Acer Predator G9 (17.3-inch, 2016)

The new Predator 17 was the most promising new laptop to debut at IFA 2015, and it lives up to that promise. While it’s not the most exciting notebook at first glance, its conventional design, combined with excellent hardware, makes for an incredible...

Good price. Swappable fan module. Plenty of storage and I/O options. Better-than-average battery life.

Heavy, bulky design. Fans can get loud.

Some gaming laptops try to play it subtle. Not the Acer Predator 17. This is a laptop for gamers who want the world to know that they're not ashamed of a strong, bold, red-and-black gamer aesthetic—but would rather not take out a mortgage to get a...

future-proof features (amount of RAM, etc.) ; optical drive or additional fan ; illuminated keyboard with macro keys ; optional GPU overclocking ; excellent UHD display ; very high performance ; Thunderbolt 3 ; NVMe-SSD ; G-Sync

touchpad is set into the case very deep ; design is a matter of taste ; limited maintenance ; poor battery life ; high weight ; thick case

Since our Skylake test, our verdict on the visually extravagant Predator remains almost unchanged. With the featured equipment, the Kaby-Lake version also scores with an excellent UHD panel, which plays at the top in most disciplines (such as viewing...

bright and contrasty 4K panel with great color space coverage ; G-Sync for the integrated display ; future-proof RAM and VRAM configuration ; highly adjustable lighting configuration ; additional, replaceable fan (FrostCore) ; usable tools (Dust...

fan is a bit noisy and produces additional sounds ; screen-bleeding quite pronounced ; GPU-throttling at maximum load levels ; big and bulky ; touchpad is recessed too far

The screen bleeding we observed can possibly be attributed to the pre-production status of our review system (although we doubt it) - but we still adjusted our test score accordingly. More of an issue is the fact that the CPU of this particularly huge...

optical drive or additional fan ; useful tools (Dust Defender etc.) ; USB 3.1 Type C incl. Thunderbolt 3 ; UHD panel with big color space ; low temperature ; extensive lighting ; premium performance ; useful battery life ; good input devices ; big...

battery drains under full load (mains operation) ; G-Sync only available on external displays ; GPU throttling in extreme scenarios ; rubber coating smells unpleasant ; heavy and bulky chassis ; questionable design elements ; suboptimal position of the...

We liked the second generation Predator 17 much better than the first trial. Although the lighting and the design of the 4.1 monster are a matter of taste, there is no doubt about the powerful cooling system and the enormous performance. Most...

bright and high-contrast IPS display, comfortable touchpad surface, USB 3.1 with Thunderbolt, good build quality, cool palm rest, replaceable optical drive, illuminated keyboard, very good battery runtime, useful tools, high performance

CPU Turbo cannot be utilized completely, GTX 970M with 3 GB RAM instead of 6 GB, GPU throttles in extreme situations, pretty high noise development, G-Sync only for external monitors, heavy chassis, limited maintenance, battery is drained under maximum...

The two new gaming notebooks from Acer, the Predator 15 and our test model Predator 17, are very similar in many regards, so our verdict is comparable as well. Besides the design, you will notice the size and the weight of the 17-inch device in...

nice looking and sturdily built; excellent display, keyboard and trackpad; fast performance and do traces of throttling; runs cool and quiet; packs a large battery

tall and uncomfortable front edge; multiple LEDs that can't be switched off; slow Wi-Fi once you get away from the router; no GSync support

I have to admit, I did not expect this laptop to be as good as it is, given how it is Acer’s first try at a proper gaming machine, but the engineers behind it got all the important aspects right, from the build quality to the screen, from the typing...

Spec'd very well; No bloatware; Steam pre-installed; Screen offers great viewing angles, and is also non-reflective; Great keyboard with coloured lighting underneath; Macro keys; Two high-speed networking options via Killer NIC; Removable optical drive...

Big and heavy; No 4K screen, and no touch; Sound doesn't really feel fleshed out or spatial; Occasional bugs;

This is my first gaming laptop but I have always purchased powerful laptops and desktops so this is not extremely different. I love the speed, the way that it doesn't get hot at all, the graphics are amazing and everything else is pretty great so far...

It worked really great until I updated the audio driver that was posted on Acer's website for my laptop. It updated the driver and removed my Dolby Theater software at the same time. This would not have been so bad if it allowed me to reinstall the...