Acer Predator Triton 14 Ai Review: A True Ultraportable Gaming Laptop

When I reappraisal products, I effort to return different perspectives and usage cases into relationship arsenic overmuch arsenic possible. I'm very alert that I'm not nan target assemblage for each device. But erstwhile successful a while I tally into thing that seems for illustration it was designed specifically for maine and it conscionable hits different. With nan Acer Predator Triton 14 AI, that's beautiful overmuch nan situation. While it isn't nan flashiest aliases astir powerful gaming laptop connected nan market, it has beautiful overmuch everything I look for successful a portable strategy that lets maine play games connected nan spell — and past some.

Design and display

The word ultraportable is typically reserved for much accepted thin-and-light productivity machines, but I deliberation it decidedly applies to nan Triton 14 AI. At conscionable 3.5 pounds and 0.71 inches thick, Acer's rig is really a touch lighter and conscionable arsenic bladed arsenic a Dell 14 Premium (3.7 pounds and 0.71 inches), contempt featuring a overmuch beefier GPU. And moreover compared to rivals for illustration nan Razer Blade 14 (3.6 pounds and 0.64 inches thick), nan Triton 14 AI isn't losing overmuch crushed location either.

Furthermore, while immoderate gaming notebooks spell overboard pinch edgy aesthetics and an abundance of RGB lighting, nan Triton 14 AI looks refreshingly understated. Sure, it still has customizable LEDs down nan Predator logo connected its lid and per-key lighting connected its keyboard. But speech from that, nan laptop feels for illustration an workout successful restraint for a class that often favors excess.The different mini creation flourish is simply a pixelated Predator logo (that looks for illustration it was made from a mini dot matrix display) to nan correct of nan touchpad.. I deliberation it's a clever touch that hints astatine nan notebook's gaming attraction without hitting you complete nan caput pinch it.

Despite its size, nan Triton 14 AI besides has fantabulous connectivity. You get 2 USB-C ports (one connected either side), pinch Thunderbolt 4 support connected nan correct while nan different is utilized for powerfulness and USB 4 information speeds (both tin beryllium utilized for charging). There are besides 2 USB-A 3.2 jacks, 3.5mm audio, a full-size HDMI 2.1 connector and moreover a microSD paper reader. That intends you tin easy hook it up to an outer show (which you really ought to person erstwhile fragging astatine home). Alternatively, erstwhile you're not gaming, it tin beryllium a awesome mobile editing position because offloading photos and videos from a camera via microSD is simply a cinch.

Acer didn't trim corners pinch nan Triton 14 AI's show either. Sure, its 120Hz refresh complaint could beryllium a touch faster aliases it could person gone pinch a somewhat higher 3.2K show for illustration connected nan Dell 14 Premium, but those are existent nitpicks. The OLED sheet produces rich | colors and successful my testing, nan show connected my reappraisal portion really exceeded Acer's stated 340-nit brightness by a fewer percent.

While Acer included six speakers that get plentifulness loud, my 1 mini gripe is that they aren't located successful nan champion spots to maximize audio quality. There are 2 drivers hidden down mini grilles connected each separator of nan laptop and 4 much located connected nan bottom. This intends unless nan laptop is sitting connected a difficult reflective aboveground for illustration a table (without thing for illustration a table mat successful between), audio often sounds muffled aliases dampened. It's not a dealbreaker and I understand that nan Triton 14 AI's petite dimensions didn't time off overmuch room for up-firing drivers, but I wish Acer had recovered an statement that sounds somewhat better.

Keyboard, touchpad and an different typical feature

In summation to per-key lighting and a pleasantly bouncy typing experience, Acer added a fewer other features to nan Triton 14 AI's rodent and keyboard that you don't usually spot connected gaming laptops. On nan near supra nan usability row, there's a beingness fastener that makes it accelerated and easy to move betwixt various capacity modes pinch a azygous press. There's besides a dedicated Predator cardinal that acts arsenic a shortcut to Acer's app, wherever you tin do things for illustration tweak settings aliases set nan laptop's lighting.

Down below, nan Triton 14 AI features a ample seamless touchpad made from Gorilla Glass, akin to what you get connected a Dell 14 Premium. However, to reside nan rumor of you not knowing wherever nan trackpad ends and nan remainder of nan notebook's platform begins, Acer added 2 ray strips connected either side. It’s a elemental and elegant solution that looks bully too.

However, nan Triton's existent statement instrumentality is that it besides supports stylus input (via MPP 2.0) pinch 4,096 levels of unit sensitivity. This intends you tin usage it for illustration a mini built-in Wacom tablet. On apical of that, nan laptop ships pinch an progressive pen, truthful you don't request to ammunition retired other money for one. And because Windows recognizes nan stylus retired of nan box, there's nary other setup required. So while this isn't thing I will usage each nan time, it's bully to person for times erstwhile I consciousness for illustration taking notes, sketching aliases conscionable request to motion a archive electronically.

Performance

Our $2,500 reappraisal portion features an Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU pinch 32GB of RAM and a 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD on pinch an NVIDIA RTX 5070 GPU. Notably, this is arsenic large a graphics paper arsenic nan Triton 14 AI tin handle, but considering similarly-sized rivals for illustration nan Razer Blade 14 person nan aforesaid limitation, it's difficult to beryllium upset. More importantly, moreover without nan action for an RTX 5080 aliases 5090, Acer's mini gaming laptop still boasts respectable performance.

In Cyberpunk 2077 astatine 1080p and Ultra RT settings, nan Triton 14 AI deed 55 fps, which is simply a notch supra nan 45 fps I sewage from nan Radeon 8060S successful nan ROG Z Flow 13. It besides intends that pinch conscionable a mini spot of tweaking, it's easy to push framerates supra 60 while keeping almost each of nan graphics settings maxed out. Meanwhile, successful Returnal astatine 1080p connected Epic, nan Triton 14 AI fared moreover better, hitting 115 fps. That falls short of what I saw connected nan Alienware 16 Area-51 (154 fps), but considering that's a larger strategy pinch an RTX 5080, nan quality betwixt nan 2 machines is understandable.

As for cooling, Acer went beyond simply utilizing a built-in vapor chamber. Instead of nan paste aliases liquid metallic utilized by nan competition, nan institution says this is nan first clip a graphene-based thermal interface worldly has been utilized wrong a gaming laptop. This makes a difference, particularly connected a notebook this thin, because it intends for little demanding games for illustration Teamfight Tactics, if you set its capacity mode you tin really play them connected your thigh without worrying astir scorching your legs. That said, you still person to watch retired because location are 2 largish fans connected nan bottommost arsenic well, truthful for much superior titles you'll still want to move to a array aliases desk.

Battery life

Longevity is often a interest for small, power-hungry gaming laptops for illustration this. But somehow, Acer managed to fresh a much than capable 76Whr artillery inside. On PCMark 10's Modern Office rundown test, nan Triton 14 AI lasted 7 hours and 26 minutes. That's 3 hours amended than larger systems for illustration nan Alienware 16 Area-51 (4:13) and half an hr amended than smaller rivals for illustration nan ASUS ROG Z Flow 13 (6:54). And moreover though it fell short by an hr erstwhile compared to a accepted ultraportable for illustration nan Dell 14 Premium (8:30), that's still very coagulated erstwhile you see nan Triton’s much powerful graphics.

Wrap-up

If you're successful nan marketplace for a much powerful and sedentary type of gaming laptop that mightiness only get moved astir a mates of times a period (if that), nan Triton 14 AI mightiness not beryllium for you. But arsenic personification who prefers gaming laptops that are, you know, really portable, this point is beautiful overmuch my perfect notebook.

For $2,500 arsenic tested, nan Predator Triton 14 AI has a vivid OLED display, coagulated performance, amazingly bully artillery life and an incredibly sleek chassis that begs you to return this point everywhere. It's a spot pricey, but considering a similarly-specced Blade 14 costs $2,700 (before income aliases discounts), you mightiness moreover opportunity it's a spot of a bargain. What puts this point complete nan apical though, is that Acer could person stopped location and nary 1 would person complained. But past it added other features for illustration ample ports, powerful cooling and built-in stylus support (not to mention nan included pen). In a batch of ways, this isn't conscionable a travel-friendly gaming machine, it's a existent do-everything ultraportable.