Nice concept, looks large, too large for me, but interesting idea. I like the Zephyrus keyboard placement, but that pushes the screen too far back - this solves it. Plus more room for hot components without heating up the area where your palm and fingers are. I like it, hope Acer will continue on this path and revise it into somewhat smaller form factor.
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What kinds of Windows laptops do you want to see at CES?
- Thread starter hajime
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Thing about Concept D9 is that it's going into production with i9/Xeon, RTX 2080
Definitely interested as it offers serious performance. Acer have experience from their Predator gaming line and not new to business machines. I think they can pull it off and they are not afraid to change it up as the passively cooled Switch 7 illustrates with it's dGPU.I like the Zephyrus S GX01, however it's more compromised than my Strix GL703GS due to it's thinner chassis (1st RAM slot soldered on, no SDcard reader, better GPU RTX versus GTX), nor am I convinced it will be faster than the Strix. Key aspect of the Concept D9 for me will be the weight as it has to fly. I've looked at several i9 notebook's and the stumbling block is the all up weight, especially if two power packs are required.
Another factor are these cockup's by Intel (MDS vulnerabilities) as in no shape or form am I going to slaughter performance, I'll find other solutions up to and including moving to AMD hardware, which again Acer can provide via their Predator line...
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Interesting - I'm not sure about the hinge design but I see some value in what they did. I'm not a fan of the trackpad on the side, though I'm sure I could get used to it. Given the high end specs, I googled the laptop and it seems to be rather high - in the 5,000 range.
Not cheap by any means, which adds to the rising concerns regarding Intel. I do like the Concept D9, equally I'd be paying for a lot of additional hardware I don't absolutely need (17.3" 4K colour accurate touchscreen). Concept D9 is similar to the Predator Triton 900, although barring the RTX GPU the Triton 900 wouldn't offer any real-world benefit over my current 17.3" Primary.
Although costly I'd be using the machine professionally so not too dramatic, equally doubling the price requires some consideration, again Intel's vulnerabilities "rattling out the closet" don't encourage. I do know that I'm not going to kill performance I need due to over reaction and hyperthreading being nixed.
Couple of things spring to mind; advance moving to KDE Neon by duel booting this system or switching platforms to AMD with an 8 core, 16 thread Ryzen processor & Radeon RX Vega 56, the latter currently being more attractive...
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I think the Acer D9 is a fantastic concept and based off an observation I've made as well; Designers are stuck having to use gaming notebooks for the performance they need. Designers are just about the last group of people who dig the gaming aesthetic.
I think the design needs some refinement - particularly looks like it's about 90% there. I don't mind the hinge design, I actually think as a notebook that will be used as a drawing tablet often it's the best one out there - but they should really engineer hinges that take up less footprint. I'm sure they will.
It's also oddly priced, in my opinion. Yes, it's a freakin' Xeon with a RTX 2080 with a 17" drawing-capable screen. I get it. But it sort of falls in the category of "Swiss-Army Knife" where it's o.k. at a lot of things, but not particularly great at anything. With that size and power, it will definitely be used as just a desktop machine, but for $5000, a design company could supply their designer with a better cooled desktop with the same horsepower, a Wacom tablet that crushes the drawing capability of the D9 screen, and a much more portable laptop if they really need one. As a tool that makes a company money, they want the best and most efficient way to do their tasks, not necessarily the most convenient.
I think for a first generation product, it's great. I hope it sells well and the customers are happy and return to Acer if Acer keeps up the innovation on this front. I also realize the price is probably so high because of quantitiy - they probably aren't expecting to sell many of them quite yet. But I think for the next generations they should refine the design more (designers especially will pay a premium for tools that are more refined even though it makes little difference in the real world), offering lower tiers in performance, and reconsidering designers workflows and what they really need. Hell, stick a tiny battery in there to give it a half hour of battery life or just remove the battery all together and just call it a portable desktop if that's what you need to lower that price or refine the design.
I think the design needs some refinement - particularly looks like it's about 90% there. I don't mind the hinge design, I actually think as a notebook that will be used as a drawing tablet often it's the best one out there - but they should really engineer hinges that take up less footprint. I'm sure they will.
It's also oddly priced, in my opinion. Yes, it's a freakin' Xeon with a RTX 2080 with a 17" drawing-capable screen. I get it. But it sort of falls in the category of "Swiss-Army Knife" where it's o.k. at a lot of things, but not particularly great at anything. With that size and power, it will definitely be used as just a desktop machine, but for $5000, a design company could supply their designer with a better cooled desktop with the same horsepower, a Wacom tablet that crushes the drawing capability of the D9 screen, and a much more portable laptop if they really need one. As a tool that makes a company money, they want the best and most efficient way to do their tasks, not necessarily the most convenient.
I think for a first generation product, it's great. I hope it sells well and the customers are happy and return to Acer if Acer keeps up the innovation on this front. I also realize the price is probably so high because of quantitiy - they probably aren't expecting to sell many of them quite yet. But I think for the next generations they should refine the design more (designers especially will pay a premium for tools that are more refined even though it makes little difference in the real world), offering lower tiers in performance, and reconsidering designers workflows and what they really need. Hell, stick a tiny battery in there to give it a half hour of battery life or just remove the battery all together and just call it a portable desktop if that's what you need to lower that price or refine the design.
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Don't know never had cause to use it, I assume average for a PC OEM which wont be great. Likely mail back in the event of any issue. I've owned two Acers and would consider another as they have never given me any issue.
I have a Switch 5 now, and like the idea of the Switch 7, however the battery life on the Switch 7 is significantly less. I want a passively cooled system for other reasons than silent operation, mostly environment conditions. Should my mobility needs change I may well seriously consider the Switch 7, again a compromise with quad core CPU & dGPU versus battery life...
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I just brought the laptop to the store where I bought it, who sent it and got it back from Acer (Europe). It took about a week to replace the SSD. I think this would be common for PCs.
An authorized Apple service provider would usually take one day to repair an MBP.
A previous Acer just lasted many years before the hinge broke.
On the off chance anyone is interested in the Switch 7 review
I think the reviewer misses a few points; the camera is offset due to the location of the stylus's silo and similar to my Switch 5 the display is likely slightly offset within the bezel to accommodate USB A in this small form factor.
What really kills the Switch 7 is it's battery runtime, as it shares the same capacity as the Switch 5 (4870 mAh) yet with the inclusion of larger display with slightly higher resolution, more powerful processor and dGPU which literally cuts the battery life in half, which is a shame as it very much impacts the computers usability & portability.
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What really kills the Switch 7 is it's battery runtime, as it shares the same capacity as the Switch 5 (4870 mAh) yet with the inclusion of larger display with slightly higher resolution, more powerful processor and dGPU which literally cuts the battery life in half, which is a shame as it very much impacts the computers usability & portability.
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RIGHT???? LOL. I really hate this trend. Luckily it isn't common.Chop the left hand off and use it on the right side
Just three that I'm aware of, two from Acer and one from ASUS ROG, doesn't bother me too much as I'm pretty much ambidextrous. Worst case I'd switch from a RH mouse to a universal one. TBH I don't see it catching on, rather more a means to an end to allow a more capable cooling solution.
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Agree with all of that. It would be cool if they had the ability to switch sides on it by switching a few screws.
I want to compare the relative battery life of two laptops. I went to youtube and found a 4K video. Then, I used a website to save it.
https://y2mate.com/youtube/2jm4wAABrMk
The best resolution it could save was 1080p (.mp4) Full HD. Then, I played this 7-hour video on my Yoga 730 15" 4K (i7-8550u). Set max brightness of the 300nits screen to max and battery mode to "high performance". Went to Nvidia control panel to switch to iGPU rather than Nvidia GPU. It lost 26% battery life every hour. It took 3.5 hours to use up 90% of battery life. Is this normal or bad? Have I done something wrong? It seems to have lost battery life so quickly.
https://y2mate.com/youtube/2jm4wAABrMk
The best resolution it could save was 1080p (.mp4) Full HD. Then, I played this 7-hour video on my Yoga 730 15" 4K (i7-8550u). Set max brightness of the 300nits screen to max and battery mode to "high performance". Went to Nvidia control panel to switch to iGPU rather than Nvidia GPU. It lost 26% battery life every hour. It took 3.5 hours to use up 90% of battery life. Is this normal or bad? Have I done something wrong? It seems to have lost battery life so quickly.
https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/27/18641211/asus-zenbook-pro-duo-announced-specs-computex-2019
What’s your thoughts on this one?
I’m not sold on second screens on the surface around the keyboard or touch bar.
What’s your thoughts on this one?
I’m not sold on second screens on the surface around the keyboard or touch bar.
Another interesting concept, just unsure of the usage as one has to take eyes off the primary display and again lack of feedback. Can see the use with a stylus for taking notes and a way to extend the working area to some extents. I'd tend to opt for a portable display or what have now a 12" 2in1 that is both a full independent system or can be used as a wireless display.
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Besides maybe watching the baseball game on it while I work, and storing less used applications, I'd have to really use it for a week or two to see how it could improve my workflow. I feel the drawing ability is simply a gimmick on a screen ratio like that. I'm liking that ASUS is pushing the boundaries, and this is a fantastic first attempt. It really comes down to how much more it's going to cost.
Nice.
Takes back every cranky thing I said about my cheapie Acer laptop.
Except the price for the D9.EDIT: The Concept D7 is $2,299 to start.
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Maybe they were pushed back as the Acer website only has info links on these right now. I am curious about the D5’s Vega Graphics chip myself. If it’s comparable to a GTX, I’d consider this over the D7 as my budget has shrunk.
The more I think about it, the more it's growing on me.
I like the way Dave2D describes it - take away the idea that ASUS or any third party will design a custom UI for you. Just imagine what YOU would use the screens for. I think I would use it to have menu bars and settings windows in the various design programs I use always open - Rhino3D, The Adobe Suite, etc. Also, I think part of the screen would be my media consumption that I tend to have running on my iPad while I work - MLB, Youtube, Podcasts, etc.
Hinging on how much more they are charging for it and the thermal situation, I think ASUS has won 2019.
The dual screen ASUS is cool but I am concerned about battery life of having 2 screens.