When Acer unveiled the Predator 21 X gaming laptop last year, people were ready to spend their life savings or trade close family members in order to get it. There was just one problem, Acer was tight-lipped about the price and release date, preferring to hang a TBA over both. Both pieces of information were released at CES 2017, and I hope you still have family members to trade away.
As the world’s first notebook to offer a curved 21-inch IPS display (2560 x 1080 resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate), you can expect a truly immersive gaming experience, especially when combined with the notebook’s eye-tracking technology from Tobii. The eye tracking technology lets gamers identify enemies, aim and take cover simply by gazing at objects on the screen in over 45 titles like Elite Dangerous, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and WatchDogs 2. The same technology is available on the Acer Aspire V Nitro & Aspire VX 15 laptops. The curved display also features Nvidia G-SYNC technology, ensuring smooth and sharp gameplay.
When it comes to performance, the Predator 21 X is a behemoth from the depth of hell. Where one graphics card may have been adequate for the average gamer, Acer has packed two Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 graphic cards in SLI as well as an overclockable 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-7820HK processor for ultimate performance and responsiveness. I can only assume that there’s a “win game” button somewhere on the keyboard. As for multitasking, you can potentially run an intensive game alongside a couple of intensive programs such as Adobe Premiere Pro thanks to the whopping 64GB of DDR4-2400 memory.
Start up speeds are ludicrously low thanks to the four 512GB solid state drives in RAID 0 configuration (including 2 NVMe PCIe SSDs, which are up to 5x faster than SATA SSDs) and a 7200 RPM hard drive of 1TB capacity for extra storage. Acer has also included something called “Killer DoubleShot Pro”, a piece of technology that automatically picks the fastest network connection (Ethernet or wireless) and sends all high priority traffic over that interface while standard traffic is sent over the other. This ensures the highest priority traffic will always be put on the fastest and most reliable link. Meanwhile, a Thunderbolt 3 brings Thunderbolt to USB-C at speeds up to 40 Gbps.
Since this is a gaming laptop, expect it to heat up, especially considering that a small nuclear power plant seems to be powering this one. The Predator 21 X features an advanced cooling architecture consisting of 5 system fans (including 3 ultra-thin AeroBlade metal fans) and 9 heat pipes. It also includes Acer DustDefender, which removes dust build-up and improves heat dissipation, and Acer’s CoolBoost app, that can be used to adjust the fan’s’ airflow to deliver extra cooling performance during heavy use.
For those of us that love mechanical keyboards, the 21 X comes with a full-sized mechanical keyboard that features Cherry MX Brown switches, with individually programmable backlit keys, offering 16.7 million colour options. Customers can swap out the black W, A, S and D keys with teal ones, using the included accessory kit. Meanwhile, the unique numeric keypad allows it to be flipped over and turned into a Precision Touchpad.
Sound wise, the Predator 21 X features a new 3-way (tweeter, midrange, woofer) audio design which produces Hi-Fi quality sound and is powered by 4 speakers (2 tweeters, 2 midrange) and 2 subwoofers to produce a full spectrum of sound.
Acer’s Predator Sense software allows users to control and customise the whole gaming experience from one central interface, including overclocking, lighting and fan control. In addition, the included Xsplit Gamecaster software makes it easy for gamers to record and edit videos and live streaming on Twitch and Youtube channels.
Located just above the keyboard on the right side is a metal maintenance panel which provides access to the RAM modules and one 2.5-inch hard drive. The notebook ships with a blue dragon graphic on the panel, or it can be customised with a combination of graphics, nation flags and name engravings. In addition, the first 300 notebooks will include a limited edition series number on the panel.
For safe transport and storage, each Predator 21 X ships with a custom ultra-durable hard-shell carrying case which securely stores the notebook and accessories.
If your budget doesn’t extend all the way to the range of the Predator 21 X, you can opt for the Acer Predator 17 X gaming notebook, which also received both a CPU and GPU upgrade, It now includes a 7th Generation Intel Core i7-7820HK processor and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 GPU with 8G GDDR5X video memory. Featuring overclocking, desktop grade components, a custom triple-fan cooling system with front air intake and a server-class vapour chamber, it is ideal for the most demanding games and running virtual reality devices. Its overclocking lets gamers experience turbo speeds of up to 4.3GHz for the CPU; up to 1732MHz for the GPU, and up to 5.4GHz for VRAM. Gamers can be immersed in the visuals thanks to the 17.3-inch G-SYNC Full HD IPS (1920 x 1080) or UHD IPS (4K 3840 x 2160) display.
The Predator 17 X (GX-792) is also configured with an overclockable 7th Generation Intel Core i7-7820HK processor, up to 64GB of DDR4-2400 memory and an enterprise level NVMe PCIe solid state drive2 or three-SATA-SSD RAID 0 array for immense data transfer speeds.
The Predator 21 X will be available in EMEA in February with prices starting at €9,999.
The refreshed Predator 17 X will be available in EMEA in January with prices starting at €2,999.
