Acer Swift 3 (2022) vs Acer Aspire 5: Which is better?

Acer recently introduced its latest generation Swift 3, one of the most popular laptops on the market. The new updated Acer Swift 3 (2022) model has 12th generation Intel Core processors and has a host of other improvements. You also get up to a 2TB SSD and some fun colors to choose from. The Acer Swift 3 (2022) comes at a fairly affordable price, which puts it more in line with a lot of other budget laptops. We have already compared the Acer Swift 3 (2022) with two other laptops in a similar price range or with similar specs. In this article, we are going to take a look at the new Acer Swift 3 vs Acer Aspire 5 comparison to see which one is better.

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Acer Swift 3 (2022) vs. Acer Aspire 5: Specs

Before we look at the comparison between the Acer Swift 3 (2022) and the Acer Aspire 5, let’s check out the specifications of each notebook to see what each brings to the table:

Acer Swift 3 (2022) vs. Acer Aspire 5: Performance

The new Acer Swift 3 2022 models, as you can see, are powered by the new 12th generation Intel processors. This is probably one of the biggest upgrades found on the new Acer Swift 3 models. The new Intel chip, in case you didn’t know, has a mix of performance (P) and efficiency (E) cores. New chips generally have a larger number of cores and threads, which leads to a significant increase in performance compared to the previous generation.

Another interesting thing about the new Acer Swift 3 is that all models now use Intel’s P 12th series chipsets. This means that they have a higher TDP of 28 watts compared to the 15 watts we saw in the previous generation. Acer could have used lower-powered U-chips for these laptops, but we’re happy to see more powerful chips in action here. This will greatly improve performance. You can check out our Intel Alder Lake P-series vs. U-series chipset comparison to see the differences between these groups.

The Acer Aspire 5, on the other hand, is available with Intel’s new 12th Alder Lake U-series mobile chips. It’s worth noting that Acer has only listed a few variants on its website at the moment, so there’s a good chance we’ll see more in the near future. It’s also worth noting that you’ll find a lot of variants that are powered by relatively older Intel and AMD chips including 11th generation Tiger Lake processors and Ryzen 3000 and 4000 series as well. We recommend purchasing the latest Aspire 5 that is powered by Intel’s new Alder Lake chips. Acer has yet to confirm whether or not it will use the new AMD Ryzen 6000 processors, so we may have to wait a little longer.

As we mentioned in the spec sheet above, you’ll find some Aspire 5 units powered by Alder Lake U-series chipsets. However, these variants may not be as powerful as the Acer Swift 3 (2022) models powered by P-series chipsets. This is because U series processors have a lower TDP compared to P series units. We’ll have more to talk about the performance difference in detail once we get a chance to compare these laptops side by side.

Moving on to memory, we’re looking at up to 16GB of LPDDR4X memory on the Acer Swift 3 (2022). Intel’s new chips support DDR5/LPDDR5 memory, but Acer decided to stick with LPDDR4X, perhaps to keep the overall price of the laptop down. The new Aspire 5 models are available with up to 16GB of DDR4 SDRAM. All of the new models listed on Acer’s website with 12th-generation Intel processors have 16GB of RAM by default, and it remains to be seen if some have the option to configure them with less memory to save some money. However, the options available are limited to DDR4 only, so keep that in mind.

The Acer Swift 3 (2022) is also a clear winner when it comes to storage. You can get the new Swift 3 with up to 2TB of PCIe NVMe SSD, while the Aspire 5 only comes with up to 512GB of PCIe SSD. However, you can add an optional hard drive for more storage on the Aspire 5, but it won’t be as fast as the M.2 drive inside the Swift 3.

Finally, before we move on to the other section of this comparison, it’s worth noting that we expect the Swift 3 (2022) to have better battery life. According to Acer, it uses a 56Wh battery for the Acer Swift 3 (2022) models, which it says should be enough for up to 10.5 hours of use. Based on the laptops we’ve reviewed in the past, it’s safe to say that you’ll get at least up to 7 hours of use on a single charge. However, the mileage is bound to vary depending on the amount of work. The company hasn’t mentioned the exact battery capacity of the Aspire 5 models but says they’ll last up to 7 hours on a single charge. If Acer was using the same 56Wh battery inside the Aspire 5, this would have slightly better battery life thanks to the lower-powered U-series processors.

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The Acer Swift 3 (2022) notebook comes in two display options – a 14-inch FHD or a 14-inch QHD IPS panel. Both screens have a 16:9 aspect ratio and use the same display technology, so resolution is pretty much the only difference. If we wanted to pick one, we’d choose a 1080p panel because that’s more than enough for a small display of this size. We’ve seen some other 14-inch laptops with longer aspect ratios, although there’s no such option with the Acer Swift 3 (2022).

The Aspire 5 laptop, on the other hand, is available for purchase with quite a few display options. You can get it with either a 14 inch, 15.6 inch or even a 17.3 inch screen. However, all of these screens have the same 1080p resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio. The only real difference between them is the physical size, so be sure to choose the one that fits your use case. Notably, new models of the Aspire 5 powered by 12th-generation Alder Lake chipsets have a 14-inch screen.

Both mobile devices have webcams on top of the screen, which is the perfect place for a webcam. However, Acer Swift 3 (2022) models have a higher resolution camera. We’re looking at a 1080p camera on all the 2022 Acer Swift 3 models. The Aspire 5 listing doesn’t explicitly say if it uses a new 1080p camera for its webcam, so we’ll have to speculate a bit here. If Acer decides to use the same webcam for new models, we will consider 720p HD cameras. Higher resolution doesn’t always translate to better quality, but the Acer Swift 3 camera also supports features like temporary noise reduction for overall better quality. It’s hard to tell which one is better in terms of overall quality, but the Acer Swift 3 (2022) definitely has a better webcam, on paper at least.

However, both mobile devices lack infrared support which means you can’t use it for Windows Hello facial recognition. The Acer Swift 3 is better in this regard as it at least comes with a fingerprint scanner for authentication. Since there is no mention of biometric authentication support in the Aspire 5 notebook, we tend to think that even the newer Aspire 5 models don’t.

Design and ports

The Acer Swift 3 (2022) comes in three fun colors – Safari Gold, Snow Blue and Pure Silver. You can check out the three color options in the image below. They all look great but we think the Snow Blue variant in particular looks fresh and more appealing. Acer didn’t mention the material used in the chassis, although we think it’s made of magnesium alloy, just like the older models. More premium materials are usually reserved for more expensive laptops like the Swift X.

The Acer Aspire 5 also has a very similar form factor, but its chassis looks a bit dated. You can get black colored keycaps on the keyboard no matter which color option you choose, and the displays have huge bezels around them as well. The new Acer Swift 3 is definitely the better device overall.

If you look at the dimensions on the spec sheet above, you’ll notice that the Acer Swift 3 is thinner and more compact than the Aspire 5. The Swift 3 is also a bit lighter at just 1.25kg compared to the 1.76kg starting weight of the Aspire 5.

Selection of Acer Swift 3 Ports (2022)

When it comes to choosing ports, the Aspire 5 is arguably better. You only get two Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C) and two USB Type-A ports along with an HDMI port and a headphone jack in the Swift 3. The Aspire 5 gives you one USB Type-C port, up to three USB Type-A ports, An HDMI port, an Ethernet port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It’s worth noting that the USB-C port on the AMD laptop variant does not support Thunderbolt because Thunderbolt is Intel’s technology.

Choice of 5 Acer Aspire Ports

We think the Aspire 5 laptop scores great points for adding an Ethernet port, but you only get one USB-C port versus two in the Swift 3. The lack of an Ethernet port isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker but definitely something to consider. As for connectivity, you get WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 with the Swift 3 while you only get WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 with the Aspire 5.

Which one should you buy?

All things considered, we think it’s safe to say that the new Acer Swift 3 beats the Aspire 5 in more ways than one. For starters, the Aspire 5 runs Intel’s new Alder Lake U series chips and not P series processors like the Swift 3 (2022). While the U series chips will make the Aspire 5 more power efficient, they will also lack the performance front. The 12th-generation Intel P-series processors inside the Swift 3 will perform better even at a slightly lower cost of battery life. We suggest you wait a little longer to see if Acer announces more Aspire 5 laptop models with Intel’s Alder Lake P-series chipsets or AMD’s new Ryzen 6000 processors.

In addition, the Swift 3 is also more compact and lighter than the Aspire 5. Not to mention that the Swift 3, being the new device, also looks better overall, thanks to the fun new color options available. And despite its compact form factor, the Swift 3 has a decent selection of ports with no Ethernet port compared to the Aspire 5.

The Acer Swift 3 (2022) beats the Aspire 5, but you can’t ignore the fact that the Aspire 5 costs $200 less than its base price. The Aspire 5 is just a good budget laptop that comes with a few compromises to keep the price down. You can definitely buy an Acer Swift 3 if you don’t have any budget constraints, but we think it might be worth waiting for more Aspire 5 models to come out and see the cost. The Acer Swift 3 (2022) won’t go on sale until June, so there’s still plenty of time to look into it. We will add links to purchase both mobile devices as soon as they are available for purchase.

In the meantime, you can also check out our collection of the best Acer laptops to see if you’d like to buy something else instead of waiting. Or you can also check out our roundup of the best laptops to find more options from other manufacturers.