Acer ConceptD 5 17 inch Review: Creativity in large format

With 2.8 kg (~6.2 lb), the heavy device brings a lot of weight to the scale, and the 600-gram (~1.3 lb) power supply does not improve things. The case offers a decent stiffness overall, but it is still some ways from perfection. It is an aluminum unibody case that is closed up by a plate on the bottom. The keyboard and ports stick out from the case. The lid is also made from this metal, and there is a plastic band on top for the WiFi antenna. 

The smooth, metal surface feels comfortably cool, particularly during idle operation. The bottom plate can be removed, giving access to the two RAM slots, the WiFi module, and the SSD.

Acer uses Killer network cards: while the E2500 Gigabit Ethernet and the WiFi 6 AX1650x offer strong connection speeds, the test unit still does not place at the top for WiFi. Here, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme is able to achieve more data throughput under equal test conditions, particularly during sending. 

Real HDMI 2.0 and Mini DisplayPort 1.4 confirm the (limited) workstation ambitions of the ConceptD 5. Unfortunately, there is only a single USB Type-C connection (with DisplayPort 1.4), but on the other hand, two of the four USB ports support the Gen-3.2 standard. The lack of Thunderbolt 3 is incomprehensible for this price range, and the XPS 15, the MSI P65, and the Macbook Pro 15 naturally have it on board. 

The smooth keys with the rubber dome base impress with a crisp pressure point and a clear and solid stroke. The keys are easy to type on, and due to the large distances between the keys, typing tasks succeed easily. There is also a number block with smaller keys. Unfortunately, Acer does not make use of the full case width for a keyboard with larger keys. The way it is, the arrow keys seem to be squished between the Ctrl and Shift keys and the number block. Other keys such as the Enter and right Shift and Ctrl keys, could have been larger for more typing comfort. 

While the 13 cm (5.1 in) wide ClickPad offers a smooth surface for sliding, moist fingers might stumble and not slide easily. There is a clear pressure point, but the stroke is very short and there is hardly any at all in the top third of the pad. The pad can be deactivated via function keys. 

The Intel Core i7-9750H has a basic clock speed of 2.6 GHz, and all six cores should also be able to run at Turbo speed, which is even up to 4.5 GHz for the single or dual-core Turbo. Under the single-core load in Cinebench, we are seeing up to 4.4 GHz, but the average is around 3.7 GHz. When all the cores are running simultaneously, the clock speed is 6x 2.6 GHz. 

The R15 loop shows the enormous performance difference between the i9-9980HK (Dell XPS, Lenovo TP X1 Extreme, Macbook Pro 15) and our Core i7-9750H. Even though the performance only drops by 3% under constant load, the amount of points are between 20 and 40% below those of the HK processors. However, the reason for this is not any limitation of the CPU (TDPc), and the power limit of our test unit is 45 watts. It never goes below the basic clock speed, so there is no throttling. 

A glance at the competitors shows that the hexa-core processor is almost at the same level as the i9-9880H and i9-9980HK in the single-core comparison, and the differences are only marginal here. However, the Core i9-9980HK octa-core SoC uses its full advantage in the multi-core comparison, where it moves ahead by 20 to 40%. Eight cores also means sixteen virtual cores who can compute a Cinebench run blazingly fast. 

Although the 1-Terrabyte Western Digital storage is by no means slow, its speed is leisurely compared to the competitors. While it is among the top for sequential writes, it places last during 4K read and writes. Overall, the Samsung SSDs from the Lenovo and Dell 15 offer an up to 18% better performance. On the other hand, the Toshiba XG6 in the Dell XPS has to be content with being left behind. 

The GeForce RTX 2060 rocks in the 3DMark. In the Fire Strike Graphics, it almost reaches the RTX 2070 Max-Q of the MSI P65 Creator. However, this should be expected, since the average Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 is still 3% faster. Anyways, the GeForce GTX 1650 competitors are left in the dust, only reaching about half the amount of points.

Among the competitors, only the MSI P65 Creator with the more powerful RTX 2070 Max-Q is able to keep up here, reaching 40 to 50% higher fps ("Witcher 3"). The GeForce GTX 1650 models remain significantly behind, and their limit of fps that are still playable are at Full HD resolution. 

So while the Acer ConceptD 5 CN517 surely is a notebook that should also make gamers happy, you will only rarely be able to play current games at 4K settings. Which games will run on the GeForce RTX 2060? Our games list will show you the answer.  

In the meantime, the case is cooled adequately, and there is no place where it gets warmer than 50 °C (122 °F). During the "Witcher 3" test, the temperature increases slightly on the bottom. The device runs through the stress test with Prime95 and Furmark with the same numbers as during maximum load. The palm rest succeeds in remaining constantly cool, never getting warmer than 30 °C (86 °F). 

The power consumption is moderate and on a level that is typical for a 17-inch notebook with a 45-watt processor. The dedicated GPU can be turned off via Optimus, so the minimum power consumption lies between 6 and 15 watts, depending on the brightness, keyboard illumination, and WiFi activity. The 15-inch competitors cannot serve as a comparison in this discipline. Under load, the power consumption increases up to 145 watts, so the 180-watt power supply is sufficiently large. 

A long battery life is surely not a priority for heavy 17-inch notebooks. With its 55-Wh capacity, Acer's 17-incher manages 333 minutes in the WiFi test at a brightness of 150 cd/m². The more powerful Dell XPS 15 does better here, but it also has to carry 97 Wh around to achieve its 467 minutes. Compared to that, the ConceptD 5 17-inch notebook is not so bad with its 5:30 hours.