Acer has made one thing of a reputation for itself in the PC gaming world these previous few years for some completely bonkers items of gaming hardware. The pattern began with the Acer Predator 21X, a 21-inch gaming laptop computer with desktop components inside.
The laptop computer prices $eight,999 (about £6,729, AU$11,879) at the time of writing, and homes a few of the most intense silicon obtainable in the present day. It additionally weighs a back-breaking 18.74 kilos (eight.5kg).
Acer then adopted up this barely cell monster with an much more highly effective machine, a desktop often called the Predator X. The corporate hasn’t even issued a worth or launch date for the PC but. However, with two server-grade Intel Xeon processors and the newest, most highly effective Nvidia graphics playing cards paired collectively through SLI, relaxation assured that it too will rival the down fee on your own home.
Certainly the marketplace for these pre-built, mega-powered gaming PCs is tiny – how many individuals have you learnt with hundreds in money mendacity round? So, if that’s the case, then why does Acer hassle crafting such power-packed PCs?
“You are right, X is pushing to the limit. But [that] may not be 100% limited to in terms of GPU performance, [hardcore] gamer performance,” Acer President of IT Merchandise Jerry Kao tells us. “As a result of we’re additionally pondering a unique form of utilization mannequin – once you’re enjoying a sport you might be nonetheless doing multitasking.
“A lot of gamers are playing games,” he says. “[But] additionally they broadcast whereas they’re enjoying video games. They livestream to different folks. So, I used to be occupied with totally different utilization, the quantity of pure, robust [GPU] efficiency generally might not assist.”
Focusing on the 1% of PC avid gamers
With these gadgets, Acer is focusing on a really particular kind of PC gamer that maybe different mainstream PC product producers aren’t: successfully the 1% of PC avid gamers. So, it’s straightforward to think about the Predator X line of merchandise a particularly low quantity, excessive yield finish of its enterprise.So, it’s clear that Acer seems to be to ascertain its may and place in the PC gaming house with these highest of high-end gadgets, however how does it go about that? It’s not fairly so simple as simply placing the most highly effective elements right into a field and delivery it off.
“For the first time we created our 9000 series, last year, [it] got to be a very successful concept when we launched it, because we were starting from the gamers’ demand,” Acer’s Normal Supervisor of Stationary Computing Merchandise Jeff Lee says. “That’s the starting point from the design.”
“We don’t just say, well, put the best CPU, put the best GPU inside – what [is] the end user needing? For example, for our special edition Acer Predator Helios 500 … because our end-user survey tells us that our female gamers, what they care about most in addition to performance is the noise control. So, we did a special edition in fact [that] has a special, tailor-made application where an end-user can change what kind of noise level they can accept.”
Like all product maker, Acer designs and conceives its highest-end PC gaming merchandise with the finish person in thoughts, however not simply from a gaming perspective. We’re instructed that, particularly with the Predator X, Acer is contemplating what avid gamers do apart from gaming whereas a sport is working. Kao guarantees that this isn’t only a cliche for Acer however a defining tenet of its design philosophy.
“Again, it’s back to the user demand,” Lee tells us. “For example, our users not only play games but also do the streaming [and] multitasking, so I think [the latest] technology and also the end-users’ demands will be our [focus].”
After all, Kao and Lee are eager to level out that Acer presents PC gaming gadgets for a number of ranges of price range, and that options first conceived at the highest finish can ultimately trickle down into these extra approachably-priced merchandise.
What’s Acer’s future in extreme gaming hardware?
That mentioned, Acer’s mission to ship the highest-end PC gaming experiences of any mainstream laptop maker won’t cease. In reality, Acer is already cooking up a brand new extreme PC gaming product geared toward one other area of interest: portability in the high-end desktop house.“So, I think we are thinking more about something like a form factor change, a new usage model, Kao teases. “Not just the CPU [or] GPU – of course that’s something that all the competitors are doing. But, we are thinking [of having] a revolutionary form factor change, or usage model change. So, thinking about a LAN party, what you can carry today: [the] desktop is too heavy; the notebook … you need to carry a keyboard and all those things, and it’s not easy – or a notebook is not strong enough. So, [how can] you carry a strong notebook with luggage, or is there or something like that? We are thinking of solutions. So, a new form factor change is something that we’re working on now.”
