Does anyone else find it odd that laptop manufacturers commonly offer higher resolution screens only on the smaller screens of their lineup? Very counter-intuitive.
That's because they don't make the screens themselves. They source the screen from another manufacturer, and there are not currently any 17" 4K panels available. Making there own would be cost-prohibitive because 17" laptops are unpopular
There are 17" 4K panels shipping now, but they've only shown up in the last month or two. Lenovo, Acer, and Asus have all announced 17" 4K notebooks recently.
80" 4k screens for TVs? No problem! 10" 4k screens for tablets and 2-in-1s? Sure, why not. 4k screens for 5" phones? Demented, but not too demented for the marketeers. 17" or 18" 4k screens for laptops? Bah, too expensive, that's crazy talk, man. Who would pay the extra price on a PREMIUM, HIGH-PERFORMANCE machine for something that is of relevance to only about 100% of the user experience? Jeez, and don't even get me started on 2:3 or 3:4 aspect ratios. Clearly all the people complaining couldn't possibly know what they, as potential customers, would want to spend their money on!
That is pretty daft to have 4K on the 15" model but not the 17"! Also an intermediate 1440p panel could have been a good compromise, although I suppose you could run the 4K at 1440p with scaling if the game doesn't go fast enough.
"To satisfy audio, Acer has four speakers and two subwoofers on the 17.3-inch model"
"Satisfy" is a strange word - as a musician I doubt laptop audio from a few tiny short-throw speakers would ever be satisfactory or even acceptable to me, LOL! And what do they think the definition of a "SUBwoofer" is if they think they are fitting any in a chassis this small? Truly breathtaking marketing nonsense.
As a musician, you should know that the size of the speaker doesn't matter, it's frequency response does. A 2" speaker with full 15-35 kHz (None exist to my knoweledge), and no large holes or drop offs would be far better than a 15# speaker that only goes to 12 Hz
Agreed. No doubt the high-end response is OK. But as extension to what you say, the likelihood of speakers that small providing a full low-end response is small. Subwoofers are generally large external boxes because it is near impossible to create very low frequencies with tiny short-throw speakers.
I realise that it's a popular meme to mock audiophiles, but surely then the appropriate response here is to mock a computer company that is deliberately suggesting some audiophile quality to their sound setup, using highly misleading marketing words like "subwoofer". Show me the frequency response curve if you really want to impress me.
I think you are absolutey right. I guess that it is physically impossible for a speaker within a laptop to produce a flat frequency response below 80Hz at ear distance even with active compensation. Firstly, the cone excursion would have to be so high, that even if the vibrations didn't shake the laptop to pieces they would cause considerable unpredictable resonances which distort the sound, because critical acoustic dampening of a laptop chassis is extremely difficult. In fact, I would guess that there is probably little usefull output below 100Hz on any commercial laptop. The reason our ears can follow notes lower than 100Hz, even if hardly any audible output is being produced is because basically all sounds have harmonic content, the first harmonic being at double the frequency of the fundamental. The human brain can fill in the missing fundamental of a tune, from the perceived harmonics.
I consider any specified flat low frequency response of a laptop below 100Hz to most likely be a bluff (unless they specified the actual role off in dB measured at ear distance, which would probably be at least -10dB at 50Hz)
Who cares you are a musician or a criminal? The Subwoofer and 6/12W speakers will make a big difference to Audio experience of almost all the customers, the Dell Xps 15 3-4 years older model came with single subwoofer and the Audio performance was amazing for a laptop.
If you wanted to test an audio setup, then highly discerning hearing from many many years of classical musical training would be a bonus, I would think. My point is that they cannot be, by any normal non-marketing usage or definition of the word, a SUBwoofer at that size. Shill for them all you like, though.
I am happy to see that Laptop manufacturers continue to make laptops without listening to broke musicians, everyone knows we are not aiming for studio quality audio here, what I and everyone else wants is a reasonably loud speaker which can fill a room with enough sound and bass, these tiny subwoofer do provide that, there is a lot of difference between the laptops with subwoofer and without subwoofer.
Almost all reviewers acknowledge these subwoofers, your snobby music training is useless here and almost everybody will mock you on this, most of the audiophiles are good people, only some tarnish the whole group by making such snobbery filled comments without actually using the product and comparing with the other products in the same range.
The snobbery and prejudice is in your curious assertion that musicians are generally "broke". But if you had a reasoned argument you wouldn't have had to resort to an unnecessary personal attack. How sad that these comment boards bring out the worst in people...
Well looks like i touched a raw musician nerve here :) He called me a "Shill" , I called him a broke musician, fair play most would day.
Don't expect to get showered with roses when you post rubbish without having experience of a category of products (subwoofer-laptops in this case) and that too with a superiority complex and snobbery shining through the comment, then proceed to call the person who has a different opinion based on his interest and experience of such products a shill !! You would be treated much more harshly on any other comment board for such comments, be glad, this is Anandtech where people are still very moderate in responding to such comments and personal attacks.
Yeah, I agree. This is a gaming laptop, not an "audiophile system".
This asmian fellow seems to believe that Acer is being intentionally misleading, but having used a laptop with a "subwoofer", it really does make quite a large difference when you play games, and that is the only point Acer seems to be making. Where in their product literature is any mention of "audiophile" aspirations for this thing?
And the reason audiophiles have a bad rep online has mainly to do with their pseudoscientific endorsement of things like $5000 speaker cables and such. Google "danceable cables" for a laugh on that subject.
How do you define "bass"? This is a tech site, so although subjective perceptions are important to any end user, a definition in Hz is appropriate, which I believe would have to include frequencies below 100Hz. But you won't find a laptop with much output below 100Hz at ear distance, probably at least -10dB at 50Hz. In my book, a subwoofer which does not produce much useful output below 100Hz is not a subwoofer. It's a misleading use of th term. A marketing gag, which suggests to users, that they are actually getting true low frequency bass, which in reality they are not.
This is what I've been waiting for but I have to resist. I want to wait to see what Razer, Alienware, and all the others come up with. I know they'll all have Skylake, but if one came out with GTX 990M, I'd kick myself for jumping in too soon. I want this as a desktop replacement for less clutter.
The laptops are a bit loud looking, but not terrible. Their desktop on the other hand...it's eye-popping and not in a good way. It looks like someone found a mutated turtle outside of a nuclear power plant, stuck it onto the front of a desktop case, and then hosed it down with black spray paint. What were they thinking?
I would love this laptop in plain jane "business" cladding without the tacky angles and lights. Keep the exact same spec just dress it for business instead of gaming.
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waltsmith - Thursday, September 3, 2015 - link
Does anyone else find it odd that laptop manufacturers commonly offer higher resolution screens only on the smaller screens of their lineup? Very counter-intuitive.Mikemk - Thursday, September 3, 2015 - link
That's because they don't make the screens themselves. They source the screen from another manufacturer, and there are not currently any 17" 4K panels available. Making there own would be cost-prohibitive because 17" laptops are unpopularPixyMisa - Friday, September 4, 2015 - link
There are 17" 4K panels shipping now, but they've only shown up in the last month or two. Lenovo, Acer, and Asus have all announced 17" 4K notebooks recently.boeush - Thursday, September 3, 2015 - link
80" 4k screens for TVs? No problem! 10" 4k screens for tablets and 2-in-1s? Sure, why not. 4k screens for 5" phones? Demented, but not too demented for the marketeers. 17" or 18" 4k screens for laptops? Bah, too expensive, that's crazy talk, man. Who would pay the extra price on a PREMIUM, HIGH-PERFORMANCE machine for something that is of relevance to only about 100% of the user experience? Jeez, and don't even get me started on 2:3 or 3:4 aspect ratios. Clearly all the people complaining couldn't possibly know what they, as potential customers, would want to spend their money on!stephenbrooks - Thursday, September 3, 2015 - link
That is pretty daft to have 4K on the 15" model but not the 17"! Also an intermediate 1440p panel could have been a good compromise, although I suppose you could run the 4K at 1440p with scaling if the game doesn't go fast enough.asmian - Thursday, September 3, 2015 - link
"To satisfy audio, Acer has four speakers and two subwoofers on the 17.3-inch model""Satisfy" is a strange word - as a musician I doubt laptop audio from a few tiny short-throw speakers would ever be satisfactory or even acceptable to me, LOL! And what do they think the definition of a "SUBwoofer" is if they think they are fitting any in a chassis this small? Truly breathtaking marketing nonsense.
Mikemk - Thursday, September 3, 2015 - link
As a musician, you should know that the size of the speaker doesn't matter, it's frequency response does. A 2" speaker with full 15-35 kHz (None exist to my knoweledge), and no large holes or drop offs would be far better than a 15# speaker that only goes to 12 Hzasmian - Friday, September 4, 2015 - link
Agreed. No doubt the high-end response is OK. But as extension to what you say, the likelihood of speakers that small providing a full low-end response is small. Subwoofers are generally large external boxes because it is near impossible to create very low frequencies with tiny short-throw speakers.I realise that it's a popular meme to mock audiophiles, but surely then the appropriate response here is to mock a computer company that is deliberately suggesting some audiophile quality to their sound setup, using highly misleading marketing words like "subwoofer". Show me the frequency response curve if you really want to impress me.
we - Tuesday, September 8, 2015 - link
I think you are absolutey right. I guess that it is physically impossible for a speaker within a laptop to produce a flat frequency response below 80Hz at ear distance even with active compensation. Firstly, the cone excursion would have to be so high, that even if the vibrations didn't shake the laptop to pieces they would cause considerable unpredictable resonances which distort the sound, because critical acoustic dampening of a laptop chassis is extremely difficult. In fact, I would guess that there is probably little usefull output below 100Hz on any commercial laptop. The reason our ears can follow notes lower than 100Hz, even if hardly any audible output is being produced is because basically all sounds have harmonic content, the first harmonic being at double the frequency of the fundamental. The human brain can fill in the missing fundamental of a tune, from the perceived harmonics.I consider any specified flat low frequency response of a laptop below 100Hz to most likely be a bluff (unless they specified the actual role off in dB measured at ear distance, which would probably be at least -10dB at 50Hz)
BMNify - Thursday, September 3, 2015 - link
Who cares you are a musician or a criminal? The Subwoofer and 6/12W speakers will make a big difference to Audio experience of almost all the customers, the Dell Xps 15 3-4 years older model came with single subwoofer and the Audio performance was amazing for a laptop.asmian - Friday, September 4, 2015 - link
If you wanted to test an audio setup, then highly discerning hearing from many many years of classical musical training would be a bonus, I would think. My point is that they cannot be, by any normal non-marketing usage or definition of the word, a SUBwoofer at that size. Shill for them all you like, though.BMNify - Friday, September 4, 2015 - link
I am happy to see that Laptop manufacturers continue to make laptops without listening to broke musicians, everyone knows we are not aiming for studio quality audio here, what I and everyone else wants is a reasonably loud speaker which can fill a room with enough sound and bass, these tiny subwoofer do provide that, there is a lot of difference between the laptops with subwoofer and without subwoofer.Almost all reviewers acknowledge these subwoofers, your snobby music training is useless here and almost everybody will mock you on this, most of the audiophiles are good people, only some tarnish the whole group by making such snobbery filled comments without actually using the product and comparing with the other products in the same range.
asmian - Saturday, September 5, 2015 - link
The snobbery and prejudice is in your curious assertion that musicians are generally "broke". But if you had a reasoned argument you wouldn't have had to resort to an unnecessary personal attack. How sad that these comment boards bring out the worst in people...BMNify - Saturday, September 5, 2015 - link
Well looks like i touched a raw musician nerve here :) He called me a "Shill" , I called him a broke musician, fair play most would day.Don't expect to get showered with roses when you post rubbish without having experience of a category of products (subwoofer-laptops in this case) and that too with a superiority complex and snobbery shining through the comment, then proceed to call the person who has a different opinion based on his interest and experience of such products a shill !! You would be treated much more harshly on any other comment board for such comments, be glad, this is Anandtech where people are still very moderate in responding to such comments and personal attacks.
kondor999 - Sunday, September 13, 2015 - link
Yeah, I agree. This is a gaming laptop, not an "audiophile system".This asmian fellow seems to believe that Acer is being intentionally misleading, but having used a laptop with a "subwoofer", it really does make quite a large difference when you play games, and that is the only point Acer seems to be making. Where in their product literature is any mention of "audiophile" aspirations for this thing?
And the reason audiophiles have a bad rep online has mainly to do with their pseudoscientific endorsement of things like $5000 speaker cables and such. Google "danceable cables" for a laugh on that subject.
we - Tuesday, September 8, 2015 - link
How do you define "bass"? This is a tech site, so although subjective perceptions are important to any end user, a definition in Hz is appropriate, which I believe would have to include frequencies below 100Hz. But you won't find a laptop with much output below 100Hz at ear distance, probably at least -10dB at 50Hz. In my book, a subwoofer which does not produce much useful output below 100Hz is not a subwoofer. It's a misleading use of th term. A marketing gag, which suggests to users, that they are actually getting true low frequency bass, which in reality they are not.SilthDraeth - Thursday, September 3, 2015 - link
This laptop appears to share the same cooling design as the Asus G series gaming laptops. Is Asus perhaps the ODM, or OEM for Acer on this series?rm19 - Thursday, September 3, 2015 - link
This is what I've been waiting for but I have to resist. I want to wait to see what Razer, Alienware, and all the others come up with. I know they'll all have Skylake, but if one came out with GTX 990M, I'd kick myself for jumping in too soon. I want this as a desktop replacement for less clutter.BrokenCrayons - Friday, September 4, 2015 - link
The laptops are a bit loud looking, but not terrible. Their desktop on the other hand...it's eye-popping and not in a good way. It looks like someone found a mutated turtle outside of a nuclear power plant, stuck it onto the front of a desktop case, and then hosed it down with black spray paint. What were they thinking?toyotabedzrock - Friday, September 4, 2015 - link
So the new fad is to make PC parts look like they came from a horror film.Pessimism - Tuesday, September 8, 2015 - link
I would love this laptop in plain jane "business" cladding without the tacky angles and lights. Keep the exact same spec just dress it for business instead of gaming.