ACER Switch 11 Pro 2-in-1 Laptop Review

By Steven Kean

General Benchmarks

3DMark – Cloud Gate 1.1

Cloud Gate is one of 3DMark’s graphic benchmarks, it is designed for basic notebooks and home PC’s. It tests geometry, particle effects and volumetric illumination from a gaming perspective. It should provide a quick overview of the gaming capabilities.

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With Cloud Gate 1.1 we received a score of 3192. We compared it to a Lenovo Helix running an Intel Core-M-5Y10c processor; the Lenovo Helix Gen 2 received a score of 2730, about a 15% difference in performance.

PCMark 8 – Home Conventional 3.0

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Futuremark’s PCMark 8 provides a wide range of built-in benchmarks depending on your typical workload. The Home test includes web browsing, writing, photo editing, video chat and light gaming. It is a good test for tablets and laptops that are geared towards today’s home users. Here we got a score of 1863, while the Lenovo Helix received a lower score of 1358, close to a 28% difference in performance for PCMark’s Home User test!

Sandra Memory Benchmark

SiSoftware Sandra is one of the more popular memory benchmarks, it has multiple benchmarks for memory. We ran the Memory Bandwidth benchmark to see how it performed. The ACER Switch 11 has 2 SODIMM slots that are not user accessible (like every other tablet out there). These are filled with DDR3, unfortunately all the various scans wouldn’t show me the manufacturer or model of memory so it’s impossible to tell exactly what the factory specifications are on them. What I was able to see is that they are running at 1600Mhz (dual channel mode) with timings of 12-15-15-34; certainly not high performance memory, again though, this is a tablet.

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The 4GB of 1600Mhz DDR3 in the ACER Switch 11 actually performs rather well for its target audience. Sandra reports that it has 14.25GB/s of bandwidth. Enthusiasts will always want to have faster performing memory, however that is not who the Switch is designed for. For a home user that wants ultra portability and the flexability that the Switch provides, the memory included on the test sample is pretty good.