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日本Acer Predator Triton 17X (PTX17-71) review – Mini LED screen with an absurdly powerful hardware
Verdict
One thing can be said for sure. This notebook is extremely powerful. However, we have to say two very important things. First – its RTX 4090 (175W) doesn’t really run at 175W – more like 140W. And second – it performs more like an RTX 4080 (175W) – the one we saw in the Lenovo Legion Pro 7 (16″, 2023).
What is really important in the case of the Predator Triton 17X is its overly complex build. In order to achieve such a thin chassis, Acer has flipped the motherboard upside down, flatted every possible surface, and contacted the College of Winterhold.
The dark magic, however, takes its toll on the usability of the product. Not only does it underperform (if you can even dare say this word at these performance values), but its surface also gets quite toasty. Both the keyboard and the bottom panel can comfortably reach temperatures in excess of 50°C, despite the manufacturer’s efforts.
Acer Predator Triton 17X (PTX17-71)’s 17.0-inch Mini LED panel has a WQXGA resolution, comfortable viewing angles, and a very high maximum brightness, which can get even higher in some scenes, where only a portion of the display needs to be illuminated. With that said, the contrast ratio is pretty much perfect – similar to OLED panels.
We have something to say in this case, though. Interestingly, when the cursor happens to be on a dark spot of the display, it dims accordingly. Also, there is a noticeable halo effect when you are tracing the cursor on a black screen.
On the bright side, the panel covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and has a really fast-paced image, which looks smooth even in the most dynamic scenarios. This is thanks to both the 250Hz refresh rate and the G-Sync support. By the way, the laptop is equipped with a MUX Switch, which gives you the full power of the RTX 4090.
It is accessed by both the NVIDIA driver and within BIOS. Interestingly, Acer has omitted such a function from the Predator Sense app – similar to the Nitro series, where you could only enable it through BIOS.
Now comes the hardest part of this review – telling you that it is really difficult to upgrade your memory and storage. It would have been easier to swallow the fact that the laptop doesn’t have upgrade options whatsoever. Instead, it does have two SODIMM slots and two M.2 PCIe x4 slots for Gen 4 SSDs. However, they are placed on the “wrong” part of the motherboard.
This is one of the things that Dell did right with its G16 7630 – while the cooling is on the other side, the RAM and SSD slots are placed right below the bottom panel. Frankly, this wasn’t possible on the Predator Triton 17X, since all of its space tolerances are basically nonexistent.
In addition, the laptop doesn’t have a great battery life. However, it will get you through about 5 hours of Web browsing, or 4 hours and 30 minutes of video playback.
So, if you are planning on spending an absurd amount of money on one of the thinnest and most powerful gaming notebooks on the market – then the Acer Predator Triton 17X (PTX17-71) will be a great choice. However, you might want to check out the Lenovo Legion Pro 7 (16″, 2023), or the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 (G833, 2023) too.
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/acer-predator-triton-17x-ptx17-71/
Pros
- Very thin chassis
- Liquid metal + vapor chamber
- 16:10 aspect ratio is great for work and the 1600p panel has a 250Hz refresh rate (AUO B170QAN01.4 (AUO44A8))
- Covers 100% of DCI-P3 (AUO B170QAN01.4 (AUO44A8))
- Mini LED backlight with super high maximum brightness and contrast ratio (AUO B170QAN01.4 (AUO44A8))
- RTX 4090 (175W) with a MUX Switch
- 2x SODIMM + 2x M.2 PCIe x4 Gen 4
- Great build quality
- 2x Thunderbolt 4 + SD card slot
Cons
- Hard to upgrade
- Short battery life
- Expensive
- Uses PWM (AUO B170QAN01.4 (AUO44A8))
I have one of these on order. I couldn’t find any information if it has a Mux switch and thank goodness you mentioned it at the end of your view. So Thank you.
I am sadden by the lackluster performance. How and which mode is used? Are they hitting thermal throttling or power limit? Which mode was used for all the benchmarking?
As I recall the 2023 Asus Zephyrus Duo 16 only does the 175w CPU+GPU if it is in Turbo mode. Could it be possible Acer only allows 175w on CPU+GPU the same way?
Any updates on your purchase?