Earlier today, Acer Malaysia has launched its Predator lineup on our shores. Although as many as eight products were announced at the event, one of them were not on showcase. Regardless, let’s take a closer look at each of these Predator products.
Predator 15 & 17 Gaming Laptop
These laptops are quite capable gaming machines. Equipped with an Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M graphics card, modern games should run really well on these laptops. The Predator 15 and 17’s chassis are also soft to the touch, which gives off the impression that these are premium products.
That being said, both of these laptops are quite thick and heavy, especially with the Predator 17. Seeing how these are marketed as gaming machines, the extra weight and size are expected. Interestingly, these laptops have dedicated mouse buttons on the bottom of the trackpad, something that isn’t very common nowadays. The keyboard are also very nice to type on, with plenty of key travel and tactile feedback.
The Acer Predator 15.
The Acer Predator 17.
Predator 8 Gaming Tablet
It’s not often an Android tablet is marketed as a gaming product, which makes the Predator 8 a particularly interesting device. In terms of specification, it has an 8-inch 1920 x 1200 16:10 IPS display, an Intel Atom x7-Z8700 quad-core processor clocked at 1.6GHz, 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM, 32GB of built-in memory, a microSD card slot which supports cards up to 128GB, and a 4,420mAh battery.
In terms of design, the Predator 8 definitely feels and looks premium; it also has a very aggressive styling, befitting of its gaming status. On top of that, it is surprisingly light when I picked it up. That being said, when I tried playing Asphalt 8: Airborne on the Predator 8, it’s…not what I expected. The frame rate was inconsistent, which resulted in a less than satisfactory experience. However, it’s worth noting that this is merely my initial experience of the Predator 8; a final verdict on the gaming performance of the tablet can only be given in a full review.
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Predator G3 and G6 Gaming Desktops
While some would prefer to build their own gaming desktops, those who don’t want to go through the hassle should take a look at the Predator G3 and G6. Unfortunately, only the Predator G6 was on showcase at the launch event; the Predator G3 will only be made available in Malaysia next year in January.
Not surprisingly (as it is a gaming product), the Predator G6 features a very aggressive design, which Acer dubs “a menacing armour-covered chassis design.” The drive bay is also hidden behind the casing, which looks very sleek when opened; almost like something you see out of a Transformer movie, even. There are also various strips of light throughout the chassis of the Predator G6, which further emphasise it as a gaming product.
Predator Z35, X34 and XB1 Gaming Monitors
The Acer Predator Z35.
Finally, we have these three Predator gaming monitors. The Z35 and X34 are curved monitors, while the XB1 is your typical flat panel display. What differentiates these gaming monitors from their competitors is the fact that all of them support NVIDIA G-Sync technology, which helps to eliminate screen tearing, stuttering and input lag.
Other than that, these monitors have pretty decent refresh rate. The Z35 and X34 have refresh rates of up to 200Hz and 100Hz respectively, while the XB1, which comes in two variants – XB271HU and XB281HK, have refresh rates of up to 144Hz and 60Hz respectively. Just like the other Predator products, these gaming monitors are also stylised with the same design language.
The Acer Predator X34.
The Acer Predator XB1.
Acer’s Predator lineup is markedly different from its other products, especially in terms of design. It has also been quite some time since the Taiwanese company released products solely focused on gaming. It will be interesting to see how well-received the Predator lineup will be among consumers.
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