Hands-on with the super thin Acer Predator Triton 700 gaming laptop with a see-through trackpad

By Daniel Rubino
published

Acer announced their new Triton 700 series gaming laptops on April 27 in New York City. At just 18mm thin Acer claims it's the fastest gaming laptop around netting a 17,000 score on 3DMark besting the competition by significant margins.

We got some hands-on time yesterday with the Triton 700, and it's quite impressive. It's not just the radical cooling solutions that let the Triton 700 hit high-performance marks, but some crazy design choices too.

For instance, there is the weird trackpad above the keyboard thing, which Acer tried years ago with the Aspire R7. This time around, however, it's see-through, which is a unique twist.

Acer Predator Triton 700 specifications

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CategoryAcer Triton 700
Operating SystemWindows 10 Home 64-bit
Display15.6" FHD (1920 x1080) IPS
ProcessorIntel Core i7-7700HQ
Intel Core i5-7300HQ
MemoryUp to 16GB of DDR4
User upgradable up to 32GB (2x soDIMM)
GPUNVIDIA GeForce GTX 10-series
Ports1 USB Type-C with Thunderbolt 3
1 HDMI 2.0
Three USB Type-A
DisplayPort
Ethernet
StorageUp to 512GB PCIe Gen 3x4 SSD
Dimensions393 (W) x 263 (D) x 18.9 (H) mm
Weight2.6 kg (5.7lbs)
WebcamHD webcam supporting Super High Dynamic Range imagine (SHDR)
WirelessKiller Wireless 2x2 802.11 ac

Also, there is a USB Type-C port with Thunderbolt 3, built-in Ethernet, a few USB Type-A ports, DisplayPort, and HDMI 2.0 out.

In hand, the laptop is not light, but it is quite thin, and the all-metal chassis felt high quality.

The mechanical keyboard is also a nice and feels like the Razer Blade Pro.

Availability starts in August with pricing at $2,999 (€3,399). We'll try to get a review unit to see if Acer has the chops to compete with Razer.

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.

24 Comments
  • What about their 9000$ gaming laptop with two gtx 1080 in SLI, shouldn't that be fastest?
  • Under 20mm thickness catergory. The one you're talking about is a tank.
  • That touch pad thing is just stupid, I can't see it being comfortable at all.
  • I'd agree with you if it was a laptop for productivity but it's actually for gaming and 99% of gamers don't use a touch pad for gaming.
    In my opinion it's very convenient for gaming cause it feels like using a normal keyboard without a touch pad in front of it.
    That's just my opinion and I fully respect yours.
    My regards.
  • I only use a touch pad on a laptop so for me that's a serious fail !
  • Then this is not for you. It's for PC gamers, and none of them use touchpad. If they do, they're either completely dull or they ran out of money after buying the computer.
  • If you only use a touchpad on a laptop, then clearly you're not a gamer, or at least not a serious one. This laptop is a gaming laptop and for $3000 it's meant for serious gamers, who have no need for a track pad when they play. So it's not a "serious fail" at all for its intended market.
  • Just give up Alan, Enza is clearly out of touch with reality and simply wanna win the discussion :)
  • Well, he's entitled to his opinion and I respect that. I also agree with him that most people don't just use it for gaming. If they bought this laptop, I think it's safe to assume they will use it not just for gaming, but primarily for gaming. He uses the controller with his laptop, which is fine. However, most of the commenters (myself included) on this thread seem to think the location of the track pad on this gaming laptop is a clever design, not an epic fail. Now, we just have to wait for Windows Central full review to see if it's worth $3K :-)
  • Oh here we go the mousies. I have been a gamer since Sega. However, I don't like using a mouse and use a controller instead. I have a Razer HD but don't just use it for gaming which I suspect is the same for most of us. So same goes the trackpad is a fail.
  • I have been a gamer since Sega, and I am therefore entitled to call controllers a fail. See, I can play this game too.
  • Brilliant GG02 Love it !!!
  • For a gameing laptop the touchpad is well placed. Will it work on an every day basis? No, probably not, but that's not the point. If you're gaming then you're using a mouse, and if your doing that then the last thing you want is an always on touch pad at the bottom of the board right where you rest your palms (can't tell you how many accidental clicks I have with my HP 13 x360). So I agree with acer. That said, if you had any hopes to use this as your daily driver laptop, I'm sure acer may have shot that. Perhaps I wasn't paying close enough attn, but is this a touch screen laptop? If so that might help in a daily use senario. 
  • Windows 10 has the option to disable the touch pad when a mouse is connected. Both my Asus T100 and Surface Pro 3 do it, really nice feature.
  • Touchpad Placement - fail.
    Touchpad Design - Fingerprint Super-Magnet - grand fail.
  • Would you rather have the touchpad where your wasd-wrist rests?
  • Looks promising. Do you have any more photos of it?
  • No way it's a mechanical keyboard. Telling from the provided picture, It's a scissor switch at best IMO.
  • Same style as RBP mechanical; they mentioned it during the presentation and I tried it. It felt a lot like Razer's.
  • I like the placement of the keyboard. Not only is it located to feel more like a standalone keyboard, but it also moves you hands away from hotspots! Also, no accidental tracker movements during gameplay in case you forgot to turn off trackpad.
  • For me, I like the track pad. That's a neat idea. I wouldn't be bumping it and screwing up my typing. Cool. 
  • I can't find $3,000 in hardware at the starting point. It's...maybe $1,500? I just don't see how they justify that price, especially when they're going to launch it in August, when superior hardware is likely to be out or really close (be it Ryzen/Vega or Cannon Lake/Volta). This sounds more like a $2,000 laptop than a $3,000 one.
  • It has a 1080 in such a thin laptop. I haven't heard of anything like it in its form factor, have you?
  • What a stupid design, totally useless. No palm rest for the hands, impossible to use mouse... and it has a USB 2.0 port for $3000? If you want to do anything on this computer besides gaming with an external mouse, good luck.
    I like my laptops to be good at everything, rather than be 'unique' at one thing. Doubt they'll sell much if any.