People who are currently planning on buying for themselves a new tablet have the option to choose from these two devices - Acer Predator 8 and Nvidia Shield Tablet.
In April, Acer disclosed to technology press that it was developing its 8-inch gaming tablet to compete with the already phenomenal Nvidia Shield Tablet - the Predator 8 tablet (officially the GT-810). Its arrival in the market is slated on Nov. 6 at $299 in North America, based on reports. This tablet seems to be not for all tablet lovers as it is intended as a gaming-focused tablet to rival the Shield Tablet of Nvidia.
Now, which of these two tablets will please their most exacting customers? Let us try to take a look at each of these new rival tablets.
Nvidia Shield Tablet
Nvidia's Shield Tablet, reviews claim, has indeed made a dent in the highly competitive market. For gaming enthusiasts, the tablet has been deemed as the "fastest," since it was really designed for players. Feature-wise, some say it boasts of great features for only $300.
Showcased for Nvidia's new Tegra K1 chip, this tablet touts high-power 2.2GHz ARM Cortex 15 CPUs which house one low-power battery-saver core.
Reviews claim it sports a massive GPU which sports 192 cores of Nvidia's "Kepler" architecture.
The hardware houses 2GB of RAM, fast 2x2 MIMO Wi-Fi which supports 802.11n (but not 802.11ac), as well as 16GB of flash storage. Its stylus uses the Nvidia's "DirectStylus" software.
Its pair of stereo speakers has attracted gamers since it pumps out a bit loud sound - ideal for streaming videos or for playing games.
However, one of the tablet's cons, as per reviews, is its power-hungry Tegra K1 chip as well as its 19.75 watt-hour battery.
The Shield Tablet is an 8-inch device.
Acer Predator 8
Meanwhile, based on the info disclosed by Acer during the announcement, the Acer Predator 8 also boasts of impressive features.
This 8-inch tablet comes with a 1920 x 1080 display. Wrapped in aluminum as well as unique styling, the Acer Predator 8 touts four front-facing speakers which have virtual surround sound. The company claims it sports a "TacSense" enhanced tactile feedback from games.
Acer says its 8.7mm thickness and 350-gram weight will surely impress their customers.
More details for this tablet include 2x2 MIMO Wi-Fi for a reliable connection; 32 or 64GB of storage; 2GB of RAM; and an Intel Atom x7-Z8700 processor.
Newegg will exclusively sell the device for the first two weeks in North America. Men and women from other parts of the world will be able to get the tablet earlier in October.
Bottom line: It's still early to say which one fares against the other. Feature-wise, it seems the Acer Predator 8, at the moment, may have the edge; however, it should need to prove its worth when placed side by side with the Nvidia Shield Tablet. For now, what customers should need to wait for is putting these two new rivals into benchmark tests to determine which of them will come out with better performance.
