Posted 07/31/09 at 02:31:34 PM by Paul Lilly

Acer's refreshed Aspire G, otherwise known as the Predator, sports the same funky orange chassis as the original version, but once you peel back the orange, the hardware gets a bit juicier this time around.

The new Aspire G now sports an Intel Core i7 950 processor (3.06GHz), a ton of RAM (12GB of DDR3 to be exact), 1TB of hard drive storage, two Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 videocards in SLI with 4 DVI-D ports, a Blu-ray reader, Gigabit Ethernet,  and other goodies.

There's no mention of the system cooling in the refreshed version, but hopefully Acer has learned its lesson from the first Predator. In March of this year, Acer issued a voluntary recall of the Predator after two owners reported that their systems got so hot, the external casing melted. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the recall affected about 215 Predator desktops sold between May and December 2008.

No word yet on price or availability on the refreshed units.

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Posted 03/20/09 at 09:46:53 AM by Paul Lilly

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and while we described Acer's Predator PCs as looking "hot," we meant it figuratively, not literally. As it turns out, it didn't matter how me meant it, because according to Acer, who has issued a recall, the high-end gaming rigs are prone to overheating posing a potential burn hazard.

"Acer has received two reports of computers short circuiting, resulting in melted internal components and external casing. Neither incident occurred in the U.S. No injuries have been reported," Acer wrote in its recall notice.

Acer said the problem occurs when insulation on the affected machines' internal wiring becomes bent or stripped, causing the wires to overheat. The recall includes model numbers ASG7200 and ASG7700, which Acer says were sold by computer and electronic stores nationwide from May 2008 through December 2008.

If you have one of these models, Acer says you should stop using it immediately and contact them at 866-695-2237 or visit Acer's website.

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Posted 10/02/08 at 10:59:47 AM by Paul Lilly

Last summer Acer teased gamers by announcing the menacing looking Aspire Predator gaming PC along with a color-matching metallic copper 24-inch G24 LCD display. Now the company says it's ready for the US market and, presumably, to take on HP, Falcon Northwest, and Alienware in the high end OEM gaming segment.

It would take an orgy of high end components to live up to the machine's "Faster. Deeper. Harder. Further." tagline, though Acer's also offering a more moderately priced configuration. Starting at $1,649, The G7700-UQ9300A sports an Intel Core 2 Quad 9300 water-cooled processor, a GeForce 9600GT videocard, 8GB of DDR2 memory, two 640GB hard drives, a DVD reader and DVD burner, and Vista Home Premium 64-bit. For those with a little more loot, $2,199 nudges the processor up to a Q9550 and exchanges the 9600GT for a 9800GTX.

On the monitor front, the Acer G24 widescreen display boasts a 50,000:1 contrast ratio, a 1920x1200 resolution, and 2ms (grey to grey) response time.

Does Acer's Predator appeal to you? Hit the jump and post your thoughts.

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