Acer Predator Triton 300 SE Review – Compact Gaming For Everyone

It’s been 15 years since Acer first announced its Predator gaming lineup. The range of gaming devices featured included both mobile and desktop units. Given its strong list of gaming devices, the brand continues to expand its range into 2022. One unit that has seen a 2022 update is the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE.

With the South African market continuing to grow in the mobile gaming segment, we’re receiving more and more options when it comes to products in this segment. Moreover, the mobile gaming segment has grown at an increased rate, with seemingly more people buying gaming laptops compared to desktop machines. This could be due to its pick-up-and-play operating model, making it an easier choice for first-time buyers.

With so many new options, many brands have continually been updating their standing ranges with updated specifications. The Predator Triton 300 SE is one of those units, coming from a lineup of previous releases. So, how does the newly-updated gaming laptop fare with its 2022 overhaul?

Related: Acer Predator Triton 900 Review – A Powerful Experiment

Acer Predator Triton 300 SE Build and Design

With Acer’s extended range of gaming units in its arsenal, they have the luxury of offering a variety of units for many tastes. Perhaps not the best phrase to use but the Triton 300 has always been the baby from the Triton range. It offers a compact frame for those not wishing to have their laptop take up too much real estate.

In terms of having a flashy aesthetic as a gaming unit, the Acer designers took the opposite approach. The design of the unit is quite understated. It has a relatively square frame as well, resembling more of a business than a gaming laptop.

It’s not completely devoid of any styling, however. For starters, it has a brushed metallic lid with a cross-hatch pattern. It uses about 75% of the area for this pattern, with the smooth section which features the Predator logo. The rear vents also add a touch of flare to the design with its diagonal grille.

Being a gaming unit, it is fairly hefty. It weighs 1.9KG. This isn’t at all bad for the category. In fact, it is one of the lighter gaming laptops on the scene in 2022. Anything under 2.5KG is generally reasonable, while anything above this would then be questioned as to where the extra weight lies. So, it does really well in that regard.

Overall, the design of the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE isn’t bad. It doesn’t stand out as much as other gaming laptops but isn’t bad-looking either. It’s simple and solid.

Acer Predator Triton 300 SE Ports and Inputs

When it comes to ports included, there aren’t all that many to speak of. Given its diminutive size, it is reasonable to expect that one of the major sacrifices would be in the form of the number of ports available.

That being said, it still offers the basics in this regard. It sports two USB 3.1 Type-A ports on either side of the frame, along with a USB Type-C port to round things off.

Further to this, it has a 3.5mm audio jack as well as a full-size HDMI, which is very useful.

Again, due to its size, there are limitations in this respect. For starters, there isn’t an RJ45 Ethernet port or an SD card slot included. That being said, not many other gaming laptops include these either.

One of the inputs you also don’t find often on other gaming laptops is the webcam. This is especially true for units aiming for a bezel-less look. Acer has included a 1080p camera here, which isn’t half bad.

Screen and Display

The Acer Predator Triton 300 SE has a 14” screen. For most, it wouldn’t be an ideal size for your gaming needs. However, given its aim to keep things compact, it does well enough.

In fact, there’s more than meets the eye with the 14” screen. For starters, it offers an OLED panel. This gives it an extremely good visual aesthetic, bold colours and deep blacks. It looks amazing and definitely enhances your gaming with its vivid imagary.

Further to this, it also has a 2,880×1,800px resolution. This is larger than the standard 2K resolution but smaller than officially being considered 4K. Perhaps 3K?

Lastly, it also has a decent 90Hz refresh rate. This is above the, still, standard 60Hz panels but not quite up to scratch in terms of the modern 120+ on other flagship gaming laptops.

Although it may be small, it packs quite a decent punch and really produces great visuals. Personally, it would have been ideal at 17” but for anyone in favour of the smaller frame, the screen is nearly perfect.

Specifications

Under the hood, there’s a lot to write home about on the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE. For starters, it sports the 12^th-generation Intel Core i7 (12700H) CPU at 2.3Ghz. It has been paired with the NVIDIA Geforce RTX 3060 GPU for all your gaming needs.

In addition to this, it sports a 1TB Micron PCIe NVMe SSD and 16GB RAM. It runs on the latest Windows 11 Pro 64-bit to get the most out of its performance.

Related: Acer Predator Helios 500 Review – Worth Every Penny

Performance and Battery Life

With a laptop this small with only a 14” screen, it has to deliver on performance and battery life. And, in short, it does just that.

Given its above-mentioned specifications, it can easily handle day-to-day tasks. This is almost trivial here but still worth the mention as confirmation. Over the few weeks during the review period, there were no periods of lag or jitter. It even breezed through all of the load testing with ease, as expected.

Its true judgement lies with its gaming performance. However, it also gets this done relatively well. Playing 1080p gaming on Ultra graphics renders above the key 90fps mark to get the most from its 90Hz panel. Turning this to 2K gaming and the frame rates drop slightly to around the 60fps mark. And then, with 4K settings, it hovers around the magic 30fps mark.

These aren’t bad results for the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE. That being said, it’s not going to win any prizes. It’s slightly above average in this department. Where it really stands out is its visuals, thanks to its OLED panel. Gaming just looks magnificent as a result. It’s easy to get lost in the visuals while in the game.

Under normal use, the battery can easily last between 10 and 12 hours. Here you can work to your heart’s content and easily fill an entire work day with ease. Its results are above average, based on the recent gaming laptops I’ve reviewed over the past two or three years. The results are boosted by the smaller 14” screen, which means it doesn’t draw as much power to illuminate a larger surface area.

Switching to gaming and you’re still able to eke out an impressive 3+ hours of game time. That’s not bad under that load while using standard settings. Switching to 4K and running Ultra settings and you’ll drop just below the three-hour mark.

Is it Worth Buying the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE?

The Acer Predator Triton 300 SE is a great gaming laptop. Its graphics card is able to deliver 4K graphics at above 30fps, and, paired with its 90Hz OLED panel, makes for a great visual overall. Despite its lacklustre looks, it focuses more on the internals than outward appearances. As such, it gets the job done with ease.

One hurdle that prospective buyers would need to get over, however, is the price. At a retail price of R29,999, the unit isn’t the most affordable. That being said, it is quite a powerful gaming laptop and can handle everything thrown at it. With plenty of other brands competing in the same space, buyers have a lot of choices – a good thing in the South African market. You won’t easily regret your purchase decision if you chose the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE. And if you’re really keen on the unit, there is the more powerful Intel Core i9 variant as well.