Acer Predator Triton 500 evaluate: A genuinely portable gaming powerhouse with 300Hz G-Sync

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I’ve examined plenty of gaming laptops over time, however the newly refreshed Acer Predator Triton 500 is the handiest one I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing on.

For just a few years, that you may perhaps well most likely most likely handiest coax fanatic-class performance out of mammoth gaming laptops that threatened to throw out your support while you carried them around for your fetch. The introduction of Nvidia’s energy-atmosphere friendly Max-Q skills resulted in extra portable play-noteworthy notebooks, however the genuinely totable ones on the full topped out with graphics alternate strategies under the upper echelon of performance. Gaming on the dart continuously required some create of compromise.

No extra. The Acer Predator Triton 500 brings all of it, pairing a 6-core, 12-thread Intel Core i7-10750H processor with Nvidia’s potent mild GeForce RTX 2080 Tremendous graphics chip. All that energy by some capability squeezes accurate into a sublime 4.6-pound aluminum chassis with a lightning-snappy 300Hz G-Sync point out that provides tumble-ineffective beautiful incompatibility ratios. Is it best? No longer moderately. Nonetheless hot rattling, I fancy it.

Acer Predator Triton 500 specs and aspects

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Acer despatched us the best-conclude Triton 500 on offer, loaded with every operate that you may perhaps well most likely most likely interrogate for. Acer’s location ostensibly lists it for $2,600, but at press time shall we handiest gain it on hand for $2,800 at B&H Photo. You safe plenty of hardware for all these pennies.

• CPU:  Intel 10th-gen Core i7-10750H
• Memory:  32GB DDR4/3200 in twin-channel mode
• GPU:  Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Tremendous Max-Q
• Show:  15.6-crawl, 300Hz, 1920×1080 IPS mask mask with Nvidia G-Sync
• Storage:  1TB Samsung NVMe SSD
• Dimensions:  14.1 x 10 x 0.75 inches (without the toes)
• Weight:  4.6 kilos 

There’s no longer worthy extra that you may perhaps well most likely most likely interrogate for. The integrated Samsung NVMe SSD blazes alongside, but in the event you protect shut to accept as true with even faster speeds, there’s one more M.2 slot for expansion, and Acer loaded the laptop with Intel application ready to safe a twin-SSD setup humming in RAID 0.

The storage and RAM are complicated to safe entry to, on the opposite hand. The Triton 500 uses an inverted motherboard build, which components you’ll need to yank out ribbon cables and your complete motherboard to safe entry to the expansion slots. Fortunately, the inventory configuration comes with a ramification of firepower.

Even the Net is snappy on this beast. The Acer Predator Triton 500 involves Killer’s AX1650 Wi-Fi 6 module and Killer DoubleShot Official skills. DoubleShot Official lets the gaming-optimized 2.5 Gigabit ethernet port work alongside with the pocket e book’s 802.11ac Wi-Fi, shifting extra crucial projects to the wired connection and fewer urgent projects to the wireless community. The Triton 500 additionally helps Bluetooth 5.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Acer integrated an astronomical port alternative despite this gaming laptop’s rather small size. The Triton 500 comes with a trio of USB 3.0 ports, Thunderbolt 3, HDMI 2.0, Mini DisplayPort, headset and mic jacks, and the aforementioned ethernet port. It additionally involves a Kensington lock slot for extra security-conscious forms.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Acer Predator Triton 500 build

Most aspects of the Acer Predator Triton 500’s build lift over from final three hundred and sixty five days’s mannequin, and that’s perfectly magnificent, as right here is a wonderfully crafted, superbly compact laptop. The mere 4.6-pound weight firmly flowers the Triton 500 in the thin-and-mild gaming territory. Laptops with identical heft tend to present slower graphics alternate strategies and other ingredients, riding dwelling merely how particular this pocket e book is. This powerhouse feels mountainous tucked below your arm and obtained’t crush your backpack fancy other monster gaming laptops.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Aesthetics are continuously subjective, but I fancy the graceful, dark, aluminum build. There’s no mistaking this for a ho-hum workstation, due to the silver Predator label emblazoned in the center of the lid (and augmented by a blue backlight). Nonetheless fancy Razer’s Blade lineup, the Triton 500 wouldn’t stick out fancy a sore thumb in an place of job assembly either. It’s tasteful.

This laptop makes video games survey mountainous, too. While final three hundred and sixty five days’s mannequin went with a barely commonplace 144Hz point out, the mild Predator Triton 500 delivers an amped-up mask mask to envision the ferocious GeForce RTX 2080 Tremendous Max-Q interior. The 1920×1080 panel—the ideal decision for a gaming laptop this size, 4K be damned—runs at a ludicrous 300Hz with a handy e book a rough 1 millisecond grey-to-grey response time, and better yet, it helps Nvidia’s buttery-relaxed G-Sync skills. Taking part in on this rig is an absolute pleasure. Hell, merely mousing across the desktop feels mountainous. The entirety looks mountainous-crisp.

The mask mask isn’t in particular colorful, topping out at 275 nits in our take a look at. You’ll are searching for to gain a dim dwelling in the event you’re using the Triton 500 outside on a sunny day. That acknowledged, the image itself looks mountainous for gaming and overall exercise, with spectacular incompatibility and pork up for 100 percent of the sRGB spectrum. 

Brad Chacos/IDG

The Triton 500 sounds beautiful first price for a laptop too. Acer’s TrueHarmony audio system lift stable volume and clarity, though fancy all pocket e book audio system, they obtained’t blow away audiophiles. Bass may perhaps well additionally be deeper, there’s a tendency in the direction of tinnier tones, and the amount obtained’t tag while the fans are whirring below load. Chuck some gaming headphones into your fetch in the event that you may perhaps well most likely additionally. The laptop comes with DTS:X Ultra encompass sound application to invent headphone audio extra realistic.

We accept as true with been relaxed with the Triton 500’s keyboard and touchpad setup final three hundred and sixty five days, and it stays the identical this three hundred and sixty five days. Once extra, the subtly concave keys feel mountainous below your fingers, and we’re relaxed that Acer opted for chubby-size cursor keys moderately than the compact monstrosities came upon on some laptops. Our greatest gripe from the 2019 mannequin has been fastened, too, with Acer now offering customizable backlighting on a per-key foundation in the PredatorSense app. Closing three hundred and sixty five days, that you may perhaps well most likely most likely handiest configure the lighting in three mountainous zones.

Brad Chacos/IDG

The relaxed, relaxed touchpad works fancy a appeal and springs well centered below the Y key. Too many laptops build their touchpads in abnormal places on this level in time, so it’s mountainous to survey Acer stick to the classic placement. While clicks registered merely magnificent, I’d accept as true with preferred the addition of discrete mouse buttons on the bottom. Certain, magnificent, most mobile avid gamers deploy gaming mice for higher protect shut watch over. As a tactics lover, on the opposite hand, I used to be playing XCOM: Chimera Squad while testing out the Triton, and the handiest ingredient conserving it from being a best skills sans a discrete mouse used to be the touchpad’s lack of a apt mouse button. Double-urgent the touchpad to apt click merely doesn’t offer the identical accuracy in the warmth of the 2d and fatigues your fingers all over an prolonged session.

You’ll gain (refined) ventilation ports galore on the perimeters and bottom of the laptop to spend the warmth generated by its potent inner hardware. Acer dietary supplements these with Vortex Drift, “a brand mild build intriguing three personalized-engineered fans strategically placed in the chassis, working in tandem to elongate extra airflow while additionally lowering noise.” The company additionally added 5 mild warmth pipes to the Triton 500’s build, alongside with redesigned fourth-skills AeroBlade3D fans interior that create as a lot as 45 percent increased airflow than their predecessors, bolstered by Acer’s CoolBoost skills for increasing fan speeds below load. All informed, Acer’s reviewers manual claims the mild Triton 500 “gets 33 percent higher thermal performance than its 2019 counterpart.”

Acer

The aggregate does an attractive apt job of dissipating the warmth spewing from such excessive-conclude hardware. The Triton 500 holds up magnificent for your lap for day to day projects fancy electronic mail and YouTube videos. While you resolve to game from a cushty chair for the hour or so that this laptop can play for while you’re a long way from a wall socket, the chassis gets warm, but no longer uncomfortably hot. Likewise, the case fans kick as a lot as a noticeable volume when the laptop’s below load, on the opposite hand it’s no longer an substandard noise. We’re worthy extra troubled when laptop fans sound tinny or excessive-pitched or oscillating; the Triton 500 gets loud, yet it additionally fades almost into white noise, in particular in the event you’re using headphones.

Considering that this dinky laptop’s cooling plan is taming a six-core Core i7 chip and Nvidia’s most extremely efficient graphics chip, there’s nothing to whinge about.

Preinstalled application

The PredatorSense application Acer preinstalls on the Triton 500 serves as your gaming recount center, providing you with protect shut watch over over RGB lighting, GPU overclocking presets, fan controls, plan monitoring, and extra. The icons in the upper-apt corner offer even extra customization alternate strategies, letting you magnificent-tune Acer’s TrueHarmony audio for the form of sound you’re listening to and spark off aspects fancy LCD overdrive and the power to disable Nvidia’s discrete GPU for higher energy effectivity while you aren’t gaming. Which that you may perhaps well most likely additionally handiest overclock the GPU when plugged in with increased than 40 percent battery lifestyles excellent, on the opposite hand it’s recommended in the event you meet these requires. More on that later. (Which that you may perhaps well most likely additionally additionally overclock the GPU using a nifty Turbo button over the keyboard.)

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DTS and Killer apps encourage arrange your audio and networking, respectively, while Nvidia application and XSplit Gamecaster serve avid gamers. Acer additionally masses up the Triton 500 with Netflix, Dropbox, Norton Security Ultra, Firefox, ExpressVPN, CyberLink PhotoDirector, Place of job, Spotify, and an “Acer Series S” app with even extra. These are all arguably well-known and without issues eliminated, but worth noting while you’re spending $2,600 on a laptop.

Next page: Efficiency benchmarks and conclusion

• Acer Predator Triton 500 (2020)

  The Acer Predator Triton 500 delivers prominent gaming performance due to its fearsome internals and buttery-relaxed 300Hz G-Sync mask mask. Better yet, it pulls it off in an incredibly portable create ingredient. Appropriate don’t leave your charger at dwelling.

  Mavens

  • Spectacular gaming performance
  • Distinction-prosperous 300Hz G-Sync IPS panel
  • Thin and lightweight-weight
  • Most attention-grabbing, graceful build
  • Ecstatic ergonomics
  • Solid port alternative with Thunderbolt 3

  Cons

  • Fast battery lifestyles
  • Loud (but no longer substandard) fan noise below load
  • Exclusively loaded, but complicated to pork up