Admittedly, I was on the lookout for a new laptop that had a great setup. Coming from an Asus N55S I decided it was time to set it up and after some back and forth, I was told that Acer’s Predator line was recently in the market to purchase and I wasn’t convinced. Acer as a consumer brand didn’t quite strike me as the kind that would set their gaming line in such high regard. After voicing my concerns, I recently met with Acer Middle East who set to prove me wrong with the Acer Predator 15. Here’s a review of a laptop that I decided to stress test, not just with gaming but a barrage of multimedia functions such as 2D animation with after effects, Video Editing and streaming gameplay. I also decided to do some travel and carried this beast with me and see if I couldn’t take some gaming with me but a bit more into that later.
“While most would like something discreet, it’s no surprise that the Predator 15 is best compared to a behemoth, you’ll find yourself getting stares from everyone.”
Gaming laptops are getting smaller and more mobile often taking design cues from something like a futuristic piece of military technology. Painted with traditional red and black, this is polarizing with most laptops that are trying to be sleek, whereas gaming laptops are trying to be as imposing to the eye as they can be. I mean look at the Predator 15 for example, there’s certainly something about the way looks despite it being bulky. While most would like something discreet, it’s no surprise that the Predator 15 is best compared to a behemoth. This is something that most gaming laptops seem to follow because it’s easy to forget how justified the size is. Here’s the current specs of the Predator 15 unit I received. An Intel Core i7-6700HQ CPU, 32GB of RAM, a big 512GB SSD coupled with a 1TB HDD and the Nvidia 980M GPU means you’re future proofing your mobile gaming for at least three to four years. The skylake generation of Intel processors has been optimized well and it shows here.
Specs
- CPU: 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ (quad-core, 6MB cache, up to 3.5GHz with Turbo Boost)
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M (4GB GDDR5 RAM), Intel HD Graphics 530
- RAM: 32GB DDR4 (2133 MHz, expandable to 64GB)
- Screen: 15.6-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 Active Matrix TFT Color LCD
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVME SSD, 1TB HDD (7,400 RPM)
- Ports: 4x USB 3.0, 1x USB 3.1/Thunderbolt 3, HDMI, DisplayPort, Ethernet, SD reader, headphone jack, microphone jack
- Connectivity: Killer Wireless-AC 1535 , Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 4.2
- Camera: Front-facing 1,280 x 720 webcam
- Weight: 7.5 pounds (3.4 kg)
- Size: 15.4 x 11.8 x 1.5 inches, 39.1 x 30 x 3.8 centimeters (W x D x H)
Design
Remember the Toshiba Qosmio or the Dell XPS ? At first glance, the Predator 15 by design is a bulky device. It’s also heavy consider it’s a 15.6 inch model that weight 4 kilos, you’re definitely going to have to get a backpack to carry this around. However, all this weight is definitely something I find myself justifying. The laptop runs a GTX 980m GPU and to find that in a 15 inch setting is quite uncommon and putting that is definitely going to cause a lot of heating issues. The way Acer has dealt with this is by alternating airflow with a technology it calls DustDefender so the internal fans keep switching so you won’t have any dust building up on the inside. More so, you can swap out the internal optical drive for a modular CoolerMaster FrostCore cooling unit. I’ve decided to keep the cooling unit in as it’s an extra fan and I don’t remember the last time I used a disk to do anything. You can max out the fan speed from the Acer Predator app however you’re going to have the contend with some serious noise the laptop makes.
I do have an issue with the sound, the sound while loud may have sacrificed on clarity which I manually needed to adjust via software. The speakers are located on the front of the laptop with the subwoofer on the bottom but for the most part, this isn’t a deal breaker for since most gamers will be on headphones. You won’t be able to play the on-board sound on full volume I say this as a good thing, it’s loud. I’m not even kidding, I was told to turn it down a notch playing it at a café, that café was noisy and filled with people and music and the Predator was still loud enough to cause a distraction.
This adds on to the bulk of the size I already mentioned prior but I can tell you in my long hours of doing different things from gaming to video editing to streaming. There wasn’t a single moment the laptop felt hot and it’s worth the weight.
On the outside, the Predator 15 is nothing if not giving the impression to everyone that you’re a gamer and this is the weapon of your choice. The standard lights are a two-tone backlit keyboard and two narrow strips and a backlit logo on the lid. WASD keys are as usual highlighted more and yes, it’s a joy to type. It’s obviously a full sized keyboard and a track-pad that dominates the lower half of the laptop. It’s a shame though you’re stuck with the red and blue keyboard colour scheme that can’t be changed and the only thing you can do is turn off and turn on different lighting zones throughout the laptop. There’s no breathing effects since the back light just either turns off completely if not used and turn on again when you’re typing on it. It’s a feature though I’m glad to see that Acer has already looked into and I would really like some personalization options.
There are six macro keys located on the top, directly above the function keys that can be programmed using the Predator Sense software included with the laptop. It’s already programmed to functions like turning off sticky keys or the fans. Next to the trackpad there’s a macro that disables the windows key and trackpad and you’ll know when you do that with the LED changing color from green to red when you enable this option.
The matte body that Acer has gone with is soft to the touch and almost like very hard rubber. Matte bodies are something I don’t recommend usually as they are just waiting to get some dirt, stains or fingerprints on them. However, the predator’s body in particular is dirt resistant, I can’t thank Acer enough for giving a machine that doesn’t take up too much time in maintaining it. Any stains that do come on the device can easily be wiped with microfiber cloth and this includes the full body and the keyboard/trackpad.
Design
While not 4K, the 1920 x 1080 screen is a such a joy to look at, it’s a bright screen where you’ll find most of your gaming and HD movie needs supplied aptly. Colors are great and there’s little I can find fault with. While UHD would be a nice touch, I understand that the predator’s GPU would have to pack all those pixels in that screen and I rather it does that with a GPU which we might see in Nvidia’s GTX 10 series mobile GPUs. It does have G-Sync though, the actual display isnt’ G-sync enabled.
I get a lot of questions if one really should be investing in 4K laptops. While yes, a 4K screen isn’t bad by any measure, and you can start playing with the graphic cards DSR capabilities, it’s just not at a stage that I would consider it a must buy. It would requires a dual GTX 980m SLI to pull off 4K flawlessly but it’s just not necessary. Acer has found that sweet spot that’s 1080 and that’s perfectly alright.
Performance
With a beastly performance thanks to its 32GB of RAM and everything loading from its 512 GB SSD and of course the i7 CPU. I’m fairly certain the Predator didn’t flinch even once. I ran chrome on several tabs alongside Youtube and played Overwatch like it was nothing. Loading times from games are also reduced because of the SSD and thanks to its capacity you can afford to have multiple titles running on it. That said all your games will run at 60fps + on full graphics setting more so I hooked it up to larger display via HDMI in the hotel room when I took it and got some great playtime on the big screen.
Sure, it’s going to handle your games like a charm, I managed to play Overwatch with a stable internet connection as I travelled across South Asia with the Predator and it kept things super cool and smooth and also ran some Doom hitting both 60fps ultra, thanks in part to Nvidia’s Geforce Experience optimizations on the card. The only exceptional thing that the Predator won’t do is VR, which isn’t supported yet on mobile GPU’s. You could, technically, push it to 4K but with that gorgeous display, 1080p 60 still would keep the nitpicking gamer in me happy.
There’s also this other feature I keep mentioning about in every performance laptop I seem to own and that’s using it for purposes beyond gaming. I use a lot of tech to do my videos and in some cases some beefy video projects running Premiere Pro and After Effects, I can tell you in a workplace, you’re going to seem the coolest one of the lot. It’s got what it takes to be so much more than just a gaming device, it’s a holistic multi media tank.
In a world full of chrome and rose gold, I’d like to make my presence felt with shades of deep black and red.
Battery
On the inside powering all of this is an eight-cell lithium-ion 6,000 mAh battery which will give you some long battery life, the longest I’ve seen, playing on a gaming laptop. Keep in mind that’s going to give you say 1-3 hours of gaming before you’re going to get a message that it needs to recharge. If you do put it on battery saver and do your usual web browsing and multi media you’re going to pull at least five hours. It’s recommended though if you’re gaming, it’s best to power up the laptop to get the most out of that lovely mobile GPU.
The Verdict
Acer’s Predator 15 is an absolute solid laptop with looks to boot. It’s smooth to the touch, performs fantastic and battery life phenomenal for a gaming laptop I’ve seen in a while. Yes I still say it’s best to connect the Predator to the wall to get the most out of your gaming but for everything else, you can do a lot on the battery. There are of course other laptops such as the MSI Ghost which is actually 4K which come close but the Predator comes across as a great all rounder device mainly because of its internals, the cooling system and that expansive SSD that’s put in there.
It’s cooling system deserves plaudits because it’s a nice change to get a cool breeze coming out of a laptop instead of the hot air I’m used to and you can be certain you won’t feel that heat under pressure. You will have to deal with the fact that it’s tank and it’s certainly feels like one, the moment you pick it up. So this tank is quite the investment and burden. You’ll also contend with the fan speed that it blasts through which can be noisy if you don’t have headphones on to ignore them. It’s price tag at the cheapest you can find from Desert Cart stands at AED 7639
Acer has changed my view on what constitutes as a multi device and I suddenly find myself excited what they’re going to do when VR does come out, it’s going to be an interesting year for the PC gamer and they’re just getting started.
Full Disclosure: Acer has given the review unit to the author.
