Acer Aspire S3 ultrabook review

High-performance ultrabook with a competitive price point

Acer is aiming to grab a piece of the ultrabook market by undercutting the competition with its Aspire S3 range.

The Aspire S3 series has much in common with other ultrabooks on the market in terms of size, weight and performance. However, there are some differences that keep the cost of the device down when compared to similar 13in ultrabooks.

Ultra-thin but uninspiring design The Aspire S3 has most of the characteristics that you would expect in an ultrabook. The device is stick-thin with dimensions of 323x219x17.5mm, which is in line with most other 13in ultrabooks.

Build quality is reasonable but the S3 doesn't exude that premium finish we have seen with rivals such as the Apple MacBook Air and Asus Zenbook. Acer's decision to go with a metallic cover on the S3 is a nice touch, but other design choices give the device a budget look. When the lid is opened, users are greeted with a drab set of grey keys and a plastic chassis.

However, as we saw with the Asus Zenbook UX21E, beauty doesn't always guarantee performance and there are areas where the Acer device excels.

With a weight of 1.35kg, the S3 is not the lightest ultrabook out there, but is definitely light enough to carry around all day when you are travelling.

The Taiwanese manufacturer has also sealed the back of the ultrabook so it is not possible to swap out battery on the move.

Standard display The S3 features a 13.3in LED backlit display that comes with an optimal resolution of 1366x768. This display is adequate for general word processing tasks and browsing the internet. But it isn't quite as crisp as the 1,600x900 display found on the 13in Asus Zenbook.

Similarly, brightness and viewing angles are not the best we have seen, but the screen is more than adequate for everyday tasks and for multimedia playback.

We were impressed with the flexibility of the hinge and the display is one of the most adjustable we have seen on an ultrabook so far. The 13in screen is able to tilt backward to almost 180 degrees, so can be adjusted to compensate for overhead reflections.

Acer Aspire S3 ultrabook review

High-performance ultrabook with a competitive price point

Intel Core i7 and hybrid storage
Acer has set out to offer high performance at a lower price points than its rivals. Our review unit featured a high-end Intel Core i7-2637M dual-core processor running at 1.7GHz. This can be increased to 2.8GHz to handle complex multimedia tasks using Intel's Turbo Boost functionality.

Acer ships the S3 with 4GB of RAM, which is more than reasonable, but users should be warned this is the maximum the device can handle, so no further performance enhancements can be made.

The S3 is able to handle basic word processing tasks and internet browsing well. It is also possible to carry out video editing and streaming on the device, but we did find performance to get a tad sluggish, something we have not experienced with other ultrabooks to date.

To help cut costs Acer has included a small 20GB SSD and a traditional 500GB HDD. The SSD is included to cater to the fast-booting requirements laid out by Intel and the HDD is used for file storage. The two drives work together well and the S3 resumes from sleep mode in two seconds, just as quick as any of its SSD-only rivals.

The use of a traditional spinning disk does make the S3 noisier than competing devices, but this is a minor niggle and doesn't really affect performance. After prolonged use the HDD is almost certainly going to need a reformat to ensure that performance is not compromised.

Unsurprisingly, other enterprise friendly features such as the Trusted Platform Module, fingerprint scanner and Window 7 Professional are not included to keep costs down. However, it is possible to beef up security by setting up BIOS passwords.

Standard connectivity The portable nature of ultrabooks means that connectivity is sacrificed and the S3 is no different. The chassis comes with two USB 2.0 ports and a HDMI output. These connections are located on the back of the device, which is good as it keeps peripherals out of the way.

On the right-hand edge is an SD card reader and the audio jack/microphone are located on the opposite side. It would have been good to see a couple of other USB ports or a native Ethernet port, to prevent the need for adapters.

In term of wireless connectivity, the ultrabook comes with Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0 capabilities.

Acer Aspire S3 ultrabook review

High-performance ultrabook with a competitive price point

Keyboard is great and trackpad basic
One of the major issues that has plagued many ultrabooks has been the poor input. We were pleased to find that S3 has one of the better keyboards and it is easy to use for long periods.

Acer has gone with the popular chiclet layout, but it is the extra depth in the keys compared to other ultrabooks that makes all the difference. The only niggle we have is that the 'Enter' key has been split to include the backslash symbol. We found ourselves hitting the latter on a few occasions, but soon got used to it.

Acer has kept the trackpad pretty simple. The surface area is smaller than we would have liked, but responsiveness is good. Acer has embedded the mouse keys into the design, which doesn't always make for the best user experience. However, we found it easy to initiate right and left clicks.

Battery is reasonable
Acer claims the device will provide six hours of battery life, so it will need a recharge during the day if you are going to be using it constantly. The S3 managed just one hour and 18 minutes in the Battery Eater Pro Classic test, which simulates high-intensity activity.

In the Reader test, which simulates reading a text document, the ultrabook lasted five hours and 35 minutes. Users can expect the device to last somewhere between these figures when brightness is turned up to full. It is possible to get to the six hour mark, but only by turning down the brightness and performance settings.

When using the ultrabook non-stop with the screen on full brightness and running commonly used applications such as Skype, Microsoft Word and multiple internet tabs, we found the device lasted just over the four hour mark.

Overall
The Aspire S3 isn't the most attractive ultrabook on the market, but does offer excellent value for money. Standout features include the very usable keyboard, fast resume times and reasonable battery life.

For business users who can do without features such as a fingerprint scanner and a Trusted Platform Module, the S3 represents a good option. Our review unit retails for £869, making it well over £250 cheaper than the Toshiba Portégé Z830, which is still the best choice for business users.