Acer Predator Triton 300 SE Review

In this review we will get to know the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE a notebook designed for gaming, but with an elegant style

Acer has always been committed to providing all its users with solutions for any eventuality thanks to a multitude of products that are suitable for every pocket and every eventuality, from notebooks to monitors passing through dock stations and many other devices. In short, it certainly cannot be said that the Taipei-based company neglects its users. In this review we will instead see the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE gaming notebook , announced last May together with the new Predator Helios 300 and Acer Nitro 5 . Let’s find out together.

Operating system : Windows 10 Home with the possibility of upgrading to Windows 11 Home
Processor : Intel Core i7-11370H quad core
Video card : Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060
- VRAM : 6GB GDDR6
Screen : 14 ″ IPS LCD with ComfyView technology
- Refresh rate : 144 Hz
- Touchscreen : no
Resolution : Full HD, 1080p
RAM : 1 x 16GB slot, DDR4 SDRAM
Storage : 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD
Optical Drive : no
Integrated microphone : yes
Fingerprint reader : yes
Input devices : TouchPad with Multi-touch Gesture technology, 87-key Italian layout keyboard with RGB backlighting (no numeric keypad)
Connectivity : WLAN IEEE 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac / ax, Bluetooth, 1 HDMI port, 2 USB type-A 3.2 Gen 2.1 ports USB type-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, 1 jack 3.5 input
Battery : 60 Wh lithium ion
Dimensions : 323 x 228 x 17.90 mm
Weight : about 1.80 Kg

Table of Contents

Packaging and Design – Acer Predator Triton 300 SE Review

The Triton 300 SE will arrive in a standard package in which we will find only the essential . Inside there will in fact be an additional package with the power supply of considerable weight inside and an additional box with polystyrene for protection. Inside the latter we will find the notebook and a compartment in which the manual will be allocated.

The design of the Triton 300 SE turns out to be very nice and elegant , making it slightly different from the usual gaming notebooks. Its color and simple lines give it a very ordinary shape, but no less captivating . The rounding of the edges, in addition to a purely aesthetic function, is also an additional safety factor in the construction since it guarantees greater solidity .

On the upper part we find only the Predator logo and two indicator lights that indicate the charging and operation of the PC, while the lower one is characterized for the most part by the air intakes, useful for acquiring fresh and clean air during use . However these are not the only ones. There are in fact four other vents prepared for the outlet of hot air along the sides of the notebook. More precisely, we will find two in the rear part, while the other two will be found one on the right side and the other on the left side.

This solution took up a large part of the structure, making it impossible to install optical players such as a DVD player. On the sides, in addition to the two air vents, there are also ports that will allow the connection of the PC with other peripherals or with a secondary monitor. The USB type-C port, on the other hand, is designed for charging the notebook .

A Half Keyboard and Responsive TuochPad – Acer Predator Triton 300 SE Review

The input devices pre-installed on the notebook certainly deserve a separate chapter in this review on Acer’s Predator Triton 300 SE. The TouchPad turns out to be well responsive and the finger glides smoothly on the surface, making it easy to navigate during common use. However, the choice of wanting to insert the fingerprint reader inside it makes it a little more complicated to use .

On the other hand, there is no negative note regarding the gestures that allow you to scroll up and down and zoom in and out smoothly. The keyboard is also good, although it does not have a numeric keypad and the navigation keys are positioned differently due to the small size of the PC. This complicates its use for those used to using a complete layout, but surely you can find a good compromise .

Finally, the last column of keys on the right is very useful. This in fact, in addition to the power button, also has four multimedia keys for playing MP3 or video files and for adjusting the overall volume. Among these there is also a key typical of Predator computers . This in fact allows you to open the PredatorSense software directly and it is therefore time to start a new chapter in this review of Acer’s Predator Triton 300 SE.

Vital Software – Acer Predator Triton 300 SE Review

PredatorSense is probably the most important software on this notebook . In fact, from here it is possible to manage all the settings related to customization, such as the keyboard backlight, but not only. In fact, it will be possible to access important features such as hardware monitoring that will provide us with important information on the state of temperature and CPU and GPU usage.

From here you can manage the keyboard backlight . This turns out to be well structured thanks to three diversified lighting zones that will allow you to customize it according to the user’s tastes if you do not want to set the usual effects.

In the “Mode” section, on the other hand, it will be possible to select the one that best suits our style. However, to change the fan preset and more, it will be essential to connect the notebook to the power outlet and have a charge greater than 40%. In short, to really play with maximum graphics and with a system that does not raise the temperatures too much, it will be essential to connect it to a socket.

The “Turbo” mode can be activated directly using the appropriate key located near the speakers above the keyboard. In this way it will not be necessary to switch between the various windows. Once activated, however, forget about the silence that has characterized the PC up to that moment . This will in fact activate the fans to maximum to cool the whole system as much as possible, but peaks of 90 ° -100 ° C will still be reached for the CPU and 75 ° -80 ° C for the GPU.

Fast SSD, but not very large – Acer Predator Triton 300 SE review

The Triton 300 SE we tested had a 512 GB PCIe NVMe SSD internally . We are talking more precisely of a third generation Samsung PM981a . Although the speeds reported by Samsung mirror those found during the tests – we are talking about 3500 MB / s for reading and 2500 MB / s for writing – we wonder if the company could not have invested in a PCIe 4.0 SSD .

In fact, such a choice would have guaranteed speed , both in reading and writing, double compared to the present model . Plus, a space of just 512GB is definitely not the best choice you can make. In fact, with 3-4 triple A games, the storage is found to be completely full and therefore you will be forced to make important sacrifices. Not to mention that those who will also use it to study and / or work will certainly also have other programs and files that will further clog the SSD.

Despite these problems, which cannot and should not be overlooked, the SSD does its job well , with really short loading times. However, if you are aiming to take advantage of the DirectStorage technology present on Windows 11 , then you will have to buy a new SSD with at least 1 TB of capacity , or buy the model with 1 TB. Not a very wise choice by the company that could certainly negatively affect sales.

Let’s see some technical data about it

We tested this Samsung PM981a aboard our Acer Predator Triton 300 SE with different benchmarks in order to have purely objective evaluation parameters. Starting from the most well-known CrystalDiskMark, we found excellent values both in reading and writing , which certainly position it among the best in its category, remember that it is a PCIe NVMe 3.0 model , equipped with 3D TLC ( Triple Level Cell ) memories . Not quite the ideal choice for gaming, but still good overall.

Moving on to Atto Disk Benchmark , we begin to see the first hesitations of the SSD in question. If overall the performances with 32 KB and 2 KB are average, which basically represent the most complex operations in everyday life, with files of particular sizes , such as 12, 16 and 24 MB, we see some small inconsistencies ; small performance drops indicating the controller’s inability to handle performance consistently. In daily use this could translate into evident slowdowns in some applications, games or productive software.

With HD Tune Pro, on the other hand, we notice a slight lack of performance consistency . We can see this in the Random Access graph , a test carried out with 40GB, as with 1 MB files, we have 2097 IOPS, and an Access Time latency of 2.020 ms. Same behavior and trend, comes out of the test carried out on File Benchmark , where we have a fluctuating trend , with a writing that is not always constant. In conclusion, we have performance that overall ensures smooth use, but which could suffer with certain applications and demanding operations .

General Operation – Acer Predator Triton 300 SE Review

A negative negative like this obviously does not affect much on the performance that is still high thanks to the Intel Core i7-11370H processor and the 16 GB of RAM . In short, during daily use you will not have any problems perhaps due to a too low calculation speed or a saturated memory. During these phases, such as studying, surfing the Internet or watching a movie, the computer will be fast and practically silent.

In fact, we will hardly be able to hear noises due to the fans that can compromise our experience. Clicks on the keyboard are also very subdued, making the PC great for typing even during the night . The audio reproduced by the speakers cannot absolutely be compared to that of an audio system, however, in terms of quality, it absolutely does not mind. However, as we increase the volume we have noticed several distortions , even quite important, especially when it exceeded the threshold of 85%.

The display , chromatically speaking, turns out to be flawless . You can enjoy vivid images that allow you to view every single shade of color without losing any detail. However, the optimization is not the best despite the 1080p resolution . The proportions are all wrong and we will end up with a screen clogged with some icons. True, the screen size has a negative effect and it may not only depend on Acer, but it is still a factor to be taken into consideration.

This also causes some annoying blurring in some pop-up menus or program installation windows. In these cases the writing will be blurry and in the long run this could cause too much stress for the eyes resulting in migraines. The situation does not improve even at lower zoom levels. Although the icons are reduced in size and the desktop layout is finally slimmer, the blurs remain despite everything.

From the point of view of longevity , if you use your computer for light enough work, there is no problem . It is in fact able to guarantee hours of autonomy that will allow you to follow a lesson from home or navigate in complete tranquility without having to connect it to the home energy network. On the other hand, if we want to play and take advantage of the Triton 300 SE at 100% then we will necessarily have to stay glued to our power supply or we will risk playing with minimal quality and / or finding ourselves without energy in a short time.

Example of blur in the software installer

But how does it work from a gaming point of view? – Acer Predator Triton 300 SE review

Although it does not exactly have performance like the top of the range, the Triton 300 SE defends itself very well. Obviously, having a 1080p resolution panel, don’t expect 4K as it might happen on an assembled computer. However, fluidity coupled with truly excellent graphics allowed us to play various triple A titles ; all without affecting too much performance.

It was in fact possible to try Assassin’s Creed: Valallah and Red Dead Redemption 2 , just to name a few titles, with maximum settings and fps , although not very high, quite high . The limits of an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 with 6 GB of RAM, however, have been noticed and on some titles it was necessary to activate the DLSS to have the minimum fps higher than 60 . Furthermore, although the turbo mode was also active, our car suffered from the effort made by the components.

In some cases , in fact, the temperature of the video card have also reached peaks of 80 ° C , while the CPU has even touched 100 ° C . This was probably due to the fact that the PC was resting entirely on the surface of the desk rather than on a stand ; however, this should not be an excuse, but rather, it should make us think enough. In fact, holding certain temperatures for too long could be counterproductive and would even risk compromising the whole system.

Conclusions

We’ve come to the end of this review on Acer’s Predator Triton 300 SE, so it’s time to take stock. The elegance of the lines merged with the color designated by the company certainly make this PC beautiful to look at and certainly less “vulgar” than other similar ones. As for the input sector, we have not noticed any major problems, if not the position of the fingerprint reader inside the TouchPad which can create some annoyance , especially in the early periods.

Good management of keyboard customization through PredatorSense software. However, this also guarantees us an overview of the entire system of our notebook, with a precise look at the monitoring of resources, but not only. On the other hand, it could only be different for a PC that wants to offer users the best possible support . Therefore, although there are no problems from these points of view, these begin to arise if we analyze the internal sector.

Here, in fact, we will find a PCIe 3.0 SSD which , although it offers quite good performance, does feel its construction limits . Furthermore, the storage of only 512 GB does not allow for extensive use of the Triton 300 SE . In fact, it will not be possible to use it to work and play at the same time, as certain programs would “take” space for video games and vice versa. As if that were not enough, even from the gaming point of view we find a certain “resistance”.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 with 6 GB of RAM, although it guarantees decent performance with maximum graphics, still needs a slight boost . It will not always be able to guarantee the minimum 60 fps at 1080p with graphics at the maximum on some triple A. Furthermore, these high levels of graphics can only be achieved if the PC is connected to a socket . On the contrary, we will risk finding ourselves with graphics set to the minimum and with temperatures that are too high as the modes designed specifically for gaming would not be activated.

The recommended price should be around € 1500 for this version (it can also be found at lower prices if you know where to look), while the one with 1 TB of SSD is around € 1700. Not really low-end notebooks in short, but this is mainly due to the skyrocketing prices of components, especially with regard to video cards. That’s all for this review on Acer’s Predator Triton 300 SE. To not miss future news and reviews from the hardware universe, keep following the tuttoteK pages !

TO BE PURCHASED IF COMPROMISES ARE ACCEPTED

Points in favor

Design
PredatorSense software
Good 144Hz display …
Battery Life …
Silence
Good performance in everyday life

Points against

Temperatures in a bit high during the game
Suboptimal SSD
… with suboptimal screen / desktop aspect ratio
… if you don’t require too many resources.