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The Acer Predator Helios 300 (2020) In-Depth Review – At MYR 5,199; Value Has a New Name

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The Movement Control Order, as we know it in Malaysia, or the sanctioned quarantine at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic (it is not over, by the way) really opened our eyes to plenty of things. It revealed the human ability to adapt to any situation and still survive. It also proved that our technology is ready to handle the situation and give us the kind of flexibility we need in that time of need.

But it also opened a whole other can of worms. Once we started working from home, we realised just how easily we can be productive without being in a professional environment. We also realised that the line between work and leisure is blurred to the point that we cannot see it. In that sense, we tend to be workaholics at home. Time for a change of lifestyle then, a new schedule.

You realised something too. You do not have much entertainment at home. You did not buy a TV because you tend to not be home until quite late in the evening. By that time, you just want to relax, wind down, watch a video or two on your smartphone or notebook, and then sleep. A TV is unnecessary at the time.

Other forms of entertainment get neglected too. Your gaming PC at the corner has collected so much dust that it looks like an ancient relic. You stopped playing that much games because you tend to stay out until its dark and you are sleepy. You want to play games, but you just do not have the energy for it in the past. In the current work-from-home situation though, you realise you have plenty more time to play games. But your Gaming PC is now old and slow. Time to buy a new Gaming PC.

You decide that its best to get a Gaming Notebook because it is the most convenient form of gaming PC to date. You can bring it around when you need to move, you can use it for work, you can watch movies on it, you can play music on it, you can have a LAN party at your friend’s place. It is the most versatile entertainment powerhouse in the world of entertainment powerhouses.

Which one do you go for though? What kind of budget do you stick to? There are so many choices out there at this point? What if you do not have more than MYR 6,000 to spend on one? What is the latest one in the market?

One of the latest gaming notebooks to arrive in Malaysia is the Acer Predator Helios 300. We heard somewhere too that the device was actually planned for an earlier release to no avail. That was due to the COVID-19 pandemics and its disruption toward the logistics industry globally. We do not blame them. It is also priced below MYR 6,000 at MYR 5,199, way below. In short, it sounds like one of the best deals to get if you are in the market for a gaming notebook. Is it though? Let us find out.

Design

The Acer Predator Helios 300 for the 2020 has been updated a little bit from before. The Acer Predator Helios 300 2020 gets pretty much the same GPU set up as before, same RAM size as before, and the same cooling internals. That is where the similarities end though.

The Predator Helios 300 is now packing more power with an Intel Core i7-10750H. With that, it also gets a slightly updated look. Gone is the ‘PREDATOR’ word logo on the cover. You get a much cleaner look on the back of the display now, which is the top clam of the notebook. The mascot logo is still there though, giving you some hints of the power contained within the all-aluminium body.

The power lines that frames the logo is still there too. The powerlines are as iconic as ever, in Predator’s signature blue. Sadly, only the logo in the center of the clam lights up with LED. We feel that the power lines deserve their own LED array to let others know that it means business.

The angled edge still stays, a staple now to Acer’s gaming line-up, including their Nitro series. The angles on the display clam is still a little sharp, but that is not a huge issue, considering that you rarely have contact with that part of the notebook.

The sharp edges that lines the palm rest surface though has been chamfered. They are still a little sharp on the ends, but at the same time the chamfered edges does make it a bit more comfortable for your palms and wrists. That chamfered edge is now chromed all the way too though, to add to some flair to how the device looks on your desk.

Open it up, and you will find, greeting you, is an expansive 15.6-inch IPS panel. With bezels remaining as thin as ever, but not too thin that it becomes awkward for Acer to find creative ways to mount their 720p HD webcam. Of course, we are still hoping that manufacturers include their own window or cap for the webcam just for our safety. At this point of time though, webcam spaces are a premium, so we may not see a webcam window anytime soon.

Look down and you find a full-size keyboard with proper physical number pad section. Instead of a single colour backlit keyboard, it is now a 4-zone RGB keyboard you can control with Predator Sense built into the notebook. There is a dedicated Predator Sense key too on the keyboard for you to access it quickly. I would have preferred a separate dedicated button though this arrangement by Acer makes everything look cleaner and more compact.

If you look closely too, you will see a ‘Turbo’ button on the top left corner of the typing surface. The new slits at the forehead of the keyboard are not speakers, by the way. They are extra cooling vents for the powerful 4th generation 3D Aeroblades. The ‘Turbo’ button is nestled right beside the vents.

This ‘Turbo’ button now lights up when you press it. Instead of just relying on your ears to see if the cooling fans go crazy or not, you can leave your headphones on and check the button instead. Although, the LED is not an expected Predator blue. Instead it is a plain white LED backlight. I would have liked it if it was Predator blue LED backlit. Then again, it could be less visible.

Around the sides, you find all the right interface ports, including a full HDMI out port and a Mini DP port. The charging port though has been moved to the back of the notebook. That also means that there is a big plate now in the middle of the back of the notebook, sacrificing some cooling vent space (hence the extra vents on top of the keyboard). We prefer this set up though, at least the charging cable will not cover anymore ports or vents. The large plate that houses the charging mechanism is quite large and sparse though. We would have liked to see an HDMI port moved there, the Mini DP port should belong there as well, and maybe an extra USB port on the plate.

Other than these things, the changes in design is now more internal. Instead of having an extra HDD slot on top of the 512GB SSD on the device, you now get an extra SSD and HDD slot on top of the 512GB SSD. Because of the new I/O layout too, they have to move the 3D AeroBlade fan a little bit, further apart to the sides. But they have also redesigned the heat pipes and tweaked their routing to make them a bit more efficient and effective, resulting in an improved cooling performance, despite the reduced intake vent surface area.

Hardware

Within the redesigned body, you are getting the same Intel Core i7-10750H as the Acer Nitro 5 we reviewed earlier. You can opt for a cheaper Core i5 edition, but we would suggest that you consider the Acer Nitro 5 then. Still, this one is in a league of its own. It is a Predator, and this one is just MYR 300 more than the top-of-the-line Acer Nitro 5.

For that MYR 300 extra, you are getting a better GPU too. It is just a step up from the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti, but the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is still a much more superior GPU with DLSS 2.0 capabilities and proper ray tracing. In those alone, we do think that the Acer Predator Helios 300 will be a better buy.

If you are in the market for a thin and light though, you might want to look away. It is quite a hefty package, this Helios 300. It weighs 2.5kg and is just about as thick as the Acer Nitro 5 that weighs in at 1.8kg. Remember though that this Helios 300 is mostly constructed with Aluminium.

Specifications

Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-53-77CFAs Tested
Processor (clock)10th Generation Intel Core i7-10750H
(six-core@2.6GHz)
GPUNVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060
Display(s)15.6-inch IPS LED-backlit (1920 x 1080)
ComfyView
144Hz
Memory512GB NVME M.2 SSD
8GB DDR4 RAM
Networking and Connections (I/O)3 x USB Type-A
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C
1 x Standard HDMI 1.4
1 x Audio combo jack
1 x Network RJ-45
Intel Wi-Fi 6 Gig+ (802.11ax)
Bluetooth 5.0
Battery4-cell Li-Polymer
Operating SystemWindows 10 Home (64-bit)
MiscellaneousDTS:X Ultra Audio

Features

As we have mentioned before, most of the changes are in the internals of the Acer Predator Helios 300. The size has not changed, nor the weight. Plenty of the changes seem quite minor at first, but they do add up to an improved product over its previous one though.

For starters, we like how much cleaner the new Helios 300 for 2020 looks compared to the rest of the previous generation Acer predator notebooks. We can expect this kind of design as well moving forward with other Acer Predator products. The chamfered edges are a big plus in our books because it does help with typing comfort a little, despite the still sharp angle at the ends. But there are more to this notebook than just small improvements.

New Body, New Positions

Like the Acer Nitro 5 that we reviewed earlier last month, the Acer Predator Helios 300’s charging port is now at the back. This, in our opinion, is a big ergonomic improvement. Because of the angled design of the charging cable from Acer (slightly wider power brick for the 2020 version), the cable tends to cover either your I/O ports at the side or the exhaust vents.

You either restrict airflow, or block your ports, which gets very annoying in plenty of cases. Acer will not completely overhaul the cables a well, because a straight plug will disrupt your mouse experience, especially when you game. To right handers, it is a simple solution of moving the charging port to the left side of the device. That is discriminating left-handers though. So, the back is the most sensible choice.

The only complain we have, as mentioned is that the back plate that houses the charging internals is a little on the sparse side. We felt that the Mini DP port and HDMI port should be moved to the back alongside a full-sized USB port or USB Type-C port. Yes, go with what Lenovo has done with their Legion line-up, we like that.

4-Zone RGB Keyboard That is Even Better

Typing essays on the previous Acer Predator Helios 300 was not really a chore to begin with. We find that the keyboard on most gaming notebooks have improved tremendously, especially on Acer Predator notebooks. We feel like they have started understanding that gaming notebooks are still productivity machines when you need them to be. Typing experience is still an important part of a notebook PC.

In that sense, the 2019 version of the Helios 300 is a comfortable typewriter. The key travels cannot be compared to any mechanical keyboards, but they are still easy to work with. They give you enough feedback with some very soft tactile feel. We somehow feel also that the keyboard would be the best that they could have made it.

The 2020 variant though has a better keyboard than before somehow. The keys somehow feel a bit more tactile than we are used to with Acer’s island type individual keys. There is no difference between key travels between the 2019 variant and 2020 variant. The softness and mushiness are much reduced, and the typing experience somehow is made much more comfortable. No, you still cannot compare it to a mechanical keyboard, but it is a good keyboard to work with when you are out and about. Not everyone carries their mechanical keyboards in their bags.

You still get highlighted ‘WASD’, arrow, and Predator Sense keys on the Acer Predator Helios 300. Instead of choosing a single backlight colour though, you can go for multiple colours across four zones on the keyboard this time. You simply fire up Predator Sense to change the settings.

The chamfered edge that lines the bottom of the keyboard plate, is a life saver. At least the edges do not cut into your palms or wrists anymore. We think that rounded off edges or chamfered edges on notebooks should be a thing. It is a small difference that really changes your comfort levels with the device.

Predator Sense + 4th Gen 3D AeroBlade = Stone Cold

The subtitle might be a little of an exaggeration. But to be fair, the combination of the two really works. Because you do not have the restriction of space like you get in a Triton notebook, the Helios 300 can work with bigger intake and exhaust fans and vents. That allows even more air to pass through your hot internals and keep them properly cool.

If you’ve read our review of the Acer Nitro 5, you would have noticed that we mentioned that Nitro sense is not quite as powerful as Predator Sense. That is because Nitro Sense does not do overclocks, while Predator Sense does.

Strangely you cannot really tweak the overclocking settings on your own, not that this information is anything new. Acer do not really want you to cook your internals just for the sake of proving a point. This is as much about protecting you as it is protecting the PC and themselves.

Predator Sense clocks up your CPU and GPU to speeds that the manufacturers deem safe and plausible enough for their fans to keep them at their optimum temperature. Of course, this is done when you kick ‘Turbo’ mode on. The fans go at its fastest too, to ensure maximum airflow for the Helios 300. Nope, you cannot turn the fan down.

In default mode though, the fan is relatively quiet and peaceful. It is still powerful enough technically to run Horizon Zero Dawn at ‘ultimate’ settings and not go overboard with the noise. It does get hot though after a while and you still might want to kick ‘turbo’ mode on, just to manage its temperature.

In any sense though, we never got the feeling that the Acer Predator Helios 300 is ever going to overheat, especially when you turn on ‘Turbo’ mode when ou need a little bit of horsepower. We turn on ‘Turbo’ mode even when we are editing our videos. We also think that the full aluminium top of the Helios 300 does help a little bit in heat dissipation.

Performance

You can safely expect this generation of Acer Predator Helios 300 to really perform. Will it be that much more powerful? I doubt, but it will still be powerful. It is still one powerful device with a 10th Generation Intel Core i7-10750H processor that replaces the older 9th Generation six-core processor. But you still get the same NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 on the graphics end, which is still something of a powerhouse.

Gaming

Of course, we have to talk gaming, this is a gaming notebook after all. We tried games like Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, Horizon Zero Dawn, Assassin’s Creed: Origins, and Two Point Hospital on it. They are not the latest or most demanding games in the market, but Ghost Recon: Breakpoint can be quite taxing on even the most modern of hardware.

The latest, in terms of PC release date, among all the games is Horizon Zero Dawn. It is not the most demanding of games, but we were still excited to play it on the powerful Acer Predator Helios 300. For Horizon Zero Dawn though, you do not necessarily need an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, it could be just slightly overpowered even when you go on ultimate settings. Technically you will do fine even with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti to get the game on ultimate settings.

Of course, for titles like Assassin’s Creed: Origins and Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, hardware will be a little taxed. Still, if we leave the game to decide the best settings for the Helios 300, you are sure to be getting smooth gameplay without too big of an issue. Ghost Recon: Breakpoint can be a little buggy on certain hardware though, so we might have to take that with a pinch of salt. Still, the game clocked at least 40fps in most cases only dropping frames in very few occasions.

Assassin’s Creed Origins is quite an old title to be fair. It is still a beautiful game to work with and requires quite a little bit in rendering power thanks to the vast open world that is ancient Egypt. Still, everything went down smoothly at high settings with fps reaching 120 at some points.

The last title we tested the Helios 300 is Two Point Hospital. That is a game that does not require that much at all to be fair, so you can expect it to run as smoothly as possible with near zero hiccups other than the game’s bugs. You can safely leave the settings at the highest for the game and you will still have no trouble running it even without ‘Turbo’ mode on. Of course, thanks to IPS display and 144Hz, Two Point Hospital looks excellent on the Helios 300.

Bye Bye Wave NX, Hello DTS: X Ultra

The previous generation of Acer’s Predator Helios 300 comes packing Acer’s own Wave NX audio technology. They are not bad, per se. They are just not as polished as we would like them to be.

With Wave NX in the previous generation Acer Predator notebooks, you get Virtual 3D audio if you are using your headphones. Regardless of the headphone make and type, Acer’s Wave NX solution, by default, will adjust the audio according to your head’s placement and movement. This is done via the webcam as well. To create an audio room for you.

While it sounds great in concept, and works nicely to a certain degree, it is inconsistent at times. That feature is removed in favour of conventional speakers. Except, the speakers are not that conventional thanks to DTS: X Ultra tuning.

While audio from notebooks generally lack low-frequency punches, the Acer Predator Helios 300 does have a little bit in thumping. It is not as powerful and defined as what you get if you have proper sub-woofers, but it is enough to enjoy your music with. You do want to have the DTS: X audio software turned on though to make full use of the DTS: X Ultra tuned speakers.

The software allows you to choose between a few audio profiles that is designed for specific uses. If you want to, you can tune the audio on your own too and save is a custom profile. Still, the pre set profiles does a stellar job on their own though. Unless you know what you are doing, best to leave the settings alone.

The speakers are quite loud at full chat, which could be a big distraction to other people in the same room as you are. Thank goodness they still have a 3.5mm jack for you to plug your headphones in for a more personalised listening experience. DTS: X will adjust the audio to that too.

Overall, there is technically not much to shout about in the sound department. Audio is crisp, and you can push it to maximum volume without getting your music to tear at the top. While it could use more low-end grunt, it is still respectable considering that the notebook does not pack a sub-woofer.

Battery

While they did quote that the new 10th Generation Intel Core processors are more efficient in power consumption, we did not actually notice that much in terms of power efficiency bump. There are no specific mentions on the battery life you can get out of the 4-cell battery within Acer Predator Helios 300 from Acer themselves. We did however get about 4 hours of battery life on average with the Acer Predator Helios 300.

Our average use on battery does not include gaming. We mostly have our browser on, sometimes you get 20 tabs out of Firefox, some email checking via Thunderbird or the browser itself. Spotify is on most of the time while we are on the go, of course with earphones plugged in. We did watch some YouTube videos on battery as well, that could take a little bit of toll on the battery life. Oh, we also tend to turn our display brightness settings all the way up.

Still, we managed nearly six hours of battery use at one time before it goes flat. In that case, we turned on battery saving mode immediately after we unplugged it from the charger. In that use case, we did not have Spotify on, the browser was closed as well, and we were only using Microsoft Word in full time in the lowest possible display brightness that we can work with.

Display – 144Hz IPS Dream Like Before

The display, as mentioned, is still similarly sized. It is also still a 144Hz display like before, not a 240Hz unfortunately. Acer did claim that the 15.6-inch display is an IPS panel. That also means that you are getting vibrant and accurate colours for your viewing pleasure.

Of course, you have to remember that this is a gaming notebook. It will not be the most accurate display that you will find on a notebook. IPS display still offers a great viewing experience though. It is still good enough for you to work with colours in videos and photos though. Of course, if you want something with better colour accuracy, you might need to get a secondary display to attach to your PC.

Still, the colours are still quite vivid for a gaming notebook. That also means that you might be able to really enjoy movies and other forms of media on this gaming rig. Thanks to the DTS: X audio too, you do not need to plug in your headphones to enjoy movies on your own.

While 144Hz may not be the fastest display that you might be able to get on a notebook PC it is fast enough for most to enjoy. In this case you get to load up games at up to 144fps. If you are thinking of titles like GTA V or DOTA 2, you will get about 120 to 144fps easily with the kind of hardware The Helios 300 has.

Of course, if you are into competitive gaming, you might want something even higher than 144Hz. Thing is, you may not really need that kind of speed on your display. Your eyes might not even be able to tell the difference between a display refreshing at 120hz and 240hz. In that sense, 144Hz is more than enough for most of us. If you go for the modern AAA titles, you might not even hit 120Hz.

As we said earlier too, the bezels have not really changed from the 2019 Helios 300 to the 2020 variant. They did not go the route of completely redesigning a gaming notebook from the 2019 to 2020 models. They technically did not have to since the only big difference between the two generations is the processor. Still, we do think that they should stick to a slightly wider top and bottom bezel area just so that you can fit properly sized keyboards and properly placed webcams.

The webcam is still a 720p HD webcam though. Nothing too wrong with that, technically. Plenty of notebooks still work with 720p webcams. But we are in 2020 now, 720p is so last decade. We think that notebooks should move to a Full HD webcam format now.

The Acer Predator Helios 300 – Seriously, Why Not?

For MYR 5,199, we seriously think that this package is quite hard to beat. Its closest competitor, we think, is the ASUS ROG Strix G15. While that particular device comes with a 1TB SSD and 16GB RAM, you are paying a hefty MYR 6,699 for largely the same internals. That is more than MYR 1,000 compared to what you are paying for the Acer Predator Helios 300. If you do opt to get another 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD to match, you are still paying less for the Acer Predator Helios 300.

You may be getting less too, in terms of outrageous looks on your PC. The whole point of the Predator Helios 300 though is to blend in a little bit. It is to make sure that no one takes a second look at you when you sport the notebook in your favourite cafés. Plus, you can have your lightshow with the 4-zone RGB keyboard that you can set different profiles on anyway.

By default, the PC is relatively quiet anyway, that also means you can use it in the library and the person next to you will not complain about excessive wind noise. It can be within your production room not too far away from your recording mic too and you barely notice its there. It is only when you decide to ‘accidentally’ hit ‘Turbo’ that all hell breaks loose.

It is not a flashy hardware and it is not meant to be. In that sense, we love it. We love how it looks, how unassuming it is. We love that some may not be able to tell it apart from other Predator products. We love how Predator has stuck to one design choice and work with that identity. We love that we can change the RGB to a single colour the whole way (I am not that big of a fan on RGB). We love the price, as it is you are not paying an absurd amount of money for a top performer. We love its value, its versatility, and its practicality. We even love how it sounds (audio, not the cooling fans), though most of the time I use headphones with it.

Yes, there are some things we do not like too much about it, but we are nitpicking. We would like it to be a little lighter, for example. We also would like to start seeing notebooks coming with 1080p webcams. Maybe a 240Hz display would be really nice too, but that will push its price point up by a little bit.

Would we recommend this package? We would, very strongly. At MYR 5,199, nothing can come close to this performer. You really do not want to pass this up. You can even get your hands on it without going out of home within their online store. At this time, you really do not want to be leaving your homes too much. In that case; get this gaming notebook, and lock yourselves in for days with nothing but you and your games.

Computers, News

The New ASUS ZenBook 13 & ZenBook 14 Lands in Malaysia! Prices start from MYR3,999

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ASUS’s ZenBook series has always been the company’s foremost when it comes to delivering solutions for workers on-the-go. The company has revitalised the line up with features that make working on-the-go easier, more ergonomic and less of a hassle. This year is no different with the new ASUS ZenBook 13 (UX325) and the ZenBook 14 (UX425).

The two new entries into the ASUS ZenBook line up make up the new ZenBook Classics line up which hold fast to the original ZenBook’s ethos of being portable and fitted for productivity. The ZenBook 13 and ZenBook 14 come with the 10th Generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors with Intel IRIS Plus Graphics which allow them to be more power efficient and more powerful – allowing on-the-go workers to get more done and keep up with the increasing demand for processing power. Paired with 8GB of RAM, the ZenBooks will be able to handle most anything you can throw at the laptops.

The new line is the lightest and most compact line up of ZenBooks ever. The 13.3-inch ZenBook 13 comes in at only 1.07kg and is an astounding 13.9mm thin. The ZenBook 14 maintains the thickness but gets a little bump in weight, coming in at 1.13kg. Both laptops come with Full HD LED displays with 1080p resolution. The slim bezels around the screen allow for up to 90% screen to body ratio for a more immersive experience when you’re consuming your multimedia while maintaining the compact size.

Built for Productivity

Keeping with their productivity focus, the laptops come equipped with The ZenBook 13 and ZenBook 14 come with a 512GB NVMe PCIe 3.0 solid state drive (SSD) for quick read and write performance. The SSD also allows you to boot into Windows in less than 10 seconds. In addition, ASUS NumPad 2.0 which turns the touchpad into a fully functional NumPad for all your number crunching needs. Together with NumPad 2.0, ASUS has also optimised the ergonomics of the laptop with it’s now ubiquitous ErgoLift hinge. The hinge raises the laptop slightly and angles the keyboard for a more natural typing experience and better cooling.

The new ASUS ZenBook Classic entries are not only optimising hardware for productivity, it also ensures that you don’t need to live the dongle life. The ZenBook 13 and ZenBook 14 both come with a full array of ports to make sure you’re ready to connect. It comes with two USB-C port complete with Thunderbolt 3 technology and ASUS EasyCharge. Also on the laptops is a USB Type A port, a HDMI port and a microSD card reader.

In addition to the numerous ports, the new ASUS ZenBooks also come equipped with WiFi 6 compatibility. The new WiFi technology allows up to three times more data to be communicated through WiFi for quicker data speeds and better latency. Your data isn’t the only thing that will be quicker than usual, you’ll also be able to login in a snap with the Windows Hello thanks to the IR webcam on the new ZenBooks.

Keeping productive can be a little bit frustrating at times, but the ZenBook 13 and 14 are tough with MIL-STD 810G ruggedness. So, you won’t need to worry about things getting a little bit rough with the laptops. This is complemented by up to 22 hours battery life thanks to it’s large 67Wh battery.

Pricing & Availability

The ASUS ZenBook 13 and ZenBook 14 will be available starting on August 11, 2020 for MYR3,999 (USD$953.25) for the version with the Core i5 and MYR4,699 (USD1,120.15) for the one with the Core i7.

Official Specifications

ASUS ZenBook 13 (UX325)

CPUIntel Core i7-1065G7 processor
Intel Core i5-1035G1 processor
Display13.3” LED-backlit FHD (1920 x 1080)
450 nits
Slim 2.9 mm bezels with 88% screen-to-body ratio
Operating systemWindows 10 Home
Office SoftwareOffice Home & Student 2019 included
GraphicsIntel® Iris® Plus Graphics
Main memory8GB 3200 MHz LPDDR4x onboard
Storage512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD
ConnectivityWiFi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth® 5.0
CameraHD infrared (IR) webcam (supports Windows Hello)
I/O ports2 x Thunderbolt™ 3 USB-C® with ASUS USB-C® Easy Charge
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A;
1 x Standard HDMI 2.0;
1 x MicroSD card reader
TouchpadASUS NumberPad 2.0
AudioCertified by Harman Kardon
ASUS SonicMaster stereo audio system with surround-sound; smart amplifier for maximum audio performance
Array microphone with Cortana and Alexa voice-recognition support
Battery67 Wh lithium-polymer battery up to 22 hr battery life
AC adapter65-watt power adapter
Output: 20 V DC, 3.42 A;
Input: 100-240 V AC, 50/60 Hz universal
Dimensions304 x 203 x 13.9 mm
WeightApprox. 1.07 kg
ColorPine Grey
Retail Pricing (MYR)RM 3,999 (i5-1035G1)
RM 4,699 (i7-1065G7)

ASUS ZenBook 14 (UX425)

CPUIntel Core i7-1065G7 processor Intel Core i5-1035G1 processor
Display14” LED-backlit FHD (1920 x 1080)
400 nits
Slim 2.5 mm bezels with 90% screen-to-body ratio
Operating systemWindows 10 Home
Office SoftwareOffice Home & Student 2019 included
GraphicsIntel® Iris® Plus Graphics
Main memory8GB 3200 MHz LPDDR4x onboard
Storage512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD
ConnectivityWiFi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth® 5.0
CameraHD infrared (IR) webcam (supports Windows Hello)
I/O ports2 x Thunderbolt™ 3 USB-C® with ASUS USB-C® Easy Charge
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A;
1 x Standard HDMI 2.0;
1 x MicroSD card reader
TouchpadASUS NumberPad 2.0
AudioCertified by Harman Kardon
ASUS SonicMaster stereo audio system with surround-sound; smart amplifier for maximum audio performance
Array microphone with Cortana and Alexa voice-recognition support
Battery67 Wh lithium-polymer battery up to 22 hr battery life
AC adapter65-watt power adapter
Output: 20 V DC, 3.42 A;
Input: 100-240 V AC, 50/60 Hz universal
Dimensions319 x 208 x 13.9 mm
WeightApprox. 1.13 kg
ColorPine Grey
Retail Pricing (MYR)RM 3,999 (i5-1035G1)
RM 4,699 (i7-1065G7)

Computers, News

Acer Day is Back for 2020 Season – Kick-Off with the Helios 300!

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Last year Acer Day was a huge deal. No, not just for Acer, but for plenty of Acer fans and even people who are in the market for some new hardware. There was plenty on offer on Acer’s biggest sales festival of the year in the year 2019. Tis year is a little different though.

For the past years, Acer day have been always held physically and you will get to see the items on offer in Malaysia’s Mid Valley Megamall. This year’s COVID-19 crisis though has made a physical show floor a little more difficult. It does not mean that Acer Day is not going to happen though, it is still happening.

Thanks to one of Acer’s biggest online retail partners, Shopee, Acer Day 2020 is happening. Without a venue though, the Acer Day 2020 event is exclusively online ordeal. Of course, when it happens online, you know there is some great deals.

Acer Day 2020

Acer Day 2020 is happening on the 2nd to the 4th of August 2020 exclusively online on Shopee and Acer’s own online store. You get plenty of deals too, up to 83% in discounts in some their attractive accessories. Would you believe me if I tell you one of them is their highly sought after gaming chair?

  • Source: Acer
  • Source: Acer

Acer is still having their virtual event celebration too though. The Acer Day 2020 virtual even will be happening on their Malaysia Facebook page on the 2nd of August 2020 at 3.00 p.m. in the afternoon. You can catch Linora, Pong Pong, and Cikidot’s performance then in addition to catching  and winning some lucky draw prizes.

For 83% discounts all you have to do then is to go to Acer’s online store or Shopee on the 3rd of August 2020 to look at all the deals Acer has in store for you. You can even get their gaming chair for as low as MYR 340 from about MYR 1,900. The bad news is the Acer Predator Gaming chair that is being sold on that day is no the OSIM massage chair that was recently launched in Acer@NEXT 2020. Still a good deal all in all.

But that is not the biggest deal of Acer Day 2020. The biggest deal is Acer’s Helios 300 gaming notebook PC for 2020 making its debut in Malaysia. We call it the baby Helios. Just because it is a baby Helios though, does not mean it is a lemon.

Acer Predator Helios 300

No, the Helios 300 for 2020 is one very powerful notebook PC indeed. It packs Intel’s latest 10th Generation Core i7-10750H six-core processor that has been proving to be a kicker in Acer’s Nitro 5 for 2020. That kick turns into a shove though with Acer fitting an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 GPU. You can even spec it up with 16GB of RAM, which is huge. You even get a 144Hz IPS display that produces great colours and clarity at Full HD.

  • Source: Acer
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The Acer Predator Helios 300 for the 2020 will come in two flavours. One packs a 10th Generation Intel Core i5 and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti for MYR 4,599. For a little bit more money at MYR 5,199 you are getting the ultimate Acer Predator Helios 300 with the 10th Generation Core i7 and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060.

Acer Predator Helios 700

There is something else that will lurk in the shadows for Acer Day 2020. That is the replacement model of the desktop replacement that took the world by storm last year. When I say it took the world by storm, it actually sounds like a storm when you turn it up. This is the Acer predator Helios 700 gaming notebook.

Source: Acer

It is not really a gaming notebook when it weighs as much as a cow on your desk. The desktop replacement comes with everything that Acer can throw at it to make it the perfect weapon to bring to LAN parties without strapping as much as a luggage bag to yourself. Its form factor means that it should still fit an overly large backpack, if that is all you are carrying in your backpack.

Enough with making fun of its size though. What it packs within the large body is no joke. You get power from the 10th Generation Intel Core i9 CPU, the ultimate gamers CPU. You can spec it up with up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super too, for maximum GPU attack. Yes, sounds like plenty of heat.

The 17-incher display produces crisp Full HD image at 240Hz and responds to you at 1ms. It is an IPS display with high degree of colour accuracy too, so you can technically work with it if you are in the creative industry. But those also sounds like a lot of stress on the CPU and GPU. That means more heat.

Source: Acer

The behemoth though can handle the heat. Acer’s 4th generation Aeroblade design has proven itself to be a capable active cooler for plenty of Acer’s Predator machines. The blade design is the reason why you can get something like an Acer Predator Triton to work at full chat reliably.

That same Aeroblade technology cools the Acer predator Helios 700 for 2020. Cooling is a tricky business though, this much heat needs more management still. That is why Acer developed a new heat dissipator plate that they call POWERGEM. The new conductor is supposed to be a better conduit for heat transfer and therefore a more efficient cooling solution to be on hand.

  • Source: Acer
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Like the older Acer predator Helios 700, there is the HyperDrift keyboard technology that allows the hardware to be used in two configurations. One, normal mode where it looks like any notebook PC on your desk (albeit a large one with 17-inch display). The other one is a slid down, full power, full cooling, ultimate gaming mode. You reveal the complex heatpipe and fan system that cools your PC and additional vents to let out and intake more air to cool the whole system down for maximum beast mode. This is your ‘Turbo’ button on the Helios 700.

It is pricey though. For an Intel Core i7 variant with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super, you are spending about MYR 12,999. If you go for the full beast option of an Intel Core i9 and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super combination, you are looking at MYR 17,999. That is not even counting the amount of money you might spend on Chiropractic treatments for your compressed back after hauling this thing from the shop to your home or your LAN parties. Maybe you might need that luggage bag after all.

Price and Availability

The Acer Predator Helios 700 will be available for pre-orders on Acer Day 2020. The Predator Helios 300 though will be available on Acer Day 2020 with some event exclusive gifts and promotional prices. Of course, that goes along with all other Acer’s accessories and hardware on Acer Day.

  • Source: Acer
  • Source: Acer

Acer Day 2020 is happening from the 2nd to 4th August 2020 in partnership with Shopee. You can tune in to Acer’s Facebook page on the 2nd of August 2020 at 3.00 p.m. to catch performances that Acer has lined-up for Acer Day. Of course, everything is done online and all purchases will be done online. You can visit their website, Facebook page, and their Shopee official store to know more. Save up and start shopping.

Computers, News

The New ASUS ROG STRIX gaming Notebooks with Liquid Metal Cooling Comes to Malaysia!

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Standing out in the world today is difficult. This statement cannot be truer in the gaming notebook PC segment. Everywhere you look, gaming notebooks look very similar to each other. At this point too, every gaming notebook have nearly the same design language – understated, simple, clean. Do not get us wrong though. We are not saying that they look bad, quite the opposite. There is nothing wrong too with the ‘blended in’ look and goal.

Still, we also understand that there are some who still wants something outrageous. There is still a market for a ‘different’ looking hardware. Something that stands out, but still looks decently fitting in a meeting room anyway. Something like an ASUS ROG STRIX.

The SCAR Edition

The ASUS ROG STRIX SCAR Edition has always been one of our favourite series of gaming notebooks. The new ROG STRIX SCAR 15 for 2020 comes with an Intel Core i7-10875H CPU and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (up to) combination for raw horsepower in AAA titles. You get up to 16GB (8GB x 2) RAM configuration within the beastly body of the STRIX SCAR 15 as well for a crazy amount of Google Chrome tabs open at the same time.

Of course, as with the SCAR 15 naming scheme, you get a 15.6-inch Full HD display. It is an amazing display to work with though. 240Hz refresh means you can see everything clearly. 3ms response time means there is no noticeable delay from input to action. 100% sRGB means you get colours and depth like no other.

  • Source: ASUS
  • Source: ASUS

Of course, all these things combined will produce a vast amount of heat. In addition to ASUS’s cooling technology, ASUS have replaced the thermal paste for the CPU and GPU with liquid metal for better cooling efficiency and effectiveness.

STRIX G – for Gaming

The liquid cooling technology does not stop at the SCAR edition ASUS ROG STRIX notebooks though. The ASUS ROG STRIX G15 and G17 also gets the liquid metal treatment for better cooling in heavy usage. We start with the STRIX G15.

The ASUS ROG STRIX G series comes packing with plenty of power still. It is no SCAR, but it still has the power of an Intel Core i7-10750H hexa-core processor. The combination of the powerful CPU and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is still plenty enough to run AAA games at higher settings. You still get 16GB (8GB x 2) of RAM memory too, to take advantage of the powerful CPU and GPU.

Storage comes in a 1TB SSD flavour. In case that is not enough, there is two more M.2 slots for upgrades. HDD tray? That is so last year.

  • Source: ASUS
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The ASUS ROG STRIX G15 comes with a reasonably fast 15.6-inch Full HD display too. You get 144Hz out of it still. It is no pantone validated display though. Still, the IPS technology is known for its highly accurate and vibrant colours.

The ASUS ROG STRIX G17 on the other hand comes with a larger 17.3-inch Full HD display. It refreshes at 144Hz as well. It is a much faster responding display at 3ms response time though. This would be the one that you want to work with if you are into accurate colours too at 100% sRGB colour gamut rating.

Pricing & Availability

The ROG STRIX SCAR 15 starts at MYR 7,499 (G532L-VAZ069T) and tops out at MYR 7,999 (G532L-WAZ085T). The ASUS ROG STRIX G15 and G17 starts at MYR 6,699 (G512L-VHN146T) and MYR6,199 (G712L-UH7082T), respectively. The ASUS ROG STRIX G17 tops out at MYR 6,699 (G712L-VEV067T) though. The ASUS ROG STRIX SCAR Edition and STRIX G series is now available in Malaysia.

Computers, Gaming, News

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus S is Back – Priced from 13,999

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Think gaming PC and thing ASUS ROG. This brand that stems out of one of the largest PC makers in the world is quite a household name in the PC gaming industry. With the announcement of the ROG Phone 3 last week, they are not just cornering the PC gaming market anymore. They are now the producer of the most powerful smartphone money can buy so far with the ROG Phone 3.

Back to PC gaming though. They are also the makers of some of the most innovative and desirable gaming PCs in the market. Their gaming notebooks are especially tantalising. They make some of the best-looking stuff in the market and some of the most powerful too. Take this new 2020 spec of ASUS ROG Zephyrus S17 for example.

The Zephyrus line-up is known for their super thin body. The Zephyrus S17 is no different at a thickness of 18.7mm. Pair that to a total weight of 2.6kg, this 17.3-inch machine could be the perfect work and play companion anywhere, anytime. The 240w adapter that you would require to give it enough juice and power to game is also redesigned to be smaller and lighter than before.

  • Source: ASUS
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The first thing that greets you when you open this puppy up is a Full HD display that kicks off at 300Hz and responds at 3ms. Thanks to modern display technology, fast display does not mean bad colours too. This is a pantone validated disokay with 100%sRGB and G-sync packed. No wonder, it costs so much.

That kind of display requires plenty of power to run though. That is handled by a combination of an Intel Core i7-10875H processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super Max-Q GPU (Up To). To ensure that these things do not fry themselves, ASUS has taken a step forward in cooling the PC. Liquid Metal now replaces the regular thermal paste in all ASUS ROG notebooks with Intel’s 10th Generation Core processors.

Memory comes in the form of a 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD storage combination. Yes, not many notebook PCs come with a 16GB RAM out of the box. There is more good news with the 16GB RAM though, there is another free RAM slot for you to upgrade your RAM to make the Zephyrus S17 even more of a monster. There is even more good news on the front of storage, there is another M.2 SSD slot for you to upgrade your memory banks. No HDD slot though.

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If 17-inch notebooks are not your cup of tea, there is a 15-inch variant. The Zephyrus S15 comes with everything that is great about the S17. You still get the same powerpacks that powers the Zephyrus S17 to life. You get the latest Intel Core i7-10875H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super Max-Q GPU. You also get the large 16GB RAM and 1TB of storage to work with. The only difference, apart from the price tag, is the screen size at 15.6-inch.

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Still a little too rich for your blood? But still want a powerful thin and light? What about the ASUS ROG Zephyrus M15. The 15.6-inch display is still a Full HD display with pantone validation and 100%sRGB colour gamut display. It does not refresh at 300Hz. 240Hz though should still be more than enough to handle for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti it packs. You still get a 10th Generation Intel Core i7-10750H too with that and 8GB of RAM to work with. 1TB of memory is still plenty enough to work with.

Now the price. The ROG Zephyrus S17 and S15 is now available in Malaysia for MYR 13,999 (GX701L-WSHG043T) onward. For that money you are getting an ROG Zephyrus S17 packed with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 super instead of the RTX 2080 Super. Still powerful, but not as powerful as the MYR 16,999 (GX701-XSHG043T) packaged ROG Zephyrus S17. The ROG Zephyrus S15 (G502L-XSHF042T) with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super will set you back at MYR 15,999. On the other hand, the baby Zephyrus M15 (GU502L-UAZ087T) sets you back MYR 6,999.

Android, Business, Computers, Consumer Electronics, Editorial, iOS, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

Virtual Showrooms – the New Normal

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Just a few days ago we see BMW launching their BMW X5 xDrive45 M Sport. In that launch they also launched an AR app that allows you to view the car in person via your smartphone. There is something lacking though, you do not get to get into the car.

There is another site that gives you a tour around the car though. They are also giving you a tour inside the car. You can also view other cars, not just a BMW. Welcome to the normal.

The site in reference is WapCar. The function is newly launched though so there are limited resources for now. Still, this is a sign of a new coming of age in the automotive industry.

Sure, you could go to any car manufacturer’s site to customise your car options and see the results of the customisation on a virtual image platform on the website. Technically what you are seeing here is not technically new technology. But you are probably looking at a revolution of an industry in Malaysia.

Source: Merceds-Benz

Customising your vehicle before you buy them is nothing new. You would want to buy a car that you want in specs and equipment list that you want, very normal. Usually, you would go to a showroom to look at the cars, get a feel, get a quotation, decide on what you need in the car, and buy them. Either that, or go to a car show, or exhibition held by showrooms or brands (there is one upcoming one by NAZA, by the way). That is the general norm in Malaysia. Customising cars on websites in Malaysia then, is not very common.

Since the COVID-19 crisis hits globally though, things have changed. We go out less, we are a bit more paranoid with people, we try to not crowd a place, and we also try to avoid contact with other people not in our bubble or even public objects that could be a bridge between you and other people. So, how do we buy things now?

The ‘new normal’ as they call it, sees a big boom in the digital space. Again, they are not technically new technology. Things like Shopee, Lazada, GrabFood, MyGroser, Tesco Online, Lalamove, GrabExpress, FoodPanda, GoGet, and such have existed forever (well; not forever, just for very long time). Thanks to the fact that you do not have to go out to get your food, your shopping, and your groceries done though, these platforms have thrived and we have grown to rely on them more than ever. Online shopping has become a norm.

Source: McLaren

Obviously, some people start thinking; “why does this new normal have to be limited to regular online shopping, delivery, and food services”? They do not. Lazada kicked off the market first with putting Volkswagen and Hyundai on their platform to sell cars, actual cars like the Volkswagen Polo and Hyundai i30. They also innovated a little more with purchasing properties when they partnered with Mah Sing Group. So, why not more of these? Especially with cars.

There is a problem though. Malaysians are not used to looking at cars virtually online. They like to walk around the cars, touch them, feel them, sit in them. We cannot do that now, can we? So online showrooms are the way to go. That way you get to do a ‘walkaround’ and ‘sit in’. The only thing you cannot do is test drive it or hear its engine note. We are pretty sure that the showrooms will not find it to be a problem to arrange for a test drive for you if you do give in a call though. We are certain too that they will follow procedure to properly sanitise the car and wear a mask beside you. You can request that too; no harm in asking.

Source: Mercedes-Benz

So back to virtual showrooms then. WapCar currently has only a few cars in their VR showroom. If you go to their website, you can browse through their catalogue of endless listings that even includes the likes of Bentley, Ferrari, and even McLaren (nope, no VR just yet, we would be excited for that though). As long as you see ‘VR’ pasted on the thumbnail, you can virtually ‘walkaround’ the car at least. There are even fewer cars with VR interior for now. They are slowly rolling out the feature to as many cars they can get their hands on though.

WapCar as a platform does show us what is possible in the new normal. It also shows a sort of alternative for Malaysia’s automotive industry future. Maybe we do not need a physical showroom that takes up huge spaces with not that many things put into it. Maybe all we need is a PC display to show us what we might get in the car. Better yet, maybe all we need is a VR Goggle to see what the car might look like on our driveway, or parking lot.

  • Source: WapCar
  • Source: WapCar

What about the showrooms? Why not just have these businesses set up online entirely? That may not seem to be such a bad idea, no? Maybe that also might make your car purchases a little bit more special since you really have to be patient. Who knows, it could be like unboxing your smartphone for the first time, or unwrapping your Christmas gift.

Business, Computers, Gaming, News

AMD Ryzen 4000 Desktop Series is Here! No Zen 3 Yet Though.

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AMD finally released their highly anticipated latest Ryzen processor platform for desktops. We mentioned ‘desktop’ specifically because AMD has launched their Ryzen 4000 series for mobile computing earlier this year. So, here it is, the new AMD Ryzen 4000 series for desktop alongside AMD’s latest Athlon 3000 series offering.

MODELCORES / THREADSTDP (Watts)BOOST9/BASE FREQ. (GHz)GPU CORESCACHE (MB)
AMD Ryzen™ 7 4700G8C/16T65WUp to 4.4 / 3.6 GHz812 MB
AMD Ryzen™ 7 4700GE8C/16T35WUp to 4.3 / 3.1 GHz812 MB
AMD Ryzen™ 5 4600G6C/12T65WUp to 4.2 / 3.7 GHz711 MB
AMD Ryzen™ 5 4600GE6C/12T35WUp to 4.2 / 3.3 GHz711 MB
AMD Ryzen™ 3 4300G4C/8T65WUp to 4.0 / 3.8 GHz66 MB
AMD Ryzen™ 3 4300GE4C/8T35WUp to 4.0 / 3.5 GHz66 MB
Athlon™ Gold 3150G4C / 4T65W​3.9 GHz36 MB
Athlon™ Gold 3150GE4C / 4T35W3.8 GHz36 MB
Athlon™ Silver 3050GE2C / 4T35W3.4 GHz35 MB
Source: AMD

This is not the end of the story though. Keen eyed readers will note that we did say that Zen 3 is not here yet (do not look at us, we are as surprised as you are). That is because the AMD Ryzen 4000 series we see here only packs AMD’s Zen2 architecture.

At least you are still getting AMD’s Radeon graphics integrated in the CPU. The previous AMD Ryzen 3000 series came with AMD’s highly acclaimed Radeon Vega graphics. We can safely expect the AMD Ryzen 4000 series for desktop systems that was just announced to come with AMD’s Radeon Vega graphics too in that case. Until they reveal it though, we do not know.

Source: AMD

They also touted that the new AMD Ryzen 4000 series for desktop performs 2.5x better in multi-threaded applications. There are some improvements on single-thread performance too, which is nice. With the integrated GPU, there are some expected added performance there too. All this means that this should perform better in video editing and rendering works and in games. With the integrated GPU, you can even properly game without having a dedicated GPU.

Alongside the regular consumer range of Ryzen 4000, AMD also announced the AMD Ryzen 4000 series with PRO technologies. Like the notebook range of AMD Ryzen 4000 Pro series, this one is made for AMD’s business customers. Like the mobile version as well, the desktop variant gets all AMD’s security features with the PRO series CPUs.

MODELCORES/ THREADSTDP (Watts)BOOST9/ BASE FREQ. (GHz)Graphics CoresL2/L3 CACHE (MB)
AMD Ryzen™ 7 PRO 4750G8C/16T65WUp to 4.4/3.6 GHz812MB
AMD Ryzen™ 7 PRO 4750GE8C/16T35WUp to 4.3/3.1 GHz812MB
AMD Ryzen™ 5 PRO 4650G6C/12T65WUp to 4.2/3.7 GHz711MB
AMD Ryzen™ 5 PRO 4650GE6C/12T35WUp to 4.2/3.3 GHz711MB
AMD Ryzen™ 3 PRO 4350G4C/8T65WUp to 4.0/3.8 GHz66MB
AMD Ryzen™ 3 PRO 4350GE4C/8T35WUp to 4.0/3.5 GHz66MB
AMD Athlon™ Gold PRO 3150G4C/4T65WUp to 3.9/3.5 GHz36MB
AMD Athlon™ Gold PRO 3150GE4C/4T35WUp to 3.8/3.3 GHz36MB
AMD Athlon™ Silver PRO 3125GE2C/4T35WUp to 3.4/3.4 GHz35MB
Source: AMD

What Do You Mean No Zen3?

The AMD Ryzen 4000 CPU has been touted and teased with a certain upcoming Zen3 architecture that is supposed to be way more powerful than what we see on the older generation AMD Ryzen 3000 series with Zen2. With the new AMD Ryzen 4000 desktop that just launched, it seems that AMD is not including the Zen3 architecture within the CPU just yet. They did not mention also if the architecture within the Ryzen 4000 series is Zen2+, which leaves us assuming that it is still the same Zen2 application that was on the Ryzen 3000 series.

Still, there are some performance gains on all the platforms they announced, including the Athlon offerings. While they may not be as big of a performance leap we expect from the Ryzen 4000 series, any improvements is welcome. The integrated graphics may also help with budget gaming and editing rigs.

Hope for Zen3 Still Alive with Big Navi

Source: AMD

Here is the kicker for the AMD Ryzen 4000 series for desktop PCs that was just announced though; you cannot buy them. To be specific, you cannot buy them on their own. You can only get these processors from OEMs in their desktop system offerings. AMD is teasing Lenovo and HP to be the first to produce a desktop system with the newly launched AMD Ryzen 4000 series somewhere after 21st July 2020.

That also creates a room and a gap for the enthusiasts’ market where Zen3 is yet to be available. Big Navi is also expected to be launched and announced later in 2020. With that also we expect AMD to announced another variant of the AMD Ryzen 4000 series that is available to consumers as an individual part and devoid of any integrated graphics. In that, we hope that the AMD Ryzen 4000 that we expect to launch with Radeon’s Big Navi to come with Zen3 or at least a Zen2+.

Computers, Editorial, Reviews

The Acer Nitro 5 (2020) In-Depth Review – Bangin’ for Bucks

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Gaming notebooks seems to be the sort of notebook PCs that everyone is going for these days. There is a good reason for that. Gaming notebooks do not look that much more outrageous these days. They look quite good and svelte in most cases today. They look stealthy, and regular with just a little bit of cues of the power that lies inside.

You combine that polished, stealthy look with the amount of power that these things come with these days, and you are looking at a very compelling package. Oh yes, cool too – temperature wise. There is a small problem, however.

Gaming specific products are not cheap. This is because the powerful hardware that is packed into these portable mean machines are not cheap on their own. So, if you are in the market for a new notebook with gaming capabilities with the latest hardware, best be prepared to spend a little bit more money.

Still, you still can go for entry-level gaming PCs today and you are going to be okay mostly even with AAA titles. Entry-level gaming notebook PCs have come a long way. You are not getting sub-par devices with cheap prices and plenty of compromises. Which also means that entry-level gaming PCs are the gaming notebooks to go these days.  

One of the ones you want to look at is the Acer Nitro 5 we have here. The Acer Nitro 5 we have here is the top-specced Acer Nitro 5 you can get your hands on. It packs the latest Intel Core i7 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti. It also comes with 8GB of RAM – like finally. It costs MYR 4,899 – more expensive than the entry level Predator Triton 300. Is it worth the asking price then? Let us find out.

Design

The Acer Nitro 5 has never been a bad looking notebook of a thing. While they are not the most svelte looking stuff, they are not bad lookers. The previous Nitro 5 has a faux carbon fibre treatment on the top of the case, which could be a thing for some people. We also understand that it may not be for everyone.

We do quite like the overall design of the Acer Nitro 5 in general though. They retain mostly the same shape since the first generation of the Nitro 5 a few years ago. You get the angular mouth that is reminiscent of Predator’s famous curves these days. You also get plenty of space for cooling purposes while maintaining a Plain Jane look.

The new one still retains the general shape and thickness of the older one. You lose the carbon fibre design from the old one though. Instead, you get some power lines that folds inward on the top of the clam. It mimics the lines that you get from the Helios line-up of the Predator family. They are, after all, cousins. Instead of the carbon fibre look, this retains the cleaner aluminium look mixed with some brushed steel look. Overall a cleaner look on the top.

But there are some extra flares that you get at the exhaust ports to indicate that this is still a serious piece of kit. It is more serious than ever too with the power it contains. There are some warnings of hot surfaces too, which might be quite necessary for any gaming rigs these days. There is no notable reduction in thickness of the hardware though, which may be a good thing. You still get full sets of I/O ports like HMDI and multiple USB Type-A ports with this standard of thickness. Of course, it is sturdier too.

The DC in port though, or the charging port is now moved to the back of the notebook. We especially love this because it frees up plenty of space on the sides. Most importantly it does not interfere your mouse movement which ever side you prefer it to be. It is ambidextrous now, is what we are saying.

That does create a little bit of a problem with the exhaust port though. There are now two smaller ports at the flanks of the backplate covering the charge mechanism. Acer seems to think that they have solved cooling issues with improved heat transfer pipe placements and bigger heatsink plates on top of the GPU and CPU. We shall find out later.

Open it up and what greets you is a 144Hz Full HD display at 15.6-inch. That seems to be a staple size for gaming notebooks these days. Of course, you want that 144Hz too, to take advantage of the Intel Core i7’s power to push fps to higher than 100. We will talk about the display a little more later.

The keyboard is now a 4-zone RGB instead of a single colour backlit keyboard. Again, I am not actually that big into RGB, so I usually set the backlight to a single colour. I chose white. But for you who are fans, you can customise the colours via Nitro Sense software included in the PC. It is even easily accessible via the Nitro Sense dedicated button on the keyboard. No ‘Turbo’ button on this thing like the Predators. Still, largely similar in layout with the previous notebook PCs.

Hardware

The Acer Nitro 5 you see here is the top-of-the-line model (AN515-55-79CU) that sports a 10th Generation Intel Core i7-10750H high performing CPU. That CPU is backed by an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti GPU and 8GB of RAM. Of course, you can upgrade that to however much you think you need. But let me say that 8GB is quite enough to run most games these days. Of course, a quick upgrade will never hurt. With 512GB of SSD storage, you are looking at MYR 4,899 for this model.

Of course, if you do not think that you need that power, you can opt for an Intel Core i5-10300H variant (AN515-55-52Z1) with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650Ti GPU. You still get the same amount of RAM and SSD storage too. That will set you back MYR 1,100 less than what you are paying for the one we review.

As usual, you only get one extra RAM slot so if you are planning to plug in two 16GB RAM sticks, you would have to pull out the original 8GB RAM. Make sure your RAM is compatible too. Then there is the upgradability on the side of storage. Traditionally you get a single SSD slot and an HDD slot. These days you get SSDs stuck in the notebook. Which means with the traditional set up you only get an HDD expansion slot.

In this though, you get two SSD slots. This is a new standard for notebook PCs too. Which also means that you get an extra SSD slot to upgrade your rig with an SSD and extra HDD for both extra storage and speed.

Specifications

Acer Nitro 5 AN515-55-79CUAs Tested
Processor (clock)10th Generation Intel Core i7-10750H
(2.6GHz)
GPUNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti
Display(s)15.6-inch IPS LED-backlit (1920 x 1080)
ComfyView
Memory512GB NVME M.2 SSD
8GB DDR4 RAM
Networking and Connections (I/O)1 x USB-C 3.1 Gen 1
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A
2x USB 2.0
1 x Standard HDMI 1.4
1 x Audio combo jack
1 x Network RJ-45
Intel Wi-Fi 6 Gig+ (802.11ax)
Bluetooth 5.0
Battery3,560mAh 4-cell Li-Polymer
Operating SystemWindows 10 Home
MiscellaneousAudio certified by DTS:X
1.8kg

Features

To be fair, there is not that much that has changed since we saw the slightly older generation of the Acer Nitro 5. The most notable changes are that on paper. It is more powerful with newer generation processors and GPU. But somehow it does carry a slightly higher retail price tag for that. We suspect that the COVID-19 situation might play a small role in its pricing.

That is not to say that this is a gaming notebook PC that does not stand out with its own features. There are somethings that we appreciate in the new Nitro 5. While they are quite minor things that we may have already touched on earlier, they do matter.

Nitro Sense – Not Quite Predator Sense

There was one software that made Predator devices stand out in the last generation. That software is their Predator Sense that allows you to control every part of your rig. You can set the fan to its loudest and fastest settings. This is required mostly when the GPU and CPU is being pushed to their limits in gaming. To get games to play out smoothly and beautifully, these things tend to be pushed to their limits and more.

In the previous generation of the entry-level gaming PC, we did not see much of Nitro Sense. Nitro Sense in the new Nitro 5 takes a larger stage. The dedicated button is easy to reach and recognise. It is placed in the same part of the keyboard as the Predator PCs since 2019. This also means they are using the same sort of keyboard in the Nitro 5, which is also good news.

There is no ‘Turbo’ button that you can expect to find on Predator PCs though. Still, it is not to say that Nitro Sense is useless. It is quite the contrary.

By default, you Acer Nitro 5 is programmed to run as quietly as possible. This would be important in places like meeting rooms maybe. But when you are gaming, you want to unlock the fans a little and from the Nitro Sense app, you can turn on CoolBoost. That function allows the fan to adjust itself according to the GPU and CPU operations and heat dissipation requirements. Of course, when you run the processors harder, the faster the fan spins to dissipate more heat.

Because there is not ‘Turbo’ button, you can only control the ‘boosts’ within Nitro Sense as well. While certain games like Grand Theft Auto V, Two Point Hospital, and Re: Legends may not require plenty of GPU or CPU power, you might need more in games like Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, or Red Dead Redemption 2 to get them to play as smoothly as possible.

Most games though will do well enough with NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1660Ti. Still, it is nice to know you can tap into more power when you want to, especially when you need to render videos and such. Nitro Sense is a big welcome here.

Smooth Operator 4-Zone RGB

I may not be a big fan of RGB. That does not mean that others cannot enjoy RGB. I know plenty of people who loves RGB and cannot get enough of it. For me though, single colour all the way.

For those who enjoy a good RGB, the Acer Nitro 5 now comes with a four-zone RGB backlit keyboard array. I have to say though, it is nice to have the option to show off and turn on your RGB backlight and set the to ‘dynamic’ settings and watch the rainbow colours go. When you do that too, it does not seem like a four-zone RGB.

You cannot map each key to any colours of your choice individually. Not that it mattered that much anyway. But that also means you cannot colour code your WASD keys to their own colours. Still, the WASD keys are made so that the RGB can highlight them a little, which is still something.

Even this is controlled via Acer’s trusty Nitro Sense. This goes back to how useful the Nitro Sense is for Acer’s Nitro 5.

Back-to-Back Power

We had a small issue with the older models of Acer Predator notebook PCs. Their charging port is awkwardly placed in the middle of the right side of the device. This creates a few persistent problems.

If you are placing your power brick out of the way in the back of the notebook PC you are placing the cable in the way of an exhaust port at the side which causes heat to build up a little. Move the cable to push toward the front for better ventilation and you realise the cable covers a USB port and a headphone jack, a USB Type-C port maybe. This is for those L-shaped power cables. If you have it plugged with a regular straight power plug, you are going to be restricting the movement of your Mouse in gaming sessions, not ideal when you are in an online game situation.

So, for the 2020 version of Acer’s Nitro 5, they have moved the power charging port to the back of the device. This is a delight because now the power cables do not have to be in the way. Out-of-the-box though is the L-shaped head which kind of makes sense since Acer do not have to change their whole production supply. While it does create an avenue for bent cables and even blocked exhaust ports, it does tuck the back in a little so that you can push your notebook PC a little further away from you on the desk.

We do find that somehow the back plate that houses the power supply peripherals a little sparse though. Other than they charge port, there is no other useful features at the back of the PC. We would appreciate the HDMI port to be moved to the back. We might also appreciate one Thunderbolt enabled USB Type-C at the back. The LAN port should also be pushed to the back with the HDMI and power ports, in our opinion. Of course, that might happen while sacrificing the convenient I/O on the sides of the device.

Cool Kits

No, not extra accessories. The new Acer Nitro 5 for 2020 comes with a set of newer, more advanced cooling system. Thing is, this is not a large improvement over the previous cooling system. That is also not to say that the cooling system is not great. The cooling system on the Nitro 5 has always been good.

The new Acer Nitro 5 for 2020’s cooling system layout sort of mimics the Predator Helios 300’s cooling layout. With their 3D Aeroblade technology trickled down from the Predator notebooks, the Acer Nitro 5 should not face any issue with cooling really. In our use case, we never had in issue with cooling even when we are playing games like GTA V for an extended period.

While the rear radiators have shrunk in favour of the more ergonomic rear side power input, there are virtually no difference in cooling with the Acer Nitro 5. That is also thanks, mostly, to bigger copper plates, better routing, and wider heat pipes too. Of course, there is the more efficient CPU too.

Performance

With Intel’s 10th Generation Core i7 and NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1660Ti, this gaming Notebook PC should be able to handle nearly any modern games you can throw at it. You technically can play The Shadow of Tomb Raider in lower settings that you would want to and still get decent FPS performance out of it.

Gaming

If you are thinking of playing DOTA 2 on it, you should not be too hesitant. The 144Hz does help with FPS in MOBA type games. Even competitive first person shooters would benefit from the smooth graphics. Of course, do not expect your new Call of Duty: Warzone or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare games to be as smooth at higher graphics settings.

Still, Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and Assassin’s Creed: Origins play smoothly as long as you leave them on their default settings. In that regards alone, this is a worthy choice to get into most games of today. If you are planning to only play things like Two-Point Hospital, or Motorsport Manager, or even Football Manager, you should have nothing to worry about anyway.

Doing the Work Stuff

We are not talking about doing things like word or powerpoint processing. You do not even need this kind of pulling power if you are just looking to work on those. With this thing, you want to do heavier work – video rendering stuff, photo editing, or even low-level animation work.

Sadly, the Acer Nitro 5 does not have a boost button or even a convenient one-touch max-out function. In this case, the fans and processors will spool up when necessary. At a maximum, it will not even touch the Acer Predator models.

Still, it has a decent video processing capability. You have to expect some lags and stutters while scrubbing through 4K videos. Though it is much improved, you might want to spend on more expensive rigs for 4K video processing. This is not to say you cannot, it still works, but you might want something faster.

For Full HD 1080p vidoes though, the process is buttery smooth. Of course, this is also a contribution of the speedy SSD speeds too. You can easily drag your cursor around to any point of the video and start playing it at the program monitor. We use Adobe Premiere Pro, by the way.

To render a 5-minute Full HD 1080p videos, it does not take that long actually. It takes probably about 15 minutes at the maximum. This is also considering that we were scaling down from 4K resolution, which is extra workload for the PC. We unfortunately do not produce enough 4K resolution contents to test out the Acer Nitro 5.

Sound By DTS

Acer Harmony was great, it was not the best though. Sometimes, it is best to leave some things done by experts. That is why The Acer Nitro 5 now comes with some support by DTS with DTS: X. This is probably one the notebook’s biggest improvements.

DTS: X was seen on a few devices before. In effect, DTS makes things sound better. Then again, that is their business.

The Acer Nitro 5’s speakers are not the loudest in the world. They still pack quite a punch though, and they are louder than before. Despite the louder speakers, you are not getting much of difference in terms of sounds profile. Until you open the DTS app that is.

With the DTS app, sound profile changes a little bit. The trebles are more distinctive, the bass more pronounced. That changes a whole lot of experience when it comes to music. When you hear the vocals, then you can start appreciating the new DTS: X speakers. Vocals are still as crisp as before, if not crisper. It does not overpower the other range of frequencies though, rather the DTS app cleverly balances everything out. Everything completements each other, is the best way we can describe it.

The DTS app has several preset settings within the app though. You can go on the default dynamic profile for the app to cleverly detect your medium and adjust itself properly. Either that or you go into specific preset profiles like music or gaming to get the best tuning for each activity.

We appreciate good audio and the Nitro 5 was able to deliver on the speakers. The same can be said when you plug in your headphones too. With DTS:X, you are getting a completely different experience when it comes to headphones too. The only sad part? It does not come with 3D audio or spatial audio like the Acer Predator notebooks. I guess there are still some things that the Acer Nitro 5 cannot do.

Battery

The battery life of any gaming PC is quite appalling. Because of the amount of power you get in a gaming PC, you usually cannot expect more than two hours away from the charger before it needs another charge. The situation has improved though, and the Acer Nitro 5 for 2020 is a testament to that.

The Acer Nitro 5 for 2020 boasts about 8 hours in battery life. In our tests, we never really gotten close to that number. We can safely say that your gaming notebook can go past 4 hours now on battery.

At least for the Acer Nitro 5, we could get battery life at a maximum of 6 hours with balanced settings. We had Spotify on with earphones plugged in, we use Firefox as our internet browser, and we had about 20 tabs open at the same time. Most of the time though we got about 4 hours of battery life. We did try to game on it without plugging it into a power socket and still got an hour of battery life on it though. That was quite impressive for us. Of course, on battery, your gaming is a little compromised because the hardware within the Nitro 5 tends to turn itself down in favour of preserving its battery life.

Display

You are really not getting a bad deal with the new Acer Nitro 5. The one we have here sports a 3ms 144Hz refresh rate display. I cannot tell whether the display panel is a TN panel or IPS, but the colours look good still.

Still, this is a gaming display, which means colours are not its main priority. While the colours still look better than most notebook PCs you can find these days, you are not getting the most colour accurate display in town. Still, that is not what the Acer Nitro 5 is about though.

This is about speed, and competitiveness. The Acer Nitro 5’s 144Hz display helps with MOBA games and FPS games in a competitive environment. Motion blur is less of a thing with 144Hz at least. This also means you get a better competitive advantage when it comes to games like Counter Strike. You see better. In competitive games too, every millisecond count towards getting the first hit or getting hit first. That 3ms response time is crucial for your kills.

We are not competitive gamers though, so that matters less to us. We still appreciate a fast display though. Games generally look better with 144Hz. We could see that in effect with games like GTA V. While 3ms response time does not do much too, we do appreciate having a fast responding display, a near instant display, more like.

That said, it is not a brand-new display unit. It is technically the same display panel that you get in previous generation Acer Predator notebooks like the Triton 300. Which also means you get about the same performance from the display as the older Predator notebook. It may not be a bad thing though.

We still really like that notebook PCs come with minimal bezels. The bezel size has not increased on the Acer Nitro 5 compared to the old one, which is a good thing. It has not shrunk either though. That is not necessarily a bad thing. We still like webcams to be where they are supposed to be, above the display.

The Acer Nitro 5 – Best Value Got Better

Entry-level gaming notebooks are never that great in the earlier days of mainstream gaming notebooks. The thing is, entry level gaming notebooks have come a long way in 2020. With more powerful processors on offer, they can really replace all the gaming needs you have. Of course, if you want the best of the best performance in class, you are still better off with a desktop PC.

There is an appeal to gaming notebook PCs though. They are plenty more portable, and more convenient. You do not need to be sitting where your PC is to start gaming with notebook PCs. You just need to sit anywhere you like, and turn it on, and start playing at any time; your gaming comes with you.

Entry level gaming notebook PCs are exactly just that, but at a much more accessible price point. Thing is, the Acer Nitro 5 gaming notebook that we have is not exactly budget friendly at MYR 4,899. There is a cheaper variant with an Intel Core i5 and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, which is quite a bit less.

At MYR 4,899 though you are not getting something compromised, you are getting something that will work. The Acer Nitro 5 at this spec easily handles plenty of AAA titles, albeit not at the highest settings. You get 144Hz display too, so games with less graphical requirements will perform and look beautiful on the display.

Prices for notebook PCs are not very encouraging at this point due to the whole global pandemic situations though. While the Acer Nitro 5 is a great notebook PC to have, it may not be the best time to get a new gaming notebook PC. Sill, we do think that the MYR 4,899 asking price for the Acer Nitro 5 with Intel’s 10th Generation Core i7 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is worth it. Considering an equivalent Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3i will cost nearly MYR 1,000 more than the Acer Nitro 5, yes the Acer Nitro 5 is the entry-level gaming notebook PC for you.

Computers, Editor's Choice, Editorial, Reviews

Acer Swift 5 (2019) Review: Slim, Light and Powerful

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Thin and light is the new normal. We’re seeing more and more laptops try to set themselves apart from the crowd with more powerful insides and features that, at times, don’t really make sense. Then we have one of Acer’s golden boys – the Swift 5 which has refined Acer’s approach to the Swift series and hit a goldilocks intermediate that makes it a serious contender. In fact, it could be one of the best laptops that Acer has made to date under it’s Acer brand. I know – high praise for an introduction – but you’ll see why when we dive into the review.

Design

The Swift 5 is unremarkable when it comes to its overall design; it doesn’t turn into a tablet, it doesn’t have a stylus nor does it have any obvious design queues that make you go “WOW!”. But, that’s what makes the Swift 5 all the more appealing. Its unassuming design is one of the laptop’s strong points. The simplistic approach Acer has used in designing the thin and light laptop allowed the company to focus on what matters – the touch and feel of the laptop.

That said, you can’t say the Swift 5 isn’t a looker. The design has clean lines and doesn’t carry any of those jarring, flashy lines that can be such an eyesore. The sleek, clean approach that Acer has taken allows the laptop to feel and look more premium. We had the Charcoal Blue version in the office for review and it was a real beaut! The deep blue colour gives it a slightly mysterious allure while the gold accent on the hinge looks and feels like it’s a treasured book in a library. In fact, the gold accent actually looks like a book spine. It makes the Swift 5 feel like a really important book that you tuck away so no one can destroy it.

Opening the laptop, it feels like the display melds into the body thanks to the minimal bezel. The backlit keyboard actually looked really good on the deep blue of the laptop. The back light made the keys have a white accent when they were on and it made the laptop feel a little bit more special. The elegant contrast of the colours on the Charcoal blue felt like the final finesse of a painting. It complemented the muted gold of the keyboard and the hinge quite elegantly. I would go so far as to say, Acer should have called this Royal Blue instead.

Hardware

The elegantly unremarkable outsides hides power packed insides – especially by thin and light standards. On the version we had to review, the Swift 5 was packing an Intel Core i7 with Intel IRIS Plus graphics and it had 16GB of RAM to boot. On paper you’d be scratching your head wondering how these specifications justify the title in anyway, but I’ll dive into that in the performance section of the review.

The display on the Swift 5 is a crisp Full HD 1080p IPS panel which is more than sufficient for the 14-inch screen size. Acer did really well holding back on putting a 4K UHD panel in the Swift 5. Any more pixels and you’d be dealing the atrocity of Window’s scaling to make it useable. The touch screen is also a very welcomed touch.

Acer also made the Swift 5 feel a lot more premium with magnesium-aluminium and magnesium-lithium alloys. These materials give the laptop  a sturdiness that not many of its direct competitors have. In fact, it was a smart choice cause the alloy actually helps with dissipating heat to keep the laptop performing really well.

Specifications

Acer Swift 5 | SF514-54T-70AAAs tested
Processor (clock)Intel® Core i7-1065G7 Quad-core 1.3 GHz
GPUIntel IRIS Plus
Display14-inch Full HD IPS Touch Screen 1920×1080 pixels
Memory16GB LPDDR4X SDRAM 512GB SSD
Networking and ConnectionsWiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax Bluetooth 5.0 HDMI 1 USB 2.0
1 USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A 1 USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C
Battery4-cell Lithium Ion 12 Hours battery life
Operating SystemWindows 10 Home 64-bit
MiscellaneousFingerprint Reader Backlit Keyboard Stereo Speakers Microphone DisplayPort over USB-C Thunderbolt 3 USB charging 5 V; 3 A DC-in port 9 or 12 or 20 V; 45 W

Features

As I mentioned in the beginning, thin and light laptops have always been hit an miss when it comes to features. However, Acer has taken a very minimalist approach even with features for the Swift 5. They’ve taken some laser sharp focus on a few features that improve the overall user experience of the laptop and worked on perfecting it. While that means that the laptop isn’t very feature rich – it also means that the features that do come for the ride are there cause they have a major impact overall.

Quick Unlock with Windows Hello

The first feature that made a pretty big difference is the inclusion of a fingerprint reader which works with Windows Hello. The fingerprint reader actually comes in handy particularly when you want to use your laptop in public without typing in your password or if you simply need it to unlock quick. It’s simple swipe of the finger on the sensor and you’re golden.

Throughout the review period, there weren’t many instances when the fingerprint unlock actually failed. If any it was a Windows 10 failure due to some update or it just not detecting the sensor after an update. Thankfully, when this happened, there were options to unlock using the account password or a PIN which was set during Windows’ setup.

Ports, ports and more ports

You’d think me crazy to say that this was one of the BIGGEST assets when it came to features on the Swift 5. But I’m not exaggerating. In a day and age where we have super thin and light laptops, we’ve also lost the convenience of having ports which are even more important – particularly if you’re running between client meetings and dealing with USB drives all day. Instead, we’ve been relegated to being content with having to buy an additional dongle for the connectivity features we need to be productive.

If you’re like me, the lack of a HDMI port would be a deal breaker. If you don’t have an HDMI, it’s very likely you’ll be relegated to the bottom of the consideration pile and guess what? The Swift 5 comes with an HDMI port! It’s something you don’t expect when you’re dealing with a laptop of its build. While wireless projecting and online storage are modern conveniences, there is a comfort in knowing you’re not being held captive by the cloud and have the freedom to connect and project even without WiFi. In addition, it also meant that a larger screen was always an option which is very important for people who are dealing with design and also if you’re like me and have 2 screens to keep up with the number of windows you have while working.

The array of ports supported by the Swift 5 makes is more versatile and better equipped to handle the many different technological environments a working professional is thrust into. You’ll never know when you enter a client’s office and their projector isn’t ready for wireless connection. That said, even with the Thunderbolt support and even the HDMI, you’re left depending on a converter if you encounter the dreaded VGA port – but that’s cause it’s an ancient spirit of evil. Aside from this, the USB-C, USB-A and HDMI ports allow you excellent versatility with the laptop.

Performance

The Swift 5 was a pleasant surprise when it came to performance. It was able to handle a lot of what we threw at it. In fact, it was, at one point, editing 4K UHD videos with overlays on Adobe Premiere Pro without much problem – albeit, it was definitely a little bit on the slower end. However, unless you’re looking for an editing rig on the go, the Swift 5 handles pretty much everything you’d want it to as a laptop on-the-go from emails to processing large excel sheets.

The Intel Core i7 processor in the Swift 5 we reviewed was pretty capable. It could handle running large excel sheets with complicated equations. It was even able to handle simple photo editing and video rendering on the go. Of course, with size, cooling was a big consideration when dealing with large data sets. However, thanks to the design of the laptop and the many vents, it was able to cool itself pretty well. That said, if it overheats, you’d be stuck waiting for it to cool to a usable temperature. But this didn’t happen during our review.

Working on the go is one thing that is really a compromise between size, comfort and power. The Swift 5 was striding the compromise pretty well with its keyboard. Its design allows you type comfortably for long periods of time even if the laptop is literally on your lap in a train. The keys had enough travel to ensure that you are not fatigued and enough feedback to make sure you know you clicked something. It is a fine line that Acer has stridden commendably with this laptop.

Connectivity on the Swift 5 is also commendable. It supports up to WiFi 6 and while WiFi 6 networks are pretty rare, it was really stable when it was able to connect to it. On regular WiFi a/b/g/n/ac networks the connection was pretty stable and didn’t have random disconnects. Even when I was jumping networks the downtime was barely noticeable.

IRIS Plus Indeed

The IRIS Plus integrated graphics of the Intel Core i7 was definitely a boon to the laptop’s performance. Unlike it’s Intel UHD Graphics brethren, it was able to handle a lot more without struggling. I was able to play games such as Cuphead and even a little bit of LA Noire on the laptop without it dying or the graphics being unbearable.

However, the best demonstration of the IRIS Plus graphics definitely came when I decided to edit a 4K UHD video on the laptop. It was able to handle it surprisingly well. In fact, I was expecting the laptop to overheat when I was editing and more so when I was exporting the video. While it did take a while for overlays and complex transitions to render, it was able to do it nonetheless.

Great Quality Sound even without Dolby certification

The sound experience isn’t something many people would be considering when they look at laptops like this one. However, it was something that needed highlighting when it came to the Swift 5. The laptop was able to produce pretty good sound with its stereo speakers. It was pretty surprising to have warm, full sound coming from the laptop when we’re used to thin and lights without Dolby certification sounding tinny with scratchy highs and hollow lows. While it’s not audiophile quality, Acer did a good job ensuring that the sound is a little better than pleasant to the ears with the Swift 5.

Enough Battery to Run A Marathon

Battery life is quickly becoming a pretty important criteria for any laptop and while, to be honest, it really depends on your usage – it doesn’t make it any less important. On average, the Swift 5 lasted about 8 to 10 hours on a single charge. When we really put the laptop through its paces with the 4K video editing it still lasted about 6 hours. With lower workloads like emails, surfing and word processing, we easily got about 10-12 hours as Acer claimed.

However, the best part of the Swift 5 is the laptop’s support of charging via USB-C. This was one feature I was using quite often with a power bank with USB-C power delivery. If your power bank can charge a Nintendo Switch, you can charge the Swift 5. The laptop will charge with anything above 15W. I was using one with 45W power delivery this could result in the laptop getting a little warm at the USB C port but it did give me about 45 minutes of extra power.

Display

Acer showed some restraint in not kitting the Swift 5 with a 4K UHD screen and to be honest, it’s one of the best decisions they’ve made when it comes to the laptop – aside from kitting it out with a good assortment of ports. The 14-inch, Full HD 1080p IPS display is crisp, sharp and has decent colour reproduction. This made it easy to work with design and colour sensitive workloads when on-the-go.

The fact that it covers over 86% of the laptop’s body is another feat. The slim bezels allow you to focus on the screen. It really makes you feel immersed in what your doing in the screen be it work, a Netflix or even a YouTube Video.

So touchy, So nice

The touch capabilities of the screen are a welcomed addition to the already impressive laptop. While you would think that a touch screen on a laptop that doesn’t have a tablet mode is a bit of waste, it really isn’t. To be very honest, I was in that club until I started using the Swift 5. I found myself relying on the touch screen for things like scrolling and scribing. The touchscreen actually allowed me to be more productive and even made things easier by reducing my reliance on the touchpad.

That said, given the size of the screen I found myself increasing the scaling of Windows to the screen to help with the touch feature. If you’re running on the native 100%, you’ll be clicking and selecting too many icons at one go. For me, it was at 125% that I was most comfortable using the touch screen.

The Perfect, Well Thought Out Package for the Modern Worker

The Swift 5 successfully combines the needs of an on-the-go worker with a well thought out package. Acer’s willingness to meet their customers needs while maintaining a relatively affordable price point makes the laptop very appealing. The fact that it brings together a set of features that makes life easier for their consumers with hardware that is both premium and affordable makes it one of the better options in the market.

When it comes to the bottom line, we have to admit, the Swift 5 is one of the most complete packages when it comes to laptops for people on-the-go. That’s why we’re giving Acer’s Swift 5 the recognition as an Editor’s Choice when it comes to laptops.

Computers, News

Dell Gears Up for Creators with new XPS Desktop & S series Monitors

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Hot off their international launch of a new line up of XPS laptops and their Malaysian launch of the Precision and Latitude lines, Dell is adding a new member to the XPS family: the XPS Desktop. The new XPS desktop draws inspiration from the minimalistic designs of its laptop brethren. Keeping it simple, elegant and performance driven. In fact, it’s even slimmed down to keep a sleeker profile. The once 24L body of the XPS Desktop is now only 19L and it doesn’t sacrifice much when it comes to space for internals.

The new XPS Desktop isn’t just elegant, it packs the power when it comes to specifications. It comes supped up with 10th generation Intel Core i processors ranging from the Core i3 to the creator focused Core i9. This is paired with a up to 128GB of RAM and complemented with up to 4TB of storage in various hardware configurations.

Built for Content

Keeping it’s eye on creators and hardware intensive processes, the XPS Desktop will be coming with a slew of options for it’s graphics card ranging from the NVIDIA GT 1030 to the NVIDIA RTX 2070 SUPER and even AMD graphics processors ranging from the AMD Radeon RX 5300 to the powerful Radeon RX 5700 XT. It also has options for a DVD-RW or Blu-ray burner in the optical drive department.

Of course, being a performance focused desktop, the XPS comes with a bevvy of ports on the back. On the front, it comes with 3 USB 3.1 ports, 1 USB Type C, a 3.5mm jack and a SD card slot. It also comes with support for Killer AX1650i WiFi 6 connectivity. Complementing the power packed internals are options for 150W or 500W power supply.

The Dell XPS desktop take a page out of its laptop brethren with voltage regulator cooling to more efficiently cool the processors. In fact, the engineers at Dell have designed the chassis to maximise airflow and cooling when it comes to the hard disks and processors. Accessing the internals shouldn’t be a problem with the toolless system that it adopts.

A Perfect Match with the New Dell S-series Monitors

Together with the new power packed XPS Desktop, Dell also announced three new S Series monitors. The new additions to the affordable S-series monitors bring even more options and larger sizes to the popular series of monitors.

The new additions to the S series monitors come in two different sizes: 27-inch and a larger 32-inches. The 27-inch monitor comes in Full HD and 4K Ultra HD resolutions. These monitors have 99% coverage of the sRGB gamut and are equipped with AMD FreeSync technology. The Dell 32 Curved 4K Monitor (S3221QS) comes with dual 5W speakers built-in.

Dell is bringing the Dell Premium Panel exchange program to the S series monitors during their limited hardware warranty period. The Premium Panel exchange will ensure that you get a consistent experience with the new monitors. Dell will replace defective IPS panels which result inconsistent bright spots. This program is available in the United States for now. No information if the Dell Premium Panel exchange will be coming to other regions.

Pricing & Availability

The Dell XPS Desktop is available immediately in the U.S. and Canada with prices starting at USD$649.99 (MYR2,774.41). It will be available in Malaysia starting the end of July 2020. Prices will start at MYR3,499 for a Core i5 with 8GB of RAM and a GTX1650 Super.

Europe and other regions will have the XPS Desktop within the month as well.

The Dell S-Series monitors will be available worldwide starting on 20 August 2020. Malaysia will be getting the monitors in late August with their prices to be announced at a later date. International pricing is as below:

  • Dell 32 Curved 4K UHD Monitor (S3221QS) will be priced starting at USD$499.99 (MYR2,131.13).
  • Dell 27 4K UHD Monitor (S2721QS) will retail with prices starting at USD$449.99 (MYR1,918.02).
  • Dell 27 Monitor (S2721DS) will retail starting at USD$349.99 (MYR1,491.78).