Acer Aspire S3 - Intel Core i5

Overview

The Acer Aspire S3 is 0.51 inches thin and weighs only 2.98 pounds. Its chassis is made from magnesium alloy and under the hood it packs an Intel Core i5 processor, a 20GB solid-state drive operating system and the machine's current state, as well as a 320GB hard drive for storage. The S3's LED-backlit display offers a 1,366 by 768-pixel resolution and is driven by the CPU's integrated Intel HD graphics 3000 graphics processor.

TechSpot Metascore

Based on 33 expert reviews

Excellent:

2
Good:

12
Average:

13
Bad:

6

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Last revision on July 4, 2013

Reviewers Liked

Sleek design
Compact and light
Low priced for an Ultrabook
Fair enough battery life (four and half hours under load)
Thin and Light
Core i5 processor and 4GB memory provide potent performance
Combination of spinning hard drive and SSD provides larger storage capacity without losing speed
More affordable than competitors
Nearly instant-on from sleep mode; moderate pricing

Reviewers Didn't Like

Keyboard and Screen could be better
Poor audio quality
Limited number of ports
Surprisingly loud and aggressive fan
Stuffed to the gills with shovelware
Truction feels cheap
Cheap plastic chassis
Stiff keyboard
Limited viewing angles
The construction is a step below super-premium
Connectivity is limited
Below-average performance for a Core i5 processor

Expert reviews and ratings

The prior Aspire S3-951 ultrabook could count its low price (for an ultrabook) to its purchase arguments. This no longer applies to the Aspire S3-391 because there are now a few ultrabooks that are considerably cheaper, for example Lenovo's IdeaPad...

By NotebookCheck on September 10, 2012

Product round-up It took a little while for the production lines to get going, but the first few months of 2012 have seen super-slim Ultrabooks completely outnumbering every other type of desktop or laptop PC coming our way. Intel’s tight definition...

By RegHardware on May 12, 2012

The Asus 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...

By 5FWD on March 23, 2012

Despite being one of the cheapest Ultrabooks on the market, Acer's Aspire S3 is a solid, unshowy performer with serious low-budget appeal...

By PC Pro on March 12, 2012

While there’s a lot to like about Acer’s debut Ultrabook, it’s not all perfect. Most of the issues we’ve highlighted are easily ignored, and at $1599, it’s $200 less than the Apple equivalent. Windows users after a good...

By Gadget Guy Australia on February 16, 2012

Acer’s Aspire S3 is the first ‘Ultrabook’ released in the New Zealand and Australian markets. Ultrabooks – ultra-thin and light laptops intended to offer long battery life without compromising on performance – are set to be...

By PCWorld New Zealand on February 07, 2012

You’d have to actively be avoiding the tech media over the past several months not to have heard about Ultrabooks. Their coming has garnered a boatload of buzz, fueled in no small part by Intel’s $300 million fund to get hardware and software makers...

By Maximum PC on February 06, 2012

The portable computer family continues to expand. First we has laptops/notebooks, then came netbooks closely followed by tablets. Now Ultrabooks join the...

By GadgetSpeak on February 04, 2012

The Aspire S3's chassis has shortcomings, but reasonable battery life and performance makes this a great value ultrabook...

By Expert Reviews on January 19, 2012

The first-generation ultrabook war is getting bloody, with the Toshiba Satellite Z830 and Lenovo Ideapad U300S emerging from the pits to take on the Asus Zenbook and this machine, the Acer Aspire S Series. This four-way battle royale should be a...

By TechRadar on December 21, 2011

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