Razer launched their own version of what an ultimate gaming chair would look like last year. They launched the Razer Iskur last year for all the hardcore gamers in the world with a very clever lumbar support mechanism. It also received high praises for being one of the most comfortable gaming thrones you can find in the market.
The only issue was its price at US$ 749. In Today’s Malaysia money, the Razer Iskur will set you back about just a little over MYR 3,000, which is a lot of money even for a gaming chair. For comparison’s sake, the Secret Lab Titan, Secret Lab’s biggest and most expensive gaming seat starts at an equivalent of roughly MYR 2,200 (SG$ 700 retail) or so. These are rough conversion figures though.
While you are paying a little bit of a premium for the Iskur’s innovative lumbar support, it is not something you would call ‘affordable’. In that sense, what do you do when you still want a Razer seat in your house, but for not as much money? Razer has an answer for you in their latest Razer Iskur X.
Before you jump into the conclusion that Razer’s Iskur X is a baby Iskur, it is nothing like the more premium Iskur. They share the same diamond quilt design on the backrest, the same colour and leather finishing, and somewhat the same designs and stitching, but that is about it. These are technically two completely different thrones.
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
The Iskur X do not have the same lumbar support mechanism or cushion as the Iskur for example. Instead, you have the option to get a separate lumbar cushion you can put on the chair. Like the Iskur also, the Iskur X does not come with a head pillow or cushion though. Again, the head cushion is a separate purchase.
Still, the Iskur X gaming chair features steel-reinforced body to handle a lot of weight. It supports up to 136kg. That does mean that the Razer Iskur X might dwarf smaller body frames though. It also features the same 2D armrests as the Iskur, which is a good thing considering the Iskur was highly acclaimed.
The Razer Iskur is now available for purchase from selected retailers and from Razer.com online store. The Razer Iskur X will set you back US$ 399 (MYR 1,499*) and only comes in Black and Green colour scheme. For more comfort, you can add a Razer Lumbar Cushion and Razer Head Cushion for US$ 49.99 (MYR 259*) and US$ 39.99 (MYR 199*) respectively. More information can be found on Razer’s website.
Qualcomm has been teasing their Snapdragon platform to run on PC and Windows for a while now. To be fair, the possibility of having a Snapdragon SoC running Windows is not such a far-fetched idea. The processing chips that have been staple for Android, at least on the flagships, are already as powerful, if not more powerful than a regular CPU made by Intel and AMD. They are also a lot more power efficient, which also means that it runs cooler and benefits battery life.
While they have been teasing, there are no notable products to put the concept into practice. The closest we got to a modern Qualcomm Snapdragon compute platform on Windows is the JOI Book SK3000, an attempt at creating an affordable notebook by a Malaysian firm. To be fair, we see a lot of potential from that attempt, even if they are using a somewhat dated System on a Chip (SoC) that was not even made for Windows.
Today though, all that is about to change with Samsung’s introduction of the Samsung Galaxy Book Go. The new Galaxy Book Go comes in three variants too, for good measure. The regular Galaxy Book Go can be fitted with LTE connectivity, but there is a 5G variant. Naturally, two variants also mean two different SoCs. The standard Galaxy Book Pro with or without LTE comes with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 platform and the Galaxy Book Pro 5G comes with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 platform.
Source: Samsung
Again, because the power consumption requirements are lower than before, the notebook is touted to have an all-day battery life. Even if you need to plug it into a wall socket, your 25W charger should be larger than a smartphone charger. Thanks to USB Type-C too, you can charge your smartphone using the same charger. All of that also, while remaining constantly connected to the internet.
It features a 14-inch Full HD display with slim bezels to fit a body that is likened to an old 13-inch notebook. eUFS memory (up to 128GB) also means that you get instant boot and load speeds from the Galaxy Book Go. With up to 8GB of RAM, Windows 10 should be running nicely without too much strain. On top of all of that is Dolby Atmos certified speakers for all kinds of entertainment needs.
All of that power is packed into a body that is 14.9mm thick, or thin, depending on how you look at it. It could be thinner, but they do need a little bit of space to fit a full-sized USB Type-A port on the side of the Galaxy Book Go. Still, it only weighs 1.38kg and it does not need a fan to run a whole day.
Source: Samsung
It is very much a Samsung product though with Galaxy ecosystem a part of the Samsung Galaxy Book Go. The Galaxy Book Go works nicely with Link to Windows and Microsoft’s Your Phone app on your Android device. With Smart Switch also, you can easily transfer settings from your old PC to the Galaxy Book Go quickly and easily. There is even SmartThings built into the Galaxy Book Go for all kinds of IoT use at home.
The Samsung Galaxy Book Go Wi-Fi and LTE will be available in select market June 2021 onward. The selected markets does not include Malaysia at this time though. If you are in a market where the Samsung Galaxy Book Go with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 platform is available, it starts at US$ 349 (MYR 1,439*). The Samsung Galaxy Book Go 5G variant will be available sometime later in the year 2021. For more information on the Samsung Galaxy Book Go and other Samsung products, you can visit their website.
*Based on approximate exchange rate of US$ 1 = MYR 4.12 as of 03/06/2021 on xe.com
NVIDIA launched their most powerful GPUs for consumer PCs toward the end of last year. The GPUs launched in 2020 had, according to NVIDIA anyway, the largest generational improvement ever in a GPU. While we ourselves have not had the chance to prove that on our own, we do believe that.
At the launch of the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series cards, we also expected NVIDIA to top their products off with Ti variants of the GPUs. The “Ti” moniker is also an indicator that it is the more powerful version of each GPU class. Fast forward a few months and into COMPUTEX 2021, NVIDIA delivered on those expectations, and they seem a lot more powerful than anyone expected.
NVIDIA launched the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070 Ti in their COMPUTEX 2021 keynote. While they are launched as more powerful versions of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3070, they are not really sold as gaming GPUs. Instead, the more powerful cards are sold as GPUs engineered for content creators and professionals.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti
Source: NVIDIA
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti features 6,144 CUDA cores. That is nearly 300 more CUDA cores than the regular GeForce RTX 3070. The GPU is clocked slightly higher too at 1.77Ghz (Boost Clock). You also get GDDR6X RAM compared to the GDDR6 that the regular card gets.
The result of all those combined into the GeForce RTX 3070 is a much more powerful GPU for both gaming and content creation purposes. While NVIDIA did not mention huge leaps in gaming experience, you still should get more performance out of the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti compared to the regular card. Then again, where it shines over the regular card is in content creation. It is supposed to shave up to a few minutes in your 3D workflow and even 4K HDR video processing. Of course, the improvements also depend very much on your platform of choice and other optimisations as well.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
Source: NVIDIA
To get more done though, you need even more power form your GPU. You need the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. You get 10,240 CUDA cores on the RTX 3080 Ti, that is just shy of the GeForce RTX 3090’s 10,496 CUDA core count and nearly 1,500 cores more than the regular RTX 3080. The cores are clocked a little lower than the regular card though at 1.67GHz (Boost Clock). You get 12GB of GDDR6X RAM, 2GB more than the regular GeForce RTX 3080. It also features a higher memory interface width at 384-biut, the same as the GeForce RTX 3090.
The result of the additions made to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti may not be that significant in terms of gaming too. You probably will see a few fps increase and stability here and there. The raw power I seen in major improvements in your 3D and video editing workflow. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is made to make short work of 8K video processing and even 3D rendering work.
Price and Availability
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is supposed to be available from the 3rd of June 2021 onward with prices starting at MYR 5,800. The NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti on the other hand will be available a little later from the 10th of June 2021 onward for MYR 2,880 onward. These are the Founder’s Edition GPUs though, there are no solid word on when manufacturers will release their own versions of the new GPUs. At the same time, expect some stock shortage even after its release date. For more information NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPUs, you can head over to their website.
Taiwan’s biggest tech exhibition is back for 2021 season, and it is a unique one. Last year COMPUTEX 2020 had to be cancelled because, if you remember correctly, the pandemic situation that is COVID-19 broke out earlier in 2020 and disrupted the entire world. This year, COMPUTEX 2021 is back but without physical presence. It is now fully online.
AMD has been a keen participant of COMPUTEX and they are not going to miss the 2021 season of COMPUTEX. They took the center stage of COMPUTEX this morning, well via YouTube, to launch their latest APUs and Mobile GPUs. They introduced the AMD Ryzen 5600G and AMD Ryzen 5700G APUs and AMD Radeon RX 6600M, AMD Radeon RX 6700M, and AMD Radeon RX 6800M mobile GPUs.
AMD Ryzen 5000G Series
Since the Zen 3 architecture with the AMD Ryzen 5000 series was introduced last year, one of the biggest requests from gamers and enthusiasts was a Zen 3 architecture APU (Accelerated Processing Unit). AMD has answered with the AMD Ryzen 5600G and AMD Ryzen 5700G. Now, you have a choice of building a modern system without a dedicated GPU.
First, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600G. The 5600G is sort of the budget option for builders and gamers. It still features 6 CPU cores like the regular 5600X. Additionally the 5600G packs 7 Radeon VEGA GPU cores within the same die.
Of course, there are some trade-offs to be made with the integrated GPU cores. Boost clock goes up to 4.4 GHz only rather than 4.6GHz. The APU also only has 16MB in L3 cache compared to 32MB.
If you need a little bit more power for the long run, you want the AMD Ryzen 7 5700G. It is sort of comparable to the other Ryzen 7 that is built for desktops, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X. Both has 8 Zen 3 architecture cores to boot. The 5700G though has 8 more cores than the 5800X in the form of Radeon VEGA graphics cores.
Again, with graphics cores integrated onto the processing die, there are some trade-offs to be made. The maximum boost clock on the 5700G is down to 4.6GHz, from 4.6GHz. The L3 cache is also halved at 16MB compared to 32MB. The benefit of having integrated GPU though would be a blessing to budget constrained builders.
AMD Radeon RX 6000M Series
At COMPUTEX 2021, AMD also introduces their new mobile based GPUs as well – the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, AMD Radeon RX 6700M, and AMD Radeon RX 6800M. If you are wondering what the equivalent competitor’s mobile GPUs are, those would be the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060, GeForce RTX 3070, and GeForce RTX 3080. Alongside the AMD Radeon RX 6000M series too, they introduced a sort of guideline of AMD’s version of the ultimate gaming laptop they call the “AMD Advantage”.
The AMD Radeon RX 6600M is the entry-level choice from the AMD Radeon for mobile GPU line-up. You get 28 compute units and 8GB of GDDR6 RAM with clock speeds at 2.1GHz. Going up from there is the Radeon RX 6700M with 36 compute units clocked at 2.3GHz and 10GB of GDDDR6 RAM. The top-of the line Radeon RX 6800M packs 40 compute units clocked at 2.3GHz with 12GB of RAM.
All of the Radeon RX 6000M mobile GPUs comes with RDNA 2 technology, of course. They also brought AMD’s Smart Access Memory, or resizable bar in more common terms to the mobile computing market with the introduction of the Radeon RX 6000M series. They also introduced the AMD Radeon Chill technology with the mobile GPUs alongside AMD FidelityFX for all AMD based system, even if they are running a non-AMD GPU platform.
AMD Radeon Chill
AMD Radeon Chill is a clever technology that is supposed to minimise a problem that has been plaguing gaming laptops forever. AMD says that it is a power-regulation technology that is supposed to extend the battery life of a gaming laptop without sacrificing too much performance. At the same time AMD’s SmartShift technology also regulates power power consumption and processing power between the CPU and GPU to always optimise gaming and productivity performance.
AMD FidelityFX
At the same time, there is AMD FidelityFX technology that upscales your games from a lower resolution to a higher one. If it sounds familiar to another competitor technology, it is because they are basically the same things. But there is some good in upscaling contents, despite not getting all the high-definition detail. You get more performance out of your system at least. The best news is that it is coming to all AMD based systems. It even works on older non-AMD GPUs if you want it to.
AMD Advantage Design
AMD also introduced the AMD Advantage framework for gaming laptops fully based on the AMD processors. They introduced ASUS’ ROG Strix G15/G17 and HP Omen 15 alongside the announcement too.
AMD Advantage outlines the guidelines of what an AMD gaming laptop should work like. For example, the minimum requirement for an AMD Advantage certified laptop is featuring a display with at least 144Hz in refresh rate. Display has to be either an IPS or OLED display that can push above 300nits in brightness. They also are required to last more than 10 hours when you watch movies as well. To ensure smooth and fast operation, and AMD Advantage laptop has to have at least one NVMe PCIe Gen3 M.2 SSD. Of course, they have to pack an AMD Ryzen processor with an AMD Radeon RX GPU.
The first AMD Advantage Gaming laptops are expected to come as early as June 2021. For more information on AMD’s new APUs and mobile GPUs, you can head over to AMD’s website.
Xiaomi just had their own tech demo on Twitter, and it is amazing. It was more like Xiaomi showing off their latest charging technology. In the video, Xiaomi charged a Mi 11 Pro with 4,0000mAh battery in 8 minutes. They also announced that they also have a new more powerful wireless charging technology that can charge the Mi 11 Pro in 15 minutes with 120W.
Charge up to 100% in just 8 minutes using wired charging and 15 minutes wirelessly! #XiaomiHyperCharge
To be fair, fast charging technology has received plenty of attention in recent years. Modern flagships have to charge faster every year. The charging speed race technically was kicked off by most of the Chinese manufacturers like OPPO and Xiaomi. OPPO, of course relies on their own VOOC charge technology. Their commercially fastest charging products charge at 125W at the maximum.
In some sense, the charging speed race has been an exciting one to say the least. The wonders of fast charging technology have given us users the freedom of leaving your device on the charger for two hours or less and get going for the rest of the day. It has also freed us from sitting near a wall socket for long hours at a time. With Xiaomi’s demo, you probably can expect to charge a similar smartphone within a minute in a few years’ time.
Here is the thing though, that much displacement of electricity at one go is going to generate a lot of heat. While the speed at which the battery is being charged will cause more wear to the battery itself, the heat produced could also cause extra wear on the battery. More heat will also lead to less stability and in some cases, fire or explosion. In that case, there could be safety and durability problems that manufacturers will soon have to work with before they can push battery charging speeds to 200W and above.
Xiaomi’s tech demo is not an indication of when they will equip devices with 200W charging capabilities. 120W wireless charging mentioned does not also have an implementation date at this time. By the looks of it though, the charger technology is ready for prime time. That also means that we can expect Xiaomi to launch charger products that will charge faster than 120W and fast wireless charging at more than 80W.
Disney+ is coming to Malaysia on June 1, 2021 – that’s TOMORROW – as Disney+ Hotstar. The streaming service has been making waves with the huge subscription uptake in countries that it has already been launched in. The number currently stands at just over 100 million across 59 countries as of March 2021. It’s bound to see an increase with the Malaysian launch just a day away.
The service will bring Disney’s complete catalogue of shows including all of its original animations such as Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Mulan, Aladdin, Dumbo and more; their live-action remakes including the recently screened Mulan starring Liu Yifei and Jet Li; as well as other Disney favourites including Pirates of the Caribbean. In addition to that, subscribers will be gaining access to the plethora of content available from Marvel Studios including all of the movies in Phase 1, 2 and 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), the Star Wars Saga, National Geographic content and Pixar’s library of content.
However, that wasn’t the focus of their recent announcement. Disney+ Hotstar is adamant in showcasing that it isn’t just a platform for international content. In fact, the streaming service will be launching with a pretty packed line up of original content from local studios like PrimeWork Stidios. WAU Animation, Act 2 Pictures, Les’ Copaque Productions, and Red Films. It seems like the House of Mouse was busy stocking its library with new and old Malaysian content while preparing for the big day.
Of note, Disney+ Hotstar will be bringing three Malaysian blockbusters straight to the silver screen via its service. J2: J Retribusi which stars Amelia Henderson, Zul Ariffin and Ashraf Sinclair; Zombitopia starring Shaheizy Sam, Bront Palarae and Sharifah Aman; and Ada Hantu starring Hairul Azreen will be making their Malaysian debuts on Disney+ Hotstar and skipping the theatres.
It’s not just movies making their big debut on the service either, Malaysian series will be premiering on Disney+ Hotstar. Drama series Semanis Senyumanmu starring Aiman Hakim Ridza and Daiyan Trisha and Wifi Sebelah Rumah starring Zul Ariffin and Ruhainies will be premiering exclusively on the platform. That said, the series Single Terlalu Lama starring Ungku Ismail Aziz and Julia Farhana Marin and Kekasih Hati Mr. Bodyguard starring Redza Rosli and Sharifah Rose will be premiering first on the platform up to 15 hours before their live telecast.
Of course, that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to content from Disney+ Hotstar. The streaming service will be debuting a slew of original content. One of the more anticipated releases is the upcoming Marvel series Loki which follows Marvel’s God of Mischief as he faces the threat of being erased by the Time Variance Authority after stealing the Tesseract during the events of Avengers: Endgame. Tom Hiddleston will be reprising his role as Loki. The upcoming series joins a stable of growing series taking place in the MCU. In addition, subscribers will be able to catch up with WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier which have already debuted.
Disney+ Hotstar will be launching on June 1, 2021 in Malaysia. It will be available for MYR54.90 for three months. The service will be available to Astro Movies Pack subscribers for an additional MYR5.00 a month. Subscribers will be able to stream on two concurrent devices.
It’s been quite a while since Malaysia saw a Zenfone. The last Zenfone officially launched in Malaysia was the Zenfone 5 – which, to be honest, was a stellar device. However, since then, ASUS hasn’t brought any of their smartphones – aside from the ROG Phone – to Malaysia. This year, it seems like ASUS will be kicking into gear bringing in not one but both of their Zenfone 8 offerings to Malaysia.
The Zenfone 8 series launched internationally earlier this month. The series brings two new Zenfones into ASUS’s portfolio – the Zenfone 8 and the Zenfone 8 Flip. The Zenfone 8 marks a new approach for ASUS when it comes to smartphones. The company is committing to creating smaller, palmable devices with killer specifications. Of course, to do this, they leave behind some of the defining features of the Zenfone including the flipping camera. That’s where the Zenfone 8 Flip comes in. With a larger body, it brings along the now signature flip camera of the Zenfone series.
Palmable Performance with the Zenfone 8
The Zenfone 8 still carries the honour of being the ASUS flagship. ASUS is packing a top of the line Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor into the smartphone with the Adreno 660 GPU. IT’s coming with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage. The Zenfone 8 also packs a 5.9-inch, Samsung AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution and a 120HZ refresh rate.
Of course, being equipped with a flagship processor, it comes with support for WiFi 6 connectivity and Tri-band WiFi support on 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz. It also supports Bluetooth 5.2 and Qualcomm’s aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive and NFC. It is also 5G ready.
On the camera front, the smartphone comes with a 64-megapixel Sony IMX686 sensor with 1/1.7-inch sensor size and 0.8μm pixel size equipped with Quad Bayer technology. The sensor has an f/1.8 aperture, with a 78.3° field of view and a 26.6mm focal length. This sensor is complemented by a Sony IMX363 12-megapixel ultra-wide, dual pixel sensor. It comes with 1/2.55-inch sensor size and 1.4 μm pixel size and f/2.2 aperture. This sensor supports dual phase detection autofocus and has real-time distortion correction. It also supports 4cm macro shots. On the front is a Sony IMX663 12-megapixel sensor with a 1/2.93-inch sensor with 1.22μm pixel size and 76.5° field of view. It supports Dual Phase Detection autofocus.
The smartphone also comes with an under-display fingerprint sensor. It runs on Android 11 with ZenUI 8. All of this runs on the Zenfone 8’s 4,000 mAh battery which is charged via a USB-C port. The hallmark is that all of these specifications and features are housed within a compact body measuring only 148mm x 68.5mm x8.9mm.
Zenfone 8 Flip – Flipping Bigger than its Flagship
The Zenfone 8 Flip shares most of the same specifications as its flagship brother. However, it comes with a larger 6.67-inch FHD+, AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate. It comes with only 8GB of RAM and only 256GB of internal storage. It’s also powered by a larger 5,000mAh battery.
The biggest difference comes in the form of the flipping camera. ASUS has imbued the Flip with a triple camera setup which functions as both the main and selfie cameras. The setup comes with the same sensors as the back camera on the Zenfone 8 but is further complemented by an 8-megapixel telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom and 12x hybrid zoom.
Pricing & Availability
The Zenfone 8 will be available starting from 28th May 2021 at all authorized dealers and ASUS Digital Stores. It will come in two configurations; one with 8GB RAM and 128GB onboard memory which retails for MYR2,699 and a 16GB RAM with 256GB onboard memory retailing for MYR3,299. The latter will be available exclusively on Shopee. It comes in Obsidian Black or Horizon Silver.
The Zenfone 8 Flip will retail for MYR2,999 for the 8GB and 256GB version in Malaysia. It will be available in Galactic Black and Glacier Silver.
Purchases made on ASUS’s Shopee Mall front will be entitled to early bird promos from 28 May to 11 June 2021. Purchases made within this period will be entitled to a SolidSuit Case. ASUS is also offering a trade-in deal where customers are able to trade in their old Zenfones for an MYR200 rebate on the Zenfone 8 series. However, this trade-in offer is only available at physical retail stores from 28 May until 25 June 2021.
Acer’s taken a unique approach in embarking on their journey to become a more sustainable company. The company announced their “Earthion” – a hybrid of Earth and Mission – to become a sustainable company from operations to production. As part of their Earthion, the company has become a part of RE100, a global corporate effort in which member companies aim to become fully sustainable by relying fully on renewable energy. Acer has pledged to fulfill this target by 2035.
Aspire Vero for a Sustainable Future
Pledges and promises aside, the company’s Earthion took physical form with the announcement of the Acer Aspire Vero. The Aspire Vero is Acer’s first sustainable laptop made of post-consumer recycled plastics (PCRs). The PCRs are used primarily in the keyboard caps and surfaces of the laptop. They make up 50% of the keycaps while other surfaces of the chassis are made up of about 30% PCRs. In addition to this, the Aspire Vero comes in packaging that is made of up to 85% recycled paper pulp while plastics usually used to carry components like the power cord have been replaced by paper bags. Printing on the packaging and documention utilises soy ink as well to minimise environmental impact.
With its focus on sustainability, the Vero comes with the latest generation of Intel Core processors which promises longer battery life. Acer claims that this will provide over 11 hours of battery life. The Vero comes with Intel’s integrated Xe graphics which has been proven to be a performer – at least when it comes to integrated graphics systems. It also comes with a 15.6-inch IPS Full HD display. It comes with upto 1TB of SSD memory. The Aspire Vero isn’t making users choose between connectivity and being sustainable. It comes fully equipped with support for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1.
Pricing & Availability
No pricing or availability for the Acer Aspire Vero has been announced just yet.
Acer’s Swift line up of laptops is known for being a hero of the thin and light segment. Many of the offerings have, so far, come under the 1.5kg mark when comes to weight and come with a pretty slim silhouette. However, users have always needed to make a choice between performance or portability. That changes with the new Acer Swift X which marries both portability and performance into a single, slim body.
The Swift X is the first of a new line up of laptops under the Swift line up. The new lineup will come equipped with discreet graphics solutions. The new lineup keeps on-the-go creatives in mind allowing them to carry a laptop that’s lighter than 1.5kg with the power to cater to the needs of their workflow.
Acer’s new Swift X is Packed with Power with Little Compromise
The new Swift X comes packed with AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series mobile processor complemented with NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3050Ti laptop GPU. The setup should be able to handle some very heavy graphics and video workflows without problems. This is also coupled with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 2TB of SSD storage. The Switft X comes with a 14-inch IPS display with 300 nites brightness and a 16:9 aspect ratio. The display is also one of the most colour accurate on a Swift laptop with 100% coverage of the sRGB gamut. All of this is housed in a premium, metal chassis.
The power-packed Swift X doesn’t compromise on being thin and light either. It comes in at just under 1.4kg and a hair under 18mm thin. That said, the cooling on the laptop isn’t compromised. In fact, Acer has made design improvements to optimise the cooling efficiency of the laptop. The fan of the Swift X comes with fifty-nine 0.3mm blades to maximise airflow. This is paired with two D6 copper heat pipes for better heat dissipation. The lapotp also comes with what Acer is calling air inlet keyboard design which helps expel about 10% more heat than a regular laptop keyboard. The fans have also been augmented with a stereo ring for up to 10% better airflow.
Pricing & Availability
The Acer Swift X will be available starting in June in North America for USD$899.99 (MYR3,723.23), early summer in EMEA for EUR899 (MYR4,534.19) and in Q3 2021 in China starting at CNY6,499 (MYR4,221.27).
Acer’s Predator Triton 500 received a lot of praises and accolades in its 2019 and 2020 reign. It was regarded as one of the best thin and light gaming PCs you can buy with money at the time. It is not hard to understand why it was the device of choice for plenty of gamers and content creators that are looking for an ultra-portable powerhouse.
The Helios 500 too, was regarded as one very capable high-end gaming notebooks with no compromises. It was the very definition of a fuss-free portable gaming experience for Predator. That also was about two years ago though.
That was 2019 and 2020 though. Since then, the world has moved on to a new platform. The world saw the launch of NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 30 series late in 2020 and Intel’s brand new 11th Generation Core platform earlier in 2021. The Predators need an upgrade.
Predator Triton 500 SE
Acer’s Predator launched the Triton 300 SE last year. It was, in our humble opinions, a simple design study. The Triton 300 SE took up the idea of designing a gaming PC class with a timeless classic look. A simplistic design that is more futuristic than intimidating. At the same time, the sleek body has to contain a large power pool within.
The Acer Predator Triton 500 SE sits above the Acer Triton 300 SE, technically. If you put both devices together, you would struggle to find a difference too, at least visually, with good reason. Both feature the same shiny all-metal outer shell design. Rather than the usual matte black body that we are used to with gaming notebooks, the Triton 500 SE’s body is shiny and brilliant in sterling silver.
The Triton 500 SE is unique in more ways that one though. The odd shaped body houses an expansive 16-inch display with 16:10 display ratio. With up to 240Hz of refresh rate on tap from the WXGA resolution display, the Triton 500 SE give you a new perspective in gaming, obviously for the better. With 100% DCI-P3 colour coverage, the Predator Triton 500 is not only colour accurate for content creators, but also immersive for other forms of entertainment as well. With DTS:X audio, you can truly immerse yourself in Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and the upcoming Disney+ (for Malaysia).
To sustain 240Hz at high-resolution though, you need a lot of processing power. That processing power comes from an 11th Generation Intel Core i9 (up to) paired with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 mobile GPU (up to). You get to spec the Triton with up to 64GB (32GB DDR4 x 2) RAM to make quick work of Adobe apps. You even get to fit the Predator Triton 500 SE with up to two SSDs to ensure you always have extra space for your projects and games.
All of these are packed in a 19.9mm think all-metal body. Within the shell are three powerful 5th generation Aeroblade fans with Vortex Flow technology to keep the PC running cool and optimally at all times. The all-metal body also houses a large battery that could keep you running without plugging yourself to a wall socket for up to 12 hours. Of course, that is only possible with the help of NVIDIA Advanced Optimus technology.
Predator Helios 500
If light and portable is not what you are looking for, then raw power is what you want. You want the ultimate gaming laptop. You want the new Predator Helios 500.
The Predator Helios 500 that features a 17.3-inch display is more of a desktop replacement than a portable PC in its dress. In terms of design though, not much has changed from the older Helios 500 save for the arches on the back exhaust port. Keen eyed readers will also sport two power inlets.
That is because the Predator Helios 500 features an overclockable 11th Generation Intel Core i9 (up to) processor. Alongside the powerful processor is an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU (up to) and up to 64GB of DDR4 (32GB x 2) RAM for good measure. The need for speed does not end there though. You get to slot in a pair (2) of NVMe PCIe SSDs in RAID 0 for the fastest experience. If you really need more space, there is space for a SATA drive.
The powerful internals give life to the 17.3-inch display. That large display pushes 4K UHD 2160p worth of pixels to you. The Mini LED panel also pushes 120Hz for the smoothest high-resolution experience you can get in a gaming notebook. With VESA Display HDR 1000 certification and AUO AmLED’s full-array local dimming technology, the Predator Helios 500’s display is a class above its competitors.
You need a lot to cool this powerhouse of a notebook too. You need two large 5th Generation Aeroblade fans with Vortex Flow technology to keep air rushing through the entire system. Thankfully also there is Acer’s PowerGem technology to help keep things manageable. On top of the fans is a full RGB keyboard with individual backlight control via PredatorSense. The WSAD keys can also be replaced with MagForce keys for more precise controls.
Alongside the Acer Predator Helios 500 and Predator Triton 500 SE, Acer also launched two Predator networking tools. With modern games needing constant internet connectivity, it does kind of make sense for Acer to launch new networking solutions for gamers. Of course, they released one product for home, and one product for life on-the-go.
Source: Acer
The Predator Connect X5 5G router is the first Intel Killer-compatible 5G CPE in the world. With 5G, you get up to 4.7 Gbps internet speeds. This one router can also work with up to 256 devices, in case you want to host a LAN party with as many devices around. With Wi-Fi 6 capabilities, all 256 devices are going to have an uninterrupted access to the internet and network.
Source: Acer
The Predator Connect D5 5G Dongle is exactly what it sounds like. It is a gaming focused 5G enabled dongle with Intel’s Killer Network solution. Plug the dongle into any USB 3.1 ports and you unleash the power of 5G on your Predator laptop. That also means you are going to be able to work on DOTA 2 with your squad even if you are constantly on the road.
Pricing and Availability
The Acer Predator Triton 500 SE will be available in the North American region and China in June 2021 onward at US$ 1,749.99 (MYR 7,241*) and CN¥ 14,999 (MYR 9,728***) onward, respectively. It will be available in the EMEA region in July onward for EU€ 1,999 (MYR 10,098**) onward. There are no mentions of its availability in the local regions just yet.
The Acer Predator Helios 500 will be available in the North American region and China in August 2021 onward at US$ 2,499.99 (MYR 10,346*) and CN¥ 39,999 (MYR 25,943***) onward. EMEA gets it earlier in June 2021 onward though with prices starting from EU€ 2,499 (MYR 12,624**). Again, there are no mentions on its availability in the local regions just yet.
There are also no mentions on the availability and final pricing of the announced network products currently. We are keeping our ears close to the ground though. That said, watch this space. For more information on Acer’s latest products, do visit their website.
* Approximately based on exchange rate of US$ 1 = MYR 4.14 as per 27/05/2021 on xe.com
** Approximately based on exchange rate of EU€ 1 = MYR 5.05 as per 27/05/2021 on xe.com
*** Approximately based on exchange rate of CN¥ 10 = MYR 6.49 as per 27/05/2021 on xe.com
