This may sound a bit corny, but my fellow readers of the gaming community will definitely get me. Have you ever fantasized about playing Far Cry 4(or World of Warcraft) on a portable curved display laptop? I know this sounds a bit over the top, but Acer has gone ahead to bring your fantasies to life. It is in the form of a new monstrous gaming laptop called ‘Predator 21 X‘, that hosts the world’s first ever 21-inch curved display.
Well, if you’re amazed by that, then you should know — it isn’t the only surprise 21 X is hiding underneath beautiful but bulky chassis. Taking the flagship spot in the Acer’s gaming laptop series — alongwith 15 X and 17 X — the laptop sports a curved 21-inch full-HD IPS display. The wide-viewing angles offer a truly immersive gaming experience, taking it to heights above the usual AAA(Triple-A).
Under the hood, the Predator 21 X packs in a punch with the installation of latest 7th gen. ‘Kaby Lake’ Intel Core processors announced yesterday and a set of dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 graphic cards. These processors are built on the 14nm architecture with the sole aim of providing more power and efficiency while gaming. The curved screen of the laptop also features NVIDIA’s G-SYNC technology to provide you with a sharp and smooth gameplay in every scenario.
Given the nature of intense gaming that users will partake in, the notebook has added an advanced cooling architecture with five system fans. Out of these 5, three are ultra-thin AeroBlade metal fans to effectively dissipate the excess heat out of the chassis. The 21 X is crazy heavy for a normal notebook and weighs 17 pounds(or about 8 kilograms), and can hold upto five storage drives at a time.
There is also no compromise on the audio front, as the Predator 21 X ships with SoundPound 4.2+ (a combo of 4 speakers and 2 sub-woofers), 3-way audio and Dolby Audio. It also features a full-sized mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX switches, and customizable RGB backlight setting for each individual key. The numeric keypad has also been redesigned to fit the quirky curved profile and can be flipped over and turned into a Precision touchpad.
Another innovation on this laptop is the integration of Tobii eye-tracking technology. The inclusion of advanced eye-tracking hardware(infrared sensors) unlocks another method of gaming that’s more intuitive and natural. The notebook tracks the gamer’s eye with software to introduces new interactions like aiming, identifying enemies or taking cover simply by gazing at objects on the screen.
First-time users have found that the sensitivity of the eye-tracking technology varied from user to user. And for seasoned gamers accuracy is key, and it couldn’t be compromised due to lack of unfitting hardware. But, there is one benefit of the tech, where one would be able to unlock his/her Windows 10 laptop using the iris scanner and Windows Hello.
Acer’s Predator 21 X, alongwith its sister laptops, is expected to ship in the first quarter of 2017. There is currently no word on the pricing details of this humongous beast of a laptop, but one should already starting saving as it would be a hefty one.
Watch this insanely beautiful product video and keep an eye out for more updates.
