Acer Predator Triton 14 Evaluation: Quick Gaming and a Vibrant HDR Display

Execs

• Vibrant, high-performance HDR display
• Performs nicely for the value

Cons

• Huge, heavy brick for a 14-inch laptop computer
• Meh battery life and efficiency on battery
• Display often sparkles

The introduction of newer processors like Intel’s 14th-gen H sequence would not preclude laptops with the older Thirteenth-gen chips from being price shopping for, particularly as their costs drop. The Acer Predator Triton 14 is an efficient instance of this and can most likely turn out to be a superb deal as replacements trickle out and because it continues to get cheaper.

There are two fashions of the Triton 14, each of which incorporate an Intel Core i7-13700H CPU and 16GB RAM. The entry mannequin (PT14-51-78B4) is nominally $1,500 however discounted to simply underneath $1,200 in the meanwhile and comes outfitted with a 512GB SSD, GeForce RTX 4050 GPU and 1,900×1,200 165Hz show. I’ve seen it as little as $850, although, which is a superb worth for it. The upper-end mannequin I examined bumps that as much as a 1TB SSD, RTX 4070 GPU and a couple of,560×1,6000 mini LED display with a dynamically switchable 125Hz/250Hz refresh fee and DisplayHDR 600 certification. It lists for about $2,000 however is presently going for to $1,600. That is a superb worth for what you get.

The laptop computer’s design would not stand out from the group as particularly good or unhealthy. It is bought a comparatively chunky profile for a 14-inch, however the lid opens out to nearly flat; the complete vary of obtuse angles offers you a whole lot of leeway when looking for a superb angle in your lap, for example. The keyboard journey feels a bit of shallow however responsive, and the brilliant, per-key RGB lighting generally is a little bit of a ache to configure — Acer’s PredatorSense software program has important monitoring, energy configuration and lighting controls, but it surely might use a facelift.   

There aren’t any devoted macro keys, unsurprising given the scale of the laptop computer, however it will be good if the software program gave you the flexibility to rebind not less than a few of the customary keys, just like the media playback controls down the fitting aspect. And in the event you’re an enormous person of the arrow keys, you might wish to search for one thing that does not have embedded ones. However there is a devoted button to cycle amongst energy profiles (Quiet, Balanced, Efficiency and Turbo) or toggle Turbo. The Triton can get loud and a bit sizzling in locations, just like the wrist relaxation space. 

The touchpad is a bit small however serviceable, with an old school embedded fingerprint reader. Although it has a 1080p webcam, it is fairly mediocre.

I’ve by no means been a fan of the kind of port and energy connection structure the laptop computer makes use of; the vents on the perimeters push the connectors to the center of the perimeters — I hate it when the ability connector is in the course of the aspect, as a result of it will get in my manner, and I would have appreciated a second USB-C port, even when it wasn’t Thunderbolt.

It helps Nvidia’s Superior Optimus, which implies you possibly can power it to solely use the discrete GPU with out rebooting by way of the Nvidia driver.   

Efficiency and display

Acer would not provide any color- or game-specific colour profiles for the show, and it is not terribly correct, but it surely fares nicely sufficient for gaming and general-purpose use. The gamma measures 2.0 relatively than 2.2, however that brings out the element in darkish areas, which works for gaming. Distinction measures excessive as a result of black is great, however these too-bright shadow areas could make it appear decrease distinction since you’re served up much more darkish areas by video games, the online and functions than zero blacks.

It does hit the widespread 6500K white level, which I discover could be hit or miss with mini LED backlights, which is good. It will get as vibrant as required by the DHDR 600 spec. HDR has the identical too-bright shadow areas, which implies video would not look as nice as you’d anticipate, but it surely’s nonetheless excellent. 

The display has a excessive refresh fee of 250Hz — you possibly can truly set it to 125Hz, 250Hz or to dynamically change between the 2 (along with a 60Hz setting) in SDR; in HDR you do not have the 125Hz possibility It is not variable refresh, however you should utilize G-Sync to regulate it if you’d like that. I did see some flicker at each refresh charges, so in the event you’re delicate to that, I counsel you keep away from mini LED.

Laptops with newer-generation CPUs could ship higher efficiency however not considerably since Intel’s H sequence processors have no main know-how modifications from Thirteenth to 14th generations. It fares nicely, outperforming some bigger fashions; it helps that the GPU can run at as a lot as 105 watts, on the greater finish of the RTX 4070’s scale.

There is a large efficiency drop when operating on battery, which is not unusual however one thing to be ready for. And its battery life is not nice.

The 2023 Predator Triton 14 is not the glitziest gaming laptop computer, but when you could find it at a superb worth because the 14th-gen fashions come to market, it may be an important deal.