Acer had a few gaming and creator laptops on show at CES 2020, including the highly
requested Triton 300, so I’ve finally had a chance to get a first look at that, as well
as the edition of 300Hz panels, and the new ConceptD 7 Ezel Pro, which features a much
better designed hinge mechanism compared to the older model, let’s take a closer look.
Acer’s Predator Triton 300 gaming laptop was actually announced in September 2019 at
IFA, I haven’t been able to get my hands on one to review yet, so this was my first
time seeing it, and given so many of you have wanted to see it on the channel I thought
this was a good opportunity.
The Triton 300 is available with 9th gen Intel i5 or i7 processor and Nvidia GTX 1650 graphics.
Interestingly, it’s got a 15.6” 1080p 144Hz screen, so with 1650 graphics you’ll
only take full advantage of that in either esports titles, or more demanding games with
lower settings, hopefully I get the chance to benchmark it some day!
In terms of design, it seems to share a number of design aspects with the more powerful Triton
500. It’s all black, metal, with various blue accenting all over.
On the left there’s a Kensington lock, gigabit ethernet, mini DisplayPort and HDMI outputs,
USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-C port, no Thunderbolt, and two USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A ports.
On the right there’s a 3.5mm audio combo jack, USB 2.0 Type-A port, status LEDs, the
power input, and air exhaust vent.
The back is just air exhaust, however it’s coloured blue to match the rest of the machine.
The lid is all clean matte black with the blue predator logo in the center, and underneath
was fairly clean too, with air intake vents towards the back, and speakers down the front
left and right sides.
Inside the keyboard looks similar to the Helios 300 or Triton 500, the touchpad looks the
same too. There’s also a turbo button up the back for quickly boosting performance
too.
The weight and dimensions listed on Acer’s website put it very close to the Helios 300,
and given that is available with much more powerful graphics, it probably makes more
sense for most people, of course depending on price, but in many cases the 1660 Ti is
worth paying a bit more for.
Unfortunately I was told that the Triton 300 won’t be sold in the US, so if you’ve
been waiting for it you might need to look at a different model instead. I’m also not
sure what this means in terms of getting a review unit, it will likely depend if it’s
sold in my country.
Acer announced at CES that the Triton 500 has been updated to now include a 1080p 300Hz
option. Given this is still laptop hardware, to have a chance of hitting 300 FPS you’re
really going to need to be playing esports titles at minimum settings, so most people
will probably be fine with a lower refresh rate, especially if 300Hz comes with an associated
price premium.
Unfortunately Acer weren’t refreshing any of their existing AMD based laptops like the
Nitro 5 at this time with the new Ryzen 4000 series CPUs, so there wasn’t a whole else
for me to cover on the gaming side of things.
Outside of gaming though, Acer had the new ConceptD 7 Ezel pro laptop for creators. There’s
a huge improvement to the hinge with this version over the older one. If you saw my
Triton 900 videos, you’ll recall the hinges sticking out the sides along with the thick
bezels required to provide structural integrity. With the new model that design is no longer
required. Basically you still get the same range of motion, but rather than having arms
on the sides, there’s a metal hinge running along the whole panel.
Otherwise this new version of the ConceptD7 has some nice extra improvements, for me it
was the addition of an SD card slot on the front, and I was told this would be coming
to other ConceptD laptops in future, which makes sense given many creators rely on this.
There’s also a pen built into the bottom section of the hinge which can be used for
drawing on the 4K touchscreen, on the older model this was held to the top of the screen
with magnets, so this seems like a good design change. It’s a Wacom EMR pen, so doesn’t
have a battery to charge. The screen has a 400 nit brightness, 100% AdobeRGB colour gamut
and a Delta E <2
The particular model I was filming is the pro model, meaning it’s got Nvidia Quadro
graphics rather than GeForce, and also has the option of Intel Xeon CPU with ECC memory.
On the left there’s a full size DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0 output, USB Type-A port,
ethernet, and power input.
On the right there’s a Kensington lock, second USB Type-A port, two Type-C Thunderbolt
3 ports, 3.5mm audio combo jack, and the power button which also has a fingerprint scanner.
The interior is pretty standard, and there appears to be some air ventilation above the
keyboard. The bottom is basically just air intake towards the back, and speakers near
the front left and right sides.
The top looks a little weird due to the custom hinge which runs along the entire width, but
I much prefer this over the old design which took up far more space.
In the US the Ezel Pro will start at $3100 USD, while the non pro, so without Quadro
graphics, starts at $2700 USD. Given it’s available with Intel 10th gen CPUs, we probably
won’t see it for a little while longer.
Let me know what you thought about these new laptops from Acer, and I’m really interested
in particular to hear what you think about them not having refreshed Ryzen gaming laptops,
and finally if you’re new to the channel, get subscribed for the rest of my CES 2020
coverage.