Acer Predator G9 15/17 Owner's Lounge

Don't think anyone has made one of these yet, and this laptop has been out for more than a few weeks now (to my knowledge).

Waiting on mine to come in, I ordered the 15 inch model, with the 970m card, from Amazon for 1499 USD (live in Australia so, including shipping it costed me about $2400 AUD). Took me a lot of contemplating and deliberation to choose between this and the 980m (which was 1999 USD, = ~3100 AUD including shipping). I figured paying an extra 700 dollars for about 10-30% increase in performing wasn't worth it for me (but that is simply my opinion), especially since this laptop has a THUNDERBOLT 3 PORT! (get hyped!!!). Hopefully the 970m will hold it's own for a year or so, till there are Thunderbolt 3 eGPU solutions, and I could probably get a decent PC-grade graphics card.

So anyone else who has bought this laptop, let us know what you think of the laptop's performance, it's innovative cooling system (and it's effectiveness/ineffectiveness), how you chose between the 970m/980m, or any other discussion on these laptop models, and feel free to share you experience on it

 

Did you ever get it? What are your impressions so far? Where are the other two memory slots?

Sent from my HTC One_M8

 

For sure the gpu is embedded on the motherboard. Not upgreadable.

 

I'm asking about the secondary memory slots. I.e. two of them are accessible from the bottom, but the other two aren't. I'm asking if you access them via the keyboard.

I didn't ask anything about the GPU. I know that's soldered...

Sent from my HTC One_M8

 

If you can't see them at the bottom, definitely it is under the keyboard. But if pascal gpu's are out and if you want that upgrade, then you need to sell your nb again.

 

Yup, but that wasn't my question...

I'm hoping someone with the laptop can post pictures of those memory slots.

Sent from my HTC One_M8

 

Yeah I got it, it has been brilliant so far, the extra two memory slots are underneath the keyboard, they aren't quick accessible from the panel at the back. I had kind of a heart attack when I opened the back and saw the two memory slots were empty, since my supplier put the RAM on the ones behind the keyboard

eh, the 970m for me has been amazingly fast so far (as long as you don't go over 1080p). I have played Witcher 3 all maxed out except HW, and I get a solid 45-55 FPS (45 in the city!)
GTA V is also maxed out, with almost 60FPS

The way I see it, Thunderbolt 3 will allow me to easily, and efficiently put a full GPU later on, when I need to

I haven't opened my keyboard up yet, but since my two 8gb rams are under the keyboard, I know the two extra RAM slots are there (since the ones I can access are empty)
If you want photos, this website shows a disassembly
http://laptopmedia.com/highlights/i...assembly-internal-photos-and-upgrade-options/

 

That's great to hear that they put the sticks of ram under the keyboard to allow you to upgrade more easily.

How loud is the laptop when gaming? I was reading mixed reviews on the frost core feature. What do you think? Didd the laptop get hot?

Sent from my HTC One_M8

 

How is the noise on the Acer Predator 15 when gaming?
Does the noise go down when you are NOT using the additional fan (according to some reviews, the Predator 15 gets louder when using the additional fan) ?
And how do you like it in general?

 

I recently picked one of these up locally, I went with the Predator G9-591-70XR (256GB/980M/BluRay). Couple things off the bat, I used to have an m18x with 7970 xfire and not too long ago an Apache Pro (5700/970).

The keyboard is way way way better when compared to the Apache Pro I used to have (5700/970). Overall it feels like a well built laptop. The trackpad is very nice and precise, the buttons are just a tad bit mushy to my liking but when compared to other laptops i've owned (Apache Pro/m18x) this is way better.

I've only had it for a few hours so I haven't really put it through its paces. But if you have any questions let me know.

 

Take a look at the previous questions. Maybe you can help!

Sent from my HTC One_M8

 

Noise isn't terrible, its definitely quieter than my gaming desktop (4930k/980ti). I've only had a chance to play a couple of rounds of Six Siege and I let it loop Firestrike for about 15 mins.
Hottest the GPU has been is 67c, seems to idle around 47~50c. I don't think I've stressed it enough as I haven't heard the fans really kick in yet. If you know what I mean. I haven't installed the frost core yet, so i'll probably do that this friday when the open beta for The Division starts.

Here is a screen capture of my temps during a 3 hr gaming session (Fallout 4, Black Ops 3, CSGO, and The Sims 4).
http://i.imgur.com/azqiW66.png - CPU Temps
http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/16/02/18/baq.png - GPU Temps

The keyboard is really great, much better than the MSI laptop and the m18x I owned. Another thing i noticed is that the 1TB spinning disk is damn slow, so I took that out and replaced it with an 500gb ssd.
Upgrading this thing is damn easy, just remove the one back cover and you have access to both M.2 slots, 2 empty dimm slots, and the 2.5 inch bay.

 

Great info!! How are the temps compared to your previous laptops?

Also, I'm planning on getting the G9-591-70VM model which uses the 970M instead of the 980M. Do you think there will a difference in temperature?

Sent from my HTC One_M8

 

I think the CPU temps were better on my m18x but I do remember having that massive three pipe copper heatsink on it. My ownership of the Apache Pro was short lived so I can't really remember those temps. I got rid of that because it felt too cheap for my liking.

I would assume the 970 temps should be the same or lower depending on the heatsink used, whether or not its the same as the 980's.

 

I read that overall the laptop runs cooler on the outside, but still quite warm on theinside while under load. didn't sound like an issue though. That's with the 980M.


Either way, I'm looking forward to it.

Sent from my HTC One_M8

 

Btw, what is the model are the ram sticks? Can you post cpu-z screenshots?

Sent from my HTC One_M8

 

http://i.imgur.com/QulyUdT.png

 

Thanks!! Newegg had some memory on sale. Looks like I'll be running 32GB for VMs.

Sent from my HTC One_M8

 

Link to the kit youre looking at on Newegg?


Microcenter had a deal on 20% off on Acer monitors when you buy an Acer laptop so I picked up an XB240H when I got the laptop too. I just set it up today and Gsync is so ****ing worth it. I already own an XB270HU for my main desktop so it was a no brainer to pick up the monitor with their instore discount. I got the monitor for less than 300 out the door. Next upgrade on the list is ram or an nvme ssd, just need to find one.

OH, the hdmi port on this looks like its tied to the Intel GPU as the Nvidia gpu doens't let me change the monitor settings. I was hoping since it has 980m it would support 4k 60fps but it doesn't look like that is going to work here.

 

Used the coupon code: EMCEGFM29

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (2 x 8G) 260-Pin DDR4 SO-DIMM DDR4 2133 (PC4 17000) Laptop Memory Model F4-2133C15D-16GRS , http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=n82e16820232148

Have you tried to game with the laptop while on HDMI? That would give you a definite answer.

Sent from my HTC One_M8

 

I haven't tried to game on it while its connected to HDMI, I will try though.
Man I think i'm going to bite on that ram and order it.

 

It's a great deal and it future proofs your computer for a while. The only thing is you probably won't use it for a while unless you do VMs and simulators.

Sent from my HTC One_M8

 

I've been going through the installed programs and there is literally zero bloat installed on this laptop. Except for the Windows 10 bloat that I trimmed down, the Acer software bundle is kept to a minimum.
I enabled the high speed fan option within the PredatorSense software and reran 3dmark and noticed a pretty good improvement. Even with the fans set to high its surprisingly quiet to me.

http://www.3dmark.com/sd/3852215 - Skydiver - 22458
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/7635846 - FireStrike 1.1 - 8553
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/7643706 - FireStrike Ultra - 2307

 

That's great news on the bloatware front! I hate having to reformat each time I get a new laptop.

Those are great scores. I'm guessing that there was some throttling going on before you changed the fan speeds.
I can only hope my laptop with the 970M will perform decent as well.

Did you get a chance to mess with the frost core fan? I'm curious to know if it makes any difference in regards to weight ( lighter than the bluray?), noise and temperature.

P.S. I should be getting the Acer laptop this coming week hopefully.

Sent from my HTC One_M8

 

I´ve some answers: Is there a Prema v_bios available for the Acer Predator Notebooks? Any Chance to unlock the Multi @ Intel XTU, because 35x4 on a 6700hq were be nice

 

Can you explain? I'm not familiar with it.

Sent from my HTC One_M8

 

So just an fyi, my order got delayed so I had to cancel it and got something else. Good luck to the rest of you though! It's a nice laptop!

Sent from my HTC One_M8

 

Has anyone managed to open up the laptop and upgrade to 64GB of ram? I have mine opened up to the motherboard, but it doesn't look easy to remove.

 

I love this laptop to death, but if I have to be brutally honest, the additional fan does jack. I even had a look inside and found it literally blows air into nothing, since all the heat-prone areas are near the lid, or on the other side of the laptop. I guess it keeps air flowing inside, but it isn't connected to any heatsinks or anything, so it really does nothing. Also the temp difference is negligible.

But don't get me wrong, this laptop barely heats up, the cooling on this thing is superb. Most of the time I literally have cold air coming out of the heat vents, even on high usage, those temps stay really really low. Literally everything about this laptop is excellent, except for their additional fan, which is nothing more than a gimmick from my review

 

Ha, aint that the truth. The frostcore is still in my drawer, it doesn't do jack indeed. I've noticed that CPU temps are pretty high on this laptop but I don't see it throttle. So i'm perplexed. I may open her up and repaste. I feel it badly needs it.

 

Hi guys, yes, the temp is quite high, but if you are wondering if 17 inch version has lower temps, you might stay cool, because after checking some comparisions between 15 and its bigger brother, the difference is about 4 degrees. The good thing about this laptop is, that with external gpu in the near future, laptops cooling will only have to take care of the processor. With dedicated gpu inactive, plus frost core, plus good cooling pad and good thermal paste we should have temps around 70 degrees (C) max on the processor.

One question to you guys.
Keyboard backlight shuts down by it self ?
If you are not typing anything, does it dim by it self after about one minute?

 

I actually don't use the keyboard, I run the laptop in clamshell mode with an external mouse/kb and monitor.

Sorry bud.

 

Could you open the lid and check ?

 

I can't be 100% sure, but to my memory, the laptop lights do dim after a while (about a minute). I am running Linux on it because of my courses, so everything is always on (including all the fans at max speed, because I haven't configured the fan settings on Linux), but when I do boot into Windows 10 and use it, the laptop is really really quite, almost can't tell that it is on, and ofcourse the fans turn on and adjust it's speed whenever there is high usage. The keyboard is configurable using the PredatorZone or whatever, and I do notice that the keyboard dims after a while, though I can have it so it is always on.

I'll definitely reconfirm after I boot into Windows.

 

Hey Faizan,
Thank you for your response, it's just I didn't know it works this way and I thought that keyboard lights should be always on. But if they do dim it's also ok. It's a great machine, isn't it?

 

Some question for you owners... I've found a good deal on the 15" version with a 6700HQ, 970M, 16 GB RAM and a 1 TB HDD only. Here are my questions:

1. I wonder if I can install a secondary drive (a 2.5" SSD that I already have) alongside the 1 TB drive by just opening the service cover.

2. I don't like the red/blue keyboard backlight. As I will be using the machine for photo editing I want as little color distractions as possible. I therefor wonder if I can control (or just turn off) the blue/red keyboard backlighting by a hardware button or if I have to install software to turn it off. I figure if I want to keep this machine for 5 years (as I've done with my current laptop) and I don't want to depend on software developed, and later abandoned, by Acer for such an important feature. Also, it's important if I want turn it off while using running Linux (which I boot from time to time).

I also want to know if it's possible to turn of the red light backlight, preferably also without installed software, in the programmable keys or if I will end up covering them with electrical tape.

Thanks in advance!

 

Hi n3cro, thank you for coming to this thread!

Unfortunately there is only one 2.5" SATA 3 slot, which is used for the hardrive, but there are two extra M.2 slots, which allows you to put two extra SSDs, all accessible from the back cover.

I think I might have forgotten to mention to Marpat above, but the lights actually do stay on, and there is actually a function key Fn+F9 which turns the keyboards light off! I didn't know this until recently, when i saw the symbol on the F9 key for keyboard lights. When you press it, the keyboard lights go completely off, and only turn back on when you press it again. I dualboot Windows and Linux, and it works on both operating systems!

 

Thanks! Light control sounds excellent. I ordered a Sandisk Z400s with the machine. I realize it's not the fastest one around, but I hope it will suffice.

 

Did you add these gskills? I have the g9 791 with Hynix ram and wonder about compatibility

 

My order of the laptop ended up getting delayed, then back ordered. I ended up cancelling it and went with a different laptop. I am using that ram though with no issues, but not on the predator.

Sent from my HTC One_M8

 

Thanks Angry. I forgot you already said that. RAM is the same spec so might be fine.

 

Hi, I'm about to buy one of these laptops, the 15 inches gtx 980m. One of the main reasons I want to buy it it's because it comes with a thunderbolt 3 port, which (according to me) will allow me to upgrade the graphic card in some years. But is it possible? I haven't seen anyone actually doing it. I'm just especulating it will be possible.This is the only thing that's keeping me from buying it. I'm looking for a 15 inches gtx 980m that will allow me to upgrade the graphic card in some years and so far it's either this one or the alienware 17r3 (which I don't like so much because it's 17 inches). Any idea? Please help

 

Hi, everyone.
I'm about to get my new high-performance laptop, so this Predator 15 bats my eye.
My wonder is, how is the build quality of this thing ? I've read several times that Acer was known for their terrible durability.
If anyone could inform me I'd really appreciate.

 

Hi!
So I own a G9-791 17", which 980m and 8GB ram. I thought of buying additional 16GB and I did.
I opened the service plate just to see there 1 slot occupied... So I ended up installing 2 Crucials, and taking one original stick out.

Now I came to a conclusion, that I will be addid 512GB SSD, and replacing installed HGST HDD disk. Might as well add up this one stick back, but I believe I have to dissasemble whole thing. There are couple of tutorials out there, but none of them acctually answers my question - do I have to remove heatsinks and reapply the paste (which would suck big time) ? If that's the case I will consider buying also another 8GB, to make it up to 32GB with one job. I'm thinking about using RAMDISK for some of my work. Anyways, waiting on your kind response.

Bart

 

Hey there,

Did you ever find out the answer to your question because I am also looking forward to upgrading my 8GB stick to 16GB which is located in my opinion, between the keyboard and the motherboard. I wouldn't wanna remove the heatsinks and reapply the paste.

Please let me know if anyone knows

 

Hi.

Order a Predator 15 G9-593 with i7 7700HQ - GTX 1070 - 16GB 2400Mhz DDR4 and 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD with 1080p monitor G.Sync. I shall pick it up today. Im very excited to see what that baby can do.

My plan is to put 16 gb ram more in it and a 256gb ssd m2 more.

My old Clevo is sold, the build quality was poor.

 

This laptop is a piece of crap for gaming. Fine for facebooking which what my mobile xt1575 does fine.



And that they used m.2 sata rather nvme m.2 ssd board is very disappointing,