Acer has just announced two new gaming laptops, the Triton 500 SE and the Helios 500 is making
a return, let’s start out with the Helios 500, as I’m more interested in that.
I last reviewed the Helios 500 in 2018, so almost 3 years ago now, and at that time it
had both Intel and AMD Ryzen desktop CPU options.
The new 17" Helios 500 appears to be an Intel model with up to an overclockable 11th gen
i9 processor, so probably the 11980HK, as well as up to RTX 3080 graphics and 64 gigs
of memory.
Unfortunately I don’t have any internal shots at the moment, but I have been told
that there are two M.2 slots as well as a hard drive bay, which is an interesting choice
and not something that I’ve seen for about a year now, and that’s just simply because
they usually come at the expense of a smaller battery, plus two M.2 SSDs is usually plenty
for most people.
It's got a 17" 4K 120Hz mini LED display option with HDR 1000 support, so it must get super
bright, but there's also a 1080p 360Hz option too if refresh rate is your priority.
The design definitely looks more modern compared to the older Helios 500, and it looks like
Acer are joining the RGB gang by including light bars on the front and sides of the laptop,
and possibly the back as well.
It looks like we've got 3.5mm mic and headphone jacks on the right, two USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A
ports, 2.5 gigabit ethernet, and air exhaust and Kensington lock.
The left side has two USB Type-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, a third USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A port,
as well as HDMI 2.1 and mini DisplayPort 1.4 outputs, so pretty much all the modern I/O
you could ask for.
Based on this picture the power input is on the back, which is where recent Acer gaming
laptops have had it, though it looks like two connection points so not sure what that's
about, it's not powerful enough to demand two power bricks.
Of course there's an RGB keyboard, looks like the touchpad might be trimmed with either
lighting or just a colour, and it's got Acer's classic turbo button for a one click overclock
and fan speed boost.
Next up is the new Predator Triton 500 Special Edition, or SE.
Now the Triton 500 has been around for a while now, but now we get a special edition that
looks simialr to the Triton 300 SE, differences being the Triton 300 is 14 inches while the
Triton 500 is 15.
The design aesthetic looks similar, it's much cleaner and less "gamer" looking I suppose,
just a clean silver metal finish.
Acer have gotten on board the 16" 16:10 screen train, there's a 165Hz IPS panel option which
I'm guessing is probably the same one we saw in the lenovo Legion 5 Pro and Legion 7, but
there’s also a 165Hz mini LED screen and a 240Hz IPS option - so plenty of choice.
This one is also Intel 11th gen powered with up to i9 processor, up to Nvidia RTX 3080
graphics, 64 gigs of RAM and up to 4TB of PCIe 4 storage, all while being under 2cm
thick.
Acer are claiming up to 12 hours of battery life, but I never personally believe those
sorts of statements, we’ll just have to wait for when one comes in for review so I
can test it out myself, so make sure you’re subscribed for that.
It's got advanced optimus, so it should be possible to boost performance without the
requirement of rebooting the system to swap between optimus on and optimus off, plus we
still get the benefit of optimus such as better battery life.
Compared to the Helios 500 previously, this one definitely flies under the radar more
and could be used as a gaming laptop or taken into the office - plus it looks like we've
got an SD card slot on the right too.
The right also has a USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A port, Type-C Thunderbolt 4 with DisplayPort and
HDMI.
The left side has the power input, 2.5 gigabit ethernet, and another USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A
and Type-C Thunderbolt 4 port on this side too followed by 3.5mm audio combo jack.
There's a fingerprint scanner in the touchpad, an RGB keyboard with air vents above and this
one has a turbo button for boosting fan speed and overclocking.
Both the Helios 500 and Triton 500 SE are meant to launch here in Australia in late
Q3 to early Q4, but Australia usually gets stuff later than the rest of the world so
I wouldn’t be surprised to find out if other regions like the US get it a bit sooner.
Unfortunately pricing hasn’t been made available to me yet, but Acer are running a live stream
after I’m recording this video but before I publish it - time travel magic..
Anyway you can check out their live stream over here if you want more information on
all of their new models, but before you go make sure you’re subscribed to the channel
for all of my upcoming reviews on these upcoming laptops.