Acer Predator Triton 700

Updated: We've had some more hands-on time with the Acer Predator Triton 700 at Computex 2017.

Since introducing its Predator-line, Acer’s modus operandi for gaming machines has been go bigger and more powerful. However, the Taiwanese electronic firm's latest Predator Triton 700 bucks that trend by going thinner than any other gaming notebook out there.

Measuring only 18.9mm thin, it throws its hat into a ring of other ultra-thin gaming laptops like the Razer Blade and MSI GS63 Ghost Pro. However, beyond packing power into a tight package like everyone else, the Triton 700 also features a mechanical keyboard and touchpad unlike anything you’ve seen before.

Design

The Acer Predator Triton 700 takes many of its design cues from the Predator X 21, including a teal-on-black color scheme. More prominently, though, the keyboard sits on the bottom edge of the laptop where the trackpad and palm rests normally are. 

In an unexpected reversal, the touchpad is actually integrated into the window sitting above the keyboard. On top of showing off the Triton 700’s heat pipe and internal cooling fans, Acer managed to fit this transparent window with a digitizer that recognizes your mouse gestures.

It’s an interesting use of space, to say the least. 

One downside of long-time clickers is having to resort to using tap-to-click since there are (understandably) no mechanical elements to the Triton 700’s pointing device.

The mechanical keyboard is another pleasant surprise. The switches are even more tactile than the SteelSeries mechanical-like keyboard implementation in MSI machines. We would say these are on par with the mechanical switches we used on the Razer Blade Pro.

Features

Inputs aside, the laptops other half is an attractive 15.6-inch Full HD Display. From all appearances it looks like the panel on the pre-production model was the same as the Predator 15, which is to say colors look vibrant and well represented on a glare-reducing screen.

In terms of hardware, Triton 700 comes with an Intel Core i5-7300HQ or Intel Core i7 7700HQ processors, 16GB of DDR4 RAM and up to 512GB of SSD storage. Following Nvidia's Computex 2017 announcement, we now know the Predator Triton 700 features an Nvidia GTX 1080 that users can further overclock.

Before the Max-Q reveal, we expected the Triton 700 might come with just an Nvidia GTX 1060 to compete with the Razer Blade. But now this seems to be the most powerful 15-inch gaming laptop in existence so far. Considering all the chest-beating Acer has done for its revolutionary AeroBlade 3D Gen 2 cooling system, we should be able to really push performance on this slim gaming laptop.

Pricing for the Predator Triton 700 starts at $2,999 (about £2,320, AU$4,020) and that’s downright bonkers in a space of ultra-thin laptops that have been getting progressively more inexpensive. So this 15-inch better really bring the heat when it releases this August.  

Early verdict

Acer continues to put out head turning gaming laptops and the Predator Triton 700 makes a much better case for itself than the digital piano-sized Predator 21 X. That is, until you see the $2,999 (about £2,320, AU$4,020) price tag attached to it. 

Without all the details on the just how well the GPU performs or battery life, it’s too early to call if this 15-inch ultra-thin gaming laptop is a winner, but it’s certainly one you’ll want to keep an eye on.