Acer’s bringing Intel’s new high-powered 11th Gen Tiger Lake chips to its gaming laptops, alongside new mobile RTX 3000 GPU options and a new design for one laptop in particular. New, more budget-friendly RTX 3000 gaming desktops are also joining those mobile options, giving gamers who haven’t been able to try Ampere yet another avenue to buy an RTX 3000 series GPU.
Specs
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Predator Triton 500 SE | Predator Helios 500 | Predator Orion 3000 | Acer Nitro 50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Up to 11th Gen Intel Core i9 H-series | Up to 11th Gen Intel Core i9 HK-series | 11th Gen Intel Core i7 | Up to AMD Ryzen 9 5900 or 11th Gen Intel Core i7 |
| GPU | Up to RTX 3080 | Up to RTX 3080 | RTX 3070 | RTX 3060 Ti |
| Memory | Up to 64GB DDR4-3200 | Up to 64GB DDR4-3200 | Up to 64GB DDR4-3200 | Up to 64GB DDR4-3200 |
| Storage | Up to 4TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD | 2x Up to 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs with 1x Up to 2TB SATA HDD | Up to 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe and 3TB HDD | Up to 1TB PCIe NVMe and 3TB HDD |
| Display | 16 inches, 16:10: FHD @ 165 Hz, Mini LED or 165 Hz LCD or 240 Hz IPS | 17.3 inches: 4K @ 120 Hz, Mini LED with HDR or FHD @ 360 Hz | N/A | N/A |
| Starting Price | $1,749 | $2,499 | $1,199 | $949 |
| NA Release Date | June | August | July | July |
Acer Predator Triton 500 SE
Aesthetically, the star of the show here is the new Acer Predator Triton 500 SE. This model brings the general look and feel of the silvery Predator Triton 300 SE to a larger laptop. Based on photos Acer shared, the chassis seems to be somewhat darker without being fully black. We praised the Triton 300 SE for its power-to-size ratio, but the new Predator Triton 500 SE is likely to focus more on power.
Speaking of power, the Predator Triton 500 SE packs up to an 11th Gen Intel Core i9 H-series processor (so no overclocking), plus up to an RTX 3080 mobile GPU and up to 64GB of 3,200 MHz DDR4 RAM. Storage is all PCIe NVMe and can go up to 4TB, while the 16 inch display embraces the new 16:10 trend with an FHD screen that can reach up to 240 Hz. That high refresh rate is only available on the IPS model, not the 165 Hz LCD and Mini LED models. Acer also hasn’t commented on what type of LCD its LCD screen uses.
Acer Predator Helios 500 Refresh
If you want something a little larger and with a very premium display (especially for a laptop), you may want to opt for the refreshed Predator Helios 500. We got to spend some time with a configuration of the Acer Predator Helios 500, and what stood out most for us was its Mini LED display option. You can read about our experience in our Acer Predator Helios 500 hands-on article.
But long story short, this model maintains the same look as the current Predator Helios 500, but upgrades the internals to bring them up to line with Intel and Nvidia’s latest offerings: up to an 11th Gen Intel Core i9 HK series (overclocking is a go!) CPU with up to an RTX 3080 mobile GPU.
Besides Mini LED, you can also get the laptop with a FHD panel with your typical LED backlight and a 360 Hz refresh rate, the fastest refresh rate displays carry these days.
New Acer Predator Gaming Desktops
Acer’s new attempts at the best gaming PCs in desktop form are a bit more constrained. The Predator Orion 3000 is limited to an 11th Gen Intel Core i7 with an RTX 3070 but does let you customize your storage and memory capacities. The former maxes out at up to 1TB of PCIe NVMe storage with up to 3TB of HDD storage supplementing it, while the latter can go up to 64GB of DDR4-3200 RAM.
The Acer Nitro 50 series carries the sole AMD gaming machine (the N50-120) Acer announced today, as well as an Intel model (the N50-620).
The AMD model has up to AMD Ryzen 9 5900, while the Intel model has up to an 11th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU. Either way, you’ll get an RTX 3060 Ti for your GPU. Storage and memory options are the same as what’s available on the Predator Orion 3000.
Prices and Release Dates
The Predator Triton 500 SE will be the first of these laptops to hit U.S. store shelves. It launches today at Best Buy (and in June everywhere else) for a starting price of $1,749. The desktops will both follow in July, with the Predator Orion 3000 starting at $1,199 and the Intel Nitro 50 model starting at $949.
Finally, the Predator Helios 500 will launch in August for a starting price of $2,499.
We don’t yet have a release date or starting price for the Nitro 50 AMD model.
