Acer Predator Triton 500 (PT515-52-73L3) Review

The Acer Predator Triton 500 PT515-52-73L3 is an incredibly straightforward machine, whose thin stature doesn’t sacrifice power. No matter which configuration you choose, you’re assured of a full-featured gaming laptop that’s beautifully thin, powerful, and rich in ports.

You’re also getting a vibrant 15.6-inch screen with a 300Hz refresh rate – and sure, your games will be able to run at something close to 300 fps. This system handles just about any productivity task with ease, and the screen is big enough to offer a clear view of word projects, movies, music apps, and video games.

Design

One thing I like about the Acer Predator Triton 500 is how elegant it looks. It takes the adorable Acer Predator Helios 300‘s design and adds some flair to an already great aesthetic. We’re talking of a whole chassis that is black plastic with some touches of metal, with a gracefully illuminated Predator logo on the cover, and rounded edges at the top.

It’s only 0.7 inches thick and weighs in at 4.6 pounds, not terribly heavy, either. It would easily pass for a productivity laptop since it’s not overdesigned like the current crop of gaming laptops in the market that looks gaudy.

The Triton 500 PT515-52-73L3 gets a satisfying variety of ports, distributed well on both sides. The left side holds a power port, an Ethernet port, a USB-A port, an HDMI port, and a pair of separate 3.5mm ports for mic and audio.

On the right side, there’s a USB-C port, two USB-A ports, and a miniDisplayPort. Perhaps the only complaint you’d have here is the use of a large USB-C adapter, as some headsets require, meaning it’ll block the DisplayPort and one of the USB-A ports. It is something small a dongle will fix, but just be aware.

Display

We just lack enough words to describe the Predator Triton 500’s screen. Acer used a 15.6-inch display that’s gorgeous on its own, even though it lags behind some of its competitors when it comes to color gamut. On the other hand, its color accuracy is lifelike, and it gets powerful brightness that’s enough to illuminate even the darkest room.

Another special thing about the Triton 500’s screen is its refresh speed. No matter which Triton 500 models you pick up, the 1080p screen with 300Hz is standard across all models. That only means you can get away with up to 300 fps.

In addition to the great screen, the Triton PT515-52-73L3 gets pretty decent speakers, located in a long row just above the keyboards. You also have plenty of USB and audio ports in case you prefer to use headsets.

Keyboard & Touchpad

If there’s a thing I feel is a bit underwhelming on the Acer Predator Triton 500’s physical design, it must be the keyboard. These thin membrane keys feel plasticky and are cramped, offering very little key travel and odd spacing. The Delete button, for instance, is a tiny key just above the Backspace key, which is a bit impractical. Apart from that, you get a full column of media keys, even though I don’t think anyone would have objected to having FN shortcuts instead.

The 4.1 x 2.5-inch touchpad is large and responsive, but it also gets in your way quite often. Your palm will definitely rest on the touchpad while typing, causing all sorts of unintentional highlighting and spacing errors. You can have the settings adjusted in Windows 10, but Acer’s software doesn’t offer any solutions.

Performance

The Acer Predator Triton 500 in this review is an absolute beast, sporting a 10^th-gen Intel Core i7 10750H CPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, and Nvidia RTX 2070 Super with Max-Q design. If that doesn’t sound like enough raw power for you, you have another iteration the Acer Predator Triton 500 PT515-52-77P9, that packs the same processor but tops out with 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and RTX 2080 Super with Max-Q. Whichever model you pick up, you’re still getting the impressive 300 Hz display and enough firepower for modern gaming.

When gaming, the Triton PT515-52-73L3 makes full use of its solid hardware. You can play through a variety of games on the laptop, including Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, and Pathfinder: Kingmaker and it will surely impress across the board. In addition to impressive performance on every game at Ultra graphical settings, the system achieves 100+ fps frame rates for every game – 200+ fps on Age of Empires, even when the Enhanced Graphics DLC is installed.

The system holds its own with a comparably priced gaming laptop, and in some instances, surpasses them. On the Shadow of the Tomb Raider, for example, the Acer Predator Triton 500 achieves an impressive 84 fps, compared to 67 fps for the Razer Blade 15 and 64 fps for the MSI GS75. On Grand Theft Auto V, the same story is replicated: 76 fps for the Triton 500, 63 fps for the Blade 15, and 67 fps for the GS75 Stealth.

When not in the game, the Acer PT515-52-73L3 can also handle productivity tasks with ease. No matter how much music or video streaming you binge on, how many video conferences you’ll dial into, or how many Chrome tabs you open, the system won’t slow down. The built-in webcam and microphone get the job done, but you may need a pair of headphones since the speakers do get a bit loud.

In fact, it won’t even use up all that much of its CPU or memory power and there’s every possibility to use it with resource sucking engineering/design software like Photoshop, ArchiCAD for design and media creation.

Battery Life

Like most gaming laptops, the Acer Predator Triton 500 doesn’t do well when it comes to battery life. The system will last just over 2 hours 31 minutes on continuous web surfing, which is short of the 3:21 category average for gaming laptops. This isn’t a real concern if you’re home and gaming, but it would be a challenge when working anywhere where you can’t easily access a power outlet.

Bottom Line

With the Acer Predator Triton 500, you’ll enjoy this gaming laptop’s strong overall performance, a lustful 300 Hz screen, and timeless design. But it’s also impossible to ignore a few drawbacks: middling battery life and a keyboard that can run hot, but those are issues to be aware of, and no reasons not to buy it. Everything else is great, and Acer offers different models of the same machine in case you need more power than what our review model offers.

Still, the Triton 500 is a gaming laptop that you don’t have to think twice before owning. Of course, there are competing systems from Razer, MSI, and Alienware, which also offer solid performance, but the Triton 500 offers unique features that you can’t easily find elsewhere: an ambitious 300Hz screen and super all-around solid specs.

If you’re a pro-gamer or a professional creative looking for a do-it-all machine, with the base designation of a gaming laptop, the Acer Predator Triton 500 PT515-52-73L3 is, without a doubt, the right system, sporting the right design, at the right price.