest listing we found is on Newegg at USD 589, while other sellers go up to USD 669. In Europe, prices range from EUR 758 to EUR 860, with the best deal at EUR 758. For the money, you get a great screen, a light body, and solid port selection. But you're also buying into a platform with soldered RAM and an aging CPU. If you can find it at the low end of that range, it's a reasonable deal for a student or office worker. At the high end, you're better off looking at newer options like the ASUS Zenbook UX3405CA or Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition, which offer more modern internals for not much more cash.

The Acer Swift 3 SF313-53-78UG is a thin and light laptop aimed at students and commuters who want something easy to carry. It packs an 11th Gen Intel Core i7-1165G7, 8GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD into a 1.19kg chassis. The standout feature is the 13.5-inch 2256x1504 IPS display with a 3:2 aspect ratio, which gives you more vertical room for documents and web pages than the usual 16:9 screen. Prices in the US sit between USD 589 and USD 669 depending on the seller, which puts it in the budget to mid-range bracket for ultraportables.

Is the Acer Swift 3 good for students? For note-taking, essay writing, and research, the tall display and light body make it a solid pick. The keyboard is backlit, and you get a fingerprint reader for quick Windows Hello logins. But the 8GB of soldered RAM is a real limitation if you keep dozens of browser tabs open or run heavier apps. And while the Core i7 sounds impressive, this is a low-power chip designed for efficiency, not raw performance.

Port selection is better than you'd expect at this size. You get Thunderbolt 4 over USB-C, two USB-A ports, and a full-size HDMI 2.0 port. That means you can hook up an external monitor without a dongle, which is rare on laptops this thin. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 round out the connectivity story.

Skip the Acer Swift 3 if you need to run demanding software, edit video, or play games. The integrated graphics and 8GB of soldered RAM will leave you frustrated. Creative professionals should look at the MSI Creator A13V or Apple MacBook Pro M5 instead. If you want a similar size but better performance and future-proofing, the ASUS Zenbook UX3405CA or Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition are worth the extra money. And if you're a gamer, just get the Lenovo Legion 5i and don't look back.

Should you buy the Acer Swift 3 B08P5724PZ? If you need a very light laptop for writing, browsing, and streaming, and you can grab it for around USD 589, it's a decent buy. The 3:2 display is genuinely nice for reading and productivity, and the port selection means you won't need a bag full of adapters. The backlit keyboard and fingerprint reader are nice touches at this price.

But if you plan to do anything beyond basic tasks, the 8GB of soldered RAM and aging CPU will frustrate you. Gaming is basically off the table, and heavy multitasking will show the limits of this machine quickly. For most people, spending a little more on a newer ultraportable with 16GB of RAM will be a better long-term investment. This is a laptop for a specific kind of buyer: someone who values weight and screen shape above all else, and who doesn't need much power.