Interview with max rossi, associate vice president of acer

At the #NextAtAcer event in New York, the brand showed us its new products for 2018 and we were able to interview Massimiliano Rossi, Associate Vice President, at Acer's Product Business Unit.

He answered our questions in detail and openly, which is rare in this type of interview and we appreciate it. We hope you find it as interesting as us.

Chromebooks

Professional Review: We have seen at the event how Acer has renewed Google ChromeOS devices. What response is the market giving to products with ChromeOS? What uses are you seeing predominate in Chrome OS: Education, business, home use…?

As we were hearing today, since 2012 we have sold 10 million units. We have a lot of experience in the Chromebook sector and this is mainly thanks to our Acer colleagues in the United States, because in Europe the market is still quite small compared to them. However, we are increasingly seeing more traction in Europe. Today we still see how it predominates in select countries, you do not see demand everywhere.

We see three main sectors interested in Chromebooks: retail, education, and business. In the sale to the public, the market for Chromebooks is growing, but not in large numbers in each market, rather it increases when it gains strength in markets where there was none. Chromebook sales are concentrated in Great Britain, Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) and the Nordic countries. It currently represents about 40% of its sales.

The Chromebook segment in education is also growing and has a broader market, approximately 60%. In addition to the previous countries where Chromebooks are also purchased in particular, sales for education are also rising in Spain and starting in France.

The Chromebook business sector, from sales to businesses, is the most minority. We see a bit of traction, but very small and starting from very few sales in comparison. We are working on some projects with companies, for example, solutions to security departments where they need PCs that allow them mobility and easy access to data in the cloud. Also in sales areas, where the employees want to access and record data and show information to the customer.

Here we have an advantage over our competitors, who are very large in the commercial sector and that hinders them from not risking Windows with other systems. Meanwhile, we have a very good presence in the commercial sector, but we have the flexibility to adapt other systems to the client and that is why we can have favorable positions in the market for those systems such as ChromeOS.

Together, the Chromebook is a growing market in which we strive to be present. As seen in the portfolio that we have presented for 2018 and also the previous one, the Chromebook is no longer just an input product. It is moving from a super entry-level range to a more mainstream product, not only the classic 15-inch laptop is sold, but also the convertibles, the 13 and 14-inch, the touchs…

Our strategy is to lead the Chromebook market, in 2017 more than 70% of the private sales market share and more than 30% in education belonged to Acer and we want to maintain that position. The opening to more market must be led by Google with its ChromeOS operating system, giving it more interesting capabilities for more sectors, and with the current presence in the market we will be able to reach these new buyers.

Six cores and cooling

Professional Review: The new range of Intel U processors has increased the number of cores, and some brands have had trouble dissipating the heat from those CPUs, so that when there are demanding tasks we suffer thermal throttling . What method does Acer implement to cool the ultrathin U-range CPU CPU laptops, and avoid thermal throttling?

In the Switch range of ultra-thin laptops we are using a dual-liquid system that we also use on all-in-one PCs. It is a more expensive cooling system than the small conventional fan, so these more premium equipment that also benefits greatly from the reduction in thickness are the first to equip it.

Another very important factor in refrigeration is design. Without a good design, heat accumulates in some areas because the arrangement of the components with the cooling system has not been optimized. Our experience with Predator gaming PCs, where we've come a long way with metal 3D Blade fans and designs, gives us tools and insight to fix these issues.

Acer undoubtedly works studying the individual needs of each product, and we make sure that the dissipation technology is the necessary one for the use that it is going to give it. Users will not find thermal throttling in Acer products of this generation.

AMD Ryzen CPU

Professional Review: What presence do AMD Ryzen CPUs have in Acer products and will we see more in the future?

We currently have many AMD designs, more than in the past. The Aspire 3, Swift 3 and Nitro ranges have AMD Ryzen Mobile variants, with which we are increasing the products with AMD in our portfolio. AMD is becoming more interesting in the market, as Ryzen helps you out of the entry ranges to more powerful processors. We are following the change of approach to the AMD market with its CPUs and, accordingly, we include them in our products.

It seems to me that this is the right direction, there is a serious market now that AMD is again a serious proposal against Intel and we want to be an important player.

AMD RX GPU

Professional Review: Do you think AMD RX graphics cards will appear on more laptops in the future?

In the gaming market we see how Nvidia is taking almost all the market share in GPU. Personally, I think AMD can make an effort and change the dynamics of the market, but its current offering and plans for the near future do not seem to show dramatic changes that give them a great presence in portable gaming.

Annual evolution CPU and GPU

Professional Review: We see big performance improvements between GPU generations lately but more discrete increases between CPU generations. Do you think this is hurting you in your arguments as a manufacturer in favor of renewing PCs more often?

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Competition tends to lead to innovation. I can't speak for Intel or AMD, but achieving high levels of performance and continuing to increase each year is extremely difficult. We are currently at a point where performance improvements are minimal, but developments are taking place on other fronts. Each generation is seeing great strides in reducing consumption and improvements in integrated GPUs and connectivity.

The challenge lies in the GPU, as gaming increasingly demands more GPUs and framerate becomes more and more important. In eSports competitions you have a great advantage if your team is faster and you can react earlier, being more effective. In my opinion, gaming is stretching the evolution in GPUs, and I think Nvidia is doing a very good job.

I also think that doubling power / consumption in each generation is impossible, unless you also change architecture. At some point you encounter a stumbling block and growth slows down, and rather than reducing or increasing a value such as the size of transistors, you change the structure as when you went from a single core to several cores.

Honestly in gaming even a 10% improvement counts, since many games are limited by CPU, and yes after a few years the upgrade to a new PC is a value proposition. I understand that another more mainstream consumer does not need a new CPU, but the value propositions that we add every year are also very attractive: better battery, screen, battery life, lower weight and dimensions, features such as 360º hinges… I think they reside there great improvements for all consumers.

The future: microLED displays

Professional Review: MicroLED display technology is still in pre-production but looks promising. Has Acer started testing with microLED and what can you comment on it?

I can't reveal everything we are testing and know about the technology, but of course Acer's DNA is to bring the latest technologies to the market. We have done this with HDR, 144Hz monitors and other products.

Today we see that microLED technology is not mature enough. Our expectations are that televisions will adopt it when it's ready first, but we're not going to see big changes in technology availability this coming year and probably next year. Of course it is a technology we are considering, but we will bring it to market when it is ready.

This type of technology, in the young stage in which it is, has a high rejection ratio in production. Of all the screens that are manufactured, many must be discarded because they have defects, and with that the price increases a lot because only a few can be taken for sale. When I say that the technology must be mature, I mean that it must be able to be mass produced with few problems and that the user does not have to pay a fortune to include it in their device.