At CES 2020, Acer has debuted a laptop for creatives with a unique form factor. The ConceptD 7 Ezel Pro puts the flexibility of a Surface product in the body of a high-end workstation, showcasing Nvidia’s powerful Quadro RTX 5000 graphics and Intel’s beefy Xeon processor.
By relying on Nvidia’sStudio RTX platformfor laptops, Acer’s latest notebooks designed for creators pack in workstation-level performance in a thinner and lighter footprint, similar to what Nvidia had achieved withMax-Q laptop designs for gaming.
Unlike the premiumConceptD 9 laptopthat introduced last year, the screen articulation mechanism is a bit different on this year’s ConceptD 7 Ezel Pro. Rather than swing arms that attach to the sides of the display at the middle, the ConceptD 7 Ezel Pro uses a mid-mounted hinge on the back not unlike what Microsoft integrated into theSurface Pro tablets.
The end result is similar to what Sony had previously achieved with itsVaio Flip laptopsfrom a few years ago. This form factor keeps the display closer to your hands when you’re manipulating the touchscreen with your fingers or with a digital pen, similar to an artist’s easel. Acer claims that its convertible design can accommodate a total of five usage modes: Laptop, stand, sharing, display, and floating.
“The ConceptD 7 Ezel series convertible notebooks allow creators to design and share their ideas with a color-accurate UHD touch screen display that swivels and rotates into any of five different usage modes for the utmost in flexibility and convenience,” Acer said in a statement.
The ConceptD 7 Ezel series packs in a factory-calibrated 4K IPS display that is capable of reaching a brightness of 400 nits. Acer claims that the touchscreen is protected by Gorilla Glass 6, making it resistant to drops, and creators will appreciate the anti-glare coating to minimize reflections when working under bright lighting conditions.
If Intel’s Xeon processor proves to be too powerful for your creative workflow, Acer’s ConceptD 7 Ezel is also available in a non-Pro variant. The vanilla ConceptD 7 tops out with Intel’s 10th-Gen Core H-series processor and Nvidia’s latest GPUs. Acer didn’t specify if the graphics card will be part of the consumer-grade RTX 2080 series or if the non-Pro ConceptD 7 will max out with similar Quadro silicon as the Pro variant.
The non-Pro version can also be configured with up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM and 2TB of NVMe PCIe SSDs for storage. Both versions of the ConceptD 7 Ezel come with a 15.6-inch screen.
The vanilla ConceptD 7 Ezel will start at $2,699, while the Pro version will cost $3,099, however, Acer did not specify when the products will be available for purchase.
