ASUS Malaysia has unleashed the upgraded 16-inch ASUS Vivobook 16 (M1605), powered by the latest AMDRyzen 7000 series processors. This laptop is engineered to provide an enhanced visual and performance experience, empowering you to accomplish more.
The key highlight is its impressive 16-inch 16:10 NanoEdge display, boasting an larger screen-to-body ratio of up to 86.5%. This means you get more screen real estate within the same laptop footprint as conventional 15.6-inch models. To enhance your viewing comfort during extended usage, the Vivobook 16 comes certified with TÜV Rheinland’s low blue-light and flicker-free technology.
Under the hood, you’ll find the AMD Ryzen 7 7000-Series processors, 16 GB RAM, and a speedy 512 GB SSD, ensuring seamless performance for your tasks. The Vivobook 16 incorporates a dual-vented cooling system with an IceBlade fan, ensuring quiet and efficient cooling. The substantial 42Wh battery offers extended usage, and you can enjoy ultrafast connectivity thanks to WiFi 6E.
This laptop features a slim and lightweight design complemented by a metal-like finish. Its 180° lay-flat hinge facilitates collaboration, and it also comes with a full range of ports including USB-C 3.2 Gen 1, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, USB 2.0, HDMI 1.4, and an audio combo jack.
The Vivobook 16 incorporates a physical webcam shield for the HD webcam for better security and privacy. It also features a full-size ASUS ErgoSense keyboard and a generously sized touchpad. ASUS Antimicrobial Guard Plus protection is applied to frequently touched areas like the palm rest, keyboard, and trackpad, reducing the transmission of harmful viruses and bacteria.
Environmentally conscious consumers will appreciate that this Vivobook is now crafted using 30% post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastics and comes in 100% recyclable packaging. Its energy efficiency surpasses the ENERGY STAR® standard, and it’s built to endure, adhering to the strict MIL-STD-810H US military-grade standard.
Pricing & Availability
The ASUS Vivobook 16 (M1605) is available in two variants with prices starting from MYR2,599 for the model with Ryzen 5 7530U with 8GB of RAM. While the version with the Ryzen 7 7730U and 16GB of RAM will be priced at MYR2,999.
Both variants come in Indie Black and Cool Silver and are available through authorized ASUS resellers and the official ASUS e-store.
HP has unveiled two impressive additions to its laptop lineup, the Pavilion Plus 14 and 16. These sleek machines combine striking designs with powerful performance, offering users a range of options to meet their computing needs.
HP Pavilion Plus 14: Versatility with Myriad Choices
The Pavilion Plus 14 presents a versatile array of choices for users. It’s available with configurations sporting either Intel or AMD processors. Users can choose between configurations with the Intel Core i5, Intel Core i7, AMD Ryzen 5 or AMD Ryzen 7 processors.
The standout feature here is the display. HP has opted to adopt the 16:10 aspect ratio and it’s pretty clear with the IPS and OLED displays in the HP Pavilion Plus lineup. The base model boasts a crisp 1920×1200 IPS panel, but there are enticing upgrades available. Users can opt for a 2560×1600 IPS screen with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate or an even sharper 2880×1800 OLED display, also at 120Hz. For those choosing the AMD variant, the configurations come with AMD APUs which come with integrated graphics namely the Radeon 740M, 760M, or 780M. The webcam has seen an improvement, now sporting a 5-megapixel camera.
In terms of memory and storage, options begin with 16GB of DDR5 memory and 512GB of PCIe 4.0 SSD storage. Connectivity is robust, featuring dual USB-C ports, USB-A ports, and an HDMI port. HP claims that this laptop can deliver up to an impressive 13.5 hours of video playback on a single charge.
Pavilion Plus 16: A Larger Canvas for Creativity
The Pavilion Plus 16 aims to provide a larger canvas for users who require a bit more screen real estate. It’s equipped with Intel processors, specifically the i5-13500H and i7-3700H. The laptop comes in striking silver and gold colour options. The 16-inch screen boasts a resolution of 2650×1600 at a fluid 120Hz. Graphics options include integrated Intel Xe or a dedicated GeForce RTX 3050 GPU.
Battery life on the Pavilion Plus 16 is impressive – on paper at least. HP touts almost 16 hours of usage. Storage and memory options mirror those of the 14-inch version. The laptop is generously equipped with ports, including a Thunderbolt 4 upgrade for one of the USB-C ports.
Pricing and Availability
The Pavilion Plus 14 starts at $849.99 (MYR3,950.06) and will be available for shipping in September. On the other hand, the Pavilion Plus 16 starts at $999.99 (MYR4,647.14) and is set to launch in October.
We’re sure that Malaysian availability will be announced soon.
AMD’s CES keynote was quite a big one. No, they did not make p15 product announcements. More like they launched just one line-up of small chips to go into small and portable products, and one huge chip meant to go into huge servers you never want to see the inside of the next 10 years. They launched the AMD Ryzen 7000 series for mobile computing devices. Yes, they did launch new Epyc server class processors, but we think that it is worth a story of its own.
Welcome to the latest AMD mobile processor experience. This time AMD launched a few series of Ryzen 7000 processors. You have the AMD Ryzen 7045HX, Ryzen 7040HS, Ryzen 7035, and Ryzen 7030 series processors. There are also AMD Ryzen PRO 7030 series processors designed for the corporate world too.
The AMD Ryzen 7030 Series
Meant to find their way to the budget options, the AMD Ryzen 7030 series processors are really meant to be entry-level powerhouses. You get to opt for up to the AMD Ryzen 7 7730U with up to eight cores and 16 threads. All eight cores are finished with AMD’s 7nm Zen 3 architecture. The Zen 3 architecture may be a previous generation technology, but it is still a highly popular architecture that has proven itself over time.
With constrained budget, most entry-level laptops will not feature their own discrete GPU. That is why the AMD Ryzen 7030 packs its own Radeon graphics that will prove to be useful in both gaming and productivity situations. Then there are the AMD Ryzen PRO 7030 series.
The PRO processors have always been made for corporate laptops. They are more like the older Ryzen PRO 5000 series processor than the newer generation Zen 4 processors. Like the regular AMD Ryzen 7030, they pack 7nm Zen 3 architecture instead of the new Zen 4. While they will perform the same as the regular Ryzen 7030, their added security layer buikt into the chip itself should set itself apart from other AMD Ryzen 7000 series mobile processors.
The AMD Ryzen 7035 Series
Coming up the ladder is AMD’s 6nm processors with up to eight cores and 16 threads on the Ryzen 7035HS. It is the Zen 3+ technology that took the Zen 3 architecture and improved its power efficiency and general processing speed despite similar general architectures. It is designed for productivity machines that are meant to go everywhere. The first of many will be HP’s Dragonfly PRO coming soon. While not at the lowest end of AMD’s latest processors for the mobile computer, the AMD Ryzen 7035 series still aims to impress at a great value.
The AMD Ryzen 7040HS Series
Coming to the more performance focused space is the AMD Ryzen 7040HS processors starting from the Ryzen 5 7640HS processor with six cores and 12 threads. You can opt for a higher end Ryzen 9 7940HS processor with eight cores and 16 threads too.
The Ryzen 7040HS series comes with AMD’s latest Zen 4 architecture for best-in-class performance in modern thin-and-light laptops. The Zen 4 processor also comes built-in with RDNA 3 Radeon graphics too so that you can game even without a discrete GPU.
The AMD Ryzen 7045HX Series
If you want the best of the best, you want AMD’s latest Ryzen 7045HX series processors. Of course, it comes with AMD’s latest 5nm Zen 4 technology. The range-topping AMD Ryzen 9 7945Hz also comes with up 16 cores alongside 32 threads. They clock up to to 5.4GHz on boost and this class of mobile processors will be the closest thing to desktop computing experience you can get on laptops. That said, this could also be the most powerful laptop processors you can find when you get your hands on one.
Because you are going to want to carry your powerhouse of a laptop, the processor must be power efficient too. The most powerful processors in the range consumes up to 75W. In that case, you might see some laptops with AMD’s Ryzen 7045HX processors that can be charged with 100W USB type-C chargers. Of course, you will not be able to use the laptop with its discrete GPU, if it comes with one.
Availability
AMD’s latest Ryzen 7000 series processors for mobile devices will be coming through 2023 from AMD’s manufacturing partners like Lenovo, HP, ASUS, and maybe even Razer. Alongside the new mobile processors, AMD also launched the new AMD Ryzen 9 7800X3D, Ryzen 9 7900X3D, and AMD Ryzen 7950X3D processors as a sort of 3D V-Cache technology upgrade to AMD’s existing line up of desktop processors. You can find more information on AMD’s latest Ryzen processors on their website.
AMD’s Ryzen 7000 processors are perhaps one of the most anticipated updates to the company’s lineup of processors since the first announcement of the Zen architecture. The new processors come with the new Zen 4 microarchitecture. The new microarchitecture promises better, more efficient performance and also allow for higher clock speeds.
With Ryzen 7000 and Zen 4, AMD is finally retiring the AM4 Socket and fully adopting DDR5. As such, manufacturers like ASUS, GIGABYTE, MSI and ASROCK are also releasing updated, beefed up motherboards for the new series. The Ryzen 7000 processors are also bringing a big jump in performance and introducing AMD’s new EXPO technology. AMD EXPO (Extended Profiles for Overclocking) makes overclocking for the best performance a simple task with preset and optimised profiles for any game. Of course, this requires you to use compatible memory which is listed on the AMD EXPO website.
In addition, the new processors come with integrated RDNA2 cores which will give it a slight boost in graphical performance. It goes without saying that the integrated graphics cores are no replacement for dedicated GPUs. That said, with higher clocks and claimed improvements in performance, the new Ryzen 7000 series CPUs are going to cost a pretty penny.
AMD has launched four versions of their Zen 4 processors: the Ryzen 9 7950X, the Ryzen 9 7900X, the Ryzen 7 7700X and the Ryzen 7600X. These processors come with a different number of cores, processing threads, cache, clock speeds and TDPs that are catered to different levels of performance. All four are available in the market starting on September 27, 2022 with prices starting at MYR1,399.
Here’s a rundown of the pricing and details of each processor and their official prices in MYR and USD.
The AMD Ryzen 5000 series, at its launch, was the fastest CPUs for PCs in the world at the time. At launch, Intel did not even have a proper answer to AMD’s best offerings even with their 11th generation CPUs. Their 12th generation Core CPUS’s are something special though and claimed the throne as the best CPUs for Windows 11 and gaming at its time.
The AMD Ryzen line upheld up a few key advantages still over Intel’s best offerings. One of those advantage is that AMD’s offerings was still compatible with chipsets that were a few years old. It supported the first wave of PCIe Gen 4.0 devices before Intel could even hop on the bandwagon. Of course, Intel’s 12th generation CPUs works almost exclusively with DDR5, so there is that.
Now, there is this, the Ryzen 7000 series that just launched. No, they did learn how to count. The Ryzen 6000 series of CPUs are laptop CPUs.
Source: AMD
The new Ryzen then, the fastest gaming chips in the world, they say. The recipe has not changed all that much with the newer CPUs. There is the fact that it is technically the most advanced chip made for the PC in the modern world. It is built with 5nm process now, which means there are more transistor count on the chips compared to what you get from the Ryzen 5000 chips.
The core count has not changed all that much though. At launch, the Ryzen 5 7600X packs six cores while the top end Ryzen 9 7950X packs 16 cores. We are guessing that the most popular option out of the four Ryzen 7000 models launched would be the Ryzen 7 7700X with eight cores and 16 threads.
The new generation Ryzen processors with Zen 4 are quite a bit more power hungry this time round too. The more budget conscious option, the Ryzen 5 7600X’s rated TDP is at 105W, the same TDP rated for the Ryzen 9 5950X at launch. While you might attribute the higher power draw to the increased transistor count thanks to 5nm process, it could also be the higher clock speeds of the new Zen 4 CPUs. The Ryzen 9 7950X, for example, clocks at 4.5GHz while the Ryzen 9 5950X clocks at 3.4GHz.
Instead of Zen 3+, AMD went straight for Zen 4 with the new Ryzen 7000, rightfully so. Thanks to smaller transistors as well, the newer generation processors will generate less heat, which would explain the higher clock speeds too. At the same time, Zen 4 will be all about DDR5 instead of support for DDR4, as well as PCIe 5.0.
With the new chip as well, they are finally retiring the AM4 socket and embracing a new generation of socket for the next few years at least until 2025. They call it the AM5 and the roadmap is pretty straightforward. The new AM5 platform will be exclusively DDR5 platforms with a planned update to PCIe 5.0 eventually.
On paper, the AMD Ryzen 7000 seems like a leap in performance over the older chip. The top-of-the-line AMD Ryzen 7970X delivers 15% more performances across popular games over the older Ryzen 5 5950X in 1080p resolution. The biggest performance leap is across content creation capabilities though, at 40% average improvements over the older generation CPU. The higher performances can also be contributed to the much faster than before.
AMD’s new line-up of Ryzen 7000 processors will be available 27th of September 2022 onward. That is not necessarily when Malaysia will see the first chips hitting the market. Still, prices start at US$ 299 (MYR*) and tops out at US$ 699 (MYR*) which is about the price of the previous generation Ryzen CPUs. For more information on the next generation AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs, you can visit their website.
There is a general problem when you get a thin-and-light PC. There are plenty of compromises with a lot of them. They are also generally expensive.
One of the compromises you must live with when you opt for a thin-and-light notebook PC is the lack of power. You usually can opt for a powerful enough processor that is clocked to reduce its power consumption. You do not get a dedicated GPU with the thin-and-light though.
You also do not get a lot of ports to come with the laptop. Just to keep the device thin, they must sacrifice on the practicality of full-sized I/O ports. The result is an ultra-thin laptop that you can carry around without breaking your back, but for it to be practical, you need to carry a separate dongle.
That is not the case with Acer’s brand-new Swift X though. It is powerful. It is also very practical. At the same time, Acer’s new notebook PC offers the experience of owning a larger formed thin-and-light.
Source: Acer
The Acer Swift X is powered by AMD’s latest Ryzen 7 5800U (up to) processor. While it is not an H-series processor, the Ryzen 7 5800U is still plenty powerful while remaining energy efficient for long lasting battery life. Alongside the powerful CPU is not a mere Vega integrated GPU though. It is an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti (up to) dedicated discrete GPU.
With up to 16GB of RAM, the Swift X is really a thin-and-light PC made for content creators. But power is just half the story. The Swift X must output some impressive colours too for content creators. Getting the job done is a 14-inch Full HD IPS panel that covers nearly 86% of the Swift X’s body. It boasts 300nits in brightness, which should be bright enough in most situations. The panel also covers 100% of the sRGB colour gamut. At the same time, Acer includes its BlueLightShield technology to protect your eyes in extended usage. There is even a fingerprint sensor for better security when you leave your laptop unattended with Windows Hello.
All of these does not come with too much weight penalty too. It is still a light notebook at 1.39kg. It is still thin too at 1.79cm. While it is not as thin as the regular ultrabooks you find in the market today, the Swift X does have full-sized I/O ports like an HDMI out port and two USB Type-A ports. All of that while keeping a 59W battery that offers up to 17-hours of continuous use time.
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
The Acer Swift X will be available to purchase in Malaysia in two variants. It comes in an AMD Ryzen 7 or AMD Ryzen 5 CPU choices. Both variants will come with NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3050 Ti still. The AMD Ryzen 5 variant of the Acer Swift X will set you back MYR 4,299 while the more expensive AMD Ryzen 7 variant will set you back MYR 4,999. The Acer Swift X is available from Acer’s authorised resellers, Shopee, Lazada, and Acer’s own online store 15th October 2021 onward. You can pre-order one for yourself starting now though. If you do order your unit between now to 20th of October 2021 on Acer’s Flagship Store on Shopee or Acer’s own eStore, you are entitled to purchase a Logitech MX Anywhere 3 wireless mouse at MYR 199 (about 50% off retail price).
Gaming is expensive, let us all face that fact for a moment. We, techENT, are gamers and we love to game. We also love new gaming gear and hardware. We loved it when AMD launched their new Ryzen 5000 series processors and took over as the king of gaming processors. We loved NVIDIA’s new very powerful GPUs in the form of their next generation GeForce RTX 30 series Ampere architecture. What we talk less about though is the cost of gaming.
While all the new stuffs are great and amazing, we always forget that these powerful hardware come at a price. With the global chip shortage issue, prices become even more exaggerated. An example of this would be the prices of an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 GPU in the market these days at around MYR 5,000 a piece. You can buy a new pre-built PC for that kind of money. If you have not checked out Acer’s Predator Orion 3000 for that matter, that pre-built is a steal at MYR 6,899 compared to building your own system at this time.
With prices and availability of GPUs soaring as high as MYR 16,000 these days, building a ‘budget’ gaming rig may not be so pocket friendly after all. There is a solution, however. What if you cut out the most expensive part of your PC build? What if you exclude a GPU in your gaming build?
Now we hear questions like; “but is the GPU not the most important part of a gaming build?”, and “how are we to game without a GPU? Are you nuts?”. Hear us out. You can still build your PC with a GPU, just not with a huge GPU that is hanging from your PCIe slot. It is a GPU that is also integrated with your CPU, and APU (Accelerated Processing Unit, if you must know).
Source: AMD
AMD has just released their next generation Ryzen 5000 G-series processors announced earlier this year in COMPUTEX, AMD Ryzen Zen 3 architecture processors with integrated Radeon VEGA graphics built into the CPU itself. That also means that you technically can solely rely on the AMD Ryzen chip for graphical requirements. In practical terms, you do not strictly need a separate GPU to get your PC to boot and run properly.
The AMD Ryzen 5000 G-series APUs comes in two flavours too. You can either choose between an AMD Ryzen 5 5600G or an AMD Ryzen 7 5700G. Of course, the AMD Ryzen 7 5700G would be the more powerful of the two packing more cores than the Ryzen 5. Both of them comes with AMD’s Radeon graphics power integrated within the chip as well.
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Source: AMD
The new AMD Ryzen 5700G with Zen 3 architecture comes with 8 cores and 16 threads, pretty much similar to its non-G-series counterpart, the Ryzen 7 5800X. Like its more premium counterpart, it also clocks at 3.8GHz at its base. There are differences between the two though. It only boosts up to 4.6GHz, compared to 4.7Ghz, for example. The APU is also built to draw less power at 65W compared to 105W. It also packs an extra 8 Radeon Compute Units (CU) that clocks at 2.0GHz, which is amazing if you think about it. It draws less power than the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X powerhouse, but it also packs its own graphics processing ability.
AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
Source: AMD
At a more budget conscious range is the AMD Ryzen 5 5600G. It still packs a lot of power though from its 6 cores and 12 threads. It is also clocked a little higher than its Ryzen 5 5600X counterpart, at least on its base clock at 3.9GHz compared to 3.7GHz. It tops out at 4.4GHz though instead of the 4.6GHz of its CPU counterpart. With an additional 7 Radeon CU, the AMD Ryzen 5600G APU also only draws up to 65W in power, which is quite an amazing feat too in its own rights.
Full HD Gaming
Source: AMD
Of course, integrated graphics (IGP), you might need to adjust your expectations in gaming performances. If you are on a tight budget, you most likely will not be getting one of those 1440p displays with 165Hz refresh rate. You probably will be looking at Full HD displays that goes to 144Hz at the maximum. You would be happy to find that AMD’s Ryzen 5000 G-series APUs are more than capable at running modern titles at more than 100 fps in some cases. Games like League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) easily goes over 100fps in Full HD (low) settings with the APU. At the same time, you do want to tamper with your settings a little to accommodate to the relatively less powerful integrated GPU.
Prices and Availability
The good news in all this is that this is also even more budget friendly than its X-series counterparts. The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G is retailing at MYR 1,239, while the AMD Ryzen 7 5700G retails for MYR 1,639. The AMD Ryzen 5000 G-series is now available from AMD’s local retail partners nationwide and on AMD’s own online store.
AMD has recently announced their new Ryzen 5000 series processors and their new Radeon RX 6000 series graphics processors. However, with the components being slightly more expensive and possibly limited during the launch window, we looked to the previous generation to see if it was still viable to build a gaming setup which was a little bit “outdated”.
AMD’s Zen architecture has proven over and over again that they are capable of outdoing their competition in benchmarks. Benchmarks aside, we wanted to do some tests, regular people, like us, would look at to determine whether the setup is worth the investment. We looked at simple things like how the build performed in some of the more popular games and also some of the more recent ones. We also looked at everyday workflow items like video editing and even processing complex excel spreadsheets.
The only thing that remains is to answer the question: Is it still worth investing in a Ryzen 3000 and Radeon 5000 series build. Our frank answer: You could do worse; But we’re not going to leave with such a vague answer. We’ve broken down our experience with the rig with all the details we thought you’d need to make the decision.
When it came to this build, we tried to build a full MSI build while keeping the price as competitive as possible with one caveat – we had to keep to the latest parts available in the Malaysian market. That said, we had another thing on our minds when it came to the build: it needed to be able to do some video processing and play some of the latest games at the highest settings. Of course, we wanted to build a gaming PC, so the our main concern, aside from price, was its gaming performance.
We decided to go with the newer Ryzen 5 3600X for the processor cause the newer 3000 series processor is clocked slightly higher at 3.8 GHz which meant it has marginally better performance. That said, the sub MYR300 (USD$73.32) price difference between the Ryzen 5 3600 and Ryzen 5 3600X is what decided it for us. With that little bit more performance from the hexacore (6-core) processor, we could, in theory, get better performance from intensive programs which meant more gaming prowess. We also decided to invest in an AiO liquid cooling solution to squeeze even more performance from the CPU.
For the GPU, it was a hard decision between an NVIDIA RTX GPU and the RADEON. However, in the interest of being thrifty and also building a full-on AMD rig, we decided to go with the RADEON RX 5600XT which was a little more recent and didn’t have a gigantic price difference. That said, we were also taking into consideration the performance gains over the RX 5500XT and the significant price difference between the RX 5700 and the RX 5600XT.
The motherboard was a tough dilemma. We were tossed between a better full ATX motherboard and a mini-ITX. However, after much deliberation, MSI and AMD challenged us to use their mini-ITX board with built-in WiFi. Little did we know that the board would be on the higher end of the spectrum when it came to price. That said, if it was solely up to us, we would have gone with a more full-featured full ATX motherboard with more expandability.
With our key components decided on, we let pricing decide the rest of the build. Accessories and the monitor were provided courtesy of MSI and we had our Razer Basilisk lying around to complete the build.
Performance
With all the parts put together, we’re finally at the most important part – how did the build perform? To be very honest – it actually did really well. The build was powerful enough to handle pretty much everything we threw at it and running it overnight didn’t seem to affect our electricity bill by much. However, the biggest downside to the Radeon GPUs was the lack of proper ray tracing support which led to slightly less detailed graphics in games such as Horizon Zero Dawn and Monster Hunter.
While the overview is pretty broad, we’re here for the itty-bitty details. We’re breaking down the build’s performance over three main categories – video and graphic work, gaming and high load processing. That said, we won’t be going into detail on 3D rendering work as it’s a niche area which we think doesn’t really reflect what a majority of us will be using the setup for gaming and day to day work.
AMD’s big play when it comes to their processors and graphics is a being made for gaming. We decided that since gaming and work are the mainstays of any computer system, we’d jump into the nitty-gritty when it came to gaming and some of the finer points of our work as well. During our review of the rig, we tested games such as Overwatch, Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, Monster Hunter Worlds and Horizon Zero Dawn. We also tested it with Adobe Premiere Pro and some large excel files.
Gaming
Gaming is essential when it comes to us gamers. So we took a gander at how the build performed on some of the more recent titles as a test. Overall, it didn’t do too bad when it came to graphics and it was pretty consistent across the board in hitting around 60fps during gaming – which is sufficient for most games.
The first game we tested on the rig was Blizzard’s Overwatch – not the most graphically challenging game out there. But, when it comes to games like this, chaos can ensue when there’s a throwdown which can affect the game’s frame rate. That said, testing the game on a 55-inch 4K display was pretty amazing. There was little to no tearing or frame rate drops. However, the TV we tested it on didn’t have support for high refresh or frame rate so it maxed out at about 50 to 60 fps. On a monitor with support for 240Hz, the experience was similar with aiming and quick response becoming even easier.
In story-driven games such as Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order and Horizon Zero Dawn, the graphics quality was pretty commendable. In both the textures were crisp and detailed and the colours were deep and realistic. Battles were smooth with minimal frame drops and response time from the input was pretty good when it came to tense situations; there was hardly any lag between input and response. The same rang true when we tested it with Monster Hunter World.
For all the games we tested, the graphics settings were maxed out. The only thing that was missing compared to the competition was support for Ray Tracing which would have allowed for a more realistic experience when it came to the behaviour of light in the games. That said, the lack of ray tracing didn’t take too much away from the overall experience.
Video Editing
For content creators, video processing and editing would be one of the more important aspects of any build. We tested the setup rendering and editing videos on Adobe’s Premiere Pro. In a nutshell, the setup was able to handle pretty complex rendering with 4K footage – which is a good thing. However, it may be a little more challenging dealing with 8K footage.
Anyone that uses Adobe Premiere Pro will readily attest that, while the program is one of the best on the market, it can be a pain on both the processor and GPU. The program is notorious for sending fans into overdrive as it processes the many frames and effects you utilise to get the perfect video.
In our tests, we used 4K UHD video with multiple tracks for both audio and video as well as multiple overlays. Scrubbing the timeline with the preview set to full resolution was pretty smooth with little lag. Rendering complex effects and overlays in the footage for preview and export didn’t take too much time too. The 10-minute clip took about 25 minutes to render in full.
High Load Processing
To test this one out, we use a complex excel sheet – something a person dealing with large amounts of data would be using on a daily basis. The excel sheet was pretty huge – coming in at about 1GB with tables and charts that contained large, complex formulae. We manipulated the values in the sheet to test how long it would take the system to run the computation.
We were pretty impressed. The updates were done near instantaneously in tables while charts took slightly longer to update. This was one of the tests that actually impressed us when we performed it.
Final Verdict
AMD’s future proofing of their motherboard chipsets weighed pretty heavily in the consideration of whether the build is worth the time. The fact that they’ve promised support until 2020 for their current 400 and 500 series motherboards allows end users to bump up the power when they need it.
That said, you’d expect that system running “outdated” or older hardware had a lot lacking in terms of performance. However, as Dr Lisa Su mentions over and over again, it looks like, unless you’re in dire need of a top of the line system, AMD’s Ryzen and Radeon hardware does stand the test of time or in her words, “..ages like fine wine”. Performance in gaming, video editing and even high load processing was consistent and while it may be slower than newer ones, it didn’t have much to make up.
All in all, the build is a very capable one with at least another two to three years left in the higher levels of performance. Best part, you can create a similar one for about the same budget or you could go cheaper too.
The race to create the fastest PC has been heating up over the past few years with AMD making a huge come back with their highly acclaimed AMD Ryzen line-up of CPUs. With the introduction of their AMD Ryzen 3000 series with their Zen 2 architecture, the Taiwan based chip maker has more than made up the lost grounds that Intel has for so many years.
When AMD’s Ryzen 3000 series line-up was launched, they became some of the most advanced processor that you could get for your money. With state-of-the-art 7nm processing, the Ryzen 3000 series proved to be a lot more efficient and could run even more cores at respectable speeds. This also means that the AMD Ryzen 3000 series of processors pack more cores than their competition, and perform admirably better in multiple instances, when productivity matters. They still lose out in gaming performance though.
Source: AMD
AMD introduced their AMD Ryzen 4000 some months ago, if you remember. The only issue is that the AMD Ryzen 4000 series was not what we expected it to be. It looked like a rehashed AMD Ryzen 3000 with Zen 2 architecture that performed just slightly better than the older processor, and more efficiently. It could not be purchased as a single product on its own too. The only way to get the AMD Ryzen 4000 desktop CPUs is through system builders like Acer, ASUS, Dell, and such.
In that case, we thought that the later announcement by AMD (which just happened last week) would be a special one. Our patience has been awarded by Dr. Lisa Su, and her team, with the highly anticipated Zen 3 architecture. It is just that it came in a different format.
Source: AMD
Instead of Ryzen 4000, they call it the AMD Ryzen 5000 and claims it to be their biggest step up in their CPU line-up. Rightly so, with AMD’s Zen 3 architecture allowing a larger and more instant access to the memory banks. That also means twice faster memory read speeds on your storage front. That, while maintaining great efficiency.
In this generation as well, AMD claims that the Ryzen series can now claim to be the world’s most powerful CPU for both work and play. They claim that the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X (their flagship CPU) is now the fastest, most powerful CPU for gaming. While there is no direct benchmark comparison just yet with Tiger Lake, we want to believe them.
Source: AMD
AMD has made significant step up in terms of both multi-core and multi-thread performance. That also means that the Ryzen series is still kings when it comes to things like video processing, 3D rendering, and even heavy multi workloads (multitasking). But that is not all the progress they have made.
They have also stepped up in single-core performances as well. According to them, their performance bump in single-core performances are in the double digits, in percentages anyway. In that sense, we have not seen double digit performance gains all too often in the CPU industry.
Source: AMD
The double-digit increase in performance though is not just beating out the AMD Ryzen 3000 line-up though. In their own tests, the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X outperformed its slightly older generation competition by an impressive margin too, in gaming performance and other single-core workloads (Blender). That also means, in theory anyway, the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X should be more powerful than even the latest generation Intel Tiger Lake line-up.
What this also means for you gamers, is that you can now push your games to get more frames per second than before, way more. Considering that all your other work-related stuff will not be affected, this should now be the CPU of choice for you PC builders. It is just as power efficient as before too with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X consuming a rated power of 65W and the top of the line AMD Ryzen 6 5950X pulling only 105W.
MODEL
CORES/ THREADS
TDP (Watts)
BOOST/BASE FREQ. (GHz)
TOTAL CACHE
COOLER
Price US$ (MYR*)
EXPECTED AVAILABILITY
AMD Ryzen™ 9 5950X
16C/32T
105W
Up to 4.9 / 3.4
72MB
N/A
$799
November 5, 2020
AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900X
12C/24T
105W
Up to 4.8 / 3.7
70MB
N/A
$549
November 5, 2020
AMD Ryzen™ 7 5800X
8C/16T
105W
Up to 4.7 / 3.8
36MB
N/A
$449
November 5, 2020
AMD Ryzen™ 5 5600X
6C/12T
65W
Up to 4.6 / 3.7
35MB
Wraith Stealth
$299
November 5, 2020
The AMD Ryzen 5000 series will be available internationally from the 5th November 2020 onward. Malaysia will be included as the first few countries to get the AMD Ryzen 5000 series as well. We do expect a few delays there and here though, which also means the processors can be expected to be available a few days after the 5th of November 2020. They are even priced similarly to the older AMD Ryzen 3000 series to begin with. The AMD Ryzen 5000 series starts at US$ 299 (MYR 1,237*) with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and tops out at US$ 799 (MYR 3,306*) with the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X. Bring on the Big Navi.
Thin and light and affordability don’t usually go hand in hand. However, Acer’s Swift 3 has always been one of the best value for money options when you’re looking at getting something affordable, thin and light. However, unlike previous years, the Swift 3 comes with an AMD Ryzen option which promises top notch performance while maintaining a lot of the features of the popular laptop.
We’re going to be asking the hard questions when it comes to the Swift 3 in this review – should you buy it? Is it worth your money? And does the Ryzen variant hold up to the hype AMD has built around their silicon offerings?
Design
Let’s start by taking a look at the overall design of the Swift 3. Overall, the design approach that Acer took to this laptop is more utilitarian compared to the rest of the Swift line up (barring the Swift 1). In fact, you’d be hard-pressed in finding any of the design finesse of the 5 or 7; which is, to be honest, expected at the price point that the Swift 3 sits at.
The laptop is a rectangular slab which tapers gradually from the hinge to the tip. That said, the larger, thicker back of the hinge area allows it a better, more stable footing when it is open. There were rarely times when the display ended up rocking back and forth on a rocky, uneven surface during the review period. The thickness also allows ample space for Acer to equip the Swift 3 with a full array of ports from HDMI to USB Type-C.
While this also means that the laptop lacks in design flair, it makes more utilitarian sense. Its ports are readily accessible while minimising its footprint. However, unlike its siblings, the Swift 3 is a whole lot heftier; coming in at 1.2kg. Yes, I did call 1.2kg hefty. Keep in mind, the rest of the Swift series come in at below 1kg. That said, Acer’s decision to have the Swift 3 in purple a touch of pizzaz that keeps the Swift 3 fresh. It’s also one of those colours that seems to grow on you.
Hardware
The Acer Swift 3 may be a little lacking on the design flair but it’s utilitarian approach to the thin and light has spurred the company to pack a formidable punch when it comes to the hardware. Coming with the Ryzen 5, the laptop is no slouch when it comes to performance. It clocks in a respectable 2.3Ghz with 6 cores for better multicore processing; enabling it to undertake more demanding tasks.
Specifications
Acer Swift 3 | SF314-42-R43G
As tested
Processor (clock)
AMD Ryzen 5-4500U Hexa-core 2.3 GHz
GPU
AMD Radeon Vega 6 Graphics
Display
14-inch Full HD TFT LCD 1920×1080 pixels
Memory
8GB LPDDR4 SDRAM 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD
Networking and Connections
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax Bluetooth 5.0 HDMI 1 USB 2.0 Type-A 1 USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A 1 USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C 3.5mm headphone jack
Battery
3-cell Lithium Ion 11 Hours battery life (claimed)
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Miscellaneous
Fingerprint Reader Backlit Keyboard Stereo Speakers Microphone DisplayPort over USB-C USB-C charging 5 V; 3 A DC-in port 19 V; 65 W
Features
While the Swift 3 may not be as feature packed as it’s siblings, the laptop comes with features that make sense and fit the utilitarian and functional approach that Acer has taken for it. The laptop comes with a full array of ports including a USB-C, a USB-A with support for USB2.0, a USB-A with support for USB3.1, an HDMI port and even a 3.5mm headphone jack which its competition seems to be missing. The full array of ports should ensure that users are well equipped to handle any connectivity hurdles that may come their way. However, like most laptops nowadays, the Swift 3 is powerless when it comes face to face with a dreaded VGA port; you will be resigned to the dongle life for VGA. In addition, the laptop also doesn’t come with an SD card reader.
Ports aside, the Swift 3 does have many other features. However, it does come with WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity. The former allows the laptop to take advantage of the faster 802.11ax WiFi bandwidth which gives it an edge over other laptops in a similar price range. That said, not many networks use WiFi 6 just yet – but getting ready for the future is always a plus now, isn’t it. Bluetooth 5.0 allows you take advantage of wireless earbuds and other peripherals without sacrificing too much battery life.
However, the biggest advantage that the laptop over its competitors is the fact that it’s lightweight. The Swift 3 is definitely a contender for one of the lightest laptops in its price range. Coming in at slightly over 1kg, it will definitely be one of the go-to laptops for people looking for one which they can easily take on the go without worrying about overloading the bag or breaking your back from carrying it around.
Performance
Since the Swift 3 is so utilitarian and focused on keeping you productive, it comes as no surprise that Acer has chosen to offer an Ryzen 5-4500U processor option in the Swift 3. AMD’s new processors have outperformed its competition in benchmarks consistently over the past few years since the release of AMD’s Zen architecture. The same holds true for AMD’s mobile processors which is being used here in the Swift 3. However, benchmarks are only part of the story, we’re focusing on the overall user experience when it comes to using the laptop.
The Swift 3 is definitely a capable power house when it comes to everyday tasks. Word processing, working with PowerPoint and even large excel files are definitely not a problem for the laptop. What did stand out was the laptop’s ability to edit 1080p video in Adobe Premiere with ease. In fact, it could even handle 4K video editing with limited overlays and additions. However, if you’re going to be doing massive video editing this isn’t the laptop for you. The Ryzen 5 is good, but it is let down by the limited RAM and lack of graphics processor in the laptop.
This was made pretty clear when we tried to game on the Swift 3. On older games, it was able to handle settings at medium. It ploughed through Diablo 3 without much noise but when it came to games like Overwatch or even No Straight Roads, the laptop ran a little hot and had quite a lot of stuttering and screen tearing to keep up. It could hardly keep 30fps even with low settings. This isn’t really surprising for us as the gaming capabilities of the laptop are severely limited even though there is the built in Radeon Vega 6 graphics. The laptop also performs well with multimedia. However, the audio experience on the laptop could use some polish as the speakers sound tinny and distorted when the volume is pushed. However, at lower volumes, the audio lacks body and is, to be frank, incredibly soft. You only start hearing it audibly after the indicator passes the 40% mark in Windows.
That said, the laptop isn’t really built for gaming. In fact, it’s built for productivity on the go and the Swift 3 comes with ample battery life. Acer claims 11 hours of battery life on the Swift 3. During our time with the laptop, we easily got about 13 hours of active use time. On standby, the laptop was able to last well over a day. In fact, when we opened it about 8 hours later, the laptop had slightly more than 40% battery remaining. Even editing 1080p video on battery, the Swift 3 lasted about 3-4 hours before it needed to be plugged in.
Display
When it comes to the display of the Swift 3, it has a pretty good one for it’s price point. It comes with a 13.5-inch, 1080p Full HD display which is more than enough for a laptop of its size. The screen is crisp and the colour is relatively accurate. While it doesn’t have a touch display like the Swift 5, the screen fulfils its purpose. It allows you enough display real estate to get things done without straining your eyes too much.
The display is also near bezel-less. There is about 1-3mm of bezel on either side of the display with about 5mm on the top and bottom. The slim bezels allowed for a pretty immersive visual experience. You don’t have much pulling you out of your work or multimedia.
An unremarkably affordable laptop that does only slightly more than the basics
Overall, the Swift 3 is an unremarkable device. It’s not a jack of all trades, but it’s a thin and light laptop for those on a budget. It packs as much performance it for the price point it’s at. That said, it is a device geared for productivity and it does deliver on its promise of keeping you productive on the go. In fact, I would say it excels in it given the extra feats it accomplished. Editing 1080p video on the Swift 5 was also a feat, to see the Swift 3 able to do it without much problem is a definite plus. However, we also have to keep in mind that the Swift 3 is playing in an arena which is quickly getting crowded with similarly spec’d devices. It needs to find a way to stand out from the crowd; and, in all honesty, if it boils down to the brand, Acer is looking at an uphill battle with the Swift 3. That said, the AMD powered Swift 3 holds a peg above the competition with its performance right now – whether this holds true in the near future; we’ll have to see. All-in-all, the Swift 3 delivers on all its promises and excels further than its competition on certain fronts. However, when considering this device, it would be prudent to see if other, more powerful devices with a dedicated graphics card could serve you better. That said, if you’re looking for a slim and light productivity machine for everyday tasks, you don’t have to look further for a package that’s both affordable and give you some really good value for the money you invest in it.
