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Acer's Predator gaming monitors come for your wallet, while laptops get the latest updates

Acer's Predator gaming monitors come for your wallet, while laptops get the latest updates

This story is part of CES, where CNET covers the latest news on the most incredible tech coming soon.

Three new monitors stand out from Acer's crowd of gaming gear at CES 2022. Not as yowza as Alienware's QD-OLED debut, but with enough yes-I-may-want-it newness for the gamer who's OK spending $1,799 or more for a fast 32-inch 4K HDR monitor or $2,499 for a 48-inch OLED to pair with an Xbox Series X or PS5.

The veteran Predator X32 line welcomes two new members this year -- the, well, Predator X32 and Predator X32 FP. They use the same IPS panel, a DisplayHDR-1000 certified 4K screen with a peak brightness of 1,200 nits and full coverage of the Adobe RGB color gamut and 1ms response time. A new 576-zone Mini LED backlight supplants older versions which had a lot more zones but also tended to generate a lot of heat. They also sport a thin bezel design and minimalist stand.

As the names might imply, though, they differ by some supplementary features. The $1,799 X32 FP uses FreeSync Pro for its variable refresh rate support, and its maximum native refresh rate is 160Hz, or 165Hz overclocked. The $1,999 X32 uses G-Sync Ultimate, which adds to the price and supplies support for Nvidia Reflex latency optimization technology, but G-Sync only works over DisplayPort. Its maximum refresh rate over DP is 160Hz, but over HDMI it's only 120Hz. And unless the specs I'm looking at are wrong, which is quite possible, the X32 only offers HDMI 2.0 connections (three of them) while the cheaper FreeSync model has four HDMI 2.1 connectors as well as a USB-C port with 90-watt power delivery.

The Predator CG48

Acer

The $2,499 Predator CG48 console monitor should offer all the usual benefits of OLED -- a large color gamut, high contrast and fast pixel response -- with a refresh rate of 138Hz in 4K. But seems like it might make some sacrifices. For instance, it's not clear how well it will handle HDR: Acer provides what sounds like a low peak brightness of 450 nits (and a native brightness of 135 nits, which is low) and says it supports HDR10, which means it can decode the stream but won't necessarily display it well.

It does have an HDMI 2.1 connection as well as 3 HDMI 2.0 and a USB hub, though it's odd that the USB-C can only charge up to 65 watts.

All the monitors will ship around October.

Acer also brought forth refreshes of its Nitro 5, Triton 500 SE and Predator Helios 300, but nothing really makes them stand out from the crowd on paper. They've all had minor makeovers to tone down the gaming vibe (but just a bit) and the Triton has slimmed down. The Triton will be marketed as a creator-focused laptop in some regions, so a more subtle style is warranted. 

All get the usual upgrades to the newest versions of whichever processor and graphics card they use. That means the Nitro gets 12th-gen Intel Core H and AMD Ryzen 6000 H models, along with all the perks of the new platforms like support for DDR5.

The Predator Triton 500 SE

Acer

• The Predator Triton 500 SE ships in March, starting at $2,300
• The Predator Helios 300 ships in May, start at $1,650 for the 15-inch model and the 17-inch ships in March starting at $1,750
• The Acer Nitro 5 with Intel ships in March starting at $1,050 for the 15-inch and April starting at $1,100 for the 17-inch; with AMD the 15-inch ships in April starting at $1,100 and the 17-inch ships in May starting at $1,150

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Acer Next May 2022: 3D Screens, Predator Gaming Laptops and More

Acer Next May 2022: 3D Screens, Predator Gaming Laptops and More

Acer Next, the company's May announcement event, dropped a multitude of products on us -- mostly a raft of refreshes. We saw updates to existing models including the Spin 5, Swift 3 and Predator gaming laptops with current-generation processors and some design tweaks. One move in particular stands out, though: Acer's expanding its SpatialLabs technology to bring glasses-free stereoscopic 3D to games. It'll do this with a 15-inch 4K display, which will be offered as a standalone monitor and built in to one of its Predator Helios 300 gaming laptops.

SpatialLabs launched at last year's May Acer Next in conjunction with new hardware in Acer's Concept D line of creator-focused gear and an Unreal Engine developer program. Hence, new games supporting the technology. "Support" means the developer has created a profile for the game, which loads when you launch it via the new TrueGame application, along with the ancillary files necessary to render properly to the display. An ancillary app, SpatialLabs Go, will allow the computer to render stereoscopic 3D from most content that can be displayed full screen. The content is rendered to deliver the impression that nearer parts of the scene appear in front of the display (rather than rendering as if further objects were behind it, as the illustration above implies).

Rear view of the SpatialLabs View portable monitor.

Acer

Acer says more than 50 games will support the display, dubbed Acer SpatialLabs View, when it becomes available this summer starting at $1,099. New games will be added to the roster on a regular basis. It doesn't sound like a display you'd want for fast-moving games, given its 60Hz refresh rate and response time of up to a whopping 30ms. (For comparison, a decent response time for a gaming monitor is closer to 5ms or less.) There will also be a commercially oriented version of the monitor, the SpatialLabs View Pro, intended for kiosks and other sales and marketing uses. 

The Predator Helios 300 SpatialLabs Edition.

Acer

The monitor can run off battery, though for how long we don't know. The battery does explain why it's relatively heavy -- at roughly 3.3 pounds (1.5 kilograms), it weighs as much as a laptop. Other specs include a maximum brightness of 400 nits, typically 323 nits, and 100% coverage of the Adobe RGB gamut.

You'll find the screen in the Predator Helios 300 SpatialLabs Edition, which also gets a bump up to a maximum of an Intel Core i9-12900H CPU, 32GB DDR5-4800 and PCIe 4 SSD. It's slated to ship in October starting at $3,400.

Acer has also added a 16-inch model to its Predator Triton 300 SE line, and brings the thin-ish 14-inch model up to date with 12th-gen Intel Core processors, LPDDR5-5200 RAM, PCIe 4 SSD and new display choices, including OLED. The smaller model ships in July starting at $1,600, and the 16-inch model will be available in August, starting at $1,750. 

The company has also revved its gaming monitors, bringing the 27-inch XB273 up to 4K at 160Hz with DisplayHDR 600 certification and the Nitro XV272 up to 1440p 144Hz (overclocked to 170Hz on DisplayPort) with a peak brightness of 400 nits. Both are expected to ship between July and September, with the Predator starting at $999 and the Nitro at $449.

Acer Aspire Vero 14-inch model.

Acer

Aspire Vero

Acer's eco-friendly product line gets some new members, adding a 14-inch laptop with a Full HD screen and a new blue choice to the existing Aspire Vero 15-inch option, bumping both to 12th-gen Intel Core processors. A 24-inch Vero Veriton All-in-One desktop, 24- and 27-inch monitors (the larger model has a KVM switch and supports power delivery), keyboard and projector join the the lineup, expanding Acer's use of post-consumer recycled plastic to a wider variety of products.

Acer Veriton all-in-one with matching accessories.

Acer

The Veriton desktop incorporates 30% PCR materials, and some components are upgradable. It has a popup webcam, up to 12th-gen Core i9 and GeForce MX550 processors, supports up to 64GB DDR4 memory and takes advantage of some of the Intel chipset updates, such as Wi-Fi 6E.

For low-end projecting, the Vero PD2325W offers a low 1,280x800-pixel resolution and low light output of 2,200 lumens. It does have auto keystone correction (to fix vertical distortion) and can be mounted to the ceiling.

• Acer Aspire Vero 14-inch (AV14-51) laptop ships in September starting at $750
• Acer Aspire Vero 15-inch (AV15-52) laptop ships in September starting at $750
• Acer Veriton Vero (VVZ4694G) AIO desktop ships in October starting at $799
• Acer Vero monitors ship in Q3 2022. The CB273 27-inch starts at $350; the 24-inch B247Y G starts at $200.
• Acer Vero PD2325W projector ships in Q3 2022 starting at $559
• Acer Vero keyboard and mouse set ships in November starting at $80; the mouse alone will cost $30.

Spin and Swift and more

A new version of the Swift 3 has a 2,880x1,800-pixel OLED display (DisplayHDR True Black 500 certified) and upgrades to an H-series 12th-gen Core i7 processor -- that's the higher power CPU line -- and upgrades to LPDDR5 memory and PCIe 4 SSD.

The Spin 5 has a higher-resolution display with thinner bezels.

Acer

In addition to a slight redesign that has much more attractive, thinner bezels on the screen, the 14-inch Spin 5's display gets a minor boost in resolution to 2,560x1,600 pixels. It also works with the upgraded Acer Active Stylus (Wacom AES 2.0), and gets bumped to the latest generation of core processors, LPDDR5 memory, PCIe 4 SSD, Wi-Fi 6E and more. The Spin 3's bezels have also gotten a bit narrower and now uses 12th-gen Intel CPUs as well.

• Acer Swift 3 OLED laptop (SF314-71) ships in July starting at $900 
• Acer Spin 5 convertible laptop (SP514-51N) ships in July starting at $1,350
• Spin 3 convertible laptop (SP314-55/N) ships in August starting at $850

Acer

Acer also updated the $750 Chromebook Spin 714's screen and components to keep it fresh and competitive, and launched a rugged tablet, the $400 Chromebook Tab 510. The 10.1-inch tablet is built on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 Compute Platform, with a 1,920x1,00-pixel screen, 5- and 8-megapixel MIPI cameras (front and rear) and includes a dockable stylus. Acer claims an 11-hour battery life and says it meets MIL-STD 810H standards for durability. The Chromebook Spin 714 ships in August while the Tab will be available in July.

The company's lightweight business laptops, the TravelMate P4 and TravelMate Spin P4 and the more workhorse P2, jump to the vPro versions of its 12th-gen CPUs as well as AMD's Ryzen Pro (up to Ryzen 7) equivalents; you'll have both 14- and 16-inch options for the P4. The P4 and P2 also incorporate more PCR plastic into their construction.

They'll all become available in the third quarter of 2022. The P4 models start at $1,099, the Spin P4s at $1,199, and the Spin P2 at $899.

And finally, Acer boosted its Concept D 5 and 5 Pro laptops and Concept D 500 and 100 desktops with the latest generation Intel Core CPUs and Nvidia RTX GPUs. The compact, entry-level Concept D 100 still uses last-gen T series GPUs, however, and neither has been bumped to DDR5. And it looks like only the D 5 will be available in the US, at least for now; it ships in August starting at $2,500.

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Acer Next May 2022: 3D Screens, Predator Gaming Laptops and More

Acer Next May 2022: 3D Screens, Predator Gaming Laptops and More

Acer Next, the company's May announcement event, dropped a multitude of products on us -- mostly a raft of refreshes. We saw updates to existing models including the Spin 5, Swift 3 and Predator gaming laptops with current-generation processors and some design tweaks. One move in particular stands out, though: Acer's expanding its SpatialLabs technology to bring glasses-free stereoscopic 3D to games. It'll do this with a 15-inch 4K display, which will be offered as a standalone monitor and built in to one of its Predator Helios 300 gaming laptops.

SpatialLabs launched at last year's May Acer Next in conjunction with new hardware in Acer's Concept D line of creator-focused gear and an Unreal Engine developer program. Hence, new games supporting the technology. "Support" means the developer has created a profile for the game, which loads when you launch it via the new TrueGame application, along with the ancillary files necessary to render properly to the display. An ancillary app, SpatialLabs Go, will allow the computer to render stereoscopic 3D from most content that can be displayed full screen. The content is rendered to deliver the impression that nearer parts of the scene appear in front of the display (rather than rendering as if further objects were behind it, as the illustration above implies).

Rear view of the SpatialLabs View portable monitor.

Acer

Acer says more than 50 games will support the display, dubbed Acer SpatialLabs View, when it becomes available this summer starting at $1,099. New games will be added to the roster on a regular basis. It doesn't sound like a display you'd want for fast-moving games, given its 60Hz refresh rate and response time of up to a whopping 30ms. (For comparison, a decent response time for a gaming monitor is closer to 5ms or less.) There will also be a commercially oriented version of the monitor, the SpatialLabs View Pro, intended for kiosks and other sales and marketing uses. 

The Predator Helios 300 SpatialLabs Edition.

Acer

The monitor can run off battery, though for how long we don't know. The battery does explain why it's relatively heavy -- at roughly 3.3 pounds (1.5 kilograms), it weighs as much as a laptop. Other specs include a maximum brightness of 400 nits, typically 323 nits, and 100% coverage of the Adobe RGB gamut.

You'll find the screen in the Predator Helios 300 SpatialLabs Edition, which also gets a bump up to a maximum of an Intel Core i9-12900H CPU, 32GB DDR5-4800 and PCIe 4 SSD. It's slated to ship in October starting at $3,400.

Acer has also added a 16-inch model to its Predator Triton 300 SE line, and brings the thin-ish 14-inch model up to date with 12th-gen Intel Core processors, LPDDR5-5200 RAM, PCIe 4 SSD and new display choices, including OLED. The smaller model ships in July starting at $1,600, and the 16-inch model will be available in August, starting at $1,750. 

The company has also revved its gaming monitors, bringing the 27-inch XB273 up to 4K at 160Hz with DisplayHDR 600 certification and the Nitro XV272 up to 1440p 144Hz (overclocked to 170Hz on DisplayPort) with a peak brightness of 400 nits. Both are expected to ship between July and September, with the Predator starting at $999 and the Nitro at $449.

Acer Aspire Vero 14-inch model.

Acer

Aspire Vero

Acer's eco-friendly product line gets some new members, adding a 14-inch laptop with a Full HD screen and a new blue choice to the existing Aspire Vero 15-inch option, bumping both to 12th-gen Intel Core processors. A 24-inch Vero Veriton All-in-One desktop, 24- and 27-inch monitors (the larger model has a KVM switch and supports power delivery), keyboard and projector join the the lineup, expanding Acer's use of post-consumer recycled plastic to a wider variety of products.

Acer Veriton all-in-one with matching accessories.

Acer

The Veriton desktop incorporates 30% PCR materials, and some components are upgradable. It has a popup webcam, up to 12th-gen Core i9 and GeForce MX550 processors, supports up to 64GB DDR4 memory and takes advantage of some of the Intel chipset updates, such as Wi-Fi 6E.

For low-end projecting, the Vero PD2325W offers a low 1,280x800-pixel resolution and low light output of 2,200 lumens. It does have auto keystone correction (to fix vertical distortion) and can be mounted to the ceiling.

• Acer Aspire Vero 14-inch (AV14-51) laptop ships in September starting at $750
• Acer Aspire Vero 15-inch (AV15-52) laptop ships in September starting at $750
• Acer Veriton Vero (VVZ4694G) AIO desktop ships in October starting at $799
• Acer Vero monitors ship in Q3 2022. The CB273 27-inch starts at $350; the 24-inch B247Y G starts at $200.
• Acer Vero PD2325W projector ships in Q3 2022 starting at $559
• Acer Vero keyboard and mouse set ships in November starting at $80; the mouse alone will cost $30.

Spin and Swift and more

A new version of the Swift 3 has a 2,880x1,800-pixel OLED display (DisplayHDR True Black 500 certified) and upgrades to an H-series 12th-gen Core i7 processor -- that's the higher power CPU line -- and upgrades to LPDDR5 memory and PCIe 4 SSD.

The Spin 5 has a higher-resolution display with thinner bezels.

Acer

In addition to a slight redesign that has much more attractive, thinner bezels on the screen, the 14-inch Spin 5's display gets a minor boost in resolution to 2,560x1,600 pixels. It also works with the upgraded Acer Active Stylus (Wacom AES 2.0), and gets bumped to the latest generation of core processors, LPDDR5 memory, PCIe 4 SSD, Wi-Fi 6E and more. The Spin 3's bezels have also gotten a bit narrower and now uses 12th-gen Intel CPUs as well.

• Acer Swift 3 OLED laptop (SF314-71) ships in July starting at $900 
• Acer Spin 5 convertible laptop (SP514-51N) ships in July starting at $1,350
• Spin 3 convertible laptop (SP314-55/N) ships in August starting at $850

Acer

Acer also updated the $750 Chromebook Spin 714's screen and components to keep it fresh and competitive, and launched a rugged tablet, the $400 Chromebook Tab 510. The 10.1-inch tablet is built on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 Compute Platform, with a 1,920x1,00-pixel screen, 5- and 8-megapixel MIPI cameras (front and rear) and includes a dockable stylus. Acer claims an 11-hour battery life and says it meets MIL-STD 810H standards for durability. The Chromebook Spin 714 ships in August while the Tab will be available in July.

The company's lightweight business laptops, the TravelMate P4 and TravelMate Spin P4 and the more workhorse P2, jump to the vPro versions of its 12th-gen CPUs as well as AMD's Ryzen Pro (up to Ryzen 7) equivalents; you'll have both 14- and 16-inch options for the P4. The P4 and P2 also incorporate more PCR plastic into their construction.

They'll all become available in the third quarter of 2022. The P4 models start at $1,099, the Spin P4s at $1,199, and the Spin P2 at $899.

And finally, Acer boosted its Concept D 5 and 5 Pro laptops and Concept D 500 and 100 desktops with the latest generation Intel Core CPUs and Nvidia RTX GPUs. The compact, entry-level Concept D 100 still uses last-gen T series GPUs, however, and neither has been bumped to DDR5. And it looks like only the D 5 will be available in the US, at least for now; it ships in August starting at $2,500.

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Asus ROG Strix Hero Edition (GL503VM) review: Less a hero than dependable sidekick

Asus ROG Strix Hero Edition (GL503VM) review: Less a hero than dependable sidekick

Asus calls this particular configuration of its 15.6-inch ROG Strix GL503 series "the Hero Edition," because it's ostensibly optimized for your big arena battles, cleverest strategizing and hardest roles to play. It isn't really. It's just a middle-of-the-Strix-road configuration, with an i7700HQ CPU and GTX 1060 graphics, and a different set of highlighted keycaps. But it's also a fine general-purpose gaming laptop with a couple of design aspects that stand out.

Asus defines its "Hero" differently in different regions, as well; it's a great example about how these "optimized" systems are optimized more for marketing than actual gamers. In the US, this "ideal" system for MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena), RTS and RPG costs $1,600, and comes with 16GB RAM, a Core i7-7700HQ and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060. 

In the UK, I guess you don't need as much power for MOBA, because there the Hero has a Core i5-7300HQ, 8GB and half the SSD -- you can't find it in Asus' online store, but its RRP per Amazon is £1,300. The same laptop without the Hero moniker, is £1,365 direct from Asus. There doesn't seem to be an analogous configuration to our Hero: A version with 8GB RAM and a 128GB SSD + 1TB hybrid HDD option goes for a little over £1,320 or a GTX 1070 model for £1,970.

Australian MOBA fans don't seem to need GPU strength; the AU$2,000 Hero model has an i7-7700HQ and 16GB RAM, but only a GTX 1050 and 128GB+1TB storage. On the other hand, the equivalent of our Hero configuration is the AU$2,600 Strix SCAR, Asus' "optimised for FPS" model.

To bring it all full circle, in the US, the "only for top shooters" Strix SCAR (GL503VS) has a 144Hz display and a GTX 1070, which really is a nice FPS configuration.  

Asus ROG Strix Hero Edition (GL503VM)

Price as reviewed	$1,599
Display size/resolution	15.6-inch 1,920x1,080 display
PC CPU	2.8GHz Intel Core i7-7700HQ
PC Memory	16GB DDR SDRAM 2,400MHz
Graphics	6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060
Storage	256GB SSD+1TB hybrid (Firecuda), SD card slot
Ports	4 x USB 3.0 Type-A, 1 x USB-C, 1 x Mini DisplayPort, 1 x HDMI 2.0
Networking	Ethernet, 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2
Operating system	Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
Weight	5.8 pounds/2.6kg

Pricewise, the ROG Strix GL503 series sits in the middle of the pack. The Dell Gaming laptop in the same configuration costs only $1,350 (£1,350, AU$1,850), but there are some more upscale competitors, like the Alienware 15 or Acer Predator 15, which offer the configuration for around $1,700 (£1,400, AU$2,500). You can save about $500 if you drop to the GTX 1050-equipped model, which is OK if you don't (yet) care about VR and if the types of games you play don't benefit from the frame-rate increase.

However, if you have some leeway in your budget and expect the system to last you a few years,  I'd recommend upping to the GTX 1070; with it, you'll get better-than-OK VR as well as notably better performance, and it'll give you better VR performance once VR starts to get higher res. That means the Strix Scar Edition (GL503VS) for about $400 more.

High points

I like the keyboard a lot, both for playing and typing. The keys are the right size and where you expect them to be when you're on the move. At first the keystrokes felt a little dead-ended -- Asus uses a technology to actuate the membrane keys earlier in the stroke than usual, which means you're pressing a little too hard during the non-resistant portion of the stroke. But once I got used to it, found it very comfortable and responsive, with no rollover issues. 

There's a slide-off panel on the bottom for quick memory upgrades as well.

The QWER keys are double-backlit (they have translucent sides so the backlight glows through) instead of WASD, which is the only noticeable way in which the Hero is optimized for non-FPS over the other systems in the line. I don't find highlighted keys much help for gaming, but YMMV.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The touchpad also has a more premium feel and sensitivity than usual for a gaming notebook, which makes a big difference for out-of-game navigating. But it doesn't have a backlight to go with the four keyboard lighting zones, nor could I find a NumLock indicator anywhere, which is just silly.

The display is pretty good for the price. It seems to be the same (or at least similar to) that of the Alienware 15 we tested, a TN-WVA (wide viewing angle)  panel, which manufacturers have taken to labeling as "IPS-level." It measures at about 94 percent sRGB; if the white point were lower, it probably would meet the 100 percent gamut-coverage spec -- it's the right size -- but it's so cool (color temperatures between 8,300K and 12,000K) the entire gamut is shifted. 

Through the gaming center utility you have a choice of, sRGB, Cinema, Racing, Scenery, RTS/RPG and FPS screen modes, each of which change the white point, gamma and contrast. Frankly, I found sRGB suitable for everything -- it has the highest gamma (2.2, so you can see the most amount of detail) and contrast (1,184:1) along with the most reasonable white point (8,300K). At its brightest it hits 285 nits, but running at about 75 percent brightness it typically runs about 220 nits. 

Asus' ROG Strix Hero has a nice selection of ports, and as you'd expect it supports G-Sync through the Mini DisplayPort connection. Given the frame rates you'll typically get with the GTX 1060, the maximum 120Hz refresh rate of the built-in panel is fine without G-sync. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

The speakers get moderately loud, but don't convey enough directionality if you're surrounded by enemies. There's a utility to tweak that, if you want to. I recommend headphones, though. There's no separate headphone and mic jacks for headsets, just a single multipurpose port.

In action

Asus has a Android ROG Gaming Center app for monitoring your system "remotely" -- I put that in quotations because you have to be directly connected to the system, but you can use it to monitor while in-game without having to jump out.

There's also the latest version of the company's network management software, GameFirst IV. It didn't come installed on our test system, though there was an empty directory for it, and it took some hunting to find it online (zip file). (Normally I wouldn't bother, but Asus highlights it as one of the benefits of the GL series.)
GameFirst is very much like the Killer Control Center, and for prioritization it seems to work fine. But it also claims to be able to multigate -- direct specific traffic over different network routes, such as some over Ethernet and some over wireless for up to four different gateways. That's a little trickier. 

I find it doesn't always use the designated connection, and whether it even sees it can depend on the order in which you load the applications as to whether it multigates or just prioritizes. Also, while it might occasionally increase total bandwidth without affecting latency, it does sometimes result in dropped frames even with the high bandwidth and latency. Also, unlike Killer's, you can only set the parameters when an application is open; you can't just scan the hard disk to find the ones you want to specify. There's an auto mode as well as a manual one.

Asus ships the laptop with Intel graphics disabled, an uncommon but not unheard-of practice. That's great for performance and means you don't have to futz with the settings in the Nvidia control center to optimize GPU usage, but it also tanks the battery life; hence, the just-under-3-hour result on our tests. Unsurprisingly, it generally scored within five percent of the similarly equipped Lenovo Legion Y720 on our tests, except for battery life. That's also the only test on which it didn't outperform the also-similar HP Omen 15, which uses the GTX 1060 with the slimmer Max-Q design. (Its Geekbench Multi-Core is unusually low because it underperformed on the cryptography test, while the multicore Cinebench test is limited to rendering algorithms.)

It also means you really can't leave your power adapter at home even when you're not gaming, which adds another 1.4 pounds/626g to the already substantial 5.8-pound2.6kg carry weight. At that weight, I'd expect the Strix to feel pretty solid, but while attractive it feels somewhat like smooth premium plastic (possibly aluminum in places). The screen flexes a little too much, and at one point I thought the panel was going to pop out. It didn't. 

One reason it feels like plastic is because it doesn't heat up. That's good; after only about an hour of the relatively slow-moving but processing-intensive Talos Principle, the CPU temperature reported as 145 degrees F/63 degrees C with the fans blowing hard and noisily, but the surfaces remained cool.

The ROG Strix Hero GL503VM is a great general-purpose, midpriced gaming laptop but you might want to spend a little less or a little more if you're buying in the Strix line, and pass altogether if you plan to run off the battery for more than 2.5 hours at a stretch. 

Streaming video playback battery drain test

Dell Inspiron 15 7577 Gaming (late 2017) 362 Lenovo Legion Y720 358 Acer Predator Helios 300 320 HP Omen 15 180 Asus ROG Strix Hero Edition GL503V 177

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance (in minutes)

Geekbench 4 (Multi-core)

HP Omen 15 14,830 Lenovo Legion Y720 14,208 Acer Predator Helios 300 13,460 Asus ROG Strix Hero Edition GL503V 12,406 Dell Inspiron 15 7577 Gaming (late 2017) 10,611

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

3DMark Fire Strike Ultra

Acer Predator Helios 300 2,804 Asus ROG Strix Hero Edition GL503V 2,657 Lenovo Legion Y720 2,523 HP Omen 15 2,323 Dell Inspiron 15 7577 Gaming (late 2017) 2,266

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

Cinebench R15 OpenGL

Lenovo Legion Y720 96.8 Acer Predator Helios 300 94.9 Asus ROG Strix Hero Edition GL503V 91.9 Dell Inspiron 15 7577 Gaming (late 2017) 87.9

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance (FPS)

Cinebench R15 CPU (multi-core)

Asus ROG Strix Hero Edition GL503V 744 Acer Predator Helios 300 736 Lenovo Legion Y720 607 Dell Inspiron 15 7577 Gaming (late 2017) 510

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

System configurations

Acer Predator Helios 300	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-7700HQ; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,400MHz; 6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060; 512GB SSD
Asus ROG Strix Hero Edition GL503V	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-7700HQ; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,400MHz; 6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060; 256GB SSD+1TB HDD
HP Omen (15-inch, 2017)	Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (64-bit); 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-7700HQ; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,400MHz; 6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 with Max-Q Design; 256GB SSD + 2TB HDD
Lenovo Legion Y720	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-7700HQ; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,400MHz; 6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060; 128GB SSD+1TB HDD
Dell Inspiron 15 7577 Gaming (Late 2017)	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-7300HQ; 8GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,400MHz; 6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 with Max-Q Design; 256GB SSD

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