Acer has officially launch its new Predator Gaming Series, their top-tier line of PC products aimed for gamers. The main attraction of the line is arguably the gaming laptops.
The Predator laptops main selling point here is its substantial cooling performance. During the presentation we attended for launch, idle temperatures are about 36°C. The laptops are equipped with two built-in fans and a huge cooling vent spanning its width on the rear, with an option to add one more via an expansion bay. This fan, powered by Cooler Master, is bundled in with each purchase. Furthermore, the fan speed can be further increased via the app pre-installed with the system.
From our limited hands-on time, the built is hefty but sturdy, as expected for gaming laptops. Keyboard surface does not seem to heat up as much, even when running a game. Granted, it was only running Dota 2, but the lack of heat felt on the keyboard with the game running is an early proof that these laptops have some cooling chops to them.
There’s also a feature that lets users use both Wi-Fi and LAN connections simultaneously, and able to prioritise which apps are prioritised to either connections. We cannot tell yet if does work as intended, as we need a better hands-on time to do test runs.
Acer also added in a few nifty features, such as programmable keyboard shortcuts (macros), and customisable LED colours on the keyboard.
In terms of specs, they are basically top of the line. 6th generation (Skylake) Intel i7-6700HQ processors. NVDIA 980M with 4GB graphics memory (a lower-ended variant of Predator 15 uses NVDIA 970M with 3GB memory). 16GB of RAM in pairs of 8GB sticks. 1TB Hard disk with 7200 rpm and an SSD starting at 128GB. All the good stuff.
The Predator 15 retails at RM6999 while the Predator 17 starts at RM7999, with two variants for each. Yes, these laptops are premium priced. For what it is, either of these could be a great gaming laptop for those who need to do both work and play and having it carried anywhere anytime. But what do you think? Is it worth a purchase? Sound off in the comments below.
