Acer ConceptD 3 CN315-72G laptop review based on Intel Core i7-10750H processor and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q graphics card

The line of devices ConceptD, presented by Acer last year, includes a fairly wide range of solutions. Among them, in addition to laptops, there are desktop PCs, monitors and even a VR helmet. Of course, given the features of the configurations and the declared capabilities, there is a focus on users involved in design, 3D modeling, video editing, that is, placing increased demands on both the correspondence of the image to the reference standards and the performance of their workstations.

We got the youngest representative of the line of laptops in this series – ConceptD 3 (CN315-72G) with fresh stuffing inside. Let’s find out if this is really a professional device or just another average laptop in a beautiful white wrap.

Delivery set

The box is quite an acceptable size, without any special details on the outside. But the carrying handle is missing. Hidden inside is a box with a power supply and a separate box with a laptop. It is very rigid and will reliably protect the device during transportation.

No frills inside, everything is concise and strict. The combination of high-quality packaging and a white laptop is pleasantly pleasing to the eye. The delivery set is also as simple as possible – the device and the power supply. True, in my version there was an additional power cable for an American outlet, but, most likely, it will no longer be in localized devices.

The power of the power adapter is 135W.

Appearance

The ConceptD 3 looks captivating at first sight. Although if you are a fan of curly stampings, cut corners with decorative grilles and other RGB, then this is not the option.

It would seem that the most strict and concise design, but I have repeatedly noticed that it literally attracts the attention of others. Basically, naturally, thanks to the snow-white white color. And if it seems to someone that this is just painting, then, no matter how. The case is completely made of magnesium-aluminum alloy, coated with a ceramic composition using micro-arc oxidation and only then painted. The manufacturer claims that such a coating contributes to additional protection against damage. I can’t confirm – I didn’t scratch it on purpose, but the surface is very pleasant to the touch and a little rough. Most importantly, for a month of fairly intensive use, the case did not collect any dirt or fingerprints. Frankly, just a great result! And additionally declared increased resistance to fading and yellowing of the white coating.

On the reverse side, occupying almost the entire upper third of the laptop, there are ventilation holes through which cool air is drawn.

Also, below there are speakers and rubber feet. Long, the entire length of the device, the leg is placed closer to the top edge. The material of the legs is correct, they fix the laptop well and prevent any slipping on the table surface.

The manufacturer claims that the device complies with the MIL-STD 810G standard, which includes passing a series of durability tests, including resistance to low / high temperatures, stability at altitude and in high humidity, drop tests with the power on, and vibration. Detailed test conditions can be found on the manufacturer’s website.

The frames around the screen do not shine with particular subtlety, and given their white color, they stand out even more against the background of the screen. But the declared weight of 1.7 kg adds a significant bonus to the treasury of the assessment for compactness, especially considering the filling.

The cutout on the front edge allows you to freely open the laptop lid without holding the laptop with your other hand. Also, on the right are two orange LEDs indicating the presence of external power and activity.

The back face is a solid “exhaust”. In addition, rubberized legs are visible on the edge of the lid – for emphasis when fully opened.

On the left side there is a Kensington Security slot, another grill that protects the cooling system blowout, a charging port, an HDMI port, USB 3.2 Type-C Thunderbolt 3, a mini-DP port, as well as a proprietary button with a fingerprint sensor.

On the right is another hot exhaust grille, an RJ-45, an SD card slot, two USB 3.2 Type-A ports, and a combo 3.5mm audio jack. It hurts to see that manufacturers are stingy on the third USB port, after all, carrying a USB hub with you is not always convenient.

At the top of the screen are a webcam with a pair of microphones.

The speakers on the bottom of the device are advertised as being “tuned in collaboration with the experts at DTS”, and the notebook itself supports DTS:X output. The latter, of course, is a little comical, because the standard implies the presence of surround sound due not only to the usual environment, but also to the placement of additional emitters under the ceiling, or at least re-reflecting sound from additional speakers. Therefore, the implementation of DTS:X (which, by the way, unlike Dolby Atmos, is inherent specifically in BluRay releases) using two speakers at the bottom is a big question. And in general, what really did not impress was the sound. Moreover, both when placed on the surface, and on the hands / on weight.

The keyboard is pleasant to use. The manufacturer used standard scissor mechanisms. It works quietly, it is pressed confidently, there were no misclicks during use. Unfortunately, in the review version, the keys were not localized, so it was not possible to evaluate the Cyrillic backlighting. Speaking of lighting. The manufacturer calls it amber, but in fact it is a soft orange color. I can’t say that it is particularly convenient, but I had to somehow get out, given the white color of the keyboard – I needed contrast. True, it is not clear why it was impossible to put RGB backlighting so that everyone could adjust the color that is comfortable for themselves.

I really remember the touchpad. It is significantly larger than standard sizes, and this is logical, given the positioning of the product. If you have to finish something on the road or at a meeting in Illustrator, it’s much easier to do it with a large work surface. The buttons are under the touch. On the one hand, you can conveniently press and drag the cursor with one finger, highlighting objects, etc. On the other hand, given the large area of ​​the touchpad, misclicks often appear out of habit.

Screen

The ConceptD 3 screen size is 15.6 inches. The matrix is ​​matte and, according to the manufacturer, is covered with Gorilla Glass, which adds scratch resistance. Thanks to the matrix itself and the additional coating of the glass, it is very difficult to catch reflections on the screen.

Interestingly, no exact information could be found on the matrix with ID BOE092D. Perhaps the manufacturer – the BOE company – gives a unique ID for individual batches produced for a specific customer, and according to the set of characteristics, it was not possible to isolate this matrix among similar manufacturer options.

According to the Argyll utility, sRGB coverage is 95.1%, Adobe RGB is 70%. The color temperature is close to the reference 6500K, the gamma curves do not have visible significant gaps both from each other and from the reference values.

Brightness adjustment occurs in the range from 22.04 to 295.03 cd / m². The maximum brightness, according to the indicators, slightly let us down, but it is regulated quite smoothly. The contrast is stable at any brightness level, but is only 560:1 and this is entirely due to the matte finish of the matrix.

The maximum deviation of DeltaE is 7.36, the average is 1.56. The indicators are quite decent, as for the factory ones – the minimum calibration will easily allow you to bring everything into perfect condition. Interestingly, the manufacturer saved a report with the measurements made on the desktop of the laptop and they also noted that the average DeltaE is less than 2.

As with all IPS matrices, the viewing angles are very decent.

Component specifications

General information on the installed hardware is available in the screenshot from the HWiNFO64 utility.

The manufacturer knowingly declares the working orientation of the device – the user receives a six-core / twelve-thread Intel Core i7-10750H processor with a base clock speed of 2.6 GHz and the maximum declared for TurboBoost – 5 GHz. At the same time, 45 W TDP is declared.

The ConceptD 3 has 16GB of DDR4-2660 RAM running at 19-19-19-43-2T timings.

GPU-Z informs about the presence of the Intel UHD 620 video core built into the processor, as well as the discrete Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q card.

As a drive, the manufacturer selected SSD Western Digital WDC PC SN730 SDBQNTY-512GB with a capacity of 512 GB with a PCIe NVMe 3.0 x4 interface. 

Cooling efficiency and noise level

The laptop was tested at an ambient temperature of 20 degrees. During the stress test of the AIDA64 utility, the case temperature was measured.

And here it is worth noting that in the combined CPU + GPU load, processor throttling does not appear 99% of the time, and the peak value of 25% is reached when the cooler speed is adjusted. In this mode, the processor is kept at a frequency of 1894 MHz, while the average CPU frequency was 2330 MHz. The core frequency of the discrete graphics card is stable at around 1650 MHz.

The case temperature in the load is up to 53.7 degrees in the hottest place, which is quite significant. But in general, the metal case distributes heat quite evenly and does not interfere with work.

The operation of the cooling system is really very pleased. With excellent performance, it is much more pleasant in terms of noise sensation compared to its peers. The manufacturer managed to find an excellent design option – this is an excellent rating.

Test results

Overall Performance

PCMark 8

PCMark 10

Excellent results for a compact 15.6-inch quiet notebook.

CPU Performance

Cinebench R15

Cinebench R20

Logically strong results for a six-core Intel Core i7-10750H in a load simulating rendering.

GeekBench 5

x265 Benchmark

CPU-Z Benchmark

RAM

The dual-channel mode, together with the high core clock in the short test, show good read/write speeds, and latencies are within the normal range. Of course, the presence of 16 GB of RAM is a necessary minimum for a laptop, oriented by the manufacturer as a base for designers, editors, etc.

Disk subsystem

The performance of the WDC PC SN730 SDBQNTY-512GB is impressive, well above our averages. At the same time, please note that the tests were carried out after multiple installation / removal of test games.

Game apps

3DMark

The results speak for themselves – a weak video card drags down the overall system score, although the central processor shows excellent performance.

Borderlands 3

Anno 1800

Tom Clancy’s The Division 2

Red Dead Redemption 2

Metro Exodus

Total War Saga: Troy

Battery life

The battery capacity is 74 Wh. But, as you can see from the graph, even despite the standard capacity, the laptop has impressive autonomy. The charge will easily last for a whole day of work or work on the road with medium loads. Since Windows 10 additionally manages power saving options, we measured in PCMark 10 with the system battery saver mode enabled and disabled.

Software

The installed “software” will not surprise you with something special. Standard Acer utilities responsible for monitoring and updating. There is a separate utility of the ConceptD line, which also allows you to monitor the loading of system elements. Of the interesting, perhaps, quick control of the placement of windows / screens (when a separate monitor is connected).

Conclusions

Initially, it was not easy for me to form the final conclusion on the device. ConceptD 3 (CN315-72G) belongs to a separate line of devices, as it was written in the introduction. At the same time, it is equipped with a powerful processor in combination with a rather weak discrete graphics card. How justified is this combination? I think that for the youngest in the line – quite. After all, a powerful six-core engine will come in handy when working with renders, and a discrete video core from Nvidia will add to the speed of production, because a lot of software (including in the Adobe package) can connect video card resources. Actually, our tests showed excellent performance of the processor-memory-drive combination. Well, the GeForce GTX 1650 will allow you to play unloaded projects even at medium-high levels of graphics quality.

The Pantone-certified matrix deserves special praise, which really fits into the declared characteristics and “out of the box” pleases with a calibration that is quite acceptable for specialized tasks.

I liked the ConceptD 3 from the point of view of everyday use. The proprietary coating keeps the laptop in perfect condition even after prolonged use, the hardware and battery complex does not force you to carry a charger with you everywhere, and the cooling system does not bother you with noise even at maximum loads.

All in all, the ConceptD 3 (CN315-72G) is the choice for those who value compactness combined with performance and silence. An excellent balanced laptop, which, let me remind you, will definitely attract the attention of others.