Acer Swift 3 Wobbly Chassis

Acer Swift 3 SF314-52-584R 14-Inch LCD Ultrabook - (Sparkly Silver) (Intel i5-8250U 1.6 GHz, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD. Manufactured in Jan 2018.

I've noticed that the chassis has a wobble when using a finger to push down or up on the right hand side of the laptop. There is no movement on the left hand side.

All the chassis feet are ok.

The wobble is less noticeable when the screen is almost closed.

This is my first new laptop for over 10 years. My last Dell XPS M1330 had no chassis wobble.

I popped into my local laptop shop and tried out to see if this wobble was evident on different makes and models of laptops. Some had similar chassis wobbles, some not.

Is this a design feature or do I need to seek a replacement model?

The laptop works ok.

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JackE

Place closed laptop on flat table so you can get good side views of the contact between front & back feet with the table surface. Test wobble lid closed. Then test wobble lid opened. Do both left & right sides. Does one side seem like it's twisting more than the other in the hinge areas? Jack E/NJ

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/3g/ordr6sbx79mr.jpg

Charliesmith

I've tried your recommended checks. The hinges seem to be ok. I think that the right hand side front foot is either too short or the chassis is twisted. The flex/wobble in the chassis seems to be worse when the lid is open all the way. The movement seems to only affect the front right hand side of the laptop.

JackE

>>>The flex/wobble in the chassis seems to be worse when the lid is open all the way.>>>

I'm trying to determine if the wobble is more due to the hinge distorting the case bottom, or simply because the weight distribution lifts the front end more when the lid is open all the way. If the latter, I wouldn't be too concerned about it. Jack E/NJ

Charliesmith

I've had a good look and I don't think the hinge is distorting the case bottom. It just looks like that the bottom of the case on the right hand side is not supported by the right hand side foot and/or the case has not been manufactured/assembled correctly.

JackE

>>> the case has not been manufactured/assembled correctly. >>>

The line gap between the upper & lower cases should look fairly even all the way around. If not, check if any the 9 bottom screws seem loose. Jack E/NJ

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/v5/8g8yb740stun.jpg

Charliesmith

I’ve checked the gap between the top and bottom chassis and the gap is the same all the way around.

The laptop has been off for a warranty fix for an intermittent finger print recognition. The chassis wobble was looked at but deemed to be the design of the laptop. The work was Carried out by a major computer retailer’s support department.

I wasn’t very happy and the local laptop store that dealt with the repair agreed that the wobble didn’t seem right. For me Having to put several pieces of paper or cardboard under the right hand foot to stop the wobbling seems a bit odd.

the local store is going to check with their technical/support department and also see if acer agree or not that the wobble is part of the laptop design.

JackE

If it was mine, I'd probably apply either a small strips of tape or small felt/rubber furniture pads from HomeDepot or Lowes. For me, it would neither be worth the hassle nor the risk for creating other problems to have the case replaced. Jack E/NJ