Acer Predator G9 15 / 17 2016 w/ NVidia 10 Series

I'm excited to hear what the Acer community here thinks of the new Predators. Here's a new review:
http://www.ultrabookreview.com/12357-acer-predator-17-review-g9-793/

It seems like a step backwards from the solid 2015 lineup, but what do you think?

Anyone gotten their hands on a test unit?


I guess we won't be taking this laptop to church. XXX design on the grill seems prohibitive of that.

 

I personally think it's kinda hideous.

It's kinda annoying when manufacturers create laptops as large as these which aren't much quieter than their much skinnier brethren.

It runs cool, I guess. But it's just not my bag.

 

So, I have been flirting with a new lappy ever since the 10x0 cameout. My normal goto is Asus but the price of the latest Asus 752 with 1070 is a bit off putting still, especially w/o ssd. The Acer 17" with the 1070 and a 1080 display and a 256 ssd is currently on special at Microcenter for 1490ish dollars which is mighty, mighty tempting for a 1070 machine.

Looking at both side by side. . .

Both are kind of ugly in my eyes. The Acer slightly loses out with all the extra bling on the keyboard/front and lid, but I can live with that.

Screen both gsync,and both were pegging 75 fps in unigine demo for the most part so the HD screen must also be a 75hz in the Acer
I liked the Asus screen slightly better, but frankly it could be all down to calibration and lighting. It was close.

Heat wise at least externally the Acer stepped up and I was pleasantly surprised it would be usable on your lap while gaming. indeed the exhaust actually seemed a bit cooler than my Asus with 970M in it and the bottom was cooler to boot. Advantage Acer. However, keep in mind that some reviews call out that the CPU gets hot on the Acer. I had nothing with me to test that though as unigine is more gpu taxing.

Keyboard sight favor of Asus imo.

Audio I favored the Acer, but I admit that audio can be quite subjective. And, all I had to go on was you tube for a bit.

DC power jack. I did not check the Asus, but if it is like my current one, it is going to pop off easily and be annoying... But is also not likely to damage the innards, so that is actually a good thing. DC power jack is a darn common failure point. Acer's jack is also side mounted like the Asus, which I prefer, but is tighter. I will definetly be doing the 'ol urban engineered masking tape the cord tension reliever on it if I get it. Yeah, I move my lappys a few times a day, so this stress at this point needs some attention to compensate for my usage patterns.

construction. Both are tanks. The Acer did not seem to have much flex and the lid opened and closed solidly.

2 year warranty versus Asus year, but Asus has accidental damage coverage. Tie. I would imagine both companies hire trained chips to do repairs, so I expect that if I have to send it back, it will go more than once if something is wrong. Certainly that has been my experience for Asus.

Overall? A pretty decent effort really. I am strongly drawn to give the Acer a try.

 

Can you benchmark firestrike on it? My local microcenter also had the predator line come in recently and I was really impressed. Yes, they are big and heavy but the build quality seems quite good and the monitor does too. None of the reviews out there received the 1080p version (all 4k) but the Acer monitor was noticeably better than all the other gaming monitors out there. I would say almost 100% sRGB at least and probably at least 75% Adobe RGB which is much better than the 80/55 of most gaming laptops.

My only concern is the cooling because the 2 best reviews out there says it gets quite hot. I think I will go back to microcenter and install futuremark and see how it benches and throttles.

 

Hmm. I thought Acer 17 was with GTX 1080. Hope Acer will get their first GTX 1080 laptop soon.

The grill more like shuriken than XXX to me. Lol.

 

Just got these things. I might go into more in-depth later but so far:

1) Performance is good. I was afraid of throttling but initial tests seem to be fine. The overclock is not very aggressive and I haven't tinkered with afterburner yet.

2) I have significant lightbleed from the top right corner. It is pretty extreme and will probably require an exchange. I usually don't care about light bleeding but this is a bit too much. Otherwise the unit has excellent build quality in my opinion.

3) I'm in love with the keyboard. I use a cherry-mx brown keyboard and a 2015 macbook pro so I am use to good keyboards. The travel and springyness is amazing.

I will probably keep the exchange unit provided lightleed is not too bad. Both reviews out there noticed that it is a significant issue though :/. I have an acer 1440p 144ghz ips monitor that also has some bleed but it is only moderate so I learned to live with it. The laptop is much worse.

 

Hi everyone. I'm also thinking about purchasing Acer Predator 15 with 1070. While i don't likes its external presentation (big, clownish color design) i'm really interested in its hardware. IPS screem 1070, latest CPU, 4 slots for DDR...

Most interesting part that i can purchase it for about 1000-1200USD. So i'm really thinking about it.

 

temps? Build quality?

 

Here is a noteboocheck's review od Predator 15 with 1070
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Acer-Predator-15-G9-593-Notebook-Review.187314.0.html

EDIT: Replaced the link

 

So anymore people that bought one of these?
MicroCenter still has these for sale for $1500 and it seems like a very good deal for the hardware packed inside.
Also not to crazy about the red accent design but can live with it considering the price.
Not too many reviews but any owners out there that can comment on fan noise when gaming would be greatly appreciated.

 

I re-posted the link to notebookcheck's review.
I don't know how this has happened but I seemed to have posted a link to the very post the link was in.

Anyway - by now there is an English language review so I put that link in.

 

I posted a video review last week ( ) and have been pleasantly surprised at how good this machine is (17" model). It runs significantly quieter when gaming than the Alienware 17 R4 we reviewed. Noise levels don't interfere with hearing the game via the speakers and don't fill the room with noise. Repasting the CPU and GPU will bring down temps and noise further.

 

I had the 1060 variant. Really excellent build quality, not a creak or misaligned seam anywhere, solid feel, barely any flex, lid felt solid --- this is nothing like your typical Acer Aspire or Nitro laptop. Felt a lot more premium than the MSI and Asus laptops I tried out at Microcenter. Performance wise, it was fine once I set it to performance mode (power setting) otherwise on balanced it CPU throttles very quickly (would notice massive fps drops in games).

Fan noise was not bad. Not noticeable when web browsing or watching a video. In terms of noise when gaming, I wear open-ear ones so I'm not immune to external noise and I didn't find it bothersome. I do wish you could do manual fan control (disabled in afterburner) or at least modify the curve instead of just "automatic vs full speed toggle".

Screen is excellent, I had some light bleed on the top corners but nothing horrendous. Speakers were also pretty good but I dislike the bottom placement, even with a laptop cooler it can sound a little muffled. It gets loud without crackling. I had the Dolby Audio software issue that many other Predator owners had where it would just randomly disable itself, never figured out how to fix it.

Keyboard is EXCELLENT for a laptop. I was very pleasantly surprised but it was a pleasure to type on. Trackpad equally responsive, no random issues.

SURFACE heat is non-existent --- after playing a game for 3 hours the top areas are barely warm. I do play on a cooler to raise the laptop for better fan ventilation. (When I disabled the fans in the cooler the temps only went up 2-4C).

Now, why did I return it?

- Uneven temperatures between cores. Mine had a difference of 18C between core 0 and core 3. Without undervolting, it would ramp up to 91/92C on full load for CPU only stress test (didn't bother with (usually higher) dual GPU/CPU stress after seeing those numbers). After undervolting by 140mV it went down to 74-75C on the hottest cores, so it was bearable, but OCD me doesn't like the fact that this was probably pasted sloppily or has an uneven heatsink that might pose an issue later down the line. I'm not dealing with a repaste on a brand-new laptop. I heard from other people that it's a lottery if you get one with excellent temps (Lisa @ MobileTech seems to have gotten a good test one) or one like mine.

I am actually considering getting the 1070 variant (G9) because of the build quality, longer warranty (2 instead of 1), and the price is just so excellent. I'm still wary of getting a bad paste job though, which is why I haven't bit the bullet. Also, two things I found pretty annoying are: the front edge of the laptop isn't tapered, so it can dig into your wrists when you play, and you can't turn off the indicator lights for power and trackpad on/off so I have to cover the keyboard area with a microfiber cloth when watching movies in the dark.

IF you can get one with good temps there's no better bargain, IMO.

 

BTW, the unit I used for the review came from Microcenter on that great sale Acer didn't have a review program so no review units were available... I happened to be looking for a 17" gaming laptop/desktop replacement and couldn't resist trying the Predator 17. Last year I'd reviewed the 17X (that was a review loaner) and really enjoyed it, so I suspected the 17 would also be a good machine.

A friend also bought one via that insane sale. Both units has acceptable core temps when gaming (80C), but I wanted to see them lower. I repasted my friend's using IC Diamond 7 and core temps dropped 10C. On mine, they dropped 7C. Neither originally had extreme core temp differentials, but that does seem to be a common complaint with recent Core i7-6700HQ and 6820HK laptops-- see the Alienware 15 R3 and 17 R4 sections of this forum and to a lesser extent the Asus ROG forum for models smaller than the G752. I'm afraid no matter which brand you buy, it might be necessary to repaste or exchange if you get one with extreme core temp differentials. That said, of the many gaming laptop brands and models I've reviewed in the past several months, I haven't seen anything over an 8C differential max, so they're not all bad.

 

Thanks Lisa your reviews are some of the best, love your smackdown vids!
Quick question the 17x gtx 1080 model is worth the wait?
I know its going to be a lot more expensive and have a HK Kaby Lake CPU.

 

Thanks! It does depend on your budget and some folks want the best of the best, though honestly as a tech geek/reviewer and gamer who plays with all sorts of hardware, I feel the Core i7-6700HQ/7700HQ + GTX 1070 really hit the sweet spot for price relative to performance. I game using the laptop's display and 1080p is fine for me on a 17" panel. If you want to game at 4K, then I would recommend something with a GTX 1080 where that 25% performance gain is actually put to use now. Clearly the 17X would be even more future proof... but even the Predator 17 (or competing brand with the same 6700HQ/1070) are going to be fast enough for a few years of AA title gaming at 1080p or 1440p at the 75Hz/75 fps G-Sync default and ultra settings. Today, even the GTX 1060 can do that at 1080p, so the GTX 1070 is already providing headroom.

 

Hi there,

I own acer g9 (593) with gf 1070. I also had uneven temperatures and acer replaced my motherboard with cooling system. This helped a little, instead of 99c on load i've started getting 92. Then i've applied intel xtu downvoltage and this solved my issue, i'm never getting 90c now.

But i've got another issue which i'd like to discuss:

So, sometimes, extremely rare, while i'm playing i'm getting these blackouts. Screen will just go black and then will turn on again. Happens faster then a second. I was playing Resident Evil 7 today and it happened once. Earlyer i was playing Ghost Recon Closed Beta and and happened when i was using my drone.

So its totally random and rare, but still i worry.

And additional issue, dunno if it somehow connected:

I’m using msi afterburner to overclock my gpu and assigned 2 keys for switching overlock profiles, default and overclocked.

And when g-sync is enabled I’m getting quick blackout when I switch profile. Nothing like this when g-sync if off. Take a look:



Made some further testing. Launched quake II and tried same thing with g-sync ON, nothing happened. Then i've lowered fps to 5 and switched OC profile once again, and this time i got same blackout thing.

 

Picked my Acer last Sunday from MicroCenter for $1399!
First impressions are great.
Build quality is very good, its just as good if not better than any Clevo or MSI laptop I've had in the past, its all plastic but very well put together and love the soft touch material.
Screen is excellent and can easily be overclocked too 100hz and easily created custom profiles in nvidia control panel.
Surprised how cool and silent the fan are when gaming, I've only tried one game so far but it was a older game ( Wolfenstien new order, had a physical copy and wanted to try the slot drive because I haven't used one in a while) CPU and GPU temps where in the high 60's but never cracked 70 all settings maxed.WOW!
No repaste needed for my laptop.
Little if any bloatware .
Overall very happy with my purchase especially for the price, I have to admit I never considered this model but happy I did, you can't beat the price performance ratio.
Only thing that bothers me is the loud roar when starting the laptop , anyone know how to turn it off?
Will try to post more impressions once I've played with it a bit more but so far so good.

 

There's a BIOS setting to disable the startup sound.

 

Any idea which keys to press to get into the BIOS?

 

It's the Del key, if I remember correctly.

 

It's either that of F2.

 

Thanks guys I tried a bunch of combos that didn't work and gave up, will try later on .

 

Mind you, it only works when you do a "full" start or restart - if the computer is in some hybrid mode, pressing F2 when Acer logo i visible does not work.
So make sure you switch it off properly before attempting it.

 

@pdagal

Hi!

I am thinking of buying an Acer Predator laptop and you seem to have a good impression of the laptop. How is the fan noise when browsing and playing simpler games? Is it steady or does it speed up and down?

Thanks

Br J

 

When web browsing the fan isn't really audible. The fans are always spinning, but it's slow and quiet. I don't play many simple games, but Metro games from the Windows Store likewise rarely ramp up the fans, and it's quiet.

 

I have the predator 17x and the fans are very quite. The Alienware 17r3 and r4 are way louder. They are pretty much silent browsing and I always turn on the turbo fan when gaming and I don't really notice them. Look at my acer predator 17x owners lounge I created for lots of info and reviews.


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Hey - I hope someone can comment on this.
I was planning on buying a store demo G5-793 with 7700hq and GTX 1060, 256gb ssd and 1tb storage.
I then found another demo at another store, a G9-793 with a 7300hq and a GTX 1070 with the same storage option. They cost roughly the same.

My question is - will this i5 struggle with the 1070? I originally wanted a G9 because of the bells and whistles vs. the G5, but the price difference was just too high to justify getting a G9, but if the i5 will cause problems I won't buy it.
I had planned on hooking it up sometimes to a 2560x1600 monitor(maybe ultrawide curved down the line) if that helps

Thanks in advance


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