Acer Predator 17 Hands-On Preview

With all due consideration to the Predator 8 tablet and G3 and G6 desktops, Acer’s biggest IFA 2015 product was the Predator 17, figuratively speaking. A glance is all it takes to discern that this laptop was built for serious gaming, and turning heads.

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"Furthermore, it is possible to replace the optical drive with an optional third fan (two fans are mandatory) for additional cooling."

Okay, that sounds actually pretty darned useful.

 

Having owned a Lenovo Y500 with this feature via Ultrabay I can tell you it's damn near useless without heatpipes connecting the fan radiator to the heatsinks. Simply having a fan there just swirls air around inside the machine creating turbulence and disrupting the natural airflow of the laptop.

 

Is it me or does this acer predator 17 look REALLLLYYYYY similar to the new asus g752 thats about to come out?

 

Has anyone found any detailed information on this machine anywhere? All I can find on the web seems like mostly marketing fluff, including all of the hands-on reviews. Even their web site for this model has no meaningful information, just a ton of hype.

http://www.acer.com/predator/en_US/predator_17.html#

I'm interested in knowing whether it will be another bellybutton BGA clunker or have sockets and slots, what size AC adapter, etc. If it sports a socketed unlocked i7 CPU, an MXM 980M, a big AC adapter and it can handle some decent overclocking without melting it might be something special. I don't normally expect too much from the Acer brand, but it would be really nice to see some serious disruption in a niche market populated by so much junk. That disruption would be especially nice if it were pulled off by a brand that has developed a reputation for mediocrity.

 

Haha this acer line really caught me by surprise too, i mean who really saw this one coming? i know they used to dabble in the desktop market but didnt really get anywhere yet now they are pulling all the stops (or so we hope) with a decent gaming line.
From what i've heard, the cooling system uses metal blades for its fans so it can be more effective at cooling than even the asus ROG line or so they say.

As far as the proper specs of the notebook and accessories like the adapter goes, it seems like they are really keeping tight lipped on this, which in most cases would mean bad things are afoot.

But, heres to hoping that acer can give everyone a run for their money.

 

it looks like relatives, aren't they?

 

Depending who releases the product to market first, may we see an apple v samsung-like lawsuit war over design IP? who knows :O although now in that picture it looks like the outer edge of the acer predator's hinge also light up which may be quite cool.

I was also always a fan of the asus exhaust lighting, i think xoticpc was the first to do it with their g75 cosmetic upgrades, always looked unique and cool, i wonder if the g752's light in the exhaust is only in that one spot, or if it is consistently all the way around like xotic's was.

 

I think there's a good argument that this is just form following function; there's only so many ways to design a cooling system for gaming laptop and the display hinge for a gaming laptop.

 

Yeah, I would agree with this. If the specs were going to be impressive I would expect them to be pumping up the excitement and giving everyone something to be drooling over. Given they are being tight-lipped about the specs and hyping up other stuff features, that is almost always a dead give away that the specs are going to suck, or at least be nothing extraordinary enough to write home about. None of their Predator desktops are particularly impressive in terms of specs... not bad, but nothing amazing either. But, it would be nice to see an exception to that rule.

I agree with this, too. I mean, really, what are they going to do to be different without sharing at least a few similar aesthetics. If the design is a gigantic departure from the norm, it will be a turn off to some folks. Depending on who the ODM is for the laptop, it may even come off of the same assembly line. (Since I haven't followed ASUS and Acer very closely, I don't know who builds the laptops on their behalf.)

 

This second part is interesting, has asus been known to sell their outer shells? May turn into something like MSI where they make their own laptops, as well as take another share of the market by selling their shells to boutique laptop makers. As upon closer inspection, the lines and design ques of the top of the lid as well as the vent frame seem the same on the acer and asus.

 

Dad of twins
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If this will be cheap or cheaper than MSi GS70 6QE, I will go for this one