Acer is trying to capitalize on the buzz that Asus created with the fantastic Zephyrus G14 last year. It is similar in a few important ways: it is a stylish gaming laptop with a relatively small and sleek design that borders on ultrabook territory. On top of that, it sports a 14-inch 1080p display with a quick refresh rate and good graphics capability. Even its $1,399 price tag falls into a similar range.
We haven’t yet received Asus’ most recent G14 for review, so we can’t say for sure how it will stack up against this one in all the important categories. However, the new Acer model already offers several glaring advantages, like as an integrated webcam and a Thunderbolt 4 connector. With the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card, it likewise delivers remarkable gaming performance, but don’t be fooled by the similarities (or even the minor advantages). A little bit of a misnomer to refer to the new Triton 300 SE as a Predator.
It’s not nearly as fancy as, example, the 13-inch Asus ROG Flow X13 two-in-one or Razer Blade Stealth 13, but it does have a sleeker, more professional style than the more powerful variants. It’s also not quite as “ultraportable”; nonetheless, despite the smaller models’ slower performance compared to the Triton, it’s only a matter of time before they receive upgrades to 11th-generation CPUs and the recently unveiled GeForce RTX 3050.
Acer Predator Triton 300 SE review: Design
The Acer Triton 300 SE is the result of Acer’s years of experience manufacturing some of the thinnest and lightest laptops in the world. The end result is not a lightweight gaming laptop. Still a fantasy, that. Although the Acer Triton 300 SE weighs 1.72kg, you may treat it like any other ultraportable laptop. It just weighs 400g more than the standard for the category. If you fill the water bottle in your rucksack a little less, the weights will balance out even if your hydration doesn’t.
the lightweight laptops, Acer uses magnesium-aluminum alloys. This material makes up almost the entire case of the Triton 300 SE. Only the screen surround and the angular hinge casing are made of plastic, whereas the bottom, keyboard surround, and lid are all made of magnesium alloys. Until you take the Acer Triton 300 SE outside and observe that the plastic appears to shimmer more in the sunlight than the metal, this difference in materials isn’t particularly evident.
Acer Predator Triton 300 SE review: Display
The screen on the Acer Triton 300 SE is a very sturdy 14-inch 16:9 aspect ratio IPS LCD panel. There is a thick bottom border because to the widescreen aspect ratio. Its only possible weakness is brightness. At 322 nits, it doesn’t perform any better than some non-gaming laptops that cost less than half as much. After reviewing the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro, we moved on to the Acer Triton 300 SE, and the latter laptop’s larger, higher-resolution 500+ nit display is immediately more stunning.
Because the Acer has a full matte display layer, we were able to use the Triton 300 SE outside for a number of hours in sunlight that was as intense as it gets in the UK and still work comfortably. Reflections are simply not a significant problem, and in many situations, this will be more significant than, say, a 25% increase in peak brightness.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The keyboard on the Acer Triton 300 SE, an ultraportable gaming laptop, is just like one you might find on a nice ultraportable laptop. Although the keys don’t have exceptionally precise actuation and the key depth is good but not excessively deep, we had no issues using it for all-day typing. We’d be more than content to use this keyboard every day at work. Acer incorporates an additional row of keys into the “spare” space created by a chassis that is marginally bigger than a conventional portable 13.3-inch screen laptop.
These provide rapid access to PredatorSense, an Acer program that allows you to regulate fan behavior and the keyboard illumination system, as well as media controls. As opposed to some chunkier or ultra-high-end laptops, which have per-key illumination, the Acer Triton 300 SE’s keyboard backlight features three zones. However, bespoke profiles, complete access to a wide range of colors, and those animated presets that we envision people testing for a day before going back to solid colors are all still available. Before receiving the Acer Triton 300 SE, we didn’t have high hopes for the touchpad.
Acer Predator Triton 300 SE review: Audio
The bottom-firing speakers on the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE aren’t particularly loud and don’t have enough bass to support intense gaming or music. The audio is balanced, though. When we listened to Au/”Panic Ra’s Room,” the electronic beats immediately came out as scratchy and lifeless since there was no adequate bass to support them. The vocals, however, were clear and crisp. The chorus lacked a warm feel to complete it; it didn’t seem muddy or harsh either.
Acer Predator Triton 300 SE review: Webcam
In the test shot we took, the window behind me was completely blown out, appearing to be pure white, and there was a ton of color noise throughout the image. The Fullmetal Alchemist wall scroll behind me was utterly illegible, and my visage was blotchy. If you enjoy playing D&D Online as we do, or if you simply require a webcam for streaming in general, visit our top webcams page for something better.
Acer Predator Triton 300 SE review: Graphics
The Acer Predator Triton 300 SE hides an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU with 6GB of VRAM inside its exterior. We sped through the fields, playing Assassin’s Creed Valhalla at 54 frames per second on ultra, 1080p settings, slamming our weapons into the first poor human we could find.
Acer Predator Triton 300 SE review: Performance
The Intel Core i7-11375H processor and 16GB of RAM in the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE easily handled 40 Google Chrome tabs and five YouTube videos as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla ran in the background. The Triton 300 outperformed the average 4,996 mainstream gaming laptop with a score of 5,234, according to Geekbench 5.3’s overall performance benchmark. The Zephyrus G14’s AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS CPU achieved a staggering 7,870 points, while the TUF Dash F15’s AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS received 5,166.
Acer Predator Triton 300 SE review: Battery life
When it comes to chip efficiency, Intel is slowly but surely catching AMD, but it still has a ways to go. The Acer Predator Triton 300 SE’s battery life in the Laptop Mag battery test was 6 hours and 41 minutes, which is decent for a gaming laptop despite being a few minutes behind the average for mainstream gaming laptops (6:47). The Zephyrus G14 outperformed the TUF Dash F15, which lasted a little longer (6:53), with an 11:32.
Configuration Option
The Acer Predator Triton 300 SE is only available in one model, priced at $1399, and features an Intel Core i7-11375H processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU with 6GB VRAM, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 14″, 1080p display at 144Hz.
One of the first laptops to have Intel’s “Special Edition” 11th-generation Core H-series CPU is the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE. The H35 chip is intended for a new category of “ultraportable gaming” devices. A GeForce RTX 3060 GPU with Nvidia’s Ampere 2nd-gen RTX architecture is also included.
Final Words
The Acer Predator Triton 300 SE OLED has potential. It is a compact yet powerful notebook with an excellent display and decent battery life. The price isn’t bad either with a suggested retail price of $1,949. That’s not cheap, but it’s reasonable for a notebook with 32 GB of RAM and a 1 TB solid state drive. However, the graphics performance lets the notebook down. Nvidia’s RTX 3060 is a good mid-range mobile graphics solution, but the Predator Triton 300 SE’s price brings it close to premium.
