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MagyarAcer Aspire Switch 10 Full HD Convertible Review Update
For the original German review, see here.
In July of 2014 we took a look at the Acer Aspire Switch 10 SW5-011-12VU. The convertible, which competes against the Asus Transformer Book T100TA, starts at a very reasonable 300 Euro (~$375), has a decent battery life of about five hours and offers a functional multi-mode design with a solid hinge. The bright IPS panel also impressed us with an average DeltaE-deviaton of only 2.26. If there's one area that we thought could need some improvement, it was the resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. Some potential buyers simply prefer a Full-HD screen. Acer now targets exactly those customers with a FHD version of the convertible and tries to upstage the main competitor Asus T100TA, which has no such option.
This review is an update with a detailed look at the new display, the performance, as well as the battery life. As far as the chassis, the physical ports, build quality, input devices, sound quality, power consumption, and emissions are concerned, we encourage you to take a look at our previous review of the Acer Aspire Switch 10 SW5-011-12VU.
Display
The 10.1-inch panel from AUO (identified as AUO17D8) has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, a 16:9 aspect ratio, and a pixel density of 218 ppi. The panel supports 5-finger touch inputs, which should be sufficient for normal use, even though most touchscreens now can handle 10 fingers simultaneously.
With an average brightness of 407 cd/m², the display is even brighter than that of the HD version of the Switch 10, which topped out at "only" 330 cd/m². Outdoor usability increases, since the full brightness is also available when the switch is running on battery. For this purpose, the ambient light sensor needs to be disabled in the power settings or through the driver settings of the HD Graphics.
The brightness distribution is extremely even and even at maximum brightness, we didn't notice any clouding or bleeding along the edges when we looking at a black background.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 90 %
Center on Battery: 435 cd/m²
Contrast: 777:1 (Black: 0.56 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 5.12 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.94
ΔE Greyscale 4.81 | 0.5-98 Ø5.2
45% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
49.24% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
70.2% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
47.57% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.38
| Acer Aspire Switch 10 SW5-012-13DP IPS 1920x1080 | Lenovo Miix 2 10 IPS 1920x1200 | Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S (Haswell) IPS 1366x768 | Asus Transformer Book T100TA-C1-GR IPS 1366x768 | Acer Iconia W510 IPS 1366x768 | Acer Aspire Switch 10 SW5-011-12VU IPS 1366x768 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display | -5% | -9% | -15% | -9% | ||
| Display P3 Coverage | 47.57 | 45.21 -5% | 43.47 -9% | 40.34 -15% | 43.15 -9% | |
| sRGB Coverage | 70.2 | 66.1 -6% | 64.5 -8% | 60.2 -14% | 64.5 -8% | |
| AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 49.24 | 46.96 -5% | 45.03 -9% | 41.78 -15% | 44.62 -9% | |
| Screen | -11% | -11% | -10% | -6% | 9% | |
| Brightness middle | 435 | 385.8 -11% | 329 -24% | 248 -43% | 273 -37% | 357 -18% |
| Brightness | 407 | 371 -9% | 315 -23% | 238 -42% | 278 -32% | 330 -19% |
| Brightness Distribution | 90 | 87 -3% | 85 -6% | 91 1% | 92 2% | 87 -3% |
| Black Level * | 0.56 | 0.749 -34% | 0.41 27% | 0.24 57% | 0.35 37% | 0.37 34% |
| Contrast | 777 | 515 -34% | 802 3% | 1033 33% | 780 0% | 965 24% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 5.12 | 5.19 -1% | 6.41 -25% | 7 -37% | 3.88 24% | |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 4.81 | 4.45 7% | 6.3 -31% | 6.54 -36% | 2.79 42% | |
| Gamma | 2.38 92% | 2 110% | 2.54 87% | 2.58 85% | 2.26 97% | |
| CCT | 6723 97% | 6674 97% | 6206 105% | 6707 97% | 6849 95% | |
| Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 45 | 43 -4% | 38 -16% | 40.92 -9% | ||
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | -8% /
-10% | -10% /
-11% | -13% /
-12% | -6% /
-6% | 0% /
4% |
* ... smaller is better
The contrast of the new panel is slightly lower at 777:1, which is simply a side effect of the higher maximum brightness. We always measure the contrast ratio at maximum brightness on external power and in the middle of the panel.
We use the tool CalMan and a photospectrometer to evaluate the panel as it's shipped from the factory. The graylevels show a very low DeltaE deviation of 5, which is not perfect, but actually quite good. A value of under three would be ideal, as the untrained eye then is unable to see the difference between the sRGB reference and the displayed color.
The ColorChecker DeltaE deviation of 5 is also very good. As typical for IPS displays, the panel does not exhibit a bluish cast. The display only covers 45 % of the AdobeRGB color space, which is in line with the main competitor T100TA. The panel of the sister model Aspire Switch 10 HD has a better contrast ratio; all the other competitors don't even come close. As far as the resolution is concerned, the IdeaTab Miix 2 10 is a true alternative - and it only costs about 50 Euro (~$63) more with a starting price of 380 Euro (~$600).
It gets even better: with the display calibrated, the DeltaE for the graylevels drops to an excellent 1, while the colors have a DeltaE of about 3.5. The color accuracy is unmatched by any direct competitor.
Despite its glare-type panel, the Switch 10 is quite usable outdoors thanks to the high brightness, generous viewing angles, and the high contrast. The display colors don't invert even at extremely shallow viewing angles, the contrast doesn't change, and both symbols and text are exceedingly sharp. The display couldn't be any better.
Performance
The two models differ as far as the CPU is concerned: our review convertible is equipped with an Intel Atom Z3735F (1.33 GHz), the sister model Switch 10 SW5-011-12VU with the HD panel comes with the Z3745D (1.33 GHz). The clock rates are identical with the frequency for both quad-core SoCs ranging from 1.330 to 1.830 MHz. Intel Atom Z3735F Tablet SoCCompared to the Z3745D (313-792 MHz), the Z3735F has the slightly slower Intel HD Graphics (Bay Trail, 313-646 MHz). The SDP of 2.2 watts is identical according to Intel.
The 32 GB Hynix (HGB4E) flash drive is the clear bottleneck of the system as far as storage is concerned. As shipped, the system only has 10 GB of free space and the recovery partition needs another few GB. The sister model with its Hynix HFS128G3MNM (128 GB) has significantly more space available.
Processor
The performance of the Intel Atom Z3735F lags behind the Atom Z3745D. Especially the results of the shading 32-bit test favor the Atom D-SoCs (Switch 10 HD, Miix 2 10). The T100TA with the Z3740 also offers better GPU and CPU performance. During our tests the SoC didn't behave in an unexpected manner and maintained 1.58 GHz when running Prime95 Multi.
| Acer Aspire Switch 10 SW5-012-13DP HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3735F, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Acer Aspire Switch 10 SW5-011-12VU HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3745D, Hynix HCG8E 64 GB | Lenovo Miix 2 10 HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3740D, SanDisk U100 128 GB | Asus Transformer Book T100TA-C1-GR HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3740, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Acer Iconia W510 Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 3650, Z2760, 64 GB SSD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cinebench R10 | 63% | 56% | 57% | -17% | |
| Rendering Single 32Bit | 774 | 972 26% | 968 25% | 940 21% | 1004 30% |
| Rendering Multiple CPUs 32Bit | 2424 | 3389 40% | 3226 33% | 3334 38% | 1685 -30% |
| Shading 32Bit | 898 | 2004 123% | 1875 109% | 1898 111% | 435 -52% |
| 3DMark 06 - CPU | |||||
| CPU Score | 856 | 1827 113% | 1880 120% | ||
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | 63% /
63% | 85% /
70% | 89% /
73% | -17% /
-17% |
System Performance
The system performance of the review convertible trails the Switch 10 HD slightly because of the lower processor performance. The Switch 10 Full-HD manages to almost catch up to the Lenovo Miix 2 10, however, even though the Computation Score is slightly lower. The reason: the very decent Storage Score.
| Acer Aspire Switch 10 SW5-012-13DP HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3735F, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Acer Aspire Switch 10 SW5-011-12VU HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3745D, Hynix HCG8E 64 GB | Lenovo Miix 2 10 HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3740D, SanDisk U100 128 GB | Asus Transformer Book T100TA-C1-GR HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3740, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Acer Iconia W510 Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 3650, Z2760, 64 GB SSD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCMark 7 | 15% | 3% | 1% | -45% | |
| Score | 2252 | 2530 12% | 2342 4% | 2339 4% | 1248 -45% |
| Lightweight | 1219 | 1316 8% | 1246 2% | 1258 3% | |
| Productivity | 850 | 940 11% | 945 11% | 983 16% | |
| Entertainment | 1479 | 1779 20% | 1620 10% | 1674 13% | |
| Creativity | 4422 | 4775 8% | 4214 -5% | 3938 -11% | |
| Computation | 5409 | 8333 54% | 6069 12% | 5138 -5% | |
| System Storage | 3730 | 3351 -10% | 3243 -13% | 3255 -13% |
| PCMark 7 Score | 2252 points | |
Help | ||
| Acer Aspire Switch 10 SW5-012-13DP HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3735F, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Acer Aspire Switch 10 SW5-011-12VU HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3745D, Hynix HCG8E 64 GB | Lenovo Miix 2 10 HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3740D, SanDisk U100 128 GB | Asus Transformer Book T100TA-C1-GR HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3740, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Acer Iconia W510 Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 3650, Z2760, 64 GB SSD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CrystalDiskMark 3.0 | -29% | -51% | -42% | -64% | |
| Read Seq | 169.3 | 138.1 -18% | 75.4 -55% | 109 -36% | 78.2 -54% |
| Write Seq | 72.8 | 45.14 -38% | 31.83 -56% | 43.2 -41% | 23.04 -68% |
| Read 512 | 151.1 | 121.2 -20% | 69.3 -54% | 104.7 -31% | 74.1 -51% |
| Write 512 | 72.7 | 43.87 -40% | 19.8 -73% | 18.93 -74% | 10.47 -86% |
| Read 4k | 18.31 | 14.4 -21% | 7.856 -57% | 10.33 -44% | 7.116 -61% |
| Write 4k | 5.603 | 3.855 -31% | 3.639 -35% | 4.034 -28% | 2.367 -58% |
| Read 4k QD32 | 26.66 | 16.68 -37% | 11.89 -55% | 10.44 -61% | 7.403 -72% |
| Write 4k QD32 | 5.642 | 4.272 -24% | 4.585 -19% | 4.408 -22% | 1.967 -65% |
GPU Performance
As we mentioned earlier, the integrated HD Graphics is a bit slower than the GPUs in the other Atom Bay Trail SoCs.
| Acer Aspire Switch 10 SW5-012-13DP HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3735F, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Acer Aspire Switch 10 SW5-011-12VU HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3745D, Hynix HCG8E 64 GB | Lenovo Miix 2 10 HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3740D, SanDisk U100 128 GB | Asus Transformer Book T100TA-C1-GR HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3740, 32 GB eMMC Flash | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3DMark 11 | 23% | 6% | 13% | |
| 1280x720 Performance | 206 | 233 13% | 215 4% | 209 1% |
| 1280x720 Performance GPU | 178 | 199 12% | 184 3% | 178 0% |
| 1280x720 Performance Physics | 898 | 1345 50% | 1186 32% | 1327 48% |
| 1280x720 Performance Combined | 217 | 251 16% | 185 -15% | 225 4% |
| 3DMark 06 | ||||
| 1280x1024 Standard Score AA:0x AF:0x | 1395 | 2009 44% | 1692 21% | 1868 34% |
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | 34% /
27% | 14% /
9% | 24% /
17% |
| 3DMark 06 Standard Score | 1395 points | |
| 3DMark 11 Performance | 206 points | |
Help | ||
| low | med. | high | ultra | |
| Anno 2070 (2011) | 17.4 | 6.8 | 4.1 |
Emissions & Energy Consumption
Temperature
(±) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 44 °C / 111 F, compared to the average of 35.3 °C / 96 F, ranging from 19.6 to 55.7 °C for the class Convertible.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 38.1 °C / 101 F, compared to the average of 36.8 °C / 98 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 29.6 °C / 85 F, compared to the device average of 30.2 °C / 86 F.
(±) The palmrests and touchpad can get very hot to the touch with a maximum of 39.4 °C / 102.9 F.
(-) The average temperature of the palmrest area of similar devices was 28.1 °C / 82.6 F (-11.3 °C / -20.3 F).
| Off / Standby |   0.1 / 0.9 Watt |
| Idle |  2.2 / 5.1 / 5.5 Watt |
| Load |
9.2 / 10.8 Watt |
    
| |
| Acer Aspire Switch 10 SW5-012-13DP HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3735F, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Acer Aspire Switch 10 SW5-011-12VU HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3745D, Hynix HCG8E 64 GB | Asus Transformer Book T100TA-C1-GR HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3740, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Acer Iconia W510 Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 3650, Z2760, 64 GB SSD | Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S (Haswell) HD Graphics 4200, 4210Y, Samsung MZMPC128HBFU | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power Consumption | 7% | 10% | 7% | -81% | |
| Idle Minimum * | 2.2 | 1.7 23% | 1.7 23% | 1.7 23% | 3.3 -50% |
| Idle Average * | 5.1 | 3.1 39% | 3.9 24% | 4.2 18% | 7 -37% |
| Idle Maximum * | 5.5 | 4.1 25% | 3.9 29% | 6.9 -25% | 8.3 -51% |
| Load Average * | 9.2 | 9.3 -1% | 10.7 -16% | 8.2 11% | 22.8 -148% |
| Load Maximum * | 10.8 | 16.1 -49% | 11.8 -9% | 9.7 10% | 23.4 -117% |
* ... smaller is better
Battery Life
A spot check of the battery life with our WLAN test showed a run time increase of almost 30 % compared to the HD Switch 10 SW5-011-12VU. Even though the battery capacity is identical at 24 Wh, the lower performance and lower power consumption under load are responsible for the increase. Wireless web browsing with the FHD version is possible for about 7.5 hours. For this test, we lowered the brightness to 127 cd/m² (maximum brightness lowered by 7 steps to get as close to the standard of 150 cd/m² we normally use for this test).
Verdict
Although the FHD Aspire Switch 10 SW5-012-13DP is slightly slower than the HD version, the battery life is longer and the display brighter. The decrease in performance will hardly be noticeable, since our review convertible was able to make up most of the difference with its very fast eMMC flash storage drive. Equipped with an outstanding IPS display, the Switch 10 FHD's only real disadvantage is the lack of available storage space. We would definitely recommend the 64 GB version, which costs 70 Euro (~$85) more.
