Acer Predator Triton 500 SE review: A refined powerhouse for work and play

engadget.com:

Acer is one of those laptop makers that frequently tries too hard to stand out. Consider the Predator Triton 900, a wild machine with a 360-degree swiveling screen that I found to be mostly useless. Earlier this month, Acer also announced plans to bring its SpatiaLabs glasses-free 3D technology to gaming laptops. Ambitious swings are nice and all, but these days I'm more interested in notebooks that are subtle about their gaming prowess. And after testing out the Predator Triton 500 SE for the past week, I've learned that Acer can pull that off pretty well.

The Triton 500 SE packs all of the power you'd want from a large gaming notebook, in a sleek metallic frame that wouldn't look out of place in a stuffy office or lecture hall. There's little need for garish LEDs (except for the keyboard backlight, which you can always turn off), or other obnoxious case bling. It's ready to get down to work. And sure, it's not the only subtle gaming notebook around, but competitors like the Razer Blade cost more than the Triton's $2,300 starting price.

What separates the Triton 500 SE from your typical productivity laptop, aside from the powerful hardware, is its glorious 16-inch screen. It has a 16:10 aspect ratio, making it slightly taller than typical widescreen displays and more useful for dealing with documents. Our review unit shipped with the 240Hz WQXGA model (running at 2,560 by 1,600 pixels) which, in my book, is the ideal balance between sharpness and silky smooth refresh. There's no HDR support, but at least it offers a relatively high brightness of 500 nits, as well as full coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut. And while the screen is a big reason the Triton is a hefty 5.3 pounds, that's still better than most 17-inch gaming