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The Acer Predator Triton 700 is a super thin gaming laptop with an unusual trackpad

By Koh Wanzi - on 28 Apr 2017, 9:39pm

The Acer Predator Triton 700 is a super thin gaming laptop with an unusual trackpad

Acer Predator Triton 700

Acer today held a massive product launch event in New York City, where it rolled out two brand new Predator gaming laptops, set against a crowded slate that included gaming monitors and ultrabooks.

The more interesting of the two notebooks is the Predator Triton 700, a 15.6-inch gaming laptop that is just 18.9mm thin.

It isn’t the most petite on the market, but those dimensions put it in the same league as notebooks like the Razer Blade, which measures in at 17.9mm, and the MSI GS63VR 6RF Stealth Pro, which is 17.7mm thick. It also goes up against the recently announced Aftershock PRIME-15, another svelte 15.6-inch laptop that aims to combine performance and portability.

Acer says it was able to make the Triton 700 this thin thanks to the second-generation dual-fan AeroBlade 3D fan system inside. The new fans are thinner than before and feature all-metal blades, which can supposedly increase airflow by up to 35 per cent.

One of the reasons gaming notebooks are usually so thick is because of the need for a robust cooling system, but if you could make a thin and capable cooling solution as Acer has done, you’d have more freedom to cut away the millimeters.

That said, the Triton 700 has one design quirk that you’ll notice the second you look at it. The trackpad is transparent and made of tough Gorilla Glass (you can see the fans spinning below it), but the real kicker is that it is located directly above the keyboard.

It’s also considerably wider than most trackpads, and it supports the standard multi-touch controls of Windows 10, in addition to custom gestures for games.

Acer isn’t the first company to experiment with relocating the trackpad, and Razer moved the trackpad on its Blade Pro to the right-hand side of the keyboard. Having said that, the Triton 700 appears to be the more drastic redesign, and you’ll likely have to take some time to get used to it.

Of course, Acer is probably betting that most gamers are going to be using a mouse most of the time, thus keeping any growing pains to a minimum.

Here’s an overview of its specifications:

  • 15.6-inch 1,920 x 1,080-pixel IPS display
  • Intel Core i7-7700HQ (2.8GHz, 6MB L3 cache)
  • 16GB/32GB DDR4 RAM
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB/ GeForce GTX 1080
  • 512GB/1TB PCIe SSD
  • 2.4kg

 

Acer also announced the Predator Helios 300 in both 15- and 17-inch versions. This is a less fancy notebook that shares some features with the Triton 700, such as the AeroBlade 3D fans.

Acer Predator Helios 300

The Helios 300 will feature either an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or 1060, which positions it as an entry-level to mid-range product.

The other hardware specifications are fairly similar, but the USB-C port on the Helios 300 does not support Thunderbolt 3 like on the Triton 700.

Rounding out the announcement is the Nitro 5, a laptop that appears geared toward casual gamers. It isn’t part of the Predator series, and details were sparse, save for a slide indicating that it will come with a GeForce GTX 1050 or 1050 Ti.

The Predator Triton 700 starts at S$3,598, while the Helios 300 starts at $2,398 and S$2,498 for the 15- and 17-inch models respectively.

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