Acer Swift 3 with Ryzen 4700U—a budget laptop punching above its class

Enlarge / The Swift 3 is a Ryzen 7 4700u powered workhorse that offers more performance on a smaller budget than we've come to expect. (credit: Jim Salter)

Today, we're going to look at Acer's new Swift 3 (Ryzen model), a general-purpose budget laptop aimed at anybody looking for a general-purpose laptop. It doesn't cost a ton of money, it has most of the devices and features most people will look for in a laptop, and it's equally appropriate for teens who need a school laptop or adults who need an inexpensive work laptop.

We got our first look at a Ryzen 4000-powered laptop back in April, with the Asus Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop. The Ryzen 9 4900HS CPU in that gaming laptop was phenomenal, even if the rest of the laptop didn't quite live up to its promise. The Swift 3 in many ways continues that story-one of a laptop that's built cheaply to hit lower price points within its general class, but has a lot more power under the hood than you'd typically expect at that price point.

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  The keyboard on the Swift 3 is-aside from performance-its best feature. All the keys you expect are where they should be, the shape and spacing is good, and the travel and weight is great for a laptop. The touchpad is good also. [credit: Jim Salter ]

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