Acer Announces New PCs, Chromebooks

Acer today announced new PCs and Chromebooks aimed at consumers, education, business, gaming, and creative professionals at its acer@next event in New York.

I hope to look at some of these devices in more detail in the future, and I will be speaking with some Acer executives later today as well as I’m at the event. But for now, here’s a quick rundown of what Acer has announced.

Chromebooks for business. Acer announced two Chromebooks aimed at businesses, the Acer Chromebook 715 and Acer Chromebook 714, which are 15.6- and 14-inch premium laptops. (And appear to be very similar to the Acer Chromebook Spin convertible laptop that I reviewed in late 2018.) Both are all-aluminum designs that are based on 8th-generation Intel Core processors and feature Full HD displays and up to 12 hours of battery life. Both can be configured with 8 or 16 GB of RAM and 32, 64, or 128 GB of eMMC storage. Prices start at $500 for each, with availability in June.

Aspire notebooks for consumers. Acer’s Aspire 3, 5, and 7 are being updated with up to 8th-generation Core i7 processors, dedicated graphics, and up to 16 GB of RAM. Prices start at $350 (Aspire 3), $380 (Aspire 5), and $1000 (Aspire 7), with availability beginning in June.

Spin 3 convertible notebook for professionals. Acer’s new Spin 3 is a convertible notebook that’s powered by up to 8th-generation Intel Core processors, 1 TB of storage, and a 14-inch Full HD IPS touch display. It comes with a rechargeable Acer Active Pen and provides up to 12 hours of battery life and will ship in June at $500 and up.

TravelMate P6 notebooks for businesses. This ultra-thin (0.6-inch), ultra-light (2.4 pound) business-class notebook provides both LTE and NFC connectivity, up to 20 hours of battery life, a premium magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis, and a 180-degree display hinge. It’s powered by up to 8th-generation Intel Core processors, up to 24 GB of RAM, up to NVIDIA GeForce MX250 graphics, and up to 1 TB of SSD storage. There are 14- and 15.6-inch variants, which will ship in July and start at $1150.

Predator Helios gaming laptops. Acer has updated its Predator Helio 300 gaming laptop with a new design and has introduced a new model, the Helios 700. Both are powered by 9th-generation Intel Core i9 processors, up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 GPU, and up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM. The Helios 700 is particularly bad-ass with a unique HyperDrift keyboard that slides forward, allowing increased airflow directly through the top of the notebook. The Helios 300 will ship in June for $1200 and up while the Helio 700 bows in July for $2700 and up.

Predator Orion gaming PC and display. Acer debuted a new Predator Orion 5000 desktop gaming PC with 9th-generation lntel Core i9-9900K processors, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 GPUs, Dragon 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet, and an all-in-one CPU liquid cooler. There’s also a stunning 43-inch Predator CG437K P gaming display with an ultra-HD (3240 x 2160) resolution and 144 Hz refresh rate. The desktop ships in August for $1200 and up, while the display ships in September for $1300.

ConceptD. This was perhaps the most interesting announcement: Acer is leveraging its success with gaming and premium PCs to launch a new brand, ConceptD, and a new lineup of ConceptD portable and desktop PCs, displays, and peripherals. Among the offerings is the ConceptD 900 high-performance desktop with dual Intel Xeon Gold 6148 processors and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000  graphics and the ConceptD 500 high-end desktop PC with 8-core 9th-generation Intel Core i9-9900K processors and up to NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 GPUs.

“The ConceptD product portfolio was conceived to give creators the tools to focus on the creative process and make beautiful things,” Acer CEO Jerry Kao said. “As the foundation of a full line of creator products, we’ve designed PCs with high-performance processors and graphics that can handle extreme workloads, and put them inside quiet, minimalist designs to inspire creators to unleash their creativity.”

The target here, of course, is Apple, though Acer, like other premium PC makers, can offer a much more diverse and powerful range of offerings thanks to capabilities in the Windows PC ecosystem that are unavailable on Mac. Pricing for ConceptD products is, of course, high: The ConceptD 900, for example, starts at an astonishing $20,000, though the portable PCs are much less expensive, in the $1700 to $2300 range. The ConceptD product line begins shipping in May, though some don’t ship until later in the year.

More soon.