Acer refreshes Nitro 7, Predator Triton 300 gaming laptops and more for 2020

Like many other companies, Acer likes to hold a jamboree once a year when it launches a whole load of new products. While this year’s annual press conference has been held online (for obvious reasons), Acer still has plenty of new products up its sleeves, including a newly refreshed line of gaming laptops, PC monitors and chromebooks.

Despite there being no hands-on event, Acer was kind enough to ship us three of its new products, so we’ve had the opportunity to see them in the flesh.

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Acer Nitro 7 hands on

The Nitro 7 was one of our favourite gaming laptops of 2019, mostly due to its powerful componentry and reasonable price. The 2020 model features a slightly slimmer and more refined design – it’s only 19.9mm thick when closed – and moves the power input to the rear of the laptop so it doesn’t unnecessarily clutter the right edge like last year.

More importantly, the laptop features updated internals with the latest 10th generation Intel CPUs and Nvidia RTX chips, too. The model I was sent to take a look at had an Intel Core  i7-10750H CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 GPU, a massive 32GB of RAM and twin PCIe SSDs in a RAID0 configuration giving a huge 2TB of super fast storage.

As with last year’s model, the keyboard features full RGB backlighting, customisable via Acer’s Nitro Sense software, and it has a 15.6in 144Hz 1080p IPS display that looks pretty good to my eyes, with good clear visuals and vibrant colours.

The keyboard feels pretty solid and nicely damped, and the highlighted WASD and large cursor keys are a nice touch, but I did find the trackpad little on the rattly side. As per last year, there’s still no fingerprint reader or Windows Hello-compatible webcam on the laptop, which is a mild disappointment.

The Acer Nitro 7 will be available from July with prices starting at 1,299 Euros.

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Acer Predator Triton 300

Slightly up the chain is the Predator Triton 300, another 15.6in gaming machine – but one cut from slightly more luxurious cloth. This year’s model has a quieter, more sophisticated look to it and it’s pretty light and slim (19.9mm, 2.1kg) for a gaming laptop. Pick it up and it certainly doesn’t feel like it’s going to be capable of running the latest titles at high frame rates.

A glance at the specifications of my hands-on unit quickly puts paid to that idea. With an Intel Core i7-10750H CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 GPU, 32GB of RAM and, again, 2TB of PCIe SSD storage arranged in a RAID0 configuration, this is a machine that should be able to cope with most modern games.

What’s impressive about this machine, though, is that it has a modicum of upgradeability with three SSD slots available inside the chassis. Even if you have two SSDs installed, that means there’s still space to add an extra drive to bump up the capacity even further.

The rest of the machine both looks and feels a level up from the Nitro 7. The 15.6in 1080p display has a maximum refresh rate of 240Hz and doesn’t look like it suffers from muddy colours as cheaper high-refresh panels can. The keyboard is sensibly laid out and has a solid, well-damped feel and, of course, is equipped with customisable RGB backlighting. The trackpad has a higher quality feel to it than on the Nitro 7 but it’s a little on the narrow side for my tastes.

Like the Nitro 7, it’s good to see the power input moved to the rear of the machine this year, keeping the clutter around the edges of the laptop to a minimum.

The Predator Triton 300 will cost from £1,200, will be available in June, and will launch alongside refreshed Predator Helios 700 and 300 machines, the latter starting at prices from £1,200.

Acer Chromebook Spin 713 and 311

Of course, this being the Acer Global Press Conference, these weren’t the only machines launched today. Also unveiled was the convertible Chromebook Spin 713 – complete with 2K 3:2 aspect ratio 13.5in touch display and a 10th gen Intel Core CPU – and the Spin 311, which I’ve had a chance to get hands on with here.

It’s a well-made machine: although clearly built to a budget with its silver plastic chassis, Acer appears to have made cuts in all the right places. It feels nice and solid: at 1kg, it’s relatively light, and considerably less chunky than the previous generation Chromebook Spin 311. Its 360-degree hinges, which allow the touchscreen to be folded back until it sits flat against the rear of the chassis, feel like they can take plenty of abuse, too.

It has a small 11.6in touch-sensitive display surrounded by some fairly chunky-looking bezels. This looks to be a pretty decent screen: it’s plenty colourful and clad in antimicrobial Gorilla Glass, which is designed to be easy to keep clean and free of bugs in a multi-user environment.

It will be interesting to see how it performs with a Mediatek MT8183 processor on board, although the price is a very tempting £270. The Chromebook Spin 713 will cost a lot more, with prices starting at £600. Both machines will be available starting in September.

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Acer Swift 5

The ultra-thin Acer Swift 5 is another of the significant new products unveiled at the press Global Press Conference. We love the previous model for its ultra-light weight and low price and the new model continues in the same vein.

Available in a fetching green and gold or all-gold colour scheme, it weighs less than 1kg and features Intel’s latest 10th gen CPUs, Nvidia’s MX350 GPU and a 14in touchscreen clad in Corning’s Antimicrobial Gorilla Glass. According to Acer, customers can also have the keyboard, touchpad and all the rest of the laptop’s surfaces treated with anti-microbial coatings.

With prices starting at 1,099 Euros it looks like the price is going to stay reasonably low, too. This is good news for anyone looking for an ultra-light laptop who doesn’t want to pay the sorts of prices slapped on the flagship ultraportables of companies like Dell and Apple.

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Monitors, PCs, gaming accessories and more

Last, but by no means least, Acer took the opportunity to launch a whole series of other products, including a range of rugged “Enduro” laptops, a laptop for creative professionals with an easel-style screen hinge and built-in stylus, a new gaming PC and the new Predator X25 gaming monitor with an ultra-fast 360Hz refresh rate.

As ever, we’ll endeavour to call in the most interesting of the new products for a full review, so watch this space for further details.