Up close and personal with Acer’s new Predator 21X laptop, curved monitors and more

Today I was lucky enough to take a trip to Thorpe Park, a theme park set in the outskirts of London. I was there for an Acer event highlighting some of the company's most exciting new launches, including the Predator 21X, a huge 21-inch UltraWide gaming laptop with dual graphics cards! 

There were a lot of products on show, so I will start the with Predator range – Acer's high-end gaming-focused products.

Here we got a look at the new Helios 3000, an entry-to-mid-level gaming laptop. While the exact spec depends on the specific model, consumers can expect the latest 7th-Gen Intel processors – including the overclockable i7-7802HQ I am told – as well as overclocked GTX 1060 graphics. With a price set at £1099.99 this seems like a pretty good bang-for-buck option.

The star of the show was undoubtedly the Predator 21X, though, a huge curved UltraWide gaming laptop complete with not one, but two GTX 1080s in SLI. The keyboard is also fully mechanical with Cherry MX Brown switches, while the 2560×1080 display also includes eye-tracking technology which was shown working with Rise of the Tomb Raider. Prepare to dig very deep, though, as this beast of a laptop will set you back £9000. You can check out our Facebook Live video showing the laptop in action, HERE.

The last item in the Predator range was the Z271T monitor. This is a 27-inch, curved 1080p display with a 144Hz refresh-rate and 4ms response time. While Acer didn't specify the panel technology, we can assume it will be IPS/VA due to the slower response time. The Z271T also sports eye-tracking technology baked-in, while Nvidia graphics card owners will also be glad to know it supports G-Sync. This one will set you back £799.99.

Acer doesn't just make gaming products, though, as I also got a look at some of its thin-and-light laptops. From left to right we have the Swift 7, 5, 3 and 1 – each of which aims to offer decent performance and strong battery life across a range of price-points. For example, the Swift 7 is the flagship UltraBook and sports an all-aluminium body plus MU-MIMO WiFi tech. The Swift 1, though, is a lower-end laptop so it is not quite as thin as the 9.98mm Swift 7, but it still features a FHD IPS display plus reported 10-hour battery life. The Swift 1 will cost £349.99 while the Swift 7 is from £999.99.

Lastly, I also got to play with the Switch 5 (left) and Switch 3. These are Acer's 2-in-1 laptop/tablets, and the Switch 5 (£899.99) is the more high-end with a liquid cooling loop no less, plus Core i3/i5/i7 processors (model depending). The Switch 3, however, uses lower-power Celeron and Pentium processors, but that does mean it is passively cooled. It will also cost £479.99 so is a fair bit cheaper.

KitGuru says: It was great to hang out with Acer today and look at their new products. The Predator series is probably the most interesting – who can argue with a 21-inch UltraWide gaming laptop after all – but UltraBook users will also be interested by the Swift series.

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