Acer ConceptD 5 (2021) Review

Debuting a couple of years ago, Acer's ConceptD laptops are elite desktop replacements aimed at creative professionals like video editors and online content creators. The ConceptD 5 ($1,999.99) combines a classy 16-inch, high-res display with a potent eight-core Intel Core i7 CPU and game-worthy Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics. It's a little bulkier than it should be, but the system goes toe-to-toe with other deluxe 16-inch platforms like the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 and the Apple MacBook Pro 16-Inch. It's worth checking out, especially since it currently has a $200 discount at Acer's online store.

Not Quite 4K Resolution…But Close 

Sixteen-inch laptops are a relatively new phenomenon; the ConceptD competes with laptops that use the more familiar, slightly smaller 15.6-inch screen size, such as the Dell XPS 15 OLED and the Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED XC. Our Acer test unit, model CN516-72G-787Y, features a 16:10 screen aspect ratio rather than the more common 16:9, showing a bit more content with less scrolling. The non-touch IPS display has what Acer calls 3K (3,072-by-1,920-pixel) resolution, with thin top and side bezels giving an 87% screen-to-body ratio.

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(Photo: Molly Flores)

The machine also has a 2.3GHz (4.6GHz turbo) Intel Core i7-11800H processor, 16GB of memory, and a 1TB NVMe solid-state drive. Acer offers both ConceptD 5 and ConceptD 5 Pro models. The latter comes with workstation-class Nvidia professional GPUs like the RTX A5000, while ours has the 6GB GeForce RTX 3060. Intel's Killer networking technology provides 2.5Gbps Ethernet and 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6. 

Besides the ConceptD 5, Acer also offers the entry-level ConceptD 3 and top-end ConceptD 7. Some models are available in 2-in-1 convertible configurations with unique pull-forward screens, which Acer sells under the ConceptD Ezel brand.

At 0.78 by 14.1 by 10.3 inches, the black-aluminum ConceptD 5 is a tad bigger than the MacBook Pro 16-Inch (0.66 by 14 by 9.8 inches) or the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus (0.75 by 14 by 9.7 inches). It weighs 5.4 pounds, which is portly compared to the Apple (4.8 pounds), Inspiron (4.4 pounds), or ThinkPad X1 Extreme (4 pounds). The ConceptD 5's AC adapter is large and ungainly as well.

(Photo: Molly Flores)

Ports are plentiful, with one USB 3.2 Type-A port and one USB-C Thunderbolt 4 port on each side of the laptop. The left edge also has the Ethernet port, audio jacks, and power connector. An HDMI video output, an SD card slot, and a security lock notch are on the right.

(Photo: Molly Flores)

The Keyboard: Not Our Type 

The backlit keyboard has real Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys instead of making you pair the Fn and cursor arrow keys, but it's a bit of a disappointment nonetheless—the Escape and Delete keys are puny, and the keyboard has a flat, wooden typing feel that isn't very comfortable. Special keys at top right switch among application windows (replacing Alt+Tab) and launch an RGB color picker if you want to match an on-screen shade. 

The buttonless, chrome-bordered touchpad glides and taps smoothly, though clicking feels bland and stiff. There's a fingerprint reader in the corner of the pad for logging into Windows 10 Pro without typing a password, but it's a small rectangle instead of a square, so training it to recognize your fingerprint is fussy.

(Photo: Molly Flores)

Speakers above the keyboard aren't particularly loud, and their sound is hollow and scratchy; there's little to no bass, and making out overlapping tracks is difficult. DTS:X Ultra software provides music, movie, voice, and three game presets and an equalizer. The webcam centered above the screen has the usual fuzzy 720p resolution and no security shutter, but it captures reasonably well-lit and colorful images with just a bit of static. It's not a face recognition camera, so the fingerprint reader is your only Windows Hello option. 

The Pantone-validated, 3,072-by-1,920-pixel display is a highlight, offering precise details and nicely white backgrounds (helped by the ability to tilt almost all the way back). The edges of letters are sharp rather than pixelated. Brightness and contrast are good if not outstanding, and viewing angles are broad. Colors don't pop like poster paints, but are rich and well-saturated.

(Photo: Molly Flores)

Acer often loads its laptops with unwanted consumer-oriented apps known as bloatware, but the ConceptD isn't the worst offender. Yes, I got a pop-up notification about the Forge of Empires game, and Disney+ is in the Start menu, but the main add-ons are light versions of CyberLink's image and video editors; an ad for Magix image, video, and audio editors; and a Norton Security Ultra trial. Acer Care Center offers tuneups and software updates, while a ConceptD Palette utility monitors system status and lets you tweak a few settings.

Testing the ConceptD: First Among Equals 

For our benchmark charts, I compared the ConceptD 5 to its screen-size rivals the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4, the Apple MacBook Pro 16-Inch, and (the bargain of the group) the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus. The leading creative desktop replacement, the Dell XPS 15, rounded out the set. You can see their basic specs in the table below.

Productivity Tests 

The main benchmark of UL's PCMark 10 simulates a variety of real-world productivity and content-creation workflows to measure overall performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheeting, web browsing, and videoconferencing. We also run PCMark 10's Full System Drive test to assess the load time and throughput of a laptop's storage.

Three benchmarks focus on the CPU, using all available cores and threads, to rate a PC's suitability for processor-intensive workloads. Maxon's Cinebench R23 uses that company's Cinema 4D engine to render a complex scene, while Primate Labs' Geekbench 5.4 Pro simulates popular apps ranging from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine learning. Finally, we use the open-source video transcoder HandBrake 1.4 to convert a 12-minute video clip from 4K to 1080p resolution (lower times are better). 

Our final productivity test is Puget Systems' PugetBench for Photoshop, which uses the Creative Cloud version 22 of Adobe's famous image editor to rate a PC's performance for content creation and multimedia applications. It's an automated extension that executes a variety of general and GPU-accelerated Photoshop tasks ranging from opening, rotating, resizing, and saving an image to applying masks, gradient fills, and filters.

The four Windows laptops were all overachievers in PCMark 10—we consider a score of 4,000 to indicate excellent productivity for everyday apps, so Word and Excel obviously hold no terrors for them. The 16-inch MacBook Pro's M1 Max processor led the way in our CPU tests but the ConceptD was the best of the Core i7-11800H systems, as well as an outstanding choice for Photoshop work. 

Graphics Tests 

We test Windows PCs' graphics with two DirectX 12 gaming simulations from UL's 3DMark, Night Raid (more modest, suitable for laptops with integrated graphics) and Time Spy (more demanding, suitable for gaming rigs with discrete GPUs). 

We also run two tests from the cross-platform GPU benchmark GFXBench 5, which stresses both low-level routines like texturing and high-level, game-like image rendering. The 1440p Aztec Ruins and 1080p Car Chase tests, rendered offscreen to accommodate different display resolutions, exercise graphics and compute shaders using the OpenGL programming interface and hardware tessellation respectively. The more frames per second (fps), the better.

The Acer won our 3DMark contest and slugged it out with the Lenovo for second place behind the more costly Apple in the GFXBench exercises. Its GeForce RTX 3060 may not be Nvidia's top of the line, but is more than able to play demanding games as well as handling creative apps. 

Battery and Display Tests 

We test laptops' battery life by playing a locally stored 720p video file (the open-source Blender movie Tears of Steel) with display brightness at 50% and audio volume at 100%. We make sure the battery is fully charged before the test, with Wi-Fi and keyboard backlighting turned off. 

We also use a Datacolor SpyderX Elite monitor calibration sensor and software to measure a laptop screen's color saturation—what percentage of the sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 color gamuts or palettes the display can show—and its 50% and peak brightness in nits (candelas per square meter).

The ConceptD showed good battery life for a desktop replacement, though its runtime was far short of the remarkable MacBook Pro's—these laptops aren't unplugged as often as lighter ultraportables and convertibles are. Its IPS display's color coverage was stellar, living up to its rated 100% of the DCI-P3 palette and rivaling the XPS 15's ritzy OLED panel. Its brightness was satisfactory, though outshone by the Apple and Lenovo.

Finding a Sweet Niche 

The Acer ConceptD 5 costs more than Dell's Inspiron 16 Plus but less than Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 and for the most part outperforms them both. Its display falls a bit short of OLED panels' dazzling colors and contrast but nevertheless ranks above average, as long as you can live without a touch screen.

(Photo: Molly Flores)

The ConceptD misses Editors' Choice consideration because it's a pound overweight and its keyboard isn't comfortable for long typing sessions But it's frequently discounted, and if you can find it at a good price, it's a solid pick for creative workflows.