Acer Aspire S3
The basics
The Acer Aspire S3 is a cheap ultrabook that can be found online for anything from £600 to £800 depending on spec. It comes in an Intel Core i5 and Intel Core i7 version with a 500GB HHD or 240GB SSD and a 13.3-inch screen.
The good
The build is great, and the Acer Aspire S3 is a nice looking laptop, if not spectacular. It’s surprisingly solid despite its thin build. Acer has managed to cram a lot into the Acer S3, and for a budget price (compared to other ultrabooks).
The Intel Core i5 processor, combined with 4GB of memory ensures that performance is at least relatively nippy. You should be able to do most things with the Acer S3, including playing games. This Ultrabook isn’t the fastest laptop around but it does the job, although you will notice that some application may take longer to load than others when working at full tilt.
A couple of USB ports and HDMI at the back is most welcome, particularly on a laptop as thin as the Acer S3.
The bad
Unfortunately battery life isn’t so hot. The Acer S3 will last you around 5 hours before you’ll need to think about charging it again. When its competitors are boasting more than seven, and tablets such as the new iPad are boasting of 10 hours, five hours just won’t cut it. It’s a real let down.
And while the connectivity options are appreciated, their placement, at the back makes using them awkward, particularly when using the USB port.
The arrow keys are also far too small to be useful when playing games, or navigating spreadsheets. If you’ve got tiny fingers, great! If not then you find using these a real pain. Thankfully the rest of the keys fare better, are well spaced and easy to type on.
The bottom line
The Acer S3 feels like a middle of the road laptop. It does everything you need it to do without ever excelling itself. A short battery life is the real kicker, but that’s the price you pay for an ultrabook that costs a lot less than many of its competitors.
User comments (2)
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Raish Allan24 March 2012
What is it an Acer or Asus, major typo's in there's or at least it the wrong wrong with picture.
Report as inappropriateChristopher Bingham25 March 2012
It is an Acer as can be seen from the picture. Asus are far better - I would never buy Acer and have an Asus. Asus is far superior build quality and performance.
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