Acer Switch 3 - Review 2022

Microsoft's Surface Pro has created a booming marketplace—for tablet/laptop two-in-1s for buyers who can't afford that premium-priced model. The latest entry is the Acer Switch 3, a detachable hybrid priced at $449.99 including the tablet, keyboard comprehend, and stylus. The to the lowest degree expensive Surface Pro is $799 for the tablet alone or north of $1,000 if you spring for the keyboard and pen. On the other cease of the cost spectrum, the $299 Lenovo IdeaPad Miix 320 is our Editors' Pick for budget 2-in-1 detachables for its solid feature ready and sturdy design, only the Switch 3, with its more muscular components, is well worth a look if you don't need to stay under $300.

All Modernistic Conveniences

Available in a single configuration, the Acer Switch iii has a gray metal dorsum that picks up a few finger smudges, while the black bezel around its drinking glass screen collects thumbprints like crazy. The keyboard encompass continues the dark gray theme—none of the burgundy or blueish available from Microsoft. Measuring 0.39 by eleven.6 past 7.9 inches (HWD), the tablet is about the same size as a Surface Pro, and substantially larger than the Transformer Mini's 0.5 by 10.2 by 6.7 inches. The extra width makes for more comfortable typing.

It's also relatively heavy—one.98 pounds without the keyboard cover, compared with one.75 for the Asus Transformer Mini (including its keyboard comprehend), 2.2 pounds for the Miix 320, and one.69 for the Cadre m3 Surface Pro. The keyboard encompass adds a quarter-inch of thickness and iii-quarters of a pound, making the Switch no burden in a briefcase only a bit much to carry past hand for long periods. A loop on the side of the keyboard holds the supplied stylus.

As y'all hold the tablet in landscape mode, screen facing you, the ports are on the left edge: a connector for the AC adapter, a microSD bill of fare slot, a USB 3.0 port, a USB-C port, and a headphone jack. Acer says the USB-C port can charge low-wattage devices as well as serving as a data port and DisplayPort video output, but is non used to charge the Switch 3—the proprietary plug takes care of that. Tiny, shallow buttons for ability, book, and the Windows menu are on the summit edge (the power push button in particular was hard to appoint). The U-shaped kickstand opens as far as 165 degrees from affluent with the dorsum of the tablet.

A 2-megapixel webcam takes attractive selfies and Skype videos, with proficient exposure and well-baked details. We are less impressed with the five-megapixel camera on the dorsum of the tablet, which captures adequate shots when you need it just generally can't practise anything your smartphone camera tin can't. The speakers near the forepart corners produce plenty volume to fill a room, but sound is flat and tinny, with no bass to speak of.

Attaching the tablet to the keyboard cover is simply a matter of centering the old'southward Acer logo over the latter'due south pogo pins and letting the built-in magnets snap the ii together. An additional magnetic flap in the keyboard cover props it at a slight angle for comfortable typing. Undocking is every bit easy as grasping the tablet and pulling information technology free. Similar the Surface Pro and pretty much all detachables with kickstands, the Switch three felt a little unsteady when used equally a laptop—the kickstand is prone to slide off your knees—but solid when resting on a desk-bound or tabular array.

The keyboard is full-sized (the A through apostrophe keys span the desktop regulation 8 inches) and well laid out, with inverted-T cursor arrows, admitting minor ones, and with Control and Delete keys in their proper lower left and upper correct corners, respectively. In that location are dedicated Page Up and Page Down keys—they team with the Fn key for Home and End—and large Backspace, Enter, and correct Shift keys.

Typing feel is ameliorate than expected, and ameliorate than the Asus Mini'due south—travel is naturally shallow and in the first few minutes it feels equally if in that location's a piece of cardboard under the keys, only feedback is perky and maintaining a good typing speed isn't hard. The touchpad is minor but glides and taps smoothly. Affect screen operations are polish too, with minimal lag, and the two-push button stylus works accurately, with skilful palm rejection.

The 12.two-inch IPS screen offers 1,920-by-i,200 resolution, with ample effulgence and wide viewing angles. Colors are true, if perchance very slightly muted instead of bold or popping, simply fine details are precipitous and contrast is splendid. Videos we sampled looked great in our testing, fifty-fifty if letterboxed for the Acer'due south 16:10 rather than 16:ix attribute ratio.

The Correct Tool for the Chore

The Switch 3 comes packed with a 1.1GHz (2.5GHz turbo) Pentium N4200 quad-core CPU with Intel Hard disk drive 505 integrated graphics. Forth with 4GB of retention and 64GB of Hynix eMMC flash storage—a weak spot if y'all hope to install a lot of applications—information technology powered the Switch 3 to a respectable score of ane,868 points in our PCMark eight Work productivity examination. That's far from a tape-setting result (it'south some 600 points shy of our favorite budget convertible, the Lenovo Yoga 710), but it's 400-odd points upwardly on the Miix 320.

The Acer also did reasonably well in our multimedia benchmarks, finishing our Adobe Photoshop workflow in vii minutes and 43 seconds—nearly 10 minutes quicker than the Miix 320, though trailing the Yoga and the Dell Inspiron 3179—and completing our Handbrake video encoding test in less than 4 minutes. That'southward sluggish by desktop or desktop replacement laptop standards (and no one is going to practise much video editing on a budget tablet anyway), but earns respect.

See How We Test Laptops

In our graphics and gaming benchmarks, by contrast, the Acer and its competitors were also-rans, nowhere near the 30 frames per 2d threshold for shine gameplay. They're destined strictly for solitaire and casual games, not fast-twitch fragging.

Ideally, you'd use your detachable throughout a workday of word processing and spreadsheeting, and then jettison the keyboard and get comfortable with the tablet for a relaxing evening of web and video viewing. The Acer tin can get y'all through the first office of that scenario, but not the second—at 8 hours and 38 minutes in our bombardment life test, you'll demand to plug in for after-hours employ. The Miix 320's time of 13:25 is much more along the lines of what nosotros like to see in this segment.

Pick a Size, Pick a Portable

Better bombardment life, more storage, and a lower price help the Lenovo Miix 320 retain its Editors' Choice crown among budget detachable hybrids, but the Acer Switch 3 is a commencement-course contender with a superior keyboard and a larger (12.ii versus ten.1 inches) screen. We'd advise y'all to make your option based on display size and price: the Lenovo if portability and upkeep thing most, the Acer if yous want to practice less squinting and get piece of work washed faster.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/review/16793/acer-switch-3

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