IFA has truly kicked off and the first company to have their own press conference is Acer. While Acer did introduce a couple of interesting devices in the Pawbo+ animal monitor and the Xplova X5 cycling computer, the main attraction at Acer press conference is the Swift series of laptops, the Acer Spin 7 laptop, a new gaming monitor in Acer’s Predator line, as well as the world’s first curved screen gaming laptop.
Let’s begin with the Acer latest entry into the ultrabook market, the Swift series. The Swift line of ultrabooks come in four different configurations: the Swift 1, the Swift 3, the Swift 5, and the flagship of the entire series, the Swift 7. Measuring at less than a centimeter thick, the Swift 7 is an ultrabook that comes equipped with Intel’s seventh-generation (Kaby Lake) Core i5 processor. The ultrabook comes with an aluminium unibody chassis, and sports a 13.3″ Full HD IPS display. Other specifications for the Swift 7 includes 8GB of RAM a 256GB SSD, as well as 9 hours of battery life on a single chart.
As for the Swift 1, Swift 3 and Swift 5, Acer has not gone into the specifics of the device, but all three laptops with come with a 14″ screen, as well as a bulkier build than the Swift 7.
For the 2-in-1 segment, Acer has the new Spin series. Like the Swift ultrabooks, the Spin 2-in-1s will come with four different variants, with the flagship device being the Spin 7. The namesake of the Spin series comes from the 360-degree hinge, allowing the device’s screen to rotate 360 degrees much like many other 2-in-1s. For components, the Spin 7 will come with a 7th-gen Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and up to 8 hours of battery life. The Spin 7 will also sport a 14″ display in its 13″aluminium chassis.
Both the Swift and the Spin series of laptops will have a starting retail price of USD249 (RM1,013).
Moving on, Acer introduced us to the its latest entry into the Predator line of gaming monitors, the Predator Z271T. As the image above reveals, the Predator Z271T is the world’s first monitor with eye tracking, thanks to the built-in Tobii eye-tracking technology that the monitor has.
On games that have Tobii eye-tracking capabilities built into it, the Predator Z271T will allow you to do some pretty cool things with it, such as using your eyes to target enemy characters, or scrolling the screen according to the direction your eye is looking at. The game would also adjust the lighting in-game based on your eyes, brightening up the location your eye is focused at, while dimmed those that you’re not focused. Of course, this feature requires the game to have eye-tracking technology in the first place, so its usefulness can only be judged over time.
As for the actual specifications of the Predator Z271T, the monitor itself will be a 27″ Full HD monitor that has a refresh rate of 144Hz. The monitor will also support Nvidia’s G-Sync technology. The Predator Z271T is expected to be available in October.
As for Acer’s Predator line of gaming laptops, Acer has unveiled the behemoth known as the Predator 21 X. This machine is unique as it is the world’s first curved gaming monitor. Sporting a 21″ curved screen, the Predator 21 X will be powered by a 7th-Gen Intel Core i7 processor, two GTX 1080s in SLI mode, a 4.2-channel audio system, and full mechanical keyboard with Cherry switches. Special note must be given to the numpad of the Predator 21 X as it also doubles as the trackpad for the laptop. The Predator 21 X will be available early 2017. The pricetag for this laptop will be announced at a later date.