Acer ConceptD 5 review: Hands-on
Our Verdict
If you don’t mind the flimsy build quality, then the ConceptD 5 might be a decent alternative to the MacBook Pro. It’s a lot cheaper and still has some good specs, namely what seems to be an excellent screen.
At its press conference in New York, Acer announced a completely new range of products aimed at creative users under a new brand name. It includes laptops such as theMacBook Prorivalling ConceptD 5 and here’s our hands-on review.
Price & Release Date
The ConceptD 5 will be available in the US inApril, starting at$1,699. It will then be available in Europe inJulystarting at1,699 Euro.
There’s no UK price yet but we imagine, going by Acer’s other pricing, for things like thePredator Helios 700, that it will come in at £1,499.
Thecheapest 15in MacBook Pro is £2,349/$2,399for comparison.
Design & Build: Plastic fantastic
Apple’s design and build found on all its products is hard to beat. We can all agree surely that the MacBook Pro is a sleek thing of beauty.
It’s interesting then that Acer has gone in a completely different direction with its ConceptD laptops. Instead of premium materials like aluminium, they’re made of plastic.
Well, there’s mention of a ‘magnesium-aluminum alloy’ but it really doesn’t seem like it in real life.
Dressed in white like MacBooks of yesteryear, the ConceptD 5 does look quite striking. It comes in at 16.9mm and 1.5kg so thanks to the plastic, it’s lighter than the MacBook Pro.
However, we’re concerned about how dirty the chassis will get over time. More importantly, how durable the device is. While the main section around the keyboard is fairly stiff, the screen is very wobbly and bendy.
The matching white trackpad and keyboard seem ok, but don’t give a sense of a premium experience to rival the likes of Apple and Dell.
Specs & Features: All the colours of the rainbow
Acer makes up for the interesting design choices with some decent specs including a 15.6in display that’s got designers and other creative users in mind.
It’s been specced to reproduce colours accurately so you can work without worry. To this end it’s got 100% of Adobe RGB, a Delta E of
The display is also 4K (3840×2160) in resolution, has a high brightness level of 400 nits and offers a matt finish.
Moving on and the ConceptD is powered by an 8th-gen Intel Core i5-8305G or an i7-8705G. These are quad-core chips with discrete Radeon RX Vega M GL graphics.
These are followed up by 8- or 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB SSD – it’s NVMe in RAID 0.
We haven’t been able to benchmark it, of course, but Acer says you’ll be able to “fine-tune images with professional precision and complete the trickiest 2D graphic design projects in no time.”
There are loads of handy ports including no less than three USB 3.1 Type-A ports along with HDMI, USB-C (with DisplayPort) and an SD card reader. Other features include a fingerprint scanner.
Early Verdict
We’re not convinced by the bendy white build quality of this laptop but it does seem to offer a cheaper alternative to those who can’t afford a MacBook Pro.
There’s a decent array of ports which is good to see and the specs looks good too, especially the screen.
Specs
Acer ConceptD 5: Specs
Author: Chris Martin, Reviews Editor, Tech Advisor
Chris got his break as a reporter at infamous site The Inquirer and has been at Tech Advisor for more than 12 years. With a BA degree in Music Technology, audio is his specialism, but over the years he has reviewed all kinds of gadgets, from smartwatches to mesh Wi-Fi to coffee machines.
