Acer ConceptD 3 review (CN316-73G model – 16-inch 16:10 display)

This here is the late-2021 update of the Acer ConceptD 3, a portable full-size performance laptop targeted at creators on a middling budget.

It offers a 16-ich 16:10 display, powerful Intel processors, and mid-tier Nvidia RTX graphics, in a premium feeling chassis. Much like most other Acer ConceptD laptops, though, this is only available in white with an amber-lit keyboard, which might not be for everyone. It sure is a looker and quite unique among the other laptops in its segment.

We’ve spent the last few weeks using this notebook and gathered our thoughts and impressions down below.

I’d expect it to be competitive if priced right in your region, but the lack of a wide-gamut panel on this sort of creator kind of laptop might deter some of you away. Furthermore, this is not a very powerful implementation of the offered hardware, especially on the GPU side, and lacks the kind of large battery available with the competition. We’re getting in-depth down below.

Specs as reviewed – Acer ConceptD 3 Creator Laptop

Acer ConceptD 3 CN316-73G creator laptop
Screen
16 inch, 1920 x 1200 px resolution, IPS, 60 Hz, matte, LG Philips LP156WFG-SPF3 panel

Processor
Intel Tiger Lake Core i7-11800H, 8C/16T

Video
Intel UHD and up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050Ti 4GB 35-45W (Studio 472.39),
with Optimus, no MUX/GSync

Memory
16 GB DDR4-3200 (2x 8 GB DIMMs, dual-channel, SR)

Storage
1x 1 TB PCIe gen4 SSDs, 2x M.2 slots

Connectivity
WiFi 6 (Intel AX201) with Bluetooth 5.2, Intel I219-V Gigabit Ethernet LAN

Ports
2x USB-A 3.2 gen2, 1x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, miniDP, LAN, SD card reader, headphone/mic, Kensington Lock

Battery
56 Wh, 135 W power adapter

Size
358 mm or 14.09” (w) x  249 mm or 9.8” (d) x  20.9 mm or .82” (h)

Weight
1.67 kg (3.68 lb), .47 kg (1.04 lbs) power brick, EU version

Extras
amber backlit keyboard, NumPad, 2x stereo speakers, HD webcam

Acer also offers a very similar ConceptD 3 Ezel Convertible (CN315-73G) variant of this laptop, with a convertible Ezel display with touch and Wacom pen support. That comes with a 15.6-inch 16:9 panel, though.

Furthermore, ConceptD 3 Pro (CN316-73P) and ConceptD 3 Ezel Pro (CC315-73P) models are also available, built on the same Intel H45 platform, but with up to Nvidia T2100 pro-level graphics (formerly known as Quadro chips).

Design and exterior

This 2021 ConceptD 3 follows the design lines of the previous generation, with a boxy rectangular format, clean looks, and a premium overall feel to it.

As mentioned earlier, this still comes in white-only, and it’s an entirely white product, including the bezels around the display. This aspect makes it quite unique even among other white laptops.

Acer also meant with very subtle branding elements on the lid and on the interior, on top of the keyboard. There are no Acer logos on this laptop, just two “Concept D” markups, suggesting that Acer are trying to build this brand into a premium stand-alone subseries, the same way other OEMs are trying with their creator laptops (such as Asus with their ProArt series).

Painted metal surfaces were chosen for this computer, with a soft matte finishing that feels great to the touch and offers excellent grip. Hopefully, these materials will age well and not peel off or dent over time; from what I can tell right now, the finishing quality of this laptop punches above its class, but I’d still put this in a sleeve when carrying it around, to prevent any scratches.

The build quality is top-notch as well, with little to no flex in the lid or main chassis, and no creaky noises when using the laptop or picking it up by the corners.

Now, this ConceptD 3 is a 16-inch laptop with a taller 16:10 panel, so it’s not the most portable full-size laptop out there, but it’s still a fairly compact design for its class, as you can tell from the averagely sized bezels and chin. There’s also a camera on that top lip, flanked by microphones. The whole thing measures roughly 360 x 250 in footprint and weighs only 1.7 kilos, plus .47 kg extra for the charger. BTW, the charger is white as well, for a unitary overall design.

Other practical details include the ability to adjust the screen’s angle with a single hand and push it all the way back flat to 180 degrees, while the hinges are stiff enough to keep it in place as set up. The rubber feet are averagely grippy on the desk, and all the edges and corners are mildly blunted; those front corners are still a bit sharp, though, so they could bite into your wrists. That aside, I also appreciate that there are no lights in the line of sight, as the status LEDs have been moved to the front lip.

This laptop also gets a spacious arm-rest and big clickpad, as well as an OK keyboard layout, yet with one annoying quirk. Will get to that in a bit. As an oddity, there are two power buttons on this design, one part of the keyboard and another on the left edge.

The IO offers everything you’ll want on this laptop, including USB-A and a USB-C port with Thunderbolt 4 support, full-size HDMI 2.1 and miniDP (both connected to the Nvidia dGPU), LAN, and a full-size SD card reader that can take in the card entirely and does not leave half on the outside, as on other designs. The slight inconvenience is that all the USB-A slots, the LAN port, and the 3.5 mm audio jack are on the right side, which would clutter your mouse area if you decide to use them. I rarely used cable Internet, so no complaints.

The thermal design is not one of my favorites here, with output radiators both on the sides and under the screen, which means that some of the hot air blows up into the panel. Furthermore, most of the fresh air comes in from the bottom of the laptop, but the short rubber feet choke the intakes while this sits on a desk, impacting the internal/external temperatures, as we’ll discuss further down in the Performance and Emissions sections.

Keyboard and trackpad

Acer went with a compact keyboard here that leaves a lot of unused room on the sides. It is repurposed from the 14-inch ConceptD 4 Ezel CC314 model and just doesn’t take proper advantage of the full-size 16-inch chassis on this unit.

The keyboard is centered in the middle of the chassis and there’s no NumPad, which I’m OK with, but some of you might not appreciate on this kind of professional/work laptop.

There is an extra column of multimedia keys at the very right, also acting as Home/End/PgUp/PgDn, but these are narrower than all the other keys. The same narrow keycaps are also used for the arrows. I found this obnoxious at first and it took me a lot of time to get used to these horizontally squashed arrows.

The reminding of the layout is fine, with properly sized and spaced keys, as well as soft-feeling keycaps. This keyboard also types very well, with firm feedback, 1.55 mm of travel, and quiet strokes.

The illumination is amber in color, which is superior to white LEDs on this kind of white keycaps, but the contrast and writing readability are still not great. Some light also creeps out from underneath the keycaps, and the laptop lacks the ability to reactivate the keyboard’s lighting with a swipe over the clickpad when it times out, you have to press a key for it. At least there’s a Caps Lock indicator on this layout.

The clickpad is a large glass surface with Precision drivers, and arguably the best I’ve used on an Acer laptop in years. It handles everything smoothly and accurately, doesn’t rattle with firmer taps and even the physical clicks in the corners are smooth and quiet.

As for biometrics, there’s a finger-sensor included in the power button placed on the left side of the laptop, but no IR cameras.

Screen

Acer offers the ConceptD 3 with a 16:10 matte non-touch display, and, as far as I can tell, there’s a single panel option available on this series, the one that we have here: IPS 1920 x 1200 px with 450+ nits of brightness and 100% sRGB color coverage.

This is a fair-quality panel for everyday use, with good uniformity and excellent blacks and contrast for an IPS, but I was expecting wider gamut coverage on this sort of a creator laptop, especially when those panels are available with competing products, both in IPS and OLED varieties.

Here’s what we got in our tests, with a X-Rite i1 Display Pro sensor:

• Panel HardwareID: BOE BOE0A6C (NE160WUM-N61);
• Coverage: 97.9% sRGB, 72.4% AdobeRGB, 74.9% DCI P3;
• Measured gamma: 2.12;
• Max brightness in the middle of the screen: 469.04 cd/m2 on power;
• Min brightness in the middle of the screen: 36.91 cd/m2 on power;
• Contrast at max brightness: 1624:1;
• White point: 6400 K;
• Black on max brightness: 0.28 cd/m2;
• PWM: No.

The panel comes precalibrated with a Pantone certification and a calibration bulletin, and it proved to be uniform in our tests, with almost no light-bleeding around the edges.

Regardless, this is only 100% sRGB and FHD+ resolution, and might not suffice on this sort of product at this time. Acer should at least offer an optional QHD+ with 100% DCI-P3 color upgrade path for this series.

I’ll also add that this panel doesn’t get very dim at the lowest brightness setting, which might again bother a small set of potential buyers who like to use their laptop at night, in the dark. Hopefully, Acer will address this in a future BIOS update.

Finally, don’t forget this is a 60Hz panel with slow response times, so not ideal for gaming.

Hardware and performance

Our test model is a mid-specced variation of the Acer ConceptD 3 CN316-73G series built on an Intel Core i7-11800H 8C/16T processor with Iris Xe graphics and an Nvidia RTX 3050Ti 35-45W dGPU, 16 GB of DDR4-3200 memory, and 1 TB of fast SSD storage.

What we have here is a pre-release sample provided by Acer for this article. We tested it with the early software available as of mid-November 2021 (BIOS v1.00, ConceptD Palette 1.0.3036, Nvidia Studio 472.47 drivers). Some aspects might change with future software tweaks.

Spec-wise, this 2021 Acer ConceptD 3 is built on the latest Intel 11th gen Tiger Lake Core H45 platform, with an option for Core i5-11400H 6C or the Core i7-11800H 8C processors. Both are fast processors with a design TDP of 45W, and this portable design allows them to run at their design TDP in sustained loads, but not higher, at least with the current software.

The GPU is an Nvidia RTX 3050Ti Laptop 4GB running in a Max-Q implementation at 35W of power, with Dynamic Boost 2.0 up to 45W in supported loads. There’s no MUX here, just regular Optimus.

The RAM on our configuration is 16GB running in dual-channel. Acer went with soldered memory, so there’s no upgrade possibility. As for the storage, there’s a single PCIe gen4 slot on this laptop. Our unit came with a very fast 1TB Samsung PM9A1 SSD.

Getting inside to the components is a simple task, you just have to pop up the back access bay, hold in place with a couple of Philips screws. However, for design purposes, Acer also put these white rubber covers over all the screws, so you’ll have to take those out first. Inside you’ll find the RAM and storage slots, the wifi chip, and the battery.

Specs aside, this ConceptD 3 laptop can be controlled through the included ConcepD Palette application, which allows access to power profiles, screen profiles, audio settings, etc. There’s also an Acer Care app that handles updates, as well as a handful of other software that comes preinstalled.

The power profiles are Eco, Balanced, and Performance, with an impact on the fans’ behaviors and CPU/GPU power limits.

For daily use, I’ve set the laptop on Eco or Balanced, which keep the fans quiet most of the time, but only rarely idle with the laptop plugged in. Here’s what to expect in terms of performance and internal temperatures with everyday multitasking, browsing, and video.

Performance tests and benchmarks

On to more demanding loads, we start by testing the CPU’s performance by running the Cinebench R15 test 15+ times in a loop, with 1-2 seconds delay between each run.

The i7-11800H processor runs at up to 75W of peak power in this chassis, then slowly drops towards 55W, and eventually stabilizes at ~45W of sustained power on the Performance setting. That’s rather aggressive, as the CPU only ends up running at around 82-85 degrees Celsius on this mode, so further BIOS updates could allow higher sustained power and performance on this profile.

Switching over to the Balanced profile caps the fans at around 39-40 dB and the CPU at around 35W sustained, with temperatures in the mid-70s.

Finally, the Eco mode keeps the fans under 38 dB, with a 25W CPU power limit and temperatures in the mid-60s. The fans could be tweaked lower on this profile, and the scores are only within 20% under the Performance profile, but I’d expect that to change if that Performance mode is beefed up with future settings.

Finally, the CPU runs at ~25 W on battery, on the Balanced profile, with much quieter fans under 32 dB at head level. This is what I’d also expect from that Eco mode.

To put these findings in perspective, here’s how the i7-11800H in this laptop compares to other recent laptops in the same class.

We then ran the 3DMark CPU profile test, where the Intel i7-11800H in this ConceptD 5 scores well, but not as well as more powerful hardware implementations of the Tiger Lake hardware.

We then went ahead and further verified our findings with the more taxing Cinebench R23 loop test, with Blender and Prime 95, on the Performance profile.

Finally, we ran our combined CPU+GPU stress tests on this notebook. 3DMark stress runs the same test for 20 times in a loop and looks for performance variation and degradation over time, and this unit passed it fine on the Performance profile, which suggests there are no significant performance losses that might be caused by thermal throttling.

Next, we ran the entire suite of tests and benchmarks, on the Performance profile. For consistency with other reviews, we ran our tests at FHD resolution, and not at the screen’s native FHD+ resolution. Here’s what we got:

• 3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 11193 (Graphics – 12372, Physics – 22204, Combined – 4553);
• 3DMark 13 – Port Royal: 633;
• 3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 5016 (Graphics – 4688, CPU – 8318);
• Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 2819;
• Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Medium: 8747;
• Handbrake 1.3.3 (4K to 1080p encode): 37.09 average fps;
• PassMark 10: Rating: 3866 (CPU mark: 21728, 3D Graphics Mark: 10972, Disk Mark: 40324);
• PCMark 10: 6566 (Essentials – 10483, Productivity – 9196, Digital Content Creation – 7968);
• GeekBench 5.3.1 64-bit: Single-Core: 1479, Multi-core: 7907;
• CineBench R15 (best run): CPU 1963 cb, CPU Single Core 227 cb;
• CineBench R20 (best run): CPU 4232 cb, CPU Single Core 563 cb;
• CineBench R23 (best run): CPU 10721 cb, CPU Single Core 1492 cb;
• x265 HD Benchmark 64-bit: 38.28 s.

Finally, we then ran some Workstation related loads on this Core i7 + RTX 3050Ti configuration, on the same Performance profile:

• Blender 2.90 – BMW Car scene- CPU Compute: 4m 1s (Performance),;
• Blender 2.90 – BMW Car scene- GPU Compute: 1m 12s (CUDA), 44s (Optix);
• Blender 2.90 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 11m 4s (Performance),;
• Blender 2.90 – Classroom scene – GPU Compute: 5m 44s (CUDA), 2m 26s (Optix);

• PugetBench – Davinci Resolve: 737;
• Pugetbench – Adobe Photoshop: 778 points;
• Pugetbench – After Effects: 657 points;
• Pugetbench – Adobe Premiere: 645 points;

• SPECviewerf 2020 – 3DSMax: 56.14 (Performance);
• SPECviewerf 2020 – Catia: 31.17 (Performance);
• SPECviewerf 2020 – Creo: 64.66 (Performance);
• SPECviewerf 2020 – Energy: 11.17 (Performance);
• SPECviewerf 2020 – Maya: 177.74 (Performance);
• SPECviewerf 2020 – Medical: 16.38 (Performance);
• SPECviewerf 2020 – SNX: 11.24 (Performance);
• SPECviewerf 2020 – SW: 105.25 (Performance)
• V-Ray 5 Benchmark: CPU – 8527, GPU CUDA – 495.

These are fair results.

On the CPU side, this ConceptD 3 ends up very competitive in the short-duration loads, where the system allows the CPU to run at 55-70 W of power, and only comes down in the longer tests such as x265 or Blender, where the CPU ends up being limited at lower power with the current settings.

On the GPU side, the results are as expected for a maxQ 3050Ti implementation, on par with other low-power 3050Ti models that we’ve tested, such as the Asus VivoBook Pro 14X, and even 5-10% superior to the Dell XPS 15.

The combined performance in mix-loads is also solid here, considering the specs, and that’s why this ConceptD 3 proves to be a versatile all-rounder in our tests and workloads.

For what is worth, compared to the previous-generation ConceptD model from 2020, this now gets the 8C processor (previously a 6C i7-10750H) and an updated GPU (previously a GTX 1650), for a roughly 10-25% increase in performance across the board.

Gaming performance

With these out of the way, let’s also quickly go over some gaming tests, even if this is not primarily a gaming laptop and runs on Studio drivers.

For starters, we ran tests on Ultra settings on FHD resolution, with the laptop set-up on the Performance profile. We also threw in a similar-power 3050Ti configuration of the Vivobook Pro 14X and Dell XPS 15, and the 3050 version of the competing VivoBook Pro 16X, for comparison.

Ultra settings, Performance profile
ConceptD 3 –
Core i7 + 3050Ti 35+W
FHD resolution
XPS 15 –
Core i7 + 3050Ti 35+W
FHD resolution
VivoBook Pro 16X –
Core i7 + 3050 35+W
FHD resolution
VivoBook Pro 14X –
Ryzen 7 + 3050Ti 35+W
FHD resolution
Far Cry 5
(DX 11, Ultra Preset, SMAA)
65 fps (19 fps – 1% low)
56 fps (49 fps – 1% low)
64 fps (52 fps – 1% low)
68 fps (42 fps – 1% low)

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
(DX 11, Ultra Preset)
82 fps (18 fps – 1% low)
76 fps (51 fps – 1% low)
86 fps (61 fps – 1% low)
88 fps (63 fps – 1% low)

Red Dead Redemption 2
(DX 12, Ultra Optimized, TAA)
41 fps (18 fps – 1% low)
41 fps (31 fps – 1% low)
35 fps (28 fps – 1% low)
40 fps (29 fps – 1% low)

Shadow of Tomb Raider
(DX 12, Highest Preset, TAA)
58 fps (16 fps – 1% low)
49 fps (24 fps – 1% low)
48 fps (33 fps – 1% low)
56 fps (45 fps – 1% low)

Shadow of Tomb Raider
(DX 12, Highest Preset, TAA, RTX Ultra)
30 fps (13 fps – 1% low)
28 fps (12 fps – 1% low)
19 fps (9 fps – 1% low)
24 fps (11 fps – 1% low)

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
(DX 11, Ultra Preset, Hairworks On 4)
64 fps (18 fps – 1% low)
58 fps (42 fps – 1% low)
60 fps (46 fps – 1% low)
63 fps (47 fps – 1% low)

• The Witcher 3 – recorded with Fraps/in-game FPS counter in campaign mode;
• Far Cry 5, Middle Earth, Tomb Raider – recorded with the included Benchmark utilities;
• Red Dead Redemption 2 Optimized profile based on these settings.

However, if you must run games on this, I’d recommend trimming down the details and set-up the resolution at FHD+ (1920 x 1200 px) to properly benefit from the screen’s 16:10 aspect ratio. Here’s what we got on Medium settings at FHD+ resolution.

Medium settings, Performance profile
ConceptD 3 –
Core i7 + 3050Ti 35+W
FHD+ resolution
XPS 15 –
Core i7 + 3050Ti 35+W
FHD resolution
VivoBook Pro 16X –
Core i7 + 3050 35+W
FHD+ resolution
VivoBook Pro 14X –
Ryzen 7 + 3050Ti 35+W
FHD+ resolution
Far Cry 5
(DX 11, Normal Preset, TAA)
72 fps (17 fps – 1% low)
72 fps (54 fps – 1% low)
69 fps (57 fps – 1% low)
76 fps (44 fps – 1% low)

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
(DX 11, Medium Preset)
116 fps (18 fps – 1% low)
102 fps (74 fps – 1% low)
119 fps (83 fps – 1% low)
111 fps (82 fps – 1% low)

Red Dead Redemption 2
(DX 12, Balanced – first option)
52 fps (19 fps – 1% low)
50 fps (34 fps – 1% low)
47 fps (34 fps – 1% low)
51 fps (39 fps – 1% low)

Shadow of Tomb Raider
(DX 12, Medium Preset)
68 fps (19 fps – 1% low)
52 fps (40 fps – 1% low)
62 fps (40 fps – 1% low)
66 fps (52 fps – 1% low)

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
(DX 11, Medium Preset, Hairworks Low)
96 fps (18 fps – 1% low)
92 fps (59 fps – 1% low)
89 fps (65 fps – 1% low)
98 fps (73 fps – 1% low)

These are good framerates for a 3050Ti configuration of this kind, as you can tell from the comparison with the other similar platforms. However, something’s off with these early drivers on our unit, as I noticed occasional stuttering that lead to a significant decrease of the 1% low framerates. I’d expect this bug to be addressed on the retail models, and I’m not going to account for it when drawing conclusions.

Based on these findings, you can comfortably run the most recent AAA titles at medium graphics settings here. However, since there’s only a slow 60Hz panel on this series, expect artifacts such as stuttering or ghosting, so if you’re primarily looking for a gaming product, this should not be your first pick; instead, look at a Predator Helios 300 or a Legion 5 Pro within this budget.

We measured a combined system power of around 65-75W between the tested games on the Performance profile, with the GPU averaging 45W in the games that properly support Dynamic Boost, and around 40W in those that do not. The fans ramp up to around 43-44 dB at head-level in this mode, with the laptop sitting on the desk.

There’s also a difference in temperatures between the tested games, with the CPU running at around 75-85 C and the GPU in the 75-82 C in most titles; Far Cry 5 and Shadow of Mordor are exceptions that allocate up to 35W of power to the CPU and only 40W to the GPU, and as a result, the CPU ends running in the 90+ Celsius. Both are high levels for the kind of hardware available in this notebook.

Lifting up the bottom of the laptop in order to improve the airflow into the fans lowers both the CPU and GPU temperatures by 5-12 degrees, which is a significant difference. The very slim feet on the bottom of this laptop choke the intakes and prevent proper cooling during demanding loads, so you should definitely consider lifting this up. I haven’t noticed an increase in fan noise or pitch by lifting up the back.

You can also opt to run games on the Balanced profile, which quiets down the fans to around 39-40 dB, with a slight decrease in performance and an increase in internal temperatures. No problem if you opt to lift up the back of the laptop, as explained above.

Finally, I’ll also mention that gaming on the battery is problematic here with the current settings, as this ConceptD 3 can only supply around 25W of combined power while unplugged, and that greatly limits both the CPU and the GPU.

Noise, Heat, Connectivity, speakers, and others

Acer went with a dual-fan thermal module here, but with four radiators and longer heatpipes than on competing products with similar specs. Over here you can also see that the cooling module has been repurposed and adapted from the smaller 14-inch CeonceptD 3 launched previously.

As a result, this thermal module should be more than capable of properly cooling the Core i7 processor and maxQ RTX 3050Ti dGPU inside this laptop, while also keeping the noise levels at bay even on the top Performance profile.

However, as noticed above, while some air comes into the fans through the keyboard and the grill on top of the keyboard, most of it comes from the bottom of the laptop, through the open intakes over the fans and heatpipes. And because Acer went with those low profile rubber feet, there’s very little room for the air to come into the fans. Hence, the fans are choked and heat easily builds up into the system. As shown in our tests, slightly raising up the back of the laptop off the desk makes a noticeable impact on the internal temperatures, impacting chassis temperatures as well.

Furthermore, most of the hot air blows into the screen with this design, causing the panel to reach temperatures in the low to mid-40s around the exhausts. Not ideal. Chassis temperatures are within comfort limits, though, with hotspots around the radiators between the hinges.

The Concept D 3 is not unique in this by any chance, as most other mid-tier laptops suffer from similar culprits in our tests, but the advantages of pushing up the back of the laptop and improving the airflow are greater on this product compared to others.

As far as the noise goes, Performance ramps the fans at around 43-44 dB at head-level, while Balanced tames them down at 40 dB. Running demanding loads on ECO doesn’t make much sense here, as the loss in performance is significant, and the decrease in fan noise is only minor.

You should revert to the ECO profile with light everyday use, and that’s because it’s the only profile that idles the fans. However, even mild multitasking will cause them to kick on; they’re still quiet when active, at around 30 dB in most cases, but you’ll still notice them in a silent room. Furthermore, once active, it will take a very long time of inactivity or light use for them to idle back again.

On the other hand, I haven’t noticed any coil whine or electronic noises during my time with this laptop.

*Daily Use – Eco Mode – streaming Netflix in EDGE for 30 minutes. fans at 0-30 dB
*Gaming  – Performance mode – playing Far Cry 5 for 30 minutes, fans at 43-44 dB

For connectivity, there’s the latest-gen WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5 through an Intel AX201 module on this laptop. It performed well with our setup. You’re also getting Gigabit LAN if you prefer a wired connection, just be aware that the LAN slot is on the right side of the laptop, and might interfere with your mouse area.

Audio is handled by a set of stereo speakers that fire through narrow grills placed on the bottom of the laptop. Because of how they’re positioned and their small size, these can be easily covered or muffled when using the laptop on the lap or on a blanket, so be careful about that. The audio quality isn’t much here, anyway, with only middling volumes and poor strength in the lower end.

I’ll also mention that there’s an HD camera placed at the top of the screen, flanked by microphones. They get the job done.

Battery life

There’s only a 56 Wh battery inside this Acer ConceptD 3, which is much smaller than most other 15-16 inch laptops in this class offer these days, so don’t expect much in terms of runtimes. Once more, this has been repurposed from the 14-inch ConceptD model.

Here’s what we got in terms of battery life in our test, with the screen’s brightness set at around 120 nits (~60 brightness).

• 10 W (~5+ h of use) – text editing in Google Drive, Eco + Better Battery Mode, screen at 60%, Wi-Fi ON;
• 7.5 W (~7 h of use) – 1080p fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge, Eco + Better Battery Mode, screen at 60%, Wi-Fi ON;
• 7 W (~ 8 h of use) – Netflix fullscreen in Edge, Eco + Better Battery Mode, screen at 60%, Wi-Fi ON;
• 15 W (~3-4 h of use) – browsing in Edge, Balanced + Better Performance Mode, screen at 60%, Wi-Fi ON.

The laptop ships with a mid-sized 120W charger, which plugs in via a standard barrel plug. As a particularity, this is white as well, to match the overall design of this series. USB-C charging is also possible here.

Price and availability- Acer ConceptD 3

This late-2021 ConceptD 3 is not yet listed in stores at the time of this article.

As far as we know, though, it’s expected in North America from January 2021, starting at $1699, and it was supposed to be already available here in Europe from 1799 EUR. I expect that to be for the configuration tested here, with the Core i7-11800H processor, 16 GB of RAM, a TB of storage, and the RTX 3050Ti graphics, as those price tags are otherwise rather high even for this sort of a configuration.

WE’ll update when we know more, and in the meantime, follow this link for more details, as well as updated configurations and prices in your region.

Final thoughts- Acer ConceptD 3 CN316-73G

As a multi-purpose creator laptop, Acer did a good job with this ConceptD 3. The white design and good craftsmanship quality are among its major selling points, alongside the 16:10 display and the balanced hardware configuration paired with an oversized thermal module compared to what you’ll find with most other laptops in this class. You’re also getting alright inputs here, even with those squashed arrows and functions keys, as well as a complete set of ports.

At the same time, the poor audio quality, the only average runtimes on battery, and the choked air-intakes with the laptop sitting on a desk which are causing the internals to heat up in demanding loads and games, these could steer some of you away. However, my main nits with this series are Acer’s decision to only offer it in white, the small included battery, and the lack of any high-gamut display option, all possible dealbreakers for potential buyers of this sort of lightweight creator/work computer.

Furthermore, I feel this is somewhat expensive, based on the little we know so far. Given the aspects mentioned above, this would need to be competitively priced if it were to attract buyers over competitors such as the Asus VivoBook Pro 16X (mostly the AMD model), the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus, or even the Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Pro 16. Sure, it is more powerful and more affordable than an XPS 15 or a MacBook Pro 16, but it’s definitely not competing in the same niche as those.

This wraps up my time with the Acer ConceptD 3 here, and I’d love to hear your thoughts, questions, and feedback down below.

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Review by: Andrei Girbea
Andrei Girbea, Editor-in-Chief. I’ve a Bachelor’s in Computer Engineering and I’ve been covering mobile technology since the 2000s. You’ll mostly find reviews and thorough guides written by me here on the site, as well as some occasional first-impression articles.

. I’ve a Bachelor’s in Computer Engineering and I’ve been covering mobile technology since the 2000s. You’ll mostly find reviews and thorough guides written by me here on the site, as well as some occasional first-impression articles.