Acer Predator Triton 500 SE review: I expected more

Spending a grip on a gaming laptop computer isn’t troublesome; a cursory search on gaming laptops will web you many choices that price greater than $4,000. However discovering a laptop computer that’s supplying you with the best return in your funding is extra of a problem. In the event you’re spending round $3,000 on a gaming laptop computer just like the Acer Predator Triton 500 SE, you need it to bury the competitors, not simply scrape by. Sadly, the Triton 500 SE is a bit disappointing and doesn’t flex its {hardware} sufficient to set it aside in a crowded market. 

Housed in its all-silver chassis, the $2,999.99 configuration of the Triton 500 SE we examined features a twelfth Gen Core i9-12900H processor, RTX 3080 Ti graphics card, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of PCIe NVME storage. This {hardware} is greater than sufficient to take full benefit of its 16-inch 240Hz 2560 x 1600 show. Acer has inexpensive fashions of the Triton 500 SE out there, too; the base model, with an Intel Core i7-12700H CPU, RTX 3070 Ti, and 16GB of RAM, prices $2,099.99, about as a lot as a Lenovo Legion 5i Pro with twice the RAM and storage.

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The Triton 500 SE has sufficient ports that it doesn’t want an exterior dock or a multitude of dongles. Alongside the left aspect, you’ll discover an ethernet port, DC connector, a 3.5mm audio jack, a single USB-A port, and a USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 hookup. The suitable aspect options one other Thunderbolt port and USB-A port plus an HDMI output and SDXC card reader.

In the event you’re sticking to the world across the WASD keys, the keyboard is okay, however attempting to get precise work completed on the keyboard is usually a problem. The switches have good tactile suggestions and a small quantity of journey, they usually don’t really feel mushy, however they’re smaller than common, and the gaps between them make me want this house have been used a little bit extra effectively. Too usually, I missed a key or needed to pause what I used to be doing to seek for a operate that had been relocated. In a number of circumstances, I hit the important thing that summons the Acer Predator software program as a substitute of the backspace key. I made far fewer errors with the keyboard on the Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 due to its barely bigger keys and extra acquainted structure.

The trackpad is sizable, at roughly 5 x 3 inches, and has a satisfying tactile response with a pleasant click on. It’s correct and responsive and didn’t randomly register my palms when utilizing it. It’ll get you by should you’re enjoying Civilization 6, however you’re going to desire a devoted mouse on your Valorant ladder matches. It’s a bit disappointing that the fingerprint sensor takes up a part of the upper-left portion of the trackpad. It doesn’t get in the best way fairly often, however I’d quite have a much bigger trackpad floor with a fingerprint sensor on one other a part of the chassis. 

At simply over 5 kilos, it may be tempting to name the Triton moveable, however the battery life prevents it from going far with out an out there outlet. The Triton lasts a few hours when gaming on battery energy, which isn’t spectacular however is barely extra spectacular when you think about that it provides roughly the identical gaming expertise you’d get when it’s plugged in. The motherboard is provided with a multiplexer, or MUX swap, that enhances battery life by dynamically switching between the built-in and devoted GPUs relying on the duty. By leaning on the built-in GPU as a substitute of the RTX 3080 Ti, it managed to get virtually three hours of YouTube streaming / working. You may’t anticipate an excessive amount of from a laptop computer this dimension that makes use of such a demanding graphics card, however should you want longevity out of your gaming laptop computer, the MSI GS77 Stealth lasts about so long as the Triton however fees you much less for the privilege.

The hinge on the show is agency and gained’t wobble so long as you utilize the laptop computer on a flat floor. Nonetheless, I might’ve appreciated a cloth on the lid and chassis that did a greater job of resisting fingerprints and different seen markings. One in all our huge complaints from the previous Triton mannequin has resurfaced: the slim lid has a shocking quantity of flex. Nearly any quantity of stress causes the show to bow, which isn’t one thing I wish to see in a laptop computer that prices over $3,000. 

The audio system, housed between the hinge and the keyboard, are uncommonly good for a laptop computer — at the least, I didn’t instantly wish to attain for the closest pair of headphones. They’re not far sufficient aside to supply the spatial audio you’d get from a pair of headphones, however they’re competent sufficient to supply a excessive and low finish that doesn’t sound tinny or washed-out. The Acer software program has a number of totally different EQ presets which can be supposed to supply a greater listening expertise for various sport genres, however “Music” offered probably the most balanced sound of the bunch.

The 2650 x 1600 IPS show has a 16:10 side ratio, and Acer says it might hit 500 nits of brightness. It additionally helps G-Sync, with a most refresh charge of 240Hz. The {hardware} within the Triton 500 SE is remarkably highly effective, however even an RTX 3080 Ti can’t hit 240fps in fashionable titles. Solely Counter-Strike: World Offensive received shut, sustaining round 200fps at max settings and as much as 333fps after I dropped the decision to 1080p. It’s good to have a display with loads of overhead, however the truth that it has adaptive sync is extra vital to most individuals than the refresh charge.

It wasn’t simple to problem the Triton 500 SE with our present benchmarks. The Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti in our overview unit is the present top-of-the-line gaming GPU, and it’s highly effective — it hit round 60fps or higher at native decision with extremely settings and extremely ray tracing in virtually each sport we examined it with.

In our Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark with extremely presets, ray tracing enabled, and DLSS off, it averaged 79fps. The $4,000 Razer Blade 17, one other RTX 3080 Ti laptop computer with a 2560 x 1600 display, received 70fps on the identical settings, whereas the $2,800 MSI GS77 Stealth, with an RTX 3070 Ti, solely managed 58fps. 

The Triton 500 SE additionally hit 67fps in Crimson Lifeless Redemption 2 at extremely settings with DLSS off, in comparison with 72fps for the Razer Blade 17 and 59 for the GS77 Stealth.

Within the extra demanding Cyberpunk 2077, the Predator Triton 500 SE hit 61fps at extremely settings with ray tracing set to extremely and 48fps with ray tracing set to “psycho,” each with DLSS off. Even video games like Doom Everlasting put out a comparatively regular 60fps with extremely presets and ray tracing enabled and hit a constant 120fps when utilizing DLSS efficiency mode. 

Like the opposite laptops we’ve examined with RTX 3080 Ti GPUs, it blazed by our video export take a look at, managing to finish the run in two minutes and 20 seconds.  

All the benchmarks have been carried out whereas utilizing the best efficiency presets out there by the Acer management software program, which yielded glorious outcomes, however I did most of my gaming within the aptly named “whisper mode,” which fortunately lives as much as its title. I’m unsure you’d be capable of market the Triton 500 SE with out this characteristic, because the followers may be loud sufficient to be distracting if the system is underneath even a modest stage of pressure. This mode has the followers working at their minimal, so some throttling can be anticipated right here, however in testing, the 500SE nonetheless managed to supply stable efficiency when positioned underneath these constraints. Taking part in Doom Everlasting with the identical settings, as an example, didn’t change a lot, nonetheless managing as much as 120fps when utilizing DLSS efficiency mode. Nonetheless, the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark took some fairly critical hits, managing a median of simply 50fps utilizing the identical settings.

Switching between efficiency profiles is finished by the Acer management software program, which is straightforward and unobtrusive. You may summon this software program through the desktop or through the use of its personal devoted macro key. The software program permits you to regulate fan speeds, efficiency profiles, and RGB lighting. However not like another gaming laptops, just like the Asus ROG Zephyrus sequence, you possibly can solely change the efficiency profile whereas the laptop computer is plugged into an outlet. Even whereas at an almost full cost, I discovered that unplugging the laptop computer causes the {hardware} profile to revert to its default balanced energy state.

The Predator Triton 500 SE is in a tricky spot. On one hand, it’s the least costly gaming laptop computer we’ve examined with specs like these. Of the RTX 3080 Ti fashions we’ve examined, the Razer Blade 17 has higher construct high quality however a much less highly effective CPU and prices $1,000 extra. The MSI GE76 Raider prices extra and has a lower-resolution display. However the Gigabyte Aero 16, which price $5,000 after we reviewed it, is now only a few hundred bucks more than the Triton 500 SE. It’s sizzling and loud and has unhealthy battery life, too, however it additionally has a 4K AMOLED display.

The RTX 3080 Ti is Nvidia’s present top-of-the-line cellular graphics card (for now, at the least), and 2560 x 1600 looks as if the suitable decision for it proper now. You’ll need to drop ray tracing and high quality settings to hit 60fps on a 4K show, and 1080p is simply too low-resolution for a 16-inch display. Springing for a 3080 Ti as a substitute of a 3070 Ti means you’ll have playable body charges for longer, which implies you’ll get extra life out of your laptop computer earlier than you must improve. 

However, the followers on my take a look at unit have been so loud that I spent most of my gaming time in quiet mode and received decrease body charges than a 3070 Ti. So why spend the additional cash until you may have actually good noise-canceling headphones?

That’s the RTX 3080 Ti. However the candy spot GPU in Nvidia’s lineup proper now’s the RTX 3070 Ti, which may nonetheless hit near 60fps at extremely settings in lots of video games, although normally not with ray tracing all the best way up. And it prices rather a lot much less. The Triton 500 SE has a $2,099.99 model with a Core i7-12700H CPU, RTX 3070 TI, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage. That’s far more compelling, particularly as a result of you possibly can simply improve the RAM. We haven’t reviewed that mannequin, however until its efficiency is wildly totally different from laptops with comparable specs we’ve examined, you’ll nonetheless get a lot of the efficiency of the $3,000 mannequin for round $800 much less. 

However for a similar value and even much less, you will get a Lenovo Legion 5i Pro on sale with the same CPU, GPU, and RAM, just about the identical port choice, and an identical 2560 x 1600 G-Sync panel. (Although it tops out at 165Hz as a substitute of 240Hz.) In his review, my colleague Cam Faulkner discovered that the Legion 5i Professional had higher construct high quality and quieter followers than the Triton 500 SE I examined. Even should you can’t get the very same RAM and SSD configuration, each of these are simply person upgradeable, not like construct high quality and fan noise. 

The Acer Predator Triton 500 SE isn’t a nasty gaming laptop computer, and the RTX 3080 Ti mannequin I examined has highly effective {hardware} for the value. But it surely’s nonetheless not well worth the value premium, particularly with how loud the followers are, particularly with new graphics playing cards coming quickly, and particularly when the RTX 3070 Ti laptops get you 80 p.c of the efficiency for nearly $1,000 much less. However, with Nvidia’s new 40-series GPUs on the horizon, the pricing for a lot of gaming laptops outfitted with 30-series GPUs might calm down considerably.