Acer innovations: Chromebooks, ConceptD growth, outdoor devices and lots of gaming
Acer presented new products at its digital "Global Press Conference". The focus is on gaming hardware, but there are also new notebooks and the high-performance ConceptD design series has been expanded.
Between CES and IFA, Acer is organising its own major press conference in New York. This year, it will take place in Taipei without an audience. All announcements and important information will also be available in the livestream, but it will not be possible to get hands-on with the new products on site.
A lightweight Swift and Chromebooks with Spin
The classic notebooks are still clearly laid out. Acer has modernised the Swift 5 and introduced two Chromebooks with a rotating screen.
The latest generation of the Swift 5 has a magnesium-lithium and magnesium-aluminium chassis and weighs less than a kilogram. Acer has installed the latest tenth generation of Intel's Core i processors in it. Optionally, its integrated graphics chip can be made superfluous with a Geforce MX350. The 14-inch display is a touchscreen with which the notebook is said to have a screen-to-body ratio of 90 per cent. In other words, there is very little edge next to the screen. The internal memory - an SSD - can be up to one terabyte and the RAM up to 16 gigabytes.
Together, the new Chromebook Spin 311 and Chromebook Spin 713 have a screen that you can fold down completely thanks to a 360-degree hinge. This allows them to be used as a tablet, which makes sense given the operating system. In simple terms, Chrome OS is a bit of Linux and the Chrome browser, which you can supplement with Android apps.
The Chromebook Spin 311 is cheaper and smaller. With its 11.6-inch display, Acer claims to have designed it "for schoolwork and everyday use". The features are rather modest, but could still be sufficient.
The Chromebook Spin 713 is significantly better equipped and costs more than twice as much in the basic version. Although its battery life is shorter - 10 hours instead of 15 on the 311 - the 13.5-inch touchscreen has a higher resolution and the built-in hardware is more powerful. The target group is companies that want to equip their employees with high-performance Chromebooks that have certified robustness.
Predator and Nitro: gaming, gaming, gaming
A major focus of Acer's press conference is on gaming: the Taiwanese company is presenting four new notebooks, three PCs, five monitors and a mouse via livestream. The gaming notebooks are equipped with tenth-generation Intel processors up to Core i9 and new graphics options up to Nvidia RTX 2080 Super.
The flagship remains the Predator Helios 700 with the sliding keyboard, which increases the air supply for ventilation. Its 17.3-inch display has a Full HD resolution and runs at up to 144 hertz. In terms of hardware options, the maximum is reached with the Core i9 and the RTX 2080 Super. The Helios 300 is available with a 15.6 or 17.3 inch Full HD display and can run at up to 240 hertz. The best possible configuration is the Core i7 as well as the Geforce RTX 2070 and 32 gigabytes of RAM. The Predator Triton 300 is only available with a 15.6-inch Full HD display, but also with a refresh rate of 240 hertz.
The Nitro 5 is the more affordable option for a gaming laptop from Acer. You have the choice between a 15.6 or 17.3 inch Full HD display with 144 Hertz. You can choose between Comet Lake chips from Intel or Ryzen Renoir processors from AMD. With an Intel CPU, you can choose up to an RTX 2060, with the AMD version up to a GTX 1650Ti.
For the Predator Orion 9000, Orion 3000 and Nitro 50 gaming PCs, Acer has also focussed on offering new and updated hardware options. As with the notebooks, the tenth generation of Intel processors is also available. Depending on the model, up to Core i7 or even Core i9 Extreme. In terms of graphics cards, the configuration ranges up to the RTX 2070 Super (2060 in the Nitro 50) or two RTX 2080Ti in an SLI network.
The Orion 9000 also has a visual change. The side panels are made of glass and reveal the RGB lighting of the fans. The case can be opened without tools and is even manoeuvrable thanks to handles and wheels.
The top model among the monitors presented is the Predator X25. Its 24.5-inch IPS panel has a Full HD resolution and a very high refresh rate of 360 hertz. It is equipped with Nvidia's G-Sync graphics option and can adjust its brightness settings to the environment - including the backlight. It can be tilted between -5 and +25 degrees, swivelled 30 degrees to the left and right and adjusted in height by up to 120 millimetres so that you can sit comfortably while gaming. There is a pivot function on top - even if games in portrait format are more likely to be found on a smartphone.
Four new monitors with three display sizes have been added to the Predator XB3 series: Predator XB323QK with 31.5 inches, Predator XB273UGS and XB723UGX with 27 inches and the Predator XB253QGZ with 24.5 inches. The resolution of the IPS monitors ranges from Full HD to 4K and the refresh rate also varies between 144 and 240 Hertz. All four models can be rotated and tilted.
A new mouse rounds off the gaming innovations. The Predator Cestus 350 can be used with or without a cable. It has eight programmable buttons and can save five profiles. The wireless polling rate is 1 ms/1,000 Hz, with cable even 0.5 ms/2,000 Hz.
ConceptD: Exterior and interior values
The devices under the "ConceptD" label are aimed at users who need a lot of computing power, but don't want to install gaming hardware or a plain workstation. However, appearance is not only important for the exterior, but also for the displays, which have a particularly high colour accuracy and are therefore suitable for professional video and image editing, for example. At the GPC, Acer presented two new notebooks, a new PC and two monitors.
The ConceptD 3 Ezel is an unusual notebook. Its 14 or 15.6-inch display is highly manoeuvrable. Not on a 360-degree hinge, however, but on a so-called "Ezel hinge", which is located in the centre of the screen. Acer has come up with five positions for this:
- The classic notebook mode
- The tablet mode, in which the display is positioned above the keyboard
- A floating mode in which the touchscreen floats above the keyboard so that both can be reached quickly.
- In stand mode, the screen is angled towards the keyboard.
- In display mode, you fold the monitor to the other side so that the person opposite you can see it.
The Ezel also uses Intel chips from the tenth generation. The selection ranges up to the Core i7 and on sale, the Quadro T1000 graphics card is less suitable for gaming but better for video and other graphical calculations. The ConceptD 3 is the classic notebook variant without the Ezel hinge and is therefore also cheaper - but has the same hardware options.
If your computer doesn't need to be mobile, the ConceptD 100 could be an option. However, the mini workstation still has to make do with ninth-generation Intel chips. The remaining features range up to a maximum of Nvidia Quadro P1000, one terabyte of SSD memory and 32 gigabytes of RAM.
The ConceptD monitors focus on colour fidelity. The ConceptD CP3 with its UHD resolution has a Delta E<1, supports 90 per cent of the DCI-P3 colour space and Vesa DisplayHDR 400. The latter also applies to the ConceptD CP5 with a WQHD resolution, which has a Delta E<2, is Pantone-validated with 1.07 billion colours and covers 99 per cent of the Adobe RGB colour space.
The ConceptD CP5 also has a Delta E<2.
Enduro: When it goes outside
With the new Acer devices under the "Enduro" label, the name says it all. Like the motorbike of the same name, the two notebooks and three tablets (2x Windows, 1x Android) are designed for off-road use. Acer itself claims that with IP65 certification, they are suitable for use in agriculture and construction sites or for switching between the office and outdoors. They should not only withstand drops, but also be protected against dust and water.
Disclaimer: We do not yet know when which of the products will be available in which configuration and at which price.
When I was but a young student, I'd sit in my friend's living room with all my classmates and play on his SuperNES. Since then I've had the opportunity to test out all the newest technology for you. I've done reviews at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, and have now arrived at Galaxus.de.