If you are in the market for a laptop or you have been, you would have heard of Acer, who is well known for their range of affordable yet well-built and specced laptops. Acer South Africa sent me their Acer ConceptD 5 Pro to check out.
At first glance, the Acer ConceptD 5 Pro Looks like a really well designed and specced laptop, which could be perfect for the kind of work I do. Let’s see if this is the case!
Design:
With a thick matte black magnesium alloy body, the ConceptD 5 Pro looks and feels great. Thanks to its angled corners and its minimalist look, the ConceptD 5 Pro just looks fit for the job.
At the sides of the laptop, you will find a wide range of ports needed for day to day use. On the left-hand side of the laptop, you get two USB 3.0 ports, a Type-C port, an HDMI port, a network port as well as a lock slot, while on the right-hand side there is a USB 2.0 port, headphone jack, power port, power on and battery indicator.
On the rear is a massive exhaust to extract air to keep the device cool. This exhaust is something you see more on gaming laptops, but being somewhat of a gamer myself, I do like the look and feel it brings to the rear. There are more air vents on the sides and underneath, so I don’t foresee overheating being an issue here.
You will find two speakers located underneath. At first, I wasn’t able to locate these so I played some music and that helped with finding the location. The speakers have a decent volume but you will probably be using headphones in a work environment, I hope.
The lid opens pretty easily and feels solid enough that it won’t break off after many opens and closes.
With a weight of 2.2KG, the ConceptD 5 Pro is a decent weight if you plan to take the laptop out with you every day. It can easily be transported in a laptop bag or a sleeve.
You do get super-fast Wi-Fi 6 with gigabit ethernet and Bluetooth 5.0, so you should be good to go with all things connectivity.
The keyboard is a full keyboard with large spaced out keys with a number pad. I really liked how clicky and responsive the keys actually were but they were silent and not obtrusive at the same time. The keyboard also has a backlight with 4 brightness levels which makes using the laptop in darker conditions possible.
The trackpad has a large smooth surface that allows for precise and quick movements of the curser. The built-in buttons are also responsive which helps when you don’t have a mouse to plug in.
There is a built-in 720P webcam located at the top of the display, much like any other laptop, we have seen. This produces a decent image and together with the onboard mic, it makes for a great work from home meeting setup.
The Screen:
The ConceptD 5 Pro has a 15.6 inch UHD Acer ComfyView 4K Led LCD Display. The display has a 4K resolution and produces crisp images with vibrant colours, perfect for work such as design and video editing. The screen can also go really bright, which is handy if you want to go work outside while working from home! The screen also has a really superb contrast, so bright and darker parts of images can be differentiated.
Performance:
Powered by an intel Core i7 -9750H processor with 32GB of DDR4 RAM, the ConceptD 5 Pro is a super nippy laptop. The processor has 6 cores with a clock speed of 2.6GHz and 4.5Ghz. There is also a 512GB SSD, which helps to ensure that the software and files run and open quickly. Boot time is really quick, which is something I always look at when you need to get your laptop ready for use in an urgent situation.
The ConceptD 5 Pro is specced for those that want a laptop that can do it all. If you need to edit photos or videos, the ConceptD 5 Pro can handle it with ease with no overheating or performance issues.
The model that I received came with onboard intel UHD 630 graphics which I found adequate for work purposes. I am sure this would perform pretty well for some gaming too!
Operating System:
The ConceptD 5 Pro comes loaded with Windows 10 Pro, which runs smoothly on the laptop. I did like the Acer ConceptD Palette UI tool which you can use to monitor the system to ensure that apps aren’t draining performance.
Battery Life:
Powered by a 55Wh Li-ion battery, you are looking at about 4 hours of battery life, depending on your screen brightness and use. This is the norm though for a laptop of its size and specs.
In the box:
Inside the box, you will find the laptop together with the charging adapter, which has a nice long cable, as we all know the struggle with getting some juice when our table is not near a plug point.
Price:
The Acer ConceptD 5 Pro sells for R45999, which is a large amount of money to be spending on a laptop in my opinion. That being said, you are getting a laptop that is well specced for the price.
Verdict:
The Acer ConceptD 5 Pro is a well-specced and built laptop that can handle anything from photo editing, design work to loads of movies and series. The laptop looks great and I didn’t find it heavy when moving it around. I like the range of ports that come with it so you don’t need to buy a dongle. I would suggest the Acer ConceptD 5 Pro for someone that needs a laptop that will perform well no matter the task at hand. If you are looking for a laptop that can suit any situation, whether working, gaming, or watching series, the ConceptD 5 Pro is that laptop.
