ACER Predator Triton 500: Test and first impressions of the 16-inch notebook with GeForce RTX 3080
ACER Predator Triton 500
These days, thanks to a sample that is not yet final, we tried the new ACER Predator Triton 500, a decidedly high-end gaming notebook that looks at gaming in 1440p or rather 1600p, given the 16:10 format of the screen. And it is undoubtedly a lens within the reach of the model we received, equipped with an Intel Core i9-19900H Tiger, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile, a 16-inch panel with 1600p resolution and 165 Hz refresh and 32 GB of memory. system.Hardware features
The ACER Predator Triton 500 connected to an external screen The ACER Predator Triton 500 is a high-end gaming notebook that also in this new edition aims at the top. In fact, it can mount processors up to the Intel Core 11980HK, reach 64 GB of memory and equip a 240 Hz 16:10 2560 x 1600 screen with 3 milliseconds of response time and 100% DCI-P3 color space coverage.The sample we tested slightly below the maximum hardware specifications, however, does not fare badly with an Intel Core i9-11900H with 8 cores and 16 threads, 32 GB of memory at 3200 MHz and a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile GPU, obviously in mobile version with 6144 CUDA core. The 1600p screen in our case stops at 165 Hz, but they are more than enough to fully exploit even a high-end mobile GPU that can also count on G-Sync synchronization, in order to guarantee perfect distribution of the framerate even when this last is not very high.
Front view of the ACER Predator Triton 500 Also in terms of storage the options granted are considerable, reaching up to a double RAID of 2 TB Samsung NVMe SSDs for a total of 4 TB of maximum storage space. But even in this case, the sample we dabbled with defends itself well, mounting two 1 TB solid state drives sufficient to contain dozens of games and applications.
Among other things, the larger dimensions of the ACER Predator Triton 500 leave more space for connectivity which, much richer than that of the Triton 300, has 2 Thunderbolt 4.0 ports, with DisplayPort and charging functions, as well as with 2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports. In addition we find an HDMI 2.1, useful for exploiting high refresh TVs as external screens, and an SD memory card reader that together with WiFi 6, the 3.5 mm audio jack and the 2.5 ethernet port Gbps forms a truly noteworthy picture.
The 180 ° opening of the screen of the ACER Predator Triton 500 To close we find a DTS: X audio system, a capacious 99 WHr battery and the cooling with Vortex Flow design that has a fan for the CPU and two fans for the GPU, all individually controllable through the Predator Sense software that also allows you to manage RGB lighting and operating modes, from the silent one to the Turbo one that pushes the dissipation to the maximum.
Technical data sheet ACER Predator Triton 500 2021
Display: IPS 16 inches 16:10, resolution 2560 x 1600, refresh 165 Hz, 1250 nit (peak) , 100% sRGB (240Hz max option 100% DCI-P3) Processor: Intel Core i9-11900H Tiger Lake-H (i9-11980HK max option) GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile 8GB Memory: 32GB 3200MHz 2 x 16 GB (64 GB maximum option) Storage: 2 x Samsung SSD NVMe RAID 1 TB (4 TB maximum option total) Audio: DTS dual speaker configuration Ports: 2 x Thunderbolt 4 with charging and Display Port functions, 1 x HDMI 2.1, 2 USB 3.2 Gen 2, SD card reader, 3.5mm audio Connectivity: Intel Killer E3100 2.5G Ethernet and Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 Battery: 99 WHr Release: October 2021 Price: Starting from € 1799
The design
The Predator logo on the back of the screen All in metal alloy except for the thin bezels of the screen, the Acer Predator Triton 500 has a design similar to that of the Triton 300 even if in a larger version, depending on the 16-inch screen. But the increase in the ratio between screen and surface of the laptop, reached 87%, has allowed ACER to maintain roughly the same form factor as the 15 inches of the previous generation. The weight, however, remains considerable. In fact, we are talking about 2360 grams which are however justified by the extensive use of metal alloy, by the important dissipation and by the massive hardware equipment.In addition, the thickness has dropped to 19.9 millimeters which are not few, but they are not too many for a decidedly high-end gaming laptop, which can count on a series of refinements starting from the perfectly integrated camera in the upper frame to reach the possibility of having the keyboard with optical switches and with independent RGB lighting for each key. The sample we received is satisfied with a standard keyboard with 3 lighting zones, but we are still talking about a clearly premium product that sports a large and solid touchpad, without dedicated keys but equipped with a fingerprint reader.
The keyboard of the ACER Predator Triton 500 Under the screen there are the holes of the DTS: X audio system that form a suggestive pattern and also increase the dissipation surface, adding to the large grilles that characterize much of the back and of the two side edges. To this must be added the slits on the belly, actually not particularly large and numerous. But the laptop gains in elegance and sturdiness, among other things leaving more room for airflow than other models thanks to thick rubber studs.
User experience
The trackpad of the ACER Predator Triton 500 with fingerprint reader The choice of the 16:10 aspect ratio probably has to do with the aspect ratio of the laptop, but it is also useful for creators who in this way can have more space on the vertical axis in order to manage the video and audio tracks of its contents. Of course, it is not the most suitable for video content, but in this case, the brightness of the panel, clearly very high, and the vivid colors and excellent rendering both with movies and with titles like Cyberpunk, make sense of everything. 2077. The only problem is the blacks, not exceptional, but when there are bright images on the screen the yield is excellent.Between processor and RAID storage, the system is very responsive. Instant loads and desktop replacement power thanks to a high-performance CPU that delivers high performance for applications. On the other hand we are talking about an almost top-of-the-range CPU alongside what is currently the most powerful notebook GPU in circulation.
It is no coincidence that the mobile NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 guarantees extremely high framerates in 1080 and a fluid experience in 1600p complete with ray tracing. Unfortunately in the case of our sample we were faced with a limit on the GPU at 66 degrees, which put us in front of throttling phenomena in the heavier games, but this is a parameter destined to rise considerably with the final version. of the laptop.
The loudspeaker slots of the ACER Predator Triton 500 In the meantime we have tested the three fans that in standard mode are not silent but not particularly noisy, thanks to the increase in hardware efficiency and dissipation compared to laptops of the previous generation. But there is still a long way to go before we can count on low-noise gaming notebooks. In fact, in Turbo mode the noise becomes important, albeit bearable, to become high in Extreme mode. But on the other hand it is a device designed to be used with a pair of good headphones, also due to a DTS: X audio system that returns a clean sound but not particularly powerful or impressive from the bass point of view. >
Returning to the noise level, the laptop can also be set in silent mode that allows you to play without compromise in 1080p, offering excellent performance even in the case of applications, videos and so on. Clearly even braking the performance, when the discrete GPU is called into question, the battery does not reach the 12 hours that refer to general use.
For a more in-depth analysis on autonomy and performance we still have to refer to the future review of the ACER Predator Triton 500, a laptop undoubtedly powerful, interesting and designed to be very versatile, but which will not be available in Italy until October.
The ACER Predator Triton 500 is a laptop designed for demanding gamers and creators of video or audio content, which is evident both from the format and from the options for the screen that arrive at a 240 Hz panel with 100% DCI-P3 color space coverage. But even the version we tested, with a 165 Hz screen, gave us a pretty good first contact thanks to excellent brightness, vivid colors, a top-of-the-range GPU and an undoubtedly powerful processor in the laptop sector.
