Acer Predator Triton 500 SE: A gaming laptop that's safe for work

The 16:10, 1440p, 165 Hz display is great for more than just gaming.

-  JARED NEWMAN

The Acer Predator Triton 500 SE is a gaming laptop that doesn’t just want to be a gaming laptop. Instead, it falls into a burgeoning category of more work-friendly gaming rigs, joining the likes of the Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 (fave.co/30JaT2m), Gigabyte Aero 17 (fave.co/3b1dczr), and Dell XPS 17 9710 (fave.co/3vxLp3o) in toning down its wild side. There are no racing stripes or flashy LED patterns here, and the 2560x1600 resolution screen has a taller 16:10 aspect ratio to help with regular old office work.

Yet the Acer Predator Triton 500 SE is ready to party when needed, with an Intel Core i7-11800H CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Max-Q GPU, and a 165Hz refresh rate display for super-smooth gaming (and, to be honest, web browsing). While some games don’t play nice with a 16:10 aspect ratio, and the display could be more vibrant, overall this is a solid value for a laptop that’s equally comfortable at work or play.

TECH SPECS

Our Acer Predator Triton 500 SE review unit costs $1,750 and includes the following tech specs:

Processor: Intel Core i7-11800H

Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Max-Q with 6 GB GDDR6 VRAM

Display: 16-inch, 2560x1600 resolution IPS display, 165 Hz refresh rate, 500 nits brightness

Memory: 16GB DDR4 RAM (3200 MHz)

Storage: 512GB PCIe Gen4x4 SSD

Wireless: Wi-Fi 6

Camera: 720p webcam