Acer’s Predator Triton 17 X wants the laptop performance crown
Takes top billing in an all-new lineup powered by 13th-gen Intel CPUs and Nvidia 4000-series graphics
Acer isn’t holding back with its latest lustworthy laptop. According to the firm, the Predator Triton 17 X is the most powerful gaming notebook it has ever produced, while still staying slim and light enough to take with you on the move – and with the sort of subtle styling that doesn’t scream “GAMER” when you pop it out your bag in public.
Announced at Acer’s annual next@Acer press event along a handful of other gaming models, the Predator Triton 17 X is the pick of the bunch. It’s just an inch thick, but that metal unibody chassis can be equipped with a 13th-gen Intel Core i9-13900HX processor and Nvidia RTX 4090 graphics chip, for 4K gaming with all the bells and whistles enabled. If 24 cores and a peak 5.4GHz max turbo frequency weren’t enough grunt, you can also add up to 64GB of DDR5 memory, and as much as 4TB of PCIe SSD storage in RAID 0.
It uses a triple-fan, vapour chamber cooling system with dedicated heatpipes for the separate components and liquid metal thermal grease on the CPU for the best possible heat transfer, without sounding like a jet engine whenever you boot up a game.
The base model comes with a 17in IPS display, but if you can find the funds you’re going to want to step up to the mini-LED version, which promises a ridiculously quick 250Hz refresh rate, a peak brightness of over 1000 nits, and a million-to-one contrast ratio. Nvidia G-sync is on hand to prevent screen tearing, and it’ll do 100% DCI-P3 colour coverage too.
Naturally there’s RGB lighting (this is a gaming laptop after all), with per-key customisation on the keyboard and a subtle Predator logo on the laptop’s lid. At the sides there’s a healthy selection of ports, including dual Thunderbolt 4s, a USB3.2 Type-A, 3.5mm audio combo port and HDMI video out, along with a full-size SD card reader and RJ45 Ethernet.
Monstrous power usually comes with a monstrous price, and the Predator Triton 17 X is no exception. It’s heading to North America first in May, with prices starting from $3799, then will hit Europe in June for €4499 and the UK for £3999 – before you start making any spec upgrades.
If your budget is considerably lower than that, the Predator Helios Neo 16 and Predator Triton 14 might be of more interest.
The former can be equipped with the HX versions of Intel’s 13th-gen mobile Core i5 and i7 CPUs, up to 32GB of RAM, and your choice of RTX 4050, 4060 and 4070 dedicated graphics. A pair of 16in, 16:10 aspect ratio LCD screens are on offer, both with 165Hz refresh rates and Nvidia G-Sync; you get a 1920×1200 resolution as standard, but can step up to 2560×1600 with the tick of an options box. It’ll land in Europe, the UK and the USA in May, from €2199/£1699/$1199.
At less than 20mm thick, the Predator Triton 14 is equal parts thin-and-light work laptop and portable gaming powerhouse. You’ll find an Intel Core i7-13700H and either an RTX 4050 or RTX 4070 GPU under the hood, as well as up to 32GB of RAM and plenty of SSD storage. Up front is a 16:10 aspect ratio, 2560×1600 resolution mini-LED display with 250Hz refresh rate and DisplayHDR 600 certification. Prices will start from $1499 in North America and €2399/£2199 in Europe and the UK when it arrives, in May and June respectively.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
