- Acer has introduced flagship Predator gaming laptops, both of which have mini-LED displays, 11th Gen Intel chips, and Nvidia graphics.
- The Helios 500 includes up to a 4K 120Hz display, while the slimmer Triton 500 SE comes with up to a 1600p 240Hz panel.
- Both systems reach the US in June, starting at $1,749.99 for the Triton and $2,499.99 for the Helios.
It wouldn’t be an Acer laptop launch without gaming systems, and 2021 is no exception. Acer is adding two new Predator models, the Triton 500 SE (above) and Helios 500 (below), that revolve around their mini-LED display technology.
The mini-LED panels on the slim, 16-inch Triton and thicker 17.3-inch Helios deliver the higher contrast ratios you’d expect, not to mention extreme brightness even at high resolutions. A maxed-out Helios with a 4K, 120Hz screen can still muster the equivalent of DisplayHDR 1000 (about 1,000 nits), while the Triton’s 2,560 x 1,600 165Hz screen can reach 1,250 nits. You’ll have an easy time playing games on either Acer gaming laptop during a bright summer’s day, in other words.
You can make tradeoffs, too. Acer says the Triton gaming laptop can come with a 240Hz 2,560 x 1,600 screen if responsiveness is more important than brightness, and the Helios system has the option of a 360Hz 1080p panel.
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Acer also outfits the two gaming laptop models with 11th Gen Core processors (up to a Core i9) and GeForce RTX 3080 graphics, Killer Wi-Fi 6 or 6e networking, and as much as 64GB of RAM. Either can hold up to 2TB of NVMe SSD storage in a RAID 0 stripe, and you’ll find dual Thunderbolt 4 ports as well as USB 3.2 Gen 2. The Helios even has a 5G option for gaming on the road.
As the specs suggest, Acer will ask a premium for either gaming laptop. The Predator Triton 500 SE reaches the US in June, starting at $1,749.99 (€1,999 for a European launch in July), while the Helios 500 comes to Europe first in June with a €2,499 price and ships to North America in August for $2,499.99. Those are far from trivial expenses and don’t include any AMD Ryzen-based options. Still, you likely won’t be hurting for either performance or display quality.
