Acer Aspire S3 review

A 1,366×768 resolution screen is about average for an ultrabook, and the Aspire’s image quality was decent enough, with a sharp picture and largely accurate colours, but its viewing angles were poor. The glossy screen finish also reflects light, although there’s plenty of screen tilt to help you find a good viewing angle. The speakers’ sound quality was also fairly basic, with virtually no bass and a muffled high end. The mid-range was clear and volume was reasonable, but we’d still recommend a pair of headphones for listening to anything other than low bitrate YouTube videos.

At £700, the Aspire S3 is the cheapest ultrabook currently available, making it conspicuously good value next to rivals costing upwards of £1,000, but it’s clear to see where savings have been made. The display is only average, the styling is basic and the hybrid disk’s small amount of flash memory can’t compete with a dedicated SSD. However, if you’re looking for an ultra-portable laptop with more power than an AMD Fusion or Intel Atom processor, the Aspire S3 is the ideal mid-range machine. It wins a Budget Buy award.