Acer Predator Triton 500 (PT515-52) review – new hardware and a 300Hz display option in the same sleek outfit

As you may know, the Predator gaming family of Acer is pretty well populated. Last year, the Triton series captured the gaming industry with its thin and light design and groundbreaking designs. One of them was the Predator Triton 500 (PT515-51). Ultimately, it was aimed at battling the MSI GS65 Stealth, and to some extent, it was able to do so. However, we have found some annoying disadvantages, including poor gaming comfort, due to high temperatures and noise, as well as difficult upgradability.

The next Triton 500 in line is the (PT515-52), and although we would have loved to see an improved design, that houses a better cooling solution, Acer just refreshed the laptop with the 10th Generation Intel Comet Lake-H processors, and some Super graphics cards, maxing out with the GeForce RTX 2080 Super Max-Q.

Apart from that, there are other, perhaps more exciting features. This includes the 300Hz Full HD IPS display (which we got), Wi-Fi 6 support, and 2.5 Gbps Ethernet connection.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/acer-predator-triton-500-pt515-51-pt515-52/

Contents


Specs Sheet

Acer Predator Triton 500 (PT515-51 / PT515-52) - Specs

  • AUO B156HAN08.2 (AUO82ED)
  • Color accuracy  4.4  1.7
  • AUO B156HAN12.0 (AUO7A8C)
  • Color accuracy  3.4  0.9
  • HDD/SSD
  • up to 2000GB SSD + up to 500GB HDD
  • M.2 Slot
  • 2x 2280 NVMe M.2 slot (RAID 0)  See photo
  • RAM
  • up to 64GB
  • OS
  • Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro
  • Battery
  • 84Wh, 4-cell, 84Wh
  • Body material
  • Aluminum
  • Dimensions
  • 359 x 255 x 17.8 mm (14.13" x 10.04" x 0.70")
  • Weight
  • 2.09 kg (4.6 lbs)
  • Ports and connectivity
  • 3x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • 1x USB Type-C
  • Thunderbolt 3, DisplayPort, HDMI
  • HDMI
  • Ethernet LAN
  • Wi-Fi
  • Bluetooth
  • Audio jack
  • 2x audio jacks
  • Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • Web camera
  • Backlit keyboard
  • optional
  • Microphone
  • Speakers
  • Optical drive
  • Security Lock slot

What’s in the box?

Inside the package we found two additional boxes. One of them is holding the laptop, while the other houses the 230W power brick.


Design and construction

Since the Acer Predator Triton 500 (PT515-52) is physically unchanged from its predecessor, you can see information about its construction and build quality here: https://laptopmedia.com/review/acer-predator-triton-500-review-thin-and-light-rtx-2080-max-q-beast/#design-and-construction

Ports

Acer Predator Triton 500’s sides are loaded with I/O. This is usually not great because if you have a bulkier gaming laptop you’ll be used to having most of your ports on the back. However, this is impossible with an 18mm thick model. Anyhow, on the left side you are going to see a barrel styled plug, an RJ-45 connector, a USB 3.1 (Gen. 1 ) port, as well as an HDMI connector and two audio jacks. On the other side are located the rest of the USBs – two Type-As 3.1 (Gen. 1) and one Type-C with Thunderbolt 3 support. Completing the package is a single mini DisplayPort on the right side of the device.


Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance

Having such a tight body, means you have to sacrifice something. The biggest sacrifice altogether is the ease of upgrading this laptop. Surely, you can do it, but you have to have some skill and balls to open the Triton 500 up.

The first step is basically the same as any other notebook on the market – remove the screws, then pry the bottom panel up and voila – you’re inside. However, this leads you to nothing, except for a possible battery change. In order to have access to the viable internals, you need to dig further.

Next, you have to remove the hefty 84Wh battery, which is held in place by two Phillips head screws.

After that, you have to carefully disconnect a couple of ribbon cables from the motherboard. Then, there are seven screws to be removed, some hidden by the screen cable (between the two fans). For most accurate instructions just take a look at our video at the beginning of this segment of the article.

Acer Predator Triton 500 is equipped with a very sophisticated cooling solution. There are a total of five heat pipes – one common for the CPU and GPU. One each for either of them, as well as one dedicated to the system’s VRMs and one for the VRAM. They are bent and twisted in such a way, that forces the fans to blow both backward and sideways.

The storage options comprise of two M.2 NVMe slots in RAID 0. We further impressed to see two RAM DIMMs on this motherboard.


Display quality

Acer Predator Triton 500 (PT515-52) has an IPS panel, model number AUO B156HAN012.0 (AUO7A8C). Its diagonal is 15.6″ (39.62 cm), and the resolution 1920 х 1080 pixels. The screen ratio is 16:9, and we are looking at a pixel density of – 142 ppi, and a pitch of 0.18 х 0.18 mm. The screen turns into Retina when viewed at distance equal to or greater than 60cm (24″) (from this distance one’s eye stops differentiating the separate pixels, and it is normal for looking at a laptop).

It has comfortable viewing angles. We offer images at 45° to evaluate image quality.

The measured maximum brightness of 340 nits in the middle of the screen and 338 nits as an average for the whole area, with a maximum deviation of 9%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen is 7560K – colder than the optimal for the sRGB standard of 6500K.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. In other words, the leakage of light from the light source.

Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work. The contrast ratio is good – 1420:1 (1230:1 after profiling).

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people in HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

The yellow dotted line shows Acer Predator Triton 500 (PT515-52)’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers 98% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

Below you can compare the scores of Acer Predator Triton 500 (PT515-52) with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 8 ms.

The next chart shows the pixel response times GtG (Gray to Gray) between 50% White and 80% White and vice versa, between 10% and 90% of the amplitudes.


PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

Acer Predator Triton 500 (PT515-52)’s screen doesn’t flicker at any brightness level. Thankfully, this enables you to play for extended periods of time, without risk of further damaging your eyes and brain.

Blue light emissions

Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

Conclusion

Acer Predator Triton 500 (PT515-52)’s display in the configuration we tested was equipped with a whopping 300Hz IPS panel with comfortable viewing angles, decent maximum brightness, and good contrast ratio. It also covers the sRGB gamut virtually fully (98%), and with the help of our Gaming and Web design profile, the color accuracy is right up there for professional work. Moreover, we measured a relatively quick pixel response times, which results in a very, very smooth image. Especially, considering the G-Sync support and the ultra-high refresh rate. Oh, and the backlight doesn’t flicker at any brightness level, which means it’s safe for use for long gaming sessions.

Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Acer Predator Triton 500 (PT515-52) configurations with 15.6″ FHD IPS AUO B156HAN012.0 (AUO7A8C).

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Drivers

All of the drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/8316?b=1

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits, and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. Despite the 84Wh capacity, this model’s 300Hz display is able to drain the battery in less than four hours of Web browsing and around four hours and a half of video playback.


CPU options

Originally, the Predator Triton 500 was sold with the 8th gen Core i7-8750H but with the years passing on, it was updated to the Core i7-9750H and now to the Core i7-10750H. Ultimately, there is little change between the three, but every new generation brought a slight increase to the maximum clock speed.

Acer Predator Triton 500 (PT515-51 / PT515-52) CPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the CPUs that can be found in the Acer Predator Triton 500 (PT515-51 / PT515-52) models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which Acer Predator Triton 500 (PT515-51 / PT515-52) model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different CPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / CPU.


GPU options

Now, the laptop can be equipped with up to the GeForce RTX 2080 Super Max-Q.

Acer Predator Triton 500 (PT515-51 / PT515-52) GPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the GPUs that can be found in the Acer Predator Triton 500 (PT515-51 / PT515-52) models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which Acer Predator Triton 500 (PT515-51 / PT515-52) model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different GPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / GPU.

Results are from the 3DMark: Time Spy (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the 3DMark: Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)


Gaming tests

Far Cry 5Full HD, Normal (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Ultra (Check settings)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super Max-Q126 fps118 fps112 fps

rise-of-the-tomb-raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016)Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super Max-Q158 fps94 fps63 fps

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon WildlandsFull HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)Full HD, Ultra (Check settings)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super Max-Q104 fps90 fps61 fps

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018)Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Highest (Check settings)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super Max-Q113 fps108 fps96 fps

Temperatures and comfort

Max CPU load

In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp.

Intel Core i7-10750H (45W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
Acer Predator Triton 500 (PT515-52)3.72 GHz (B+43%) @ 90°C3.53 GHz (B+36%) @ 90°C3.26 GHz (B+25%) @ 85°C
ASUS ROG Strix G15 G5124.16 GHz (B+60%) @ 81°C3.99 GHz (B+53%) @ 95°C3.52 GHz (B+35%) @ 87°C
Acer Nitro 5 (AN517-52)3.05 GHz (B+17%) @ 68°C3.05 GHz (B+17%) @ 75°C2.90 GHz (B+12%) @ 79°C
Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-55)3.02 GHz (B+16%) @ 82°C3.04 GHz (B+17%) @ 92°C2.67 GHz (B+3%) @ 92°C
Lenovo Legion 7 (15)3.78 GHz (B+45%) @ 80°C3.69 GHz (B+42%) @ 83°C3.51 GHz (B+35%) @ 83°C
MSI GP65 Leopard 10Sx3.65 GHz (B+40%) @ 95°C3.41 GHz (B+31%) @ 95°C3.30 GHz (B+27%) @ 95°C

Despite the fact that the cooling of this notebook is definitely not on the level of the Legion 7 (15), we are somewhat satisfied by the results.

Real-life gaming

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super Max-Q (90W)GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 2 min)GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min)GPU frequency/ Core temp (Turbo boost)
Acer Predator Triton 500 (PT515-52)1370 MHz @ 69°C1313 MHz @ 78°C1471 MHz @ 72°C
Lenovo Legion 7 (15)1420 MHz @ 66°C1376 MHz @ 72°C

However, under gaming, this device happens to reach a very high temperature at reasonably high noise levels. Furthermore, you can enable the “Turbo” mode via the dedicated button, which boosts the fans up to Falcon 9 levels of noise and prepares you for entry in the stratosphere. Nevertheless, the result is higher frequencies and a lower temperature.

Gaming comfort

Indeed, the laptop is very loud when gaming, but the maximum temperature of the keyboard deck remains in check.


Verdict

First, we would like to start with an issue, that we think is annoying and may lead to some people returning the laptop. It is concerning the power plug and the way it is attached to the device. At first, everything looks alright, and actually, there is no physical feedback that gives away something is wrong. However, as soon as you touch it (even the lightest of touches from the hair of your leg) will unplug it for a second. Then, the notebook needs another second or two to stabilize from your chaotic behavior and continues its work as nothing happened. However, if you are in a game, this will result in an annoying stutter or frame drop. And since we are not sure if this is an isolated issue, or one with the model, itself, just abstain from playing, when the laptop is on your lap.

By the way, there is another reason for you not to game on your lap – temperature. Here, the bottom panel heats up quite a lot under heavy load and it can actually burn your skin, should it sit there long enough.

Other than that, the laptop is just a beast. Both in terms of gaming and productivity. However, its biggest advantage is the magnificent 300Hz IPS display. It (AUO B156HAN012.0) has comfortable viewing angles, decent maximum brightness, and good contrast ratio. It also covers the sRGB gamut virtually fully (98%), and with the help of our Gaming and Web design profile, the color accuracy is right up there for professional work. Moreover, we measured a relatively quick pixel response times, which results in a very, very smooth image. Especially, considering the G-Sync support and the ultra-high refresh rate. Oh, and the backlight doesn’t flicker at any brightness level, which means it’s safe for use for long gaming sessions.

Apart from that, the laptop is pretty much the same unit as last year, so if you have the top tier unit from back then, it would make no sense upgrading to this device. However, if you are going after the Triton 500, upgrading from an older machine, definitely look for this year’s model, if it’s available in your region. Also, don’t forget to check the Lenovo Legion 7 (15), which has pretty much the same hardware, but offers much better cooling, thanks to its vapor chamber.

Pros

  • Aluminum design and good build quality
  • Large arrow keys, per-key RGB backlight
  • Thunderbolt certification and two M.2 slots with RAID 0 support
  • The display doesn’t flicker at any brightness level (AUO B156HAN012.0)
  • 300Hz display with quick response times, full sRGB coverage and accurate color representation (AUO B156HAN012.0)


Cons

  • Lacks an SD card reader
  • Hot and loud during gameplay
  • Not very user-friendly in terms of upgradability
  • 4 hours of battery life at most

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/acer-predator-triton-500-pt515-51-pt515-52/

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farhad nabizadeh
farhad nabizadeh
3 years ago

Thanks for the good reviews. I wish you checked any possible bleeding issues on the laptops you reviewed.

Ast
Ast
3 years ago

Respond times was tested with overdrive on or off?