Acer Predator 17 Review: A Powerful Gaming Machine

Acer Predator 17: At First Glance

It is notable that Acer Predator gaming laptops have been around for a while. So far, Acer just keeps improving the laptop series with newer and more impressive models.

One of the newer models in the Acer Predator series is the Acer Predator 17. The Acer Predator 17 is a powerful gaming laptop with impressive graphics and gaming performance.

Moreover, the Intel Core i7 processor in this laptop makes it stand out among other gaming laptops in the Acer Predator series. Having mentioned a few things about this laptop, let us get to know it even more in the other sections below.

Acer Predator 17: Design, Dimensions, and Weight

When it comes to the design of gaming laptops, we really don’t expect a sleek and attractive look. To be more specific, gaming laptops are known to prioritize performance over appearance.

Moreover, the Acer Predator 17 isn’t any different. Unboxing the Acer Predator 17 reveals a weighty laptop with a build similar to that of a muscle car. 

Additionally, the appearance of this laptop screams performance, and this sets a high bar for the laptop going forward. Specifically, the Acer Predator 17’s plastic chassis has this highly-sophisticated “bragging” design that shouts “high-performance laptop.”

However, the laptop’s lid flexes a bit when pushed. Also, the lid attracts fingerprint marks quickly.

Thus, you will have to wipe the lid constantly to keep fingerprint dirt off it.

On a positive note, a Predator logo is finely placed at the center of the laptop’s lid. Also, like many other gaming laptops, the rear of this Predator laptop has a color line that surrounds its cooling vents.

However, instead of the regular plain black line, the Predator 17’s vents feature a red line. This is not surprising since black and red seem to be the default color design for gaming laptops.

So, Acer didn’t bother shifting from that tradition.

That said, the design of the Acer Predator 17 gets more interesting when you open the lid. Specifically, the keyboard and the screen possess features that are admirable.

To give more details, the Acer Predator 17 features a black keyboard surrounded by some red highlights. These red highlights are also on the back of the laptop’s hinge, around the WASD keys and arrow keys.

Impressively, the laptop’s keyboard has a backlit feature. The backlit feature enables you to conveniently use the keyboard in dark environments.

That said, to the left of this laptop’s keyboard are five shortcut keys for carrying out tasks like tuning the cooling-fan levels and opening the game bar. Moreover, the palm rest below the keyboard is also very spacious.

When it comes to typing, the keyboard is very responsive and has a pleasing click sound when each key is pressed. Below this keyboard, you will find a full-sized touchpad surrounded by red highlights.

Furthermore, the touchpad is very smooth and quick to respond to touches. Interestingly, just at the right of this touchpad is a button to quickly disable the touchpad for long typing sessions or gaming.

Moving on to the display, the Acer Predator 17 features a 17.3-inch display with Full-HD (1920 x 1080) resolution. Although I expected a 4K resolution display from this laptop because its graphics chip can handle so much more, I was disappointed to find just an FHD resolution.

Notwithstanding, the laptop’s FHD resolution display is adequate enough for hardcore gaming. Specifically, this display offers vibrant, vivid, and bright picture quality.

At the top of the laptop’s display screen is a 720p HD webcam. This webcam is adequate for video calls and taking pictures.

Audio means a lot to gamers, and good sound quality hugely contributes to a good gaming experience. Thankfully, the Acer Predator 17 doesn’t disappoint in the sound department.

Specifically, this laptop comes with a sound system Acer calls the “SoundPound 4.2”.

This sound system includes four speakers and two subwoofers. Moreover, the sound system produces impressive sound quality.

Also, thanks to the subwoofers, the sound system produces enough bass to give gamers a premium game sound effect. This sound system isn’t only ideal for gaming, though.

To give more details, the sound system works well for watching movies and TV shows. Also, the sound system is loud enough to fill a medium-sized room with sound.

Another impressive thing about the Acer Predator 17 is its cooling system. Specifically, this laptop boasts a cooling system called the “triple cooling system,” which features three separate fans.

Thanks to this impressive cooling system, the laptop is always cool, even under stress. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about the Acer Predator 17 getting hot when gaming repeatedly.

Next up, the ports. The Acer Predator 17 boasts a decent number of ports.

On the left side, there are two USB 3.0 ports, a power jack, a headphone jack, an SD card reader, an optical drive, and a microphone jack. The right side houses the remaining two more USB 3.0 ports, one USB-Type C port, an Ethernet port, an HDMI port, and a Kensington lock slot.

For wireless connectivity, the Acer Predator 17 comes with dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi. However, the laptop lacks Bluetooth.

Moving over to the laptop’s weight, the Acer Predator 17 weighs a massive 4200 g. With this weight, this laptop is far from light and cannot be carried around easily in a backpack.

Besides, the laptop’s weight seems a bit too much, even by gaming laptop standards. In fact, the ASUS Vivobook Pro 17 N705, weighing 2200 g, is about 2x lighter than the Acer Predator 17.

When it comes to the dimensions, the Predator 17 measures 423 x 321.5 x 39.70 mm (W x D x H). With this dimension, this laptop is nothing close to portable and will be best to constantly sit on a desk.

Comparing the laptop with the ASUS Vivobook Pro 17 N705 once again, we see that the ASUS Vivobook Pro 17 is more portable. Specifically, the ASUS Vivobook Pro 17 measures 411 x 270 x 20.9 – 21 mm (W x D x H).

In conclusion, the weight and dimensions are where I think the Acer Predator 17 should improve. Other than that, I believe the overall design of the laptop is pretty decent.

Hence, I will rate the Acer Predator 17 an eight out of ten in this design, weight, and dimension review section.

Acer Predator 17: Processor (CPU) Performance

For the processor, the Acer Predator 17 features an Intel Core i7-7700HQ processor. This processor has a base frequency of 2.80 GHz and a maximum frequency of 3.80 GHz.

Also, this processor is a 4-core processor that comes with a 6 MB cache memory.

That said, with this processor, be rest assured that the Predator 17 will be a good task performer. Specifically, you won’t encounter any lag or slowdown when using the laptop to run heavy apps and high-end games.

Also, with this processor, expect the Acer Predator 17 to excel when multitasking. To give more details, this laptop will keep its cool even when there are about 20 Chrome tabs opened.

Also, the laptop won’t show signs of slowing down even when you switch between the Chrome tabs.

Just to be clear and provide more evidential details about Predator 17’s CPU performance, I will now share the laptop’s results on a Cinebench 15 benchmark test. This benchmark test is an app-based benchmark test that measures the overall CPU performance of a PC.

Also, on this benchmark test, a higher score indicates a great performance. So, on the Cinebench 15 benchmark test, the Acer Predator 17 scored 732 points, which is practically high.

In fact, this score surpasses the category average of 700 points. However, when compared to the ASUS G752VS- XB78K, the Acer Predator 17 performed a little less.

To be more specific, the ASUS G752VS- XB78K scored 789 points on the Cinebench 15 benchmark test. However, that doesn’t make the Acer Predator 17 any less efficient.

All things considered, I will rate the Acer Predator 17 an eight out of ten in this processor review section.

Acer Predator 17: Memory (RAM) Performance

The Acer Predator 17 comes with a standard memory of 16 GB DDR4 SDRAM. Furthermore, this laptop comes with four RAM slots and supports a maximum RAM capacity of 32 GB.

However, this review is based on the Acer Predator 17 with 16 GB standard memory. Although the laptop with 32 GB will offer greater performance, 16 GB is adequate for any task you will be carrying out on this laptop.

To be more specific, with 16 GB RAM, you will be able to play most modern games with ease. Also, you will be able to multitask with ease on the Acer Predator 17 with 16 GB RAM.

Specifically, you will be able to open about 30 Chrome tabs on the laptop without experiencing any lag. You can also watch about five YouTube videos concurrently when the Chrome tabs are opened.

To further prove my point, I will now share the laptop’s results on a PCMark 8 performance benchmark test. For clarity, the PCMark 8 benchmark test measures how fast a computer’s memory can deliver information.

Also, on this benchmark test, a high score means better performance. So, on the benchmark test, the Acer Predator 17 scored 4395 points.

This score is way above the category average of 4000 points. However, even though the Acer Predator 17’s delivered a high score in this benchmark test, there are other laptops that performed better.

For example, the ASUS G752VS- XB78K was able to deliver a score of 5575 points in the PCMark 8 benchmark test.

Concluding this memory review section, I will rate the Acer Predator 17 an eight out of ten.

Acer Predator 17: Storage Options and Performance

Acer offers two storage options for the Acer Predator 17. You can either get the laptop with HDD storage or SSD storage.

The HDD storage option supports a maximum capacity of 2 TB. The SSD, on the other hand, supports a maximum capacity of 512 GB.

If you are a storage-hungry user or will be downloading lots of games, the Acer Predator 17 with HDD storage is your best pick. However, if you value speed more than storage space, the laptop with SSD storage is the right option for you.

Before proceeding, it is worth mentioning that this review is based on the Acer Predator 17 with 512 GB SSD storage. As most of us know, SSD is arguably the fastest storage drive available today.

Well, to back this claim, I will now share the Acer Predator 17’s result on a file transfer test. On the file transfer test, this laptop, with its SSD, was able to transfer 4.97 GB of multimedia files in 10 seconds.

Impressively, this laptop achieved this feat at a transfer rate of 226.4 MB/s. When compared to the Toshiba P55W, which also uses SSD storage, the Acer Predator 17 has a faster transfer rate.

Specifically, Toshiba P55W was able to transfer 4.97 GB of multimedia files at a transfer rate of just 144.1 MB/s.

The Acer Predator 17’s speedy performance doesn’t stop there as it also delivered an excellent performance on a CrystalDiskMark test. Briefly, CrystalDiskMark is a benchmark test that measures the read and write speed of a computer’s SSD or HDD storage.

If you are wondering, read speed is the time it takes a computer’s storage to open a file. Write speed, on the other hand, is the time it takes the storage to save a file.

So, based on the CrystalDiskMark test, the Acer Predator 17 has a sequential read and write speed of 1873 MB/s and 1762 MB/s, respectively. Impressively, the Acer Predator 17 has a faster read and write speed compared to the Toshiba P55W.

Specifically, according to the CrystalDiskMark test, the Toshiba P55W has a sequential read speed of 1245 MB/s. In addition to its sequential read speed, the laptop also has a sequential write speed of 1436 MB/s

In conclusion, the Acer Predator 17 offers multiple storage options and incredibly-fast SSD storage. Therefore, I strongly believe the laptop deserves a nine out of ten rating in this section.

Acer Predator 17: Graphics Card Performance

The Acer Predator 17 features an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card. This GPU has a base frequency of 1506 MHz and a maximum frequency of 1683 MHz.

Also, as a dedicated GPU, this graphics card features a dedicated VRAM of 8 GB GDDR5. Being a GPU with such high dedicated VRAM, we expect the Acer Predator 17 to run smoothly when playing graphics-intensive modern games.

In fact, with this NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card, the laptop will run title AAA games smoothly in 4K resolution. To give more details, the Acer Predator 17 will be able to play Witcher 3 in 4K at 70 fps (frame per second).

Also, playing Deus Ex: Mankind Divided in 4K on this laptop, you will still achieve around 50 fps.

To further prove the graphics capabilities of this laptop, I will now share its result on a 3DMark benchmark test. This benchmark test works by rendering 2D and 3D graphics so users can know how their PC handles graphics.

Also, on this benchmark test, a high score means a better graphics performance. So, on the 3DMark test, the Acer Predator 17 scored 16847 points.

This score is slightly higher than the 16757 points achieved by the ASUS G752VS- XB78K. However, the MSI GT73VR 6RF delivered a higher score than both laptops, scoring a whopping 27658 points.

Nevertheless, the Acer Predator 17 is still an excellent laptop that can run most, if not all, modern games. Therefore, I will rate the Acer Predator 17 a nine out of ten in this GPU performance review section.

Acer Predator 17: Battery Life and Performance

When it comes to the battery, an 8-cell lithium-ion 6000 mAh battery powers the Acer Predator 17. For the battery life, Acer claims that this laptop will last only 3 hours with this battery.

Just before you feel disappointed, understand that poor battery life is usually the weak point of most gaming laptops. Thus, the Acer Predator is no exception.

However, despite Acer claiming 3 hours of battery life, the Acer Predator 17 delivered a lesser battery life on a battery test. This battery test involves browsing the web continuously via a WIFI connection when the laptop’s screen brightness is set to 50%.

So, based on this battery test, the Acer Predator 17 delivered a battery life of 2 hours and 14 minutes. In comparison to the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR II GL 704, the Acer Predator 17 has shorter battery life.

Specifically, the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR II GL 704 delivered a battery life of 3 hours and 10 minutes on the same battery test.

All things considered, it is fair to rate the Acer Predator 17 a seven out of ten in this battery review section.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

The Acer Predator 17 is a gaming laptop that shuns appearance for performance. Specifically, this laptop offers an impressive computing performance overall.

Also, thanks to its dedicated GPU, this laptop will be able to play most video games in 4K resolution. Additionally, you won’t have to worry about the laptop getting hot when gaming, as the laptop features an effective cooling system.

However, just like most gaming laptops, this laptop offers poor battery life. Aside from its poor battery life, the Acer Predator 17 is nothing short of a high-end gaming laptop.

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