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All but the grumpiest souls love the new MacBook Air, but what if you’d rather run Windows? Acer’s S3 is thin, packs a more powerful CPU and costs less. Could this be the laptop (sorry ‘ultrabook’) you have been waiting for?
The Air and S3 measure just 17mm at their widest point and taper away to razor-like edges. According to the official stuff callipers of justice, you could not slip a wafer-thin mint into the difference in girth between the two. This is where the plastic pays off: the Acer is nearly 170g lighter than the 13.3 in Air. By way of comparison, that still makes it slightly heavier than a Sony Vaio Z or Toshiba’s forthcoming Portege Z830 – but even according to our recent tests on specifications, the Acer is still 200 Sterling Pounds cheaper than either one.
The 13.3in screen is big enough, but not as vibrant as the Air’s and has a blue colour cast that needs to be tuned out with intel’s calibration tool. Viewing angles aren’t great either, but as long as you turn the backlight up and keep the screen face-on, it is not a disaster.
There is no aluminium unibody, that’s for sure but the metal lid is classy and the plastic body does not feel all cheap. However, the screen hinge could be sturdier – the downside of the S3 being so damned light is that the lid is the heaviest part, which means it can wobble a bit when resting on your lap.
The chicklet keyboard is not the most responsive around and keys require a purposeful tap to register, but it is well spaced out and solid under the touch. Splitting the return key in two and offering the top half to another command was an odd choice so prepare to get used to aiming a little lower than usual.
The S3 sets the bar high but with a better screen, a lighter lid and less plastic with a USB 3.0, it would be perfect.
