Expected more from out of the box experience of my new Acer Swift 3!

LakeDog51

I'm a multi-decade Mac user, but don't consider myself a Mac snob, but by gawd, I know I'm going to sound like one! I've had to use WIndows over the years, too. Was formerly an Intel engineer and manager. I figured that after all this time, Microsoft would have caught up with MacOS. Holy [Cotent removed] ! Well, out of the box for my new Acer Swift 3 had the Acer logo resplashing itself multiple times—no big deal. Then the initial input screens for the basic settings popped up. Well, the lower-right area of the touchpad was already set to “right-click." Did I know that? No man, I didn't. Tried clicking on buttons and scroll bars and wouldn't work with my hand and fingers in the natural position. The touchpad heavy click is something like 4X as hard and 4X the travel as on my MacBook Pro. Ok—guess I'm using the light touch and avoiding the full click. Microsoft then barages me with all kinds of [Cotent removed] asking me to hand over all my info and my first born. [content removed] The whole experience was just clunky and not at all nice. I wonder if anyone has thought of just “let's see, let's put our new laptop side by side with a Mac and compare the first start up experience. How is it? How does it compare?” Well, friends, it don't compare! With just a couple of browser tabs open (one to Bing and a few to Acer support) the fans are whining like they're little coyotes under a full moon. I know I'm griping and I hope this all irons out and gets better. Not very impressed with out of the box experience. Microsoft has had, ahem, a few years to catch up to a good user experience. I guess, still, no one is paying attention.

Oh, also, Acer tech support said I shouldn't keep the laptop plugged in; it might overcharge the battery, to which I responded that it must not have good battery management. He said it wasn't the case, but heck, over here on my Mac, the batter icon switches admirably between charging and pause cycles and lets me know what it's up to with the battery conditioning. Back to Acer Swift 3: Unplug the laptop when I'm done using it. Check.

[Edited the content to hide sensitive information]

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/681293/expected-more-from-out-of-the-box-experience-of-my-new-acer-swift-3

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/681293/expected-more-from-out-of-the-box-experience-of-my-new-acer-swift-3

Sorry LakeDog51 its not as bad as you make things out to be with windows😁 as windows laptops need to be setup out of the box first, you need to update the OSs and certain lower end laptops like the Aspire 3 have their own intricacies that only a windows user knows and knows the symptoms of how to improve those and what needs doing. Sorry I don't know much about MacOS as I wouldn’t touch them with a 50 foot pole, yes my wife and kids have iPhones and iPads and even MacBooks but they continually come to me to fix them up as Apples “Right-to-Repair” is dictatorial and a closed shop for such an expensive product that in most cases Apple can’t repair their own products and its easier to make them into electronic waste and dump them.

Also and if all Apple users are conservationists, climate change activists and want clean zero emission energy then all Apple products should be that way built and be able to be repaired and NOT made in underpaid sweat shops (see what is documented in the news) as even Apple are diverting their production from FoxConn where most of thei products are made, as the production has fallen as people refuse to work for cheap labour pay. That is why Windows and Androids are what most people want and have used for decades, as its not an in shop product like Apple products are!

That is also the main reason(s) why I never bought or use an Apple product I've been using windows OSs for 37 years and throughout their evolutions and I've never had your problems and I’ve been 100% satisfied and whenever I've used Apple products and their OSs, I feel the same way as you, as its just having to do to many steps to achieve what is easily achieved in windows with 1-2 steps😁

Just to give you some current examples, and lets use the Aspire 3 as example as its not your MacBook Pro for a start, so please compare apples with apples, ok lets compare the prices and specs:

• Aspire 3 Laptop - A315-59-71NF with an Intel® Core™ i7-1255U processor Deca-core 1.70 GHzis – Intel® Iris Xe Graphics shared memory - 8 GB DDR4 SDRAM that costs USD $599.00 and the
• While the MacBook Pro 14” or 16” they START FROM USD $$2100.00

So comparing these two laptops is just ridiculous for a start, but let’s compare an Acer laptop to the MacBook Pro specs of the same price and sort same specs and price, as the MacBook Pro lower prices range is pretty ordinary specs:

• Acer ConceptD 5 Laptop - CN516-73G-70XD 16" - USD 2499.99 - Intel® Core™ i7-12700H processor Tetradeca-core 2.30 GHz - NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3070Ti with 8 GB dedicated memory - 32 GB, LPDDR5 – as this laptop will leave yourlowest priced MacBook Pro for dead.
• MacBook Pro 13" - USD $2299.00 - - 8GB Unified Memory - 512GB SSD Storage¹ Apple M2 chip with 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine - 8GB unified memory and upgrading this to 16GB this laptop cost rises to USD $2599.00 - 512GB SSD storage - 13-inch Retina display with True Tone

Sorry but having worked at Intel you should know how to setup a windows OS or any OS properly…ohhh sorry…you only have used MacOS, just a question…has Intel only got MacOS and Apple computers? Saying that “I'm a multi-decade Mac user, but don't consider myself a Mac snob” is pretty ordinary as you should know the above factors of how to compare a system. Good luck and what I’ve said is my opinion and I’m saying this to help you out😁

LakeDog51

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1186981#Comment_1186981

Hi @StevenGen,

Good points and thanks for taking the time to respond. I was an Intel employee for about 18 years and in about 2006 or 2007 got on the Mac program, as Intel was supplying processors to Apple. I had been a Mac user, but also a PC user, from about 1993 I guess. Commodore before that… I digress.

About the sweat shop conditions at FoxConn, yeah maybe so, but probably true with all technology makers. Somehow I don't imagine that Apple would be the only one. Maybe their stuff is less fixable, but I've gotten inside a Mac. It's a lot like other laptops. Have spilled water and got it repaired, so… dunno. They can be fixed, it seems.

The thing about comparing MacBook Pro to a budget Windows PC… I've owned all kinds, including MacBook Air, iPads, etc. The power and capability is not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about how nice, smooth, and thoughtful it is to set up a Mac—the User Experience; the kind of user experience that has the same DNA on a MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPad, or iPhone. Polished, easy, simple, non-invasive. And the negatives I called out are that the Windows setup was a clunky experience on the Acer Swift 3:

• Like a tricky touchpad (a post-setup configuration was configured on first start-up, so had no idea one corner of the touchpad would be behaving like a right-click. Thought it was busted!
• Then the invasive ‘I want to know everything about you 100 ways to Sunday’ I didn't really like. Plus, it was a clunky/cluttered experience.
• The fans have been roaring like sirens. I hope it settles down.
• And man, I kinda think it's normal to leave the laptop plugged in when it's asleep: Not so, says tech support. Could ruin the battery. Man, are batteries a new thing?

I have to say, maybe you won't believe me, but I was REALLY EXCITED to get this Acer and it's like I just went back a dozen years to old Windows. It looks a little different, but the same ‘dump whatever on the user’ kind of experience.

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1186986#Comment_1186986

You have some good points also, but if you are not satisfied with the Swift 3 (sorry I called it Aspire 3) then return it or tell Acer about the problems that you are encountering, as under warranty anything is possible, give it a try. The Mac in your opinion gives a good experience for the user like you describe “how nice, smooth, and thoughtful it is to set up a Mac—the User Experience; the kind of user experience that has the same DNA on a MacBook Pro” but lets see what an Apple product would be like for $399 up to $599, as I can’t see any of their products around for that price.

I've always used top end Acer products and I've had the same experience as you with the MacBook Pro, try the Acer Concept Range as I'm sure that you will change your mind and I'm sorry that you have been disappointed with the Aspire 3 experience but what do you expect from a product of that price and as the saying goes, horses for courses😁enjoy the Acer product.

LakeDog51

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1186997#Comment_1186997

Thanks, @StevenGen , I'll aim to make it a good experience. The fans have way-quieted down, so that's a good sign. Probably some further customization and uninstalling the bloatware will help a bit, too, and get MS to settle down with all the marketing tips ;-)

It really is a cute little computer.

Have a good one!