The Acer Aspire S7-393 Review: Broadwell Comes To Acer's Ultrabook
by Brett Howse on October 5, 2015 8:00 AM ESTGPU Performance
Broadwell brought along some major changes to the GPU architecture, including more execution units and less execution units per subslice. The total of EUs went from 20 in Haswell to 24 in Broadwell, but each subslice only has 8 EUs rather than 10 on Haswell to reduce some of the bottlenecks. The i7-5500U model is an Intel HD 5500 branded GPU with a frequency range of 300-950 MHz. This is the maximum before Intel moves into their Iris branded products.
As with the system benchmarks, the second generation Acer S7 with Haswell is included to give a reference of where we have gone in a year or so. Not all of the tests were run on it, but some of the 3DMark test scores are available.
The other note about GPU performance is our one gaming test that was decent to run on integrated graphics has been significantly changed. DOTA 2 was recently updated to a new version of the Source engine which has changed everything pretty dramatically. While we work out a good way to benchmark it again, it will be left out of this review. Any scores we obtained would not be comparable with the older benchmark.
3DMark
FutureMark’s 3DMark has a list of different tests which go from very difficult to very easy. The Broadwell S7 on Windows 10 does very well here with pretty much the highest scores across the board, with the exception of Ice Storm Unlimited Physics which is more CPU bound and the faster CPU in the X1 Carbon surpasses it. For light gaming, the S7 should be able to hold its own.
GFXBench
GFXBench is basically a mobile benchmark, but it has also been released as a DirectX benchmark as well in the Windows Store. Once again the Core i7-5500U does well against its Ultrabook brethren.
As far as performance, with the amount of systems we have seen with Broadwell there are not a lot of surprises left. Skylake should make some nice changes here and we should see devices with Skylake very soon.
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Ethos Evoss - Tuesday, December 15, 2015 - link
why doesn't make sense what a stupid pathetic epic fail pist you had..what is so all sudden bad on raid?
but if crapple woud have it you will go..
woow best thing what apple did.. am i right.. funny boy?
Shadowmaster625 - Monday, October 5, 2015 - link
wow what a rip off. I look forward to seeing this one in the bargain bin for $800 in a few months. No way is it worth $1400.Bob Todd - Monday, October 5, 2015 - link
Indeed. Serious question. Why on earth would I pay $1389 for this vs. $1169 for an HP Spectre x360? It has the same CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB mSATA SSD. It also has a bigger battery 56Wh. The i5 Spectre with the same RAM/SSD at $999 makes the pricing on this seem even more absurd. It's not like the Acer brand can command a premium. Spectre X360 or XPS 13 over this all day long.nathanddrews - Tuesday, October 6, 2015 - link
*ahem*Gorilla Glass top coating!!!!!1!
kspirit - Monday, October 5, 2015 - link
nnn this is so PRETTY. I think this is the most beautiful ultrabook on the market. Like the model that rules the runway. Ativ Book 9 comes close but this thing is flawless.Oyster - Monday, October 5, 2015 - link
Good review, Brett. I especially liked your detailed coverage of the keyboard. Please continue to review keyboards in depth! I feel that as ultrabooks get thinner and smaller, one of the first things being compromised is the keyboard layout. As a power user (Eclipse, Excel, VS, etc.), I cannot fathom the exclusion of dedicated function, Home, End, Insert, and Delete keys. This is why I love ThinkPad keyboards... if only a Surface- or Dell XPS-like device could have dedicated buttons...Manch - Monday, October 5, 2015 - link
New WIN 10 devices announcing tomorrow. Maybe the rumored larger Surface Pro will have a better keyboard. The type cover is decent but I'm hoping they improve on it and yeah add dedicated keys like you suggest.mkozakewich - Monday, October 5, 2015 - link
They've already got all those dedicated keys. Microsoft threw me for a loop with their key layout, but I've realized it's better than the other ways. I can easily hit the Fn key with my right hand while also using the arrow keys for Home, End, etc.About the only thing I'd change is to add a right-control key. And move the arrows down a bit so you could make them all the same height without making them too short.
Oyster - Monday, October 5, 2015 - link
I realize your needs are unique compared to mine, but I would hardly call the Surface keyboard a power-user tool. As a programmer, I want dedicated function keys first and multimedia keys second... not a huge deal since I can engage the function lock. However, I would hardly call reaching out for the function key for Home and End user-friendly (for programmers at least). Beyond that, it does no good when you actually have function keys as the secondary input for these keys. Case in point, try power-debugging and using the immediate window in VS on a surface keyboard in your lap :).cgalyon - Monday, October 5, 2015 - link
The keyboard on the original S7 was terrible. I don't believe I could type more than one short word before it would either miss a letter or double-enter a letter. It required twice as much work to type on as any other keyboard I've used, which made it essentially unusable for what I needed (report writing).Other than that, it has been an excellent device. The screen is great, it has remained quick and responsive, and is easy to carry around. The hinge has lost none of its rigidity either. If they could only fix the keyboard, it would be perfect.