Today we are having a cage match between two of my favorite non-touch thin and light windows laptop! On one hand I have got Acer Swift 3 and on the other hand is Asus Vivobook S14. Swift 3 offers a choice of going with either Intel or AMD CPU, while Vivobook S14 only comes in Intel configuration. To find out which one of these 2 laptops give the best bang for bucks, let's put them through a 5 round cage match, Techno Panda style. So keep watching to find out who gets crowned the champion and who goes home the loser!
Round 1: Build Quality
Both Acer Swift 3 and Asus VivoBook S14 have a fully metallic body. There is no cheap plastic used anywhere in their construction. Even though both laptops are sporting a 14” display, Swift 3 weighs only 2.65 pounds beating out VivoBook S14 which is slightly heavier weighing around 3 pound. So that's 1.2 vs 1.4 kilogram and even though this difference in weight may not sound significant, one can clearly feel the difference when holding them in hands.
When it comes to aesthetics, I prefer the matte black color and sandblasted metallic texture of Asus VivoBook S14. Its silver colored logo on the matte black lid looks very premium. Acer Swift 3 on the other hand has gone for a minimalist look. It is encased in gray aluminum/magnesium shell with no outside detailing, aside from a reflective silver Acer logo. Both laptops are using a solid metallic unibody hinge which provides ample support for the screen.
I prefer the hinge on Acer Swift 3 because it extends all the way back 180 degrees, making it more versatile. But when it comes to overall aesthetics, I prefer the diamond cut edges on Asus VivoBook S14 which not only look premium but also provide a better grip when opening the laptop. Both laptops sport a thin wedge shaped design which makes it very convenient to slip them in a backpack and carry around, something students and working professionals will really appreciate.
So this is a tough round. I prefer the light weight and 180 degree hinge
mechanism on Acer Swift 3. But Asus VivoBook S14 just looks and feels more
premium. So I will have to go with VivoBook S14 and declare it the winner of
this round. After round 1, the score reads 1-0 in favour of Asus VivoBook S14
Round 2: Keyboard/Trackpad
Both Swift 3 and VivoBook S14 use an island style backlit enabled keyboard,
but their color schemes are very different. Swift 3 uses silver colored keys
with white lettering while VivoBook S14 has black keys with white lettering
which offers much better contrast. I found Acer Swift 3’s white backlighting
on silver keys barely visible during day-time use. Asus VivoBook S14’s
backlighting on the other hand worked great in both brightly lit and dark
conditions. I also dig its quirky neon colored Enter key that glows even if
the backlighting is turned off. Now, both keyboards offer a decent key travel
distance and springy feedback, resulting in pleasant typing experience. But
Acer Swift 3 has messed up the placement of the power button. It's situated
right next to the delete key, and is prone to accidental presses. The last
thing anyone would want while typing is to accidentally shutdown their
laptop.
Moving on to the trackpad, both laptops are using a plastic
trackpad. But I prefer the glass-like coating on VivoBook S14’s trackpad
surface. It feels very smooth when sliding fingers across its surface. I also
prefer the color scheme on VivoBook S14’s trackpad. Its gunmetal surface is
surrounded by a metallic silver strip which nicely complements the diamond cut
edges on this laptop. Acer Swift 3 on the other hand comes with a bland silver
colored trackpad. Both laptops are equipped with a fast fingerprint reader
capable of unlocking it in well under a second even if the display is turned
off. Overall I prefer the keyboard and trackpad on Asus VivoBook S14 and will
declare it the winner of this round. So with back to back wins,
Asus Vivobook S14 is now leading this contest 2-0 after round 2
Round 3: Display
Both Acer Swift 3 and Asus VivoBook S14 come with a 14 inch Full HD widescreen display. They both use an LED backlit IPS panel with matte coating that helps reduce annoying glares and reflections from bright light sources like an open window or harsh office lighting. Last year's Acer Swift 3 model was using an inferior screen that maxed out at 240 nits of brightness and only delivered a dismal 64% SRGB color gamut. But thankfully this year's model has bumped up the peak brightness to 300 nits and improved the color gamut to 100% SRGB.
Asus VivoBook S14’s screen on the other hand also delivers 100% SRGB color
gamut, but its brightness is capped at around 250 nits. So if we compare the
display on this year's Acer Swift 3 with Asus VivoBook S14, Acer comes out on
the top. So with this win, Acer has narrowed the gap and now
the score reads 2-1 still in favour of Asus. BTW you can still buy last
year's Acer Swift 3 model which is cheaper and comes with a kickass 8-core AMD
Ryzen processor. But it's display isn't as good as this year’s model.
Round 4: CPU & GPU
Let's talk about hardware specs. Acer Swift 3 offers 2 CPU choices: AMD Ryzen 7 4700U and Intel Core i7-1165G7. Asus VivoBook S14 on the other hand does not offer an AMD configuration. You only get it in Intel Core i5-1135G7 configuration.
Here is a chart comparing these 3 CPUs. Ryzen 7 4700u offers 8 cores while Intel core-i5 and i7 chips are stuck at 4 cores. But Intel supports hyperthreading which allows its CPUs to match the thread count of Ryzen 7. They can also reach higher turbo clock frequency which boosts single thread performance. As a result both Core-i5 and Core-i7 beat Ryzen 7 4700u in the Cinebench Single-Core benchmark. But Ryzen 7 4700u completely flips the script in Cinebench Multi-Core benchmark beating out both Intel processors by almost 15%.
Moving on to graphics, here is a chart showing the relative performance of the
integrated GPUs in these laptops. Surprisingly the new Intel Iris Xe graphics
in both Core-i7 and i5 beat integrated Radeon graphics by a respectable
margin. So here is the bottom line. Both these laptops are great for internet
surfing, casual gaming, word processing, spreadsheet as well as running
intense applications like video and photo editing. But I will have to give
this round to Acer because it offers both 11th gen intel core-i7 as well as
Ryzen 7 4700u processors. Asus on the other hand only offers 11th gen intel
core-i5 configuration. So with this win, Acer has now closed the gap, and our
scores are tied at 2-all after round 4
Round 5 Value for Money
So which laptop offers the best bang for bucks? Intel flavour of both Acer Swift 3 and Asus VivoBook S14 are identically priced. But Swift 3 is using the faster Core i7 processor while VivoBook S14 is using the slower Core i5 processor. So that's an easy win for Acer Swift 3 because the core-i7 model is almost 14% faster in single thread CPU benchmark and 22% faster in graphics benchmark over core-i5 model of Asus VivoBook S14. Acer Swift 3 also comes in Ryzen 7 4700u configuration which is cheaper and offers better multi-threaded CPU performance.
Now, Asus Vivobook S14 is definitely a more
stylish laptop with better design and aesthetics, but it simply cannot match
the performance of Acer Swift 3. So I will have to give this round to Acer.
And with this win, Acer Swift 3 comes from behind and takes the crown winning
this contest by 3-2. Asus Vivobook S14 was able to take an early lead based on
its superior build quality and design aesthetics. But Acer Swift 3 fought back
with its superior CPU and graphics configuration and a better display and
overall value for money. So that's it for today guys. Which laptop
would you have picked as the winner today? Let me know in the comment section
below.
Purchase Links
👉 Buy Acer Swift 3
👉 Buy Asus VivoBook S14
Buy 1080p USB Webcam
👉 Fifine
Hardware upgrades
👉 Buy recommended RAM upgrades
👉 Buy recommended SATA3 SSD upgrades
👉 Buy recommended PCIe NVMe SSD upgrades
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