As soon as the first motorized carriage went into series production over a hundred years ago, major automobile brands were excited about the idea of selling not just a means of transport, but a lifestyle.
Few have succeeded in this as well as Porsche, whose slim design and focus on function over form have made it one of the most popular and renowned names in the automotive world. And with a motorsport pedigree as strong as that of the Stuttgart brand, this reputation has only increased on the racetrack.
The name Porsche has become so desirable that, with Porsche Design, they launched a complete luxury accessories subsidiary to offer fans a range of products that embody the Porsche lifestyle in all areas of life.
From fashion to glasses and watches to bags, pens and even carving knives, there are plenty of items enthusiasts can throw their money on.
Carbon fiber trim strips improve motorsport aesthetics
So how about a Porsche laptop?
IT company Acer – technology provider to Alfa Romeo’s Formula 1 team – has developed this rather attractive notebook that promises to encapsulate Porsche performance in a lightweight laptop.
Last month we got behind the wheel of the Porsche Design Acer Book RS. We tested it, we used it to produce our Grand Prix coverage and we tried sim racing on it.
If the Porsche brand holds a special place in your heart, how far does this device go to give you a taste of this luxury lifestyle?
Perhaps it’s the impact that ‘unboxing’ videos had on internet culture, but the first thing you’ll notice when you open the Porsche Design Acer Book RS is how neatly it is all wrapped up. Each element lies wrapped and embedded in a molded case so that when opened it feels like breaking something that James Bond handed over from his quartermaster.
Since weight is critical to performance in the racing world, it’s remarkable how light this laptop really is at just 1.2kg. You can slip it into the professional-looking protective case while you carry it in your pocket or hands and almost convince yourself that you are Patrick Dempsey on a transatlantic flight to the weekend’s big GT3 event.
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The motorsport influence is clearly evident in the aesthetics. The laptop itself has a carbon fiber cover to really reflect the motorsport-inspired design, while the bespoke mouse has a carbon fiber button for left-click that clearly emulates an accelerator pedal.
The mouse button mimics an accelerator pedal. Everything looks very fancy from the outside, but the effect wears off as you use it and you find that the mouse is the same type of plastic that you have on your regular office mouse at work. The metal scroll wheel also looks good with the design, but the texture could quickly lead to irritation with delicate fingers.
Under the hood is an 11th generation Intel processor with 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD, which means that the system boots up as quickly as a 911 with Launch Control activated. There’s tons of horsepower to get your daily activities done without a hitch, and luckily it runs quietly with minimal fan noise thanks to the double copper heat pipes.
However, be careful when engaging in lengthy intense gaming sessions. While the hinge design naturally raises the ventilation slots when opened to allow better air circulation, the case around the keyboard and fan vents can get almost uncomfortably hot at maximum speed.
The battery life is pretty much as expected – long enough to do serious airport chores if you don’t have a charger on hand, but drains much faster if you’re doing something that uses a lot of the processor. There’s a Thunderbolt 4 port for pit-stop-worthy quick charging, and it also allows export to an external display with up to 8K resolution – if you’re one of the few people in the world who has an 8K-capable device.
In terms of visual performance, everything looks crystal clear on the 14-inch 1080p touchscreen. But while the image quality on the screen is decent, many will be interested to see if you can sim racing with this laptop to live out those motorsport fantasies in the virtual world.
This is where things can get a little tricky when you consider a product like this a serious gaming investment. There’s nothing to shake about the NVIDIA GeForce MX350 graphics card – we’ve played a slew of games from F1 2020 and WRC9 to Rocket League and even Grand Theft Auto V – but there won’t be enough to get you racing leave the graphics-intensive racing games at full settings.
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Frame rates will suffer at those critical moments like the start of a race when the field arrives under a safety car, unless you compromise on graphics quality settings. Fortunately, there are plenty of ports to connect your bike and various other accessories to.
Although it’s not a gaming laptop, current racing titles are playable. That’s not to say that using this Porsche-recommended laptop to drive the brand’s most famous machines on virtual racetracks is unprofitable, but talking about that price of admission is difficult not to think about the superior performance you get can get from some of the other options at a similar cost.
However, comparing this device to dedicated “gaming” laptops feels a little unfair when Acer doesn’t offer this as a one-stop sim racing solution or for those who take it seriously or enjoy the latest AAA experiences in the best possible quality want.
Instead, you have an absolutely decent laptop for work, personal, and mid-range gaming use where the premium quality comes from the “Porsche Design” styling. And perhaps this device is best suited here, not for those who want to buy into the Porsche lifestyle, but to complement those who already live it.
This product is not intended for your own racing use in virtual space, but for sitting around in the garage while it logs all of your data from your real racing day in your Cayman.
Living the Porsche lifestyle is apparently very important. But if you already have the keys to your own model in your garage and are looking for a new laptop, the added premium of this neat but practical laptop probably won’t stop you from further encouraging your Porsche Persona.
Tested model: Porsche Deign Acer Book RS, € 1,899.99, Intel Core i7-1165G7 quad-core processor with 2.8 GHz, NVidia GeForce MX350 2 GB graphics card, 1 TB SSD, 16 GB RAM
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