JUNE 2020 PCWorld 7

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The $1,799 MacBook Pro 13 vs. the

$650 Acer Swift 3: Guess who wins?

Can a budget PC smoke Apple’s new MacBook Pro 13? Yes, it can. BY GORDON MAH UNG

A

pple’s MacBook Pro 13 just

came out, and it already has a

tough adversary. That foe is not

the usual high-end, high-priced

Windows workhorse like the Dell XPS 13 (go.

pcworld.com/d930) we just tested, as great

as it is. No, the reason Apple should worry is

because based on our sister site Macworld’s

preliminary performance tests (go.pcworld.

com/ptst), this $1,799 premium laptop could

be lapped by the $650 Acer Swift 3.

That’s not a typo. The Acer Swift 3 costs

just six hundred fifty dollars. But this budget

laptop has a secret weapon: AMD’s Ryzen

7 4700U (go.pcworld.com/470u). When

we reviewed the Acer Swift 3 ( see page 37),

it surpassed all expectations by keeping

pace with laptops far bigger and more

expensive. And sorry to say, the MacBook

Pro 13 is in the same pickle as those

other powerhouses. Keep reading and

weep, Apple.

IMAGE: APPLE