KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 — Fall is again a busy season for tech announcements and this September's Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin (IFA) was also a showcase for the latest Acer releases.
Here's what is most appealing so far:
1. ConceptD Pro notebooks
Acer seems to be gunning for the spot Apple has dominated for a long time: The professional content creators.
There's a lot under the hood here, with the latest 9th-Gen Intel core processors as well as high-end NVIDIA Quadro GPUs.
Particularly interesting: the top of the line ConceptD 9 Pro that boasts an NVIDIA Quadro RTS 5000 with 16GB VRAM and 32GB of DDR4 memory. Then there's the fancy 17.3-inch display with a interesting hinge.
There's also a 15.6-inch ConceptD 7 Pro, ConceptD 5 Pro, ConceptD 3 Pro -- the idea is the smaller the number, the less the power. They're all fairly powerful machines but the range gives you a lot of choice to scale up or down.
Official Malaysian pricing and release dates have yet to be unveiled at press time.
2. An e-sports platform?
Acer seems to be going all-in for gaming by not being content with just gaming notebooks or chairs (more on that later). Now it's started its own "open community."
While currently in closed beta, an open beta will start on January 30, 2020 so aspiring or professional gamers can look forward to networking as well as participate in online tournaments.
A bit of a risky bet but e-sports is undeniably one of the hottest digital properties right now.
3. About that chair...
Acer showed off its Thronos Gaming Chair a while back but this time Acer has a new Predator Thronos Air. Never mind that it sounds like the latest Nike sneaker.
It's cheaper than last year's US$20,000 (RM83,610) Thronos but still costs a wallet-hurting US$13,999. Basically it's a man-cave that provides a chair and ways to adjust your monitors and peripheral tray.
To assuage the pain felt by your back account, the chair includes a back massager but for some reason the cup holder is optional. I call that a travesty.
4. Yes, there's a gaming notebook ...update
The Predator Triton 500 isn't exactly new but it's been souped up. It now has a super fast 300 Hz display which means that your screen won't display ghosting while you concentrate on making ghosts of your gaming competitors.
It seems Acer is gunning for the high-end and professional users this time, no longer content to just be the go-to name for excellent value. We'll see if they can give the brands dominant in those spaces a good fight.
