24 MAY2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE387
MUCH LIKE THEdesktop ConceptD 500
(Shopper385), the ConceptD 7isa
workstation forcreative types –only this
time,inlaptop form. We’ve tested the
mid-range spec, which includes 32GB of
RAM, a1TB SSD,Intel’s Core i7-9750H CPU
and a6GB Nvidia GeForce RTX2060 for
extra graphical muscle.
BALANCE OF POWER
It’s sturdily built, with areassuringly
robust aluminium chassis measuring
359x255x17.9mm. Given what the Concept 7
has under the hood, cramming everything
intosuch aslimpackage and keeping the
weight to 2.21kg is an impressive feat.
However,itisworth noting that the 628g
power supply is pretty chunky, andwill add
to your load when carrying it in abackpack.
As you’d expect of aworkstation machine,
the ConceptD 7has an impressive arrayof
connectivity options. There’s aUSB Type-C
ThunderBolt 3portonthe right side,where
you’ll also find two USB3.1ports and amini
DisplayPort output. On the leftside you get
another USB3.1port, an HDMI output, two
3.5mm jacks and an Ethernet connector,
which you’ll want to be alittle wary of as its
uncovered edges are quitesharp.
There are afew absent features we’d
have liked to have seen, such as Wi-Fi 6
support or any kind of biometric login
option, although the most glaring omission
is that of any form of SD card reader.
That’s abig miss forphotographers.
Much better is the keyboard. It’s
conventional in terms of itslayout, but the
keys are perfectly spaced out and enable
fluid typing free of typos. It’s backlit, too,
and this can be adjusted to one of four
brightness levels.
The touchpad, however,felt alittle too
ssstttiiiccckkkyyyiiinnnttteeerrrrrmmmsssoooffffffrrriiiccctttiiiooonnn.WWWeeefffooooouuunnndddiiittt’’’sssbbbeeesssttt
ACERConceptD7
★★★★★
£2,299•Fromwww.acer.com
WINDOWS10 LAPTOP
uuussseeedddwittthtttheeeveeeryyytttipppoooftttheeefingggeeer,,,tttooo
minimisecontactandthusdrag.
TheConceptD7’sstarfeatureisthe15.6in,
4KIPSdisplay.Acerclaimsitcovers100%of
thesRGBcolourgamut,andthisprovedmore
orlesstrueinourtesting,wherewemeasured
99.6% coverage.Even better is the average
delta-E result of 0.8: anything at 1orbelow is
professional quality,sothe ConceptD 7
definitely lives up to its workstation promise.
Apeak brightness of 365cd/m^2 is good rather
than great, but that’s still high enough for
indoor use,and the screen backlighting is
nice and uniform across the panel.
The speakers are pretty good, too, which
makes achange forlaptops. Although they’re
downwards-firing, so could get muffled by
certain surfaces, we were highly impressed
by their clarity and overall sound quality,
even at maximum volume.
If you don’t like the waytheysound, you
can tweak the audio via Acer’s ConceptD
Paletteapp using the MaxxAudio suiteof
tools. These allow you to create sound presets
forGaming, Movies, Music and Voice, which
is anice touchfor those with audiophile
tendencies. WavesNX promises to “turn any
pair of headphones intoahigh-end 360°
surround-sound system”bytrackingyour
head movements via the laptop’s 720p
webcam and adjusting the audio as you move.
It’s apretty niche feature that only works with
wired headphones, but we foundits surround-
sound effect surprisingly convincing.
OLD FAVOURITE
The IntelCCCore i7-9750H is aCPU we’ve seen
performwwwell many times before,and backed
up with ahefty32GB of memory,itpropelled
the ConceeeptD 7toavery strong 185 overall in
our 4Kbbbenchmarks. That’s afew points
aheadddof the Razer Blade 15 (Shopper
38000 )and one point ahead of the
sssimilarly work-minded MSI P65
CCCreator (Shopper375). In fact, you’d
hhhavetopay much more foraCore
i9-powered laptop such as the Apple
MacBookkkPro 16in (Shopper385) to get
significantttly better CPU performance.
VERDICT
The ConceptD 7deliversalmost anything a
serious content creator could wish for
TheeeSSSSSSDisssaaalsssooooooneeeoooftttheeefaaasssttteeessstttweee’veee
seen,landinganexcellentsequentialread
speedof2,878MB/sandasequentialwrite
speedof2,587MB/s.EventheMacBookPro
can’tkeepupwiththatreadspeed,thoughits
2,889MB/swritespeedwashigher.
Itmaynotbedesignedormarketedasa
gaminglaptop,butintermsofgraphical
performance,the ConceptD 7certainly has
the capability to double-up as one.During our
Metro Last Light Redux test at 1080p on high
settings, the ConceptD 7averaged 139fps,
which is up there with some of the top-
performing gaming laptops we’ve tested.
Battery lifeislessstandout: in our video
rundown test, the ConceptD 7lasted 4h 52m.
This isn’t aterrible result given how powerful
it is, but it means it’s probably best viewed as
aspace-saving home workstation rather than
atruly mobile laptop forroad warriors.
CREATIVE SIDE
Even so,the ConceptD 7isasuperb
workstation laptop,suitable fordesigners,
photographers and video editors alike.In
particular,its displayisadelight to work with
and demonstrates exceptional colour
accuracy across the Adobe RGB gamut.
It maylack an SD card slot, and battery
lifeprevents it from being truly mobile,but
the ConceptD 7isanappealing premium
laptop that delivers where it matters.
AndyWhite
SPECIFICATIONS
Windowsoverall
Multitasking
Battery life
0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100
See page 88 forperformancedetails
PROCESSORHexa-core2.6GHzIntelCorei7-9750H•RAM
32GB•DIMENSIONS359x255x17.9mm•WEIGHT2.21kg•
SCREEN SIZE15.6in•SCREEN RESOLUTION3,840x2,160•
GRAPHICSADAPTOR6GBNvidiaGeForceRTX2060•
TOTALSTORAGE1TBSSD•OPERATINGSYSTEMWindows
10Pro•WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.acer.
com•PART CODENX.C4HEK.001
4h 52m
185
195
