Acer releases two new Predator devices, both ready to tackle VR

About a year since they released their first wave of Predator devices, Acer has now announced a brand new gaming laptop, the Acer Predator 17X and portable gaming rig, the Predator G1. Best part? both devices are VR ready and can support the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, OSVR and StarVR right out of the box.

Acer Predator 17X

Similar in looks to the Acer Predator 17, what it shares in common on the outside certainly doesn’t hold true for the inside. Under the hood you’ll find a 6th Gen Intel Core i7 processor that can be overlocked to 4.0GHz, up to a whopping 64GB of memory, and features a full sized GeForce GTX 980 GPU. Now that’s power.

Keeping all of that cool is the Aeroblade custom triple-fan cooling system that sucks in air from the front grille and shoots it out the back to keep a steady flow of air. The Predator 17X also features a water cooling system after a sense, with a vapour chamber helping to remove heat.

As for the display, you have a choice between a 17.3 inch FHD IPS (1920 x 1080) or UHD IPS (4K 3840 x 2160) display, both of which use NVIDIA G-Sync to match the refresh rate of the GPU, minimizing stuttering and screen tearing. Of course, the keyboard is supported by Acer PredatorSense to allow you to program in macros, and customise your backlighting to suit your taste.

This 4.55kg behemoth will retail for $2,799 (about RM 10,948) when it debuts this June in the US.

Acer Predator G1

Acer’s smallest portable gaming rig yet, the Predator G1 is all power in a small form factor. The reason why they made it so small is because its geared both towards regular users as well as those who are into e-Sports. The idea is to let you take it with you if you’re headed to a tourney or just headed to a friend’s place for a friendly game over LAN.

They’ve also somehow managed to cram in a full sized NVIDIA GTX Titan X under the hood, alongside an 6th Gen Intel Core processor and up to 64GB worth of RAM. It will also support G-SYNC and 4K2K Ultra High Definition visuals for smooth graphics while a Creative Soundblaster X-Fi MB5 handles 7.1 channel surround sound.

For storage you will have the choice between a huge 4TB hard drive or 512GB SSD, with a USB 3.1 Type-C Gen.2 port for fast data transfer. Like the Predator 17X the Predator G1 is customiseable via Acer’s PredatorSense where you can fiddle with the PC’s front chassis lights.

The Predator G1 will initially roll out in 13 countries, starting with Canada, Belgium, the UK, France, Spain, Finland, Germany, Poland, Austria, Italy, Taiwan, Singapore and the Phillipines. The first 1000 customers who pick up the desktop will get a custom designed carrier case for the Predator G1 for free.

For those looking for accessories, there will be a mechanical keyboard, headset and wheeled carrying case available at a later date.

Stay tuned for our hands on of Acer’s latest devices at Next@Acer NYC.