The latest Next@Acer event overnight has brought an absolute slew of new product announcements from the company, with new Chromebooks, Laptops, Desktops and monitors announced, and set to arrive later this year.
As part of the announcement, Acer also announced their commitment to the RE100
Initiative, a group of businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity. Acer is committing to 100% renewable energy Use by 2035, with Acer achieving 44% renewable energy use in 2020.
Back to the announcements, the new hardware, which looks set to begin launching in the second half of 2021, focuses on gamers, creators and professionals, covering most of the Acer product lines. While Australia won’t see all the new hardware coming down, we are getting a lot, so what was announced?
Acer Swift X
Aimed at content creators, streamers and creative professionals, the Acer Swift X is a powerful beast combining the latest AMD Ryzen 5000 Series Mobile Processors with the recently anounced NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050Ti Laptop GPU.
Despite all that power under the hood, the Acer Swift X still weighs in at just 1.39 kg with a 17.9 mm thin profile.
There’s plenty to like about the Swift X, with a 14-inch FHD IPS display with minimal bezels offering an 85.7% screen-to-body ratio. There will be options for up to 2TB of on-board storage, and a 59W battery that offers up to 17 hours of use.
Exact details on what will be on offer will be announced when the Swift X arrives in Australia at the end of July. The Acer Swift X will be available from $1,499 AUD from Harvey Norman and Acer Online.
Travelmate
Acer has also announced new Travelmate P6 notebooks, with the Travelmate P6 and Travelmate Spin P6 ultralight notebooks for mobile professionals refreshed with Intel 11th gen Core vPro processors.
The new Travelmate P6 and Spin P6 differ only in the inclusion of the 360-degree hinge on the Spin model. Both Travelmate P6 and Spin P6 models include Intel’s 11th-generation ‘Tiger Lake’ vPro processors with options up to core i7, as well as up to 32GB DDR4x memory and a 1TB PCIe Gen3 SSD.
The laptops include 14-inch FHD+ resolution IPS displays covered with Corning Gorilla Glass and offer 100% sRGB colour gamut coverage with 170-degree viewing angle. The spacious display offers a lot of space to work on, while the Mil-Spec (MIL-STD 810H) rating makes it durable enough for life on the road.
Acer is launching both WiFI and 5G compatible models, and of course you’ll get WiFi 6 support.
Acer Australia says the TravelMate P6 (TMP614-52) and TravelMate Spin P6 (TMP614RN-52) will be available in Australia from Q4 2021 from Acer Online, with pricing and more retailers to be announced closer to launch.
ConceptD
As well as business and gaming, Acer is very interested in creators and has updated their popular ConceptD range, including an updated ConceptD Ezel model.
There are three new ConceptD models, the ConceptD 3 with a 14-inch display, ConceptD 5 with a massive 16-inch display and the ConceptD 7 Ezel which offers a 15.6-inch 4K PANTONE-Validated touchscreen with its innovative split design letting you position the screen in a hover mode over the keyboard.
The new ConceptD range includes the latest 11th-gen H-series processors, and options for NVIDIA graphics, though options differ on each model.
The ConceptD 3 includes options for up to the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU, while the ConceptD 5 gets a bump in GPU with options up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX
3060 Laptop GPU, but for real power, the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU.
In terms of availability, Acer Australia says the ConceptD 3 and Concept D 7 Ezel will arrive in Q4 at Harvey Norman and Acer Online, though pricing is still to be announced. The ConceptD 5 will be available at Harvey Norman and Acer Online as well, though no dates (or pricing) have been announced.
Chromebooks
As one of the original Chromebook vendors, Acer certainly knows what they’re doing in this space and have announced four new models, though only two are coming to Australia. The Acer Chromebook 317 (CB317-1H) and Chromebook Spin 713 (CP713-3W) are heading down under, while the Acer Chromebook 314 (CB314-2H) and Chromebook Spin 514 (CB514-1W) WON’T be coming to Australia.
The Acer Chromebook 317 (CB317-1H) is the big news for this release – pun intended – with the Chromebook the first to feature a massive 17.3-inch display aimed at ‘Multi-tasking masters’.
The Chromebook includes a FHD resolution 17.3-inch display that has narrow bezels and is powered by Intel Celeron processors and include Intel Wi-Fi 6 for fast wireless connectivity. It also has a range of ports including two USB Type-C Gen3.2 ports, two USB Type-A ports, a micro SD card reader and a 3.5mm audio jack.
Also announced is the Chromebook Spin 713 (CP713-3W) with Intel’s latest 11th Gen Core i7 processors. The Spin 713 is also the first Chromebook to receive the Intel EVO certification, ensuring you get minimum battery and performance.
The Chromebook Spin 713 includes a 360-degree hinge mounting a13.5-inch (2256×1504 resolution) display in 3:2 aspect ratio. It’s also tough with a Mil-Spec rating against drops, spills etc.
Acer Australia has announced the Chromebook Spin 713 (CP713-3W) will be available in Australia in Q4 2021 from Acer Online, though more retailers will be announced alongside the price closer to launch.
The Acer Chromebook 317 (CB317-1H) is confirmed for Asutralia, however dates and pricing are still to be announced.
Gaming
Acer unveiled new gaming desktops, laptops and monitors at Next@Acer, so what have we got?
Predator Triton and Helios
Gamers also got a look at some new goodies from Acer, with new Predator Triton and Predator Helios gaming notebooks announced.
The new Predator range has been updated with the latest Intel 11th-gen H-series processors and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series Laptop GPUs. Both the Predator Triton 500 SE and Predator Helios 500 include options for up to an 11th-Gen Intel Core i9 processor and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPUs, with up to 64GB of 3200 MHz DDR4 memory.
The Predator Triton 500 SE includes up to 4 TB of high speed PCIe Gen4 storage, while the Predator Helios 500 SE includes options for a pair of PCIe NVMe SSDs in RAID 0 and one SATA HDD.
The Predator Triton 500 SE comes with a 16-inch 16:10 display, but you can choose from three panel options including two with 165Hz refresh rate (one with Mini LED and up to 1,250 nits), or a 240 Hz PolarBlack panel with a 3 ms response time.
Acer Australia says the Predator Triton 500 SE (PT516-51s) and Predator Helios 500 (PH517-52) will both be available in Australia at Harvey Norman, Acer Online and leading computer resellers in late Q3/early Q4 with pricing to be announced soon.
Nitro and Predator Orion
It’s not just laptop gamers getting new models, with new Predator Orion and Nitro gaming desktops announced with the latest 11th gen Intel Core series desktop processors and of course NVIDIA’s latest GeForce RTX 30-series GPUs
The new Predator Orion 3000 (P03-630) is the more premium of the two models, with the desktop able to be configured with up to an 11th-gen Intel Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 GPU. Internally you can spec up to 64GB of 3200MHz DDR4 RAM and up to 2TB PCIe NVMe SSD (2x 1TB SSDs), with the option to add up to 6TB HDD (2x 3TB HDDs).
The Predator Nitro 50 on the other hand can be configured with up to an 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, with up to NVIDIA GeForce® RTX 3060 Ti GPUs. You’ll be able to configure up to 64GB of DDR4 3200MHz memory and storage options include dual M2 NVMe SSD slots, with additional HDD slots (up to 2x 3TB) available.
Just a note that Acer DID announce a Ryzen model of the Nitro 50 utilising the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 Series desktop processor, but we don’t appear to be getting it. That could change, but Acer Australia has only mentioned the Intel model.
The Predator Orion 3000 (P03-630) and Nitro 50 (N50-620) will be available in Australia at Harvey Norman, Acer Online and leading computer resellers from September. Acer has priced the Predator Orion 3000 from RRP AUD 2,299, while the Nitro 50 starts at RRP AUD 1,599.
Monitors
Acer unveiled three new monitors during Next@Acer, the Predator CG437K S, Predator X38 S and Predator X28.
The Predator CG437K S is a massive 42.5-inch in size with UHD (3840×2160) resolution and support for NVIDIA G-Sync with dual HDMI 2.1 ports supporting Variable Refresh Rate (VRR).
The monitor includes both a USB hub with a USB-B port, a pair of both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports and a USB Type-C (PD30W) port with Power Delivery.
Acer has also included an RGB lighting strip which can sync to video or music. Acer is also making it easier to automatically adjust your screen with Acer ColorSense, LightSEnse and ProxiSense which adjust the screen’s colour, brightness and temperature to match the ambience of the environment, with the additional benefit that it can detect when you’re nearby and dim it all when you leave.
The Predator X38 S comes in at 37.5 inches in size and offers gamers a curved monitor option. With a 2300R curve and UWQHD+ (3840×1600) resolution, the monitor looks great and has up to a 175Hz refresh rate and response time as low as 0.3ms.
The Predator X38 S also includes support for NVIDIA G-Sync Esports Mode, as well as Acer LightSense and Acer ColorSense to adjust the settings automatically.
Finally, the Predator X28 is a 28-inch UHD (3840×2160) monitor, also with NVIDIA G-SYNC support and a 155 Hz refresh rate (overclocked) with a 1 ms G-to-G response time.
Acer Australia has confirmed that all three models will arrive in Australia from September.
The Predator CG437K S will be available in Australia from November for $1,999 AUD. The Predator X38 S arrive in October for $2,999 AUD, while the Predator X28 will arrive in October from AUD 1,699.
You’ll be able to find all three at Harvey Norman, Acer Online and leading computer resellers.
