Custom PC - UK (2020-02)

A

cer’sPredatorTriton 500 hasa very
temptingprice,whichis reflectedin
itsspecification– it reliesonthe
GeForceRTX2060,ratherthantheRTX2070,
andit hasanolderCorei7 chipthanmostofthe
competition.TheAcer’sRTX 2060 is thesame
chipastheRazer,butit’sgoingtostruggle
againsttheHPOmen’sRTX 2070 Max-Q,
whichhasanextra2GBofmemory.
TheCorei7-8750Hretainsthe6-coredesign
ofthei7-9750HfoundintheRazerandHP
laptops,buttheAcer’solderchiprunsatlesser
baseandboostfrequenciesof2.2GHzand
4.1GHz.Elsewhere,Acer’smachinehasa 512GB
SSD,a 1TBharddiskand16GBofmemory–
solidcomponents.Itsnetworkingoptionsare
reasonabletoo;there’snoWi-Fi6,butthe
GigabitEthernetanddual-band802.11acWi-Fi
bothcomefromgamingbrandKiller.
Gamingperformanceisunderwhelming
though.TheAcerreturnedminimums

ACER PREDATOR

TRITON 500 /£1,699inc VAT

SUPPLIER laptopsdirect.co.uk

between 49fps and 5

enough to play espor

but those results ares

the £1,699 HP. TheTr

benchmark resultsw

It’s quicker than theRa

slower than the HP.

The Acer lastedfor

a half in gaming batter

good, and its applicatio

result of four hoursan

is the longest in theLa

thermal performertoo

and GPU delta Ts aref

levels are low – soit doesbetterthanthe hot,

throttling HP and Razer systems.

Meanwhile, the Acer’s panel serves

up a 144Hz refresh rate, which is good

for smooth gaming, but there’s no active

sync. The HP’s 240Hz G-Sync panel has

smoother performance, and without tearing

artefacts. Image quality is decent though.

The contrast ratio of 1,319:1 is the best in the

Labs and ensures plenty of vibrancy, and the

brightness level of 356d/m² delivers loads of

punch. The delta E of 3.14 is middling, but it’s

not a bad result and is helped by the accurate

colour temperature of 6,749K. This panel is

easily usable for games.

The chassis looks good too, with blue

accents and a smart speaker grille, while

the 2kg weight and 18mm body make this

machine pleasingly light. There’s a fair bit

of flex in the lid behind the screen though.

Meanwhile, there are no RGB LEDs on the

keyboard, or a numberpad for that matter,

and the switches feel soft – the HP Omen’s

keyboard feels a little crisper. On the plus side,

the keys have enough travel, and the trackpad

has a fast, shallow clicking action, although

serious gamers should still use a USB mouse.

Conclusion

The Acer isn’t the best-looking or fastest

laptop on test, but it does have enough

power for 1080p gaming alongside good

screen quality. It’s certainly more practical

than the Razer. However, the HP Omen 15

has slightly more graphics power, a newer

CPU and a 240Hz screen, making it a better

option at this price.

SPEC

CPU 2.2GHz Intel Core i7-8750H

Memory 16GB 2666MHz DDR4

Graphics Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 6GB

Screen 15.6in 1,920 x 1,080 IPS 144Hz

Storage 512GB WD PC SN720 M.2 SSD

Networking Gigabit Ethernet,

dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi

Weight 2kg

Ports 3 x USB 3.1 Gen 1, 1 x Thunderbolt

3/USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C, 1 x mini-

DisplayPort, 1 x HDMI 2, 2 x audio jack

Dimensions (mm) 359 x 255 x 18 (W x D x H)

Operating system Windows 10 Home 64-bit

Extras Bluetooth 5

Warranty One year parts and labour return to base

VERDICT

A reasonable 1080p gaming laptop, but rivals

offer newer components and a more speed

for the same price.

+Lowprice

+ Reasonable screen

quality

+ Decent battery life

• Underwhelming
  gamingpace


• Older processor


• Mediocre keyboard

PERFORMANCE

16 / 25

HARDWARE

17 / 25

DESIGN

17 / 25

VALUE

19 / 25

OVERALLSCORE

69 %

9fps inourtests.That’s

ts gamesbeyond100fps,

stillslightlybehind

iton’sapplication

eremiddlingaswell.

azer machine, but

aroundan hourand

ry tests,whichis

on benchmark

d 14 minutes

bs.It’sagood

o. ItsCPU

ineandnoise PREDATOR ALIEN