We’re all for gaming notebooks. Being able to frag people anywhere there’s an internet connection (and a wall socket) with a flashy oversized notebook is practically a requirement for high-end gaming these days. But Acer’s Predator 21X, announced last week at IFA 2016 in Berlin, takes everything that we’ve seen so far and turns it up to 11.
Let’s just start with the Predator 21X’s display, shall we? For starters, it’s curved. This is the first curved gaming notebook we’ve seen and the curve is pronounced enough that we’re not actually sure that Acer’s new baby can close flush. There might be a gap between the screen and the gorgeous-looking mechanical keyboard — could make transporting it a chore. The screen is also where the Predator 21X gets its name — it’s a 21-inch 2,560 x 1,080 screen. Large, even by gaming notebook standards.
A huge screen, decent keyboard and speedy internals alone don’t a gaming notebook make. Acer are including Tobii eye tracking and 4.2 audio. So… two subwoofers then? It will also feature a weird numberpad (above), which can be flipped over to turn the right-hand area into a trackpad. The Predator 21X isn’t going to work for lefties, then, but you’re supposed to be using a gaming mouse anyway, so that’s okay, right? Oh, and the whole thing is supposed to weight in at 8kg. We won’t be wearing this one in a backpack for extended periods.
The Acer Predator 21X is set to go on sale in Q1 2017. Pricing hasn’t been released but we don’t imagine it’ll be cheap. We’re going to have to wait and see but we’re expecting a launch price of over R50,000. How much over remains to be see.