The Acer Predator Triton 300 SE Is the Most Exciting Product at [email protected] 2022

At last week’s [email protected] 2022 Global Press Conference, one product stood out to me the most: the new Acer Predator Triton 300 SE. Not only is this a compact gaming laptop – a category that’s still largely dominated by Asus, especially in Malaysia – it also sports a sleeker, more modern-looking design now.

Out of all the products the Taiwanese company introduced last week, the Triton 300 SE really is the most exciting product of the lot – in my opinion, at least. It’s not just because it gives consumers another alternative in a size category that doesn’t have as many options, but also because it’s a refined gaming machine in its own right.

Unlike its direct predecessor, the new Triton 300 SE is offered in two sizes. There’s this 14-inch model, and a larger 16-inch version for those who want a more expansive display. There’s even an option for a 3K OLED screen with a 90Hz refresh rate, though this seems to be limited to the 14-inch variant.

The model I tested here is the 14-inch version of the Triton 300 SE, though it’s sporting a 2560 x 1600 LCD display instead of an OLED panel. Despite that, it’s still quite a bright and vibrant screen, and the 165Hz refresh rate also makes for a very fast, very responsive display – great for gaming, basically.

Speaking of which, the gaming performance of the Triton 300 SE is also quite respectable. The 14-inch model pictured here is equipped with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU. Paired with an Intel Core i7-12700H processor, you’ll definitely be able to play AAA games with this laptop.

Yes, an RTX 3060 graphics card isn’t quite as impressive as, say, an RTX 3080 GPU, but the Triton 300 SE is a compact 14-inch gaming laptop with limited room for cooling. Plus, an RTX 3060 is plenty capable of running AAA games at playable framerates, even if tweaking the graphics settings is (sometimes) necessary.

Acer has not revealed the dimensions of the Triton 300 SE, but as far as I can tell, it’s certainly a thin and light (as well as compact) laptop. I can comfortably carry it around with only one hand, and it’s portable enough to fit into most backpacks. In fact, I wouldn’t even mind lugging it around as my daily driver.

Thanks to its portable nature, the Triton 300 SE can easily (in my opinion) double as a productivity laptop. Its compact nature, alongside the tall 16:10 display, fit the criteria of a competent work laptop. At least, that’s the case for someone in my line of work.

But there is one area where the Triton 300 SE needs to deliver in order for it to be a productivity laptop worth considering: battery life. Unfortunately, Acer only revealed the battery capacity of the laptop. Packed with a 76Wh battery, it should be able to return good battery life, though only a full review can shed some light on this.

Anyway, aesthetically, I really like the understated design language of the Triton 300 SE despite it being a gamer-centric laptop. It only has a small, minimalist Predator logo on the lid, and the laptop as a whole almost looks…well, professional. It definitely won’t look out of place in an office, for example.

While I’ve only had positive things to say about the Triton 300 SE so far, I do have one major qualm with this gaming laptop: its keyboard. Not only does it have limited key travel – lending to a shallow typing experience – the actuation force of the keys are also much too light for my liking.

These two factors, combined with the fact that the keys don’t have particularly strong tactile feedback, make for a keyboard that feels almost “mushy.” On the flipside, at least the keyboard has a standard layout, so I can still type (and game) without much trouble.

As for the trackpad of the Triton 300 SE, I’m quite taken aback by just how good it is. It can track my fingers accurately, gestures work without any issue, and it has a nice click too.

Overall, the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE looks to be a very promising gaming laptop. It looks sleek, it offers fast performance, it has an equally fast (and sharp) display, and more importantly, all of these are packed into a compact, portable chassis.

The only thing left is for Acer Malaysia to bring in the laptop to our shores. Given that its predecessor never made it here, I’m hoping that things will be different for the new Triton 300 SE. After all, it’s a capable, sleek, compact gaming laptop – you don’t have a lot of options in this particular category.

Granted, this laptop is positioned as a premium product; it retails from $1,600 in the US, which comes up to about RM7,035. But even at this price point, I’d say the Triton 300 SE remains to be a compelling gaming laptop.