Gaming
Games
Gaming laptop myths the Predator Triton 700 busts
Gaming laptops have often been jacks of all trades, but Acer's new Predator Triton 700 machine is making mincemeat of convention.
For too long, the gaming laptop has been a punchline. Space constraints, battery demands and cooling requirements all meant that it was impossible to replicate the experience of a quality gaming rig in a machine that you could carry around with you. For too long, your Steam queue has been tethered to the desk in your study or bedroom, along with your desktop tower PC the size of a child – and about as noisy as one.
Not any more: enter the Acer Predator Triton 700. This ultra thin, portable gaming laptop doesn't so much do away with convention as leave it in the dust, thanks to the desktop worthy speed and graphics prowess tucked inside its innovative shell. This is a gaming laptop that's as powerful as it is striking, thanks to its unique space saving design that puts a futuristic trackpad above the keyboard. It's a gaming laptop on which you can ramp up settings to max and play racing sims or AAA open world adventure games as they were meant to be seen – on the move. It's a gaming laptop that finally gives gaming laptops a good name.
It’s a myth-buster, in other words so let's take a look at how the Acer Predator Triton 700 defies tech stereotypes.
Gaming laptops run too hot: Nope
1 min
The Predator Triton 700 – fan reveal
Short videos showing the inside of Acer's Predator Triton 700 gaming laptop.
Once upon a time you could fry an egg on the trackpad of a gaming laptop. Their fans struggled to keep up with even the most basic of 2D indie games, to the point where it hurt to put a so-called laptop in your lap.
You'll find no such issues with the Acer Predator Triton 700: the twin AeroBlade 3D fans tucked away inside not only run more quietly than comparable plastic fans, they're more efficient, too, by as much as 35 percent. The smart new axial fins on the fan blades help push more air through the four upper and bottom air intakes, meaning you get top performance without any throttling, and for an extra turbo boost whilst you're playing Rocket League on the move, you can activate Acer's CoolBoost fan control software, to really push the system to its limit.
Gaming laptops are too bulky and heavy: Nope
The Predator Triton is just 18.9mm deep
© Acer / Red Bull
The side of a laptop that can play high-end games
© Acer / Red Bull
The Acer Predator Triton 700 is extremely portable
© Acer / Red Bull
Space for a top class mechanical keyboard
© Acer / Red Bull
At best, the gaming laptops of old were 'portable': you could fit them in your backpack and take them to campus or work, but not anything else. The Acer Predator Triton 700 didn't get that memo, though. Despite its large, 15.6 inch (39.5cm) display, it takes many of its design cues from ultra portable laptop models, none of which could ever dream of running Player Unknown's Battlegrounds at a decent clip, much less the brand new Star Wars Battlefront 2 on high settings.
When closed, it measures just 18.9mm deep, meaning it'll happily slip into the laptop pocket of your backpack or satchel without busting any seams. And tipping in at only 2.45kg on the scales, it won't hurt your shoulders either. This is a gaming laptop you can casually pull out and play, without injury or undue attention – and for up to six hours thanks to its sturdy battery life. That alone is impressive enough; that you can also put it in an envelope and post it through a letterbox is nothing short of revolutionary.
Gaming laptops are slower than desktops: Nope
Get the full desktop gaming experience on the go
© Acer / Red Bull
Inside you'll find desktop-class hardware
© Acer / Red Bull
A close up of the hardware
© Acer / Red Bull
Too often, gaming laptops, and ultra portable laptops in general, have been coupled with power sipping, underwhelming internals to help eke out the battery for more than 45 minutes.
What a gaming laptop needs in order to live up to its name is a desktop-class graphics and CPU, to keep blazing along just like you would at home. In that regard, the Acer Predator Triton 700 has you covered: its seventh generation, H-series Intel Core i7 processor is something you'd expect to see on the spec list of a pricy tower PC, and its three-speed turbo boost overclocked modes means you can squeeze every ounce of speed from the silicon, whether you're plugged in or not.
1 min
The Predator Triton 700 - Interior Reveal
Short videos showing the inside of Acer's Predator Triton 700 gaming laptop.
The NVIDIA GTX 1080 GPU meanwhile comes overclocked out of the box, so gaming purists won't need to do any tinkering to unleash its true potential in 4K. This is as good as the newest games look right now, anywhere. Simply fire up Battlefield 1, pick your loadout and stop worrying about your fps, and focus on working your way up the global leaderboard instead.
Gaming laptop displays are too slow: Nope
The 120Hz screen is as fast as it is vivid
© Acer / Red Bull
Great viewing angles mean you can enjoy a gamepad
© Acer / Red Bull
Play outdoors, play anywhere
© Acer / Red Bull
It's still common to see elite gamers lugging hefty CRT monitors to LANs along with their pro mice and mechanical keyboards (which by the way, the Acer Predator Triton 700 also possesses). It's much less common to see top esports athletes pull out a gaming laptop come tournament time for the simple (and now untrue) reason that their displays just aren't able to keep up. Slow refresh rates, poor viewing angles, screen tearing – you're not going to win a game at the top level when you're competing with all of this, as well as your formidable opponents.
The only thing the Acer Predator Triton 700's full HD IPS display is tearing up, however, is convention. Not only is it fast (120Hz), it's exactly fast enough – NVIDIA's built in G-Sync technology eliminates screen tearing and reduces stuttering, meaning your game won't suffer for it. In fact, with three outputs (ThunderBolt, DisplayPort and HDMI), the Acer Predator Triton 700 can even support a three monitor setup that's perfect for a wide cockpit view in F1 2017. Not only is it in its own display desktop class, it can power a desktop class racing sim setup too. Time to dust down that steering wheel.
Gaming laptops are too loud: Nope
Exhausts don’t have to be loud
© Acer / Red Bull
The vents are subtle, like the thin chassis
© Acer / Red Bull
Acer’s AeroBlade 3D fan has a revolutionary design
© Acer / Red Bull
The blades are just 0.1mm thick
© Acer / Red Bull
Gaming laptops have always been as loud as they have been bulky. Even with the most insulating headphones on, those around you can still hear what you're playing thanks to the roar of the fan alone.
Not the Acer Predator Triton 700. Its dual AeroBlade 3D fans ensure it’s as stealthy as it is powerful. That's down to the all-metal thermal design of the wafer thin (0.1mm thick) blades, which not only increase airflow through the system, but also manage to create less noise compared to traditional fans with plastic blades by as much as 26 percent. It's one of those rare have your cake and eat it moments in a product category so often stifled by compromise. In other words, even with settings ramped up to max, now all you'll hear is the roar of the exhaust of your Mazda MX-5 Radbul in Project CARS 2, and not the exhaust of the laptop you're playing on.
Check out the full new Predator line up.
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