I liked how the curved screen added immersion to another new game, the creepy underwater adventure Narcosis. The curved screen adds a level of immersion to games. The latest Call of Duty game behaved similarly, with basic gameplay in 21:9, but some in-game map screens were distorted and hard to use. But, cutscenes and some menu or loading screens defaulted to 16:9, with black bars at either side. Most of the actual gameplay worked fine in 21:9, and the in-game settings options recognized the 2,560 by 1,080-pixel native resolution of the display. But, even some new games handle it better than others.įor example, Mass Effect: Andromeda is about as big-budget and mainstream as a game is going to get.
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Still, the response from everyone who saw the 21 X was the same: "What if I don't want a giant blue dragon on my $9,000 laptop?" (Update: Acer tells me the panel is indeed swappable, so it's not dragon-only.) The widescreen world of gamingįor games, the big question mark is: Does the game I want to play easily support a wider 21:9 aspect ratio? Today, many PC games do, although that wasn't always the case, even as recently as a year or two ago.
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The dragon panel unscrews to reveal a storage bay, but with 2TB of total storage, you're probably pretty set in that department for a while.Īt nine grand a pop, Acer clearly doesn't think they'll sell all that many of these, as our review loaner was labeled as #18 out of 300 (which would still bring in a total of $2.7 million if each one sold at the full retail price). Remove the dragon panel and you will find the hard drive. If the angle you're working or playing at doesn't require extra support, just pop it off and set it aside. Because the keyboard and keyboard tray are so high up off the desk, the wrist support makes for more comfortable typing, at least for me. It's a slightly padded plastic form that snaps right onto the front lip of the laptop via built-in magnets. That's why I love the add-on wrist support. The 21 X is not only wide, it's tall - the mechanical keyboard rises up more than two inches from the desk (and with the lid closed, the entire system is about four inches thick in the back). Like the MSI, the Acer 21 X has plenty of room for ports, including four USB 3.0 ports, one USB-C, two DisplayPort outputs and one HDMI output. There's a real similarity to the MSI GT83VR, which we referred to as a "suitcase nuke" of a laptop, thanks to its retro-looking raised keyboard and imposing clamshell shape. Interestingly, this isn't the first super-massive gaming laptop we've seen, not even recently. This expensive machine at least comes with an impressive case. It's 18.5 pounds (or 26 pounds if you include the two big power bricks) and your purchase price includes a huge rolling suitcase, complete with foam cutouts for the system and its accessories. It's more like having a squat all-in-one gaming desktop, and only slightly more mobile. But also not as overpowering as you might fear. What's a laptop with a 21-inch display and dual graphics cards like? It's huge, as one might expect. It's also dimmer than I'd like, with less of the colorful pop seen in the best gaming laptop displays.
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On the plus side, it's very matte, with basically zero screen glare (the curve helps with that), but it's also smaller than you might expect given the dimensions, and has just a modest 1,080 pixels of vertical resolution. However, the screen itself is a bit of a letdown in some ways. There, it's a single 17-inch display that adds two additional pull-out displays for a wider view. For a different take on a similar concept, check out the three-screen gaming laptop prototype from Razer, called Project Valerie. The screen is as tall as the display on a standard 17-inch gaming laptop, just extended out to the sides. While the diagonal measurement pegs this as a 21-inch display, that's because it's extra wide. The curved screen is a big focus of the laptop.
There's a small amount of wraparound effect, especially in games as well as when you're sitting close to the screen, but while surfing the web or viewing video, I didn't find the curve distracting. I can see making the case for improved immersion, but it's neither a deal-maker or a deal-killer.
TVs have a 4,000R or so curve, while the 21 X is 2,000R - which means it's curvier.īut considering the small size of the screen, even when compared to curved big-screen TVs the effect is modest. The curve is measured in "R," which reflects the radius if it were to be extended into a full circle. It's even a deeper curve than on big-screen curved TVs. The curved screen is the single-biggest talking point about the 21 X, as this is the first laptop to offer one.