Acer's Highly-Anticipated Predator 21 X Gaming Laptop, Featuring the World's First Curved Screen Notebook, Shipping This Quarter

Acer last January 3, 2017 announced the availability of its highly anticipated Predator 21 X gaming laptop, the world’s first curved screen notebook. Featuring Windows 10 and designed for ultimate gaming enthusiasts who only want the best, the Predator 21 X is advanced beyond anything on the market today.

As the world’s first notebook to offer a curved 21-inch IPS display (2560 x 1080 resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate), it delivers a truly immersive gaming experience, especially when combined with the notebook’s eye-tracking technology from Tobii. Taking PC gaming immersion to new depths, eye tracking lets gamers identify enemies, aim and take cover simply by gazing at objects on the screen in over 45 titles like Elite Dangerous, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and WATCH_DOGS 2™. The curved screen also features NVIDIA® G-SYNC™ technology, ensuring smooth and sharp gameplay.

Beneath the notebook’s curved hood lies a powerful engine just waiting to be unleashed. The Predator 21 X (GX21-71) features dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080 graphic cards in SLI and an overclockable 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-7820HK processor for ultimate performance and responsiveness.

Supporting all this power is 64GB of DDR4-2400 memory, up to four 512GB solid state drives in RAID 0 configuration (including 2 NVMe PCIe SSDs, which are up to 5x faster than SATA SSDs) and a 7200 RPM hard drive of 1TB capacity. In addition, Killer DoubleShot Pro automatically picks the fastest network connection (Ethernet or wireless) and sends all high priority traffic over that interface while standard traffic is sent over the other. This ensures the highest priority traffic will always be put on the fastest and most reliable link. Thunderbolt™ 3 brings Thunderbolt to USB-C at speeds up to 40 Gbps.

Dissipating excess heat effectively for uninterrupted performance during intense gaming sessions, the notebook also features an advanced cooling architecture consisting of 5 system fans (including 3 ultra-thin AeroBlade™ metal fans) and 9 heat pipes. It also includes Acer DustDefender, which removes dust build-up and improves heat dissipation, and Acer’s CoolBoost app, that can be used to adjust the fans’ airflow to deliver extra cooling performance during heavy use.

Its full-sized mechanical keyboard features Cherry® MX Brown switches, with individually programmable backlit keys, offering 16.7 million color options. Customers can swap out the black W, A, S and D keys with teal ones, using the included accessory kit. A unique numeric keypad allows it to be flipped over and turned into a Precision Touchpad.

Making the action come to life, the Predator 21 X features a new 3-way (tweeter, midrange, woofer) audio design which produces Hi-Fi quality sound and is powered by 4 speakers (2 tweeters, 2 midrange) and 2 subwoofers to produce a full spectrum of sound.

The Predator 21 X works with Windows Hello, supporting secure and password-free sign-in by recognizing your face. Skype for Business Certification ensures people can communicate with crisp and lag-free quality, and also allows for clearer, higher quality audio and a great Cortana with Voice experience on Windows 10.

Preloaded Acer PredatorSense software allows users to control and customize the whole gaming experience from one central interface, including overclocking, lighting and fan control. In addition, the included Xsplit Gamecaster software makes it easy for gamers to record and edit videos and live streaming on Twitch and Youtube channels.

Located just above the keyboard on the right side is a metal maintenance panel which provides access to the RAM modules and one 2.5-inch hard drive. The notebook ships with a blue dragon graphic on the panel, or it can be customized with a combination of graphics, nation flags and name engravings. In addition, the first 300 notebooks will include a limited edition series number on the panel.

For safe transport and storage, each Predator 21 X ships with a custom ultra-durable hard-shell carrying case which securely stores the notebook and accessories.

Predator 17 X Gets an Upgrade with Higher Performing CPU and GPU

The Acer Predator 17 X gaming notebook also received both a CPU and GPU upgrade, and will now include models with a 7th Generation Intel Core i7-7820HK processor and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 GPU with 8G GDDR5X video memory. Featuring overclocking, desktop grade components, a custom triple-fan cooling system with front air intake and a server-class vapor chamber, it is ideal for the most demanding games and running virtual reality (VR) devices. It’s overclocking lets gamers experience turbo speeds of up to 4.3GHz for the CPU; up to 1732MHz for the GPU; and up to 5.4GHz for VRAM. Immersive game play is delivered with buttery smooth visuals via the notebook’s 17.3-inch G-SYNC Full HD IPS (1920 x 1080) or UHD IPS (4K 3840 x 2160) display.

The Predator 17 X (GX-792) is also configured with an overclockable 7th Generation Intel Core i7-7820HK  processor, up to 64GB of DDR4-2400 memory and an enterprise level NVMe PCIe solid state drive or three-SATA-SSD RAID 0 array for immense data transfer speeds. It features a Precision Touchpad supporting Windows 10 gestures, and also Skype for Business certification for crystal-clear audio communications.

Price and Availability

The Predator 21 X will be available in North America in February with prices starting at $8,999; and in EMEA in February with prices starting at €9,999.

The refreshed Predator 17 X will be available in the North America in January with prices starting at $2,599; in EMEA in January with prices starting at €2,999; and in China in February with prices starting at ¥39,999.

Exact specifications, prices, and availability will vary by region. To learn more about availability, product specifications and prices in specific markets, please contact your nearest Acer office via www.acer.com.

About Acer

Established in 1976, Acer is a hardware + software + services company dedicated to the research, design, marketing, sale, and support of innovative products that enhance people's lives. Acer's product offerings include PCs, displays, projectors, servers, tablets, smartphones and wearables. It is also developing cloud solutions to bring together the Internet of Things. Acer celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2016 and is one of the world’s top 5 PC companies. It employs 7,000 people worldwide and has a presence in over 160 countries. Please visit www.acer.com for more information.

A More Harmonious Home for the New Year

At the start of the year, one of the most common things people would want to do is make a promise, a resolution that they would have to do to make better versions of their lives and of themselves. Some make a list of things they would want to do and several goals they would want to achieve, while others are taking it one resolution at a time, fulfilling the most feasible goals before moving up to those bigger ones.

Having and maintaining a more harmonious home is most definitely one of those things that most people would want.

The world’s leading manufacturer of consumer appliances, Midea has a number of home solutions that could make any home chore easier for everybody. And they have appliances that could suit the need of homes in all shapes and sizes. These include homes of young professionals living independently in their condominium units, quiet abodes of families growing their nests in gated communities, and large vacation homes in the country side.

A yuppie who is doing pretty well on his career and would want to make his new flat a more livable space could choose from a number of small appliances from Midea. The Induction Cooker is perfect for the condo unit. It is safe with its flameless heating and Auto Safety shut off feature which automatically cools off the cooker. It cooks 40% faster than a conventional electric stove and this Quick Cooking locks in the nutrients in the food for a heathier cooking. It also saves 37% on electrical consumption compared to other conventional electric stoves, which is very friendly to one’s budget.

A couple with a growing family would definitely need some help with some of their chores, most especially with laundry. Midea has the Full Auto Washing Machine that washes clothes with just a push of a button, but only spending just Php 1 for a complete wash, rinse, and dry cycle. This would be very helpful for homemakers who have kids to look out for, along with a ton of wash loads to attend to, because they don’t need to worry much anymore. The Smart Sensors in Midea’s Full Auto Washing Machine set the right amount of water and right amount of time of washing based on the laundry load, which makes it easier to use and results to saving 37% on water consumption.

Bigger homes or vacation homes in the country side may also need home solutions that would make living more comfortable, complementing the tranquility of the rural environment. A good warm shower can definitely ease up some stress and tension from the body. A Midea Water Heater will be a perfect addition to any vacation home in the province. It has a Quick Warm Heating Element that instantly heats water at a preferred temperature that gives instant comfort in seconds. Its Safety Sensors ensure not only the comfort in taking a shower but also the safety in their use.

All of these home solutions from Midea are just a few of the numerous products they have in their lineup. Homemakers and single individuals building their homes could find other appliances from Midea that suit the needs of their home, or watch out for the latest they would offer. By having home solutions from Midea, people who are living in their own preferred and dream spaces, may it be big or small, will feel positive changes in how they live their everyday lives— having more time for themselves and the family, without the usual stress.

For more information on Midea’s products check out their website at http://midea.com.ph and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MideaPhilippines.

About Midea

Midea, one of the world's largest manufacturers of appliances, covers a complete range of products from electric kettles, washing machines, microwaves to large commercial air-conditioning systems. Thriving in over 150 countries, Midea has now arrived in the Philippines!

In partnership with Concepcion Industrial Corporation (CIC), Midea's global strength in the appliance industry infused with CIC's Integrity, Excellence and Total Customer Satisfaction give the world class brand a better understanding of the Filipino's needs.

Radeon FreeSync™ 2 Technology Brings High Dynamic Range Gaming to Advanced PC Displays

AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) announced Radeon FreeSync™ 2 technology, the next major milestone in delivering smooth gameplay and advanced pixel integrity to gamers, with planned availability to consumers in 1H 2017.

Qualifying FreeSync™ 2 monitors will harness low-latency, high-brightness pixels, excellent black levels, and a wide color gamut to display High Dynamic Range (HDR) content.[i] In addition, all FreeSync™ 2 monitors will have support for Low Framerate Compensation (LFC). With Radeon FreeSync™ 2 technology, gamers can enjoy a complete plug-and-play HDR gaming experience, avoiding the need to tweak settings in software or on the monitor.

 “Gamers have spoken and they’ve made FreeSync™ the overwhelming choice and definitive industry standard for smooth, stutter-free gaming,” said Scott Herkelman, vice president and general manager of gaming, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD. “Radeon FreeSync™ 2 technology is the first of its kind that combines HDR support with dynamic refresh rate technology, and does it in a seamless, plug-and-play manner that improves gaming quality automatically when the right content is present.”

Current HDR transport formats were designed primarily for movie content displayed on televisions with tone mapping handled by the displays, often leading to higher-than-acceptable latency for PC gaming. AMD’s new API for FreeSync™ 2 offers a lower-latency alternative that shifts the workload to the powerful pipeline of a Radeon™ GPU, allowing the game to tone map directly to the display’s target luminance, contrast, and color space. Radeon FreeSync™ 2 technology offers over 2x the brightness and color volume over sRGB.[ii]

"Samsung has always embraced FreeSync™ technology, which is why we partnered with AMD from the beginning,” said Andrew Sivori, vice president, consumer IT marketing at Samsung. “We know gamers deserve the absolute best in smooth gaming experiences, and we're thrilled to see AMD further improving on that technology. FreeSync™ 2 combines the richest, highest quality pixels provided by HDR, with the stutter-free, tear-free gaming FreeSync™ is known for. We're excited to collaborate with AMD to implement FreeSync™ 2 technology in Samsung display products in the near future."

FreeSync™ and FreeSync 2 technologies will co-exist to offer a wide variety of advanced displays to gamers. All FreeSync-compatible Radeon™ GPUs will support FreeSync™ 2 technology, including the Radeon™ RX series GPUs based on the Polaris architecture which also supports DisplayPort[iii] HBR3 and enables UltraHD resolution beyond 60Hz. Multiple display vendors are actively evaluating several upcoming products for FreeSync™ 2 qualification.  

Supporting Resources

·         Learn more about FreeSync™ 2 technology here

·         Become a fan of Radeon on Facebook

·         Follow AMD on Twitter @AMD 

·         Follow Radeon^TM Pro on Twitter

·         Follow Radeon™ graphics on Twitter

About AMD

For more than 45 years AMD has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics, and visualization technologies ― the building blocks for gaming, immersive platforms, and the datacenter. Hundreds of millions of consumers, leading Fortune 500 businesses, and cutting-edge scientific research facilities around the world rely on AMD technology daily to improve how they live, work, and play. AMD employees around the world are focused on building great products that push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information about how AMD is enabling today and inspiring tomorrow, visit the AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) website, blog, Facebook, and Twitter pages.

Vega: AMD’s New Graphics Architecture for Virtually Unlimited Workloads

 AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) unveiled preliminary details of its forthcoming GPU architecture, Vega. Conceived and executed over 5 years, Vega architecture enables new possibilities in PC gaming, professional design and machine intelligence that traditional GPU architectures have not been able to address effectively. Data-intensive workloads are becoming the new normal, and the parallel nature of the GPU lends itself ideally to tackling them. However, processing these huge new datasets requires fast access to massive amounts of memory. The Vega architecture's revolutionary memory subsystem enables GPUs to address very large data sets spread across a mix of memory types. The high-bandwidth cache controller in Vega-based GPUs can access on-package cache and off-package memories in a flexible, programmable fashion using fine-grained data movement.

“It is incredible to see GPUs being used to solve gigabyte-scale data problems in gaming to exabyte-scale data problems in machine intelligence. We designed the Vega architecture to build on this ability, with the flexibility to address the extraordinary breadth of problems GPUs will be solving not only today but also five years from now. Our high-bandwidth cache is a pivotal disruption that has the potential to impact the whole GPU market,” said Raja Koduri, senior vice president and chief architect, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD.

Highlights of the Vega GPU architecture’s advancements include:

·         The world’s most advanced GPU memory architecture: The Vega architecture enables a new memory hierarchy for GPUs. This radical new approach comes in the form of a new high-bandwidth cache and its controller. The cache features leading-edge HBM2 technology which is capable of transferring terabytes of data every second, doubling the bandwidth-per-pin over the previous generation HBM technology. HBM2 also enables much greater capacity at less than half the footprint of GDDR5 memory. Vega architecture is optimized for streaming very large datasets and can work with a variety of memory types with up to 512TB of virtual address space.

·         Next-generation geometry pipeline: Today’s games and professional applications make use of incredibly complex geometry enabled by the extraordinary increase in the resolutions of data acquisition devices.  The hundreds of millions of polygons in any given frame have meshes so dense that there are often many polygons being rendered per pixel. Vega’s next-generation geometry pipeline enables the programmer to extract incredible efficiency in processing this complex geometry, while also delivering more than 200% of the throughput-per-clock over previous Radeon architectures.[i] It also features improved load-balancing with an intelligent workload distributor to deliver consistent performance.

·         Next-generation compute engine: At the core of the Vega architecture is a new, next-generation compute engine built on flexible compute units that can natively process 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit or 64-bit operations in each clock cycle.[ii] These compute units are optimized to attain significantly higher frequencies than previous generations and their support of variable datatypes makes the architecture highly versatile across workloads.

·         Advanced pixel engine: The new Vega pixel engine employs a Draw Stream Binning Rasterizer, designed to improve performance and power efficiency. It allows for “fetch once, shade once” of pixels through the use of a smart on-chip bin cache and early culling of pixels invisible in a final scene. Vega’s pixel engine is now a client of the onboard L2 cache, enabling considerable overhead reduction for graphics workloads which perform frequent read-after-write operations.

GPU products based on the Vega architecture are expected to ship in the first half of 2017

Supporting Resources

·         Check out the Vega Preview Cinematic Trailer

·         Check out http://ve.ga, the Vega architecture preview portal

·         Become a fan of Radeon on Facebook

·         Follow @Radeon on Twitter

·         Follow @RadeonPro on Twitter

·         Follow @RadeonInstinct on Twitter 

About AMD

For more than 45 years AMD has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics, and visualization technologies ― the building blocks for gaming, immersive platforms, and the datacenter. Hundreds of millions of consumers, leading Fortune 500 businesses, and cutting-edge scientific research facilities around the world rely on AMD technology daily to improve how they live, work, and play. AMD employees around the world are focused on building great products that push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information about how AMD is enabling today and inspiring tomorrow, visit the AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) website, blog, Facebook and Twitter pages.

AMD Showcases High-Performance Ecosystem Ready for Ryzen™ Including PCs and AM4 Motherboards from Technology Partners

Following global excitement generated by the reveal of new technology and performance details of upcoming AMD Ryzen™ high-performance desktop processors, AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) announced 16 cutting-edge high-performance AM4 motherboards from five manufacturers. In addition, AMD exhibited Ryzen processor-based “extreme performance” PC designs from 17 top system integrators across the globe as well as innovative third-party CPU cooler designs, demonstrating a ready and robust ecosystem for Ryzen CPUs. AMD also expects Ryzen-based designs from all top global PC OEMs, with more information on systems to be revealed at launch.

“2017 will be an unforgettable year for AMD, its technology partners and the PC industry as a whole, and we’re thrilled to kick off the year at CES by showing wide arrays of high-performance motherboard and PC designs from our OEM partners for whom the future is Ryzen,” said Jim Anderson, senior vice president and general manager, Computing and Graphics Group, AMD. “AMD and our partners are committed to supporting enthusiasts, gamers, and creators with a new generation of computing innovation and choice through AMD Ryzen processor-based motherboards, custom-built PCs, and coolers built to support these impressive systems.”

New Chipsets and Motherboards

AMD and its motherboard partners today debuted a wide array of new motherboards from ASRock, Asus, Biostar, Gigabyte, and MSI, all built upon two upcoming desktop chipsets for AMD Ryzen processors: the X370 and X300. X370 chipset-based motherboards are designed for those who need the most performance, cutting-edge features, and superior I/O connectivity from their PCs including support for overclocking[i], and dual graphics. For users looking for performance in a more compact size, the X300 chipset also features an AMD Ryzen-ready AM4 socket while utilizing the mini-ITX size ideal for small form factor PCs. Both chipsets take full advantage of innovative technology features including:

·         Dual-channel DDR4 memory

·         NVMe

·         M.2 SATA devices

·         USB 3.1 Gen 1 and Gen 2

·         PCIe® 3.0 capability[ii]

AM4 chipsets provide dedicated PCIe lanes for USB, graphics, data and other I/O, providing a powerful, scalable and reliable computing experience and bringing the benefit of future-ready technologies. Motherboards on display at CES 2017 include:

·         ASRock X370 Taichi, ASRock X370 Gaming K4, ASRock AB350 Gaming K4 & ASRock A320M Pro4

·         Asus B350M-C

·         Biostar X370GT7, Biostar X350GT5 & Biostar X350GT3

·         Gigabyte GA-AX370-Gaming K5, Gigabyte GA-AX370-Gaming 5, Gigabyte AB350-Gaming 3 & Gigabyte A320M-HD3

·         MSI A320M Pro-VD, MSI X370 Xpower Gaming Titanium, MSI B350 Tomahawk & MSI B350M Mortar

AMD Ryzen processor-based PCs

 Exemplifying the goal of bringing innovation and competition back to desktop PCs, AMD and renowned custom-PC builders such as Cyberpower, Maingear and Origin, amongst others, presented an array of ‘dream PCs’ based on high-performance AMD Ryzen processors.  From exotic, custom water-cooled systems to more refined, practical solutions, a myriad of PCs incorporating AMD Ryzen processors were on display at CES including:

·         Caseking

·         CSL - Computer

·         CyberPower PC

·         Cybertron PC

·         Icoda (Korea)

·         IBUYPOWER

·         iPason Wuhan

·         Komplett

·         LDLC

·         Maingear

·         Mayn Wuhan

·         Medion AG

·         Mindfactory

·         Oldi (Russia)

·         Origin PC 

·         Overclockers UK

·         PC Specialist

New 3^rd Party Thermal Solutions

For enthusiasts and PC builders focused on a premium, quiet, and effective cooling solution or wishing to overclock, AMD is working with 15 top cooler manufacturers and vendors to create an array of aftermarket CPU coolers for AM4 processors. For ultra-quiet air cooling, Noctua will offer both its NH-D15 and its slimmer counterpart the NH-U12S. In, addition, EKWB will offer AM4 support for its custom water cooling solutions.

AMD Ryzen processor-based PCs, AM4 motherboards, and compatible cooling solutions are expected to be available in Q1 2017.

Supporting Resources

·         Learn more about AMD Ryzen processors at AMD.com/Ryzen

·         Learn more about the “Zen” core architecture at AMD.com/Zen

·         Learn more about AMD Products, Solutions, and Innovations

·         Become a fan of AMD on Facebook

·         Follow AMD on Twitter @AMD

About AMD

For more than 45 years, AMD has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics, and visualization technologies ― the building blocks for gaming, immersive platforms, and the datacenter. Hundreds of millions of consumers, leading Fortune 500 businesses, and cutting-edge scientific research facilities around the world rely on AMD technology daily to improve how they live, work, and play. AMD employees around the world are focused on building great products that push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information about how AMD is enabling today and inspiring tomorrow, visit the AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) website, blog, Facebook and Twitter pages.