Acer’s new gaming laptops are chock-full of cutting-edge chips

New year, new Acers. Though AMD’s Ryzen 6000 series and Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 Ti chips have only just hit the market, Acer is already integrating the next-gen chips into three of its gaming laptops. Acer said the Predator Triton 500SE, its gaming/work laptop, the Predator Helios 300, its more serious gaming laptop, and the Nitro 5, its affordable gaming laptop, will offer the new chips alongside the option for Intel new 12th Gen Core processors. The Acer laptops also were beefed up with more RAM, better displays, and more storage.

The new specs are a pretty nice upgrade for some of its laptops, particularly the Nitro 5. Previously, the spec’d out $2,000 version of the Nitro 5 came with a Ryzen 7 5800H, an RTX 3070 GPU with 8GB of VRAM, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD.

New and improved — The 2022 Nitro 5 has the new AMD Ryzen 6000 series processor or up to a 12th Gen Intel Core i7, up to an RTX 3070 Ti, up to 32GB of RAM, and two slots for SSDs. It looks like Acer went for a more muted design, compared to the previous Nitro 5 model, that doesn’t immediately scream “gaming laptop.”

Acer updated the displays of the Nitro 5 laptops and added a 17.3-inch alternative. Both the 15.6-inch and 17.3-inch models have screens with either a 144Hz or a 165Hz refresh rate. You’ll get to overclock pretty easily and adjust the four-zone RGB keyboard lighting through Acer’s NitroSense utility app, too.

More power — If the Nitro 5 isn’t enough power for your gaming needs, Acer also updated its Helios 300 laptop that’s catered towards gamers with a little more to spend. Acer says the new Helios 300 has up to a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, an RTX 3080 or the new RTX 3070 Ti, 32GB of RAM, and up to 2TB of storage.

The Helios 300 comes in 15.6-inch and 17.3-inch models that both have several alternatives including 144Hz or 165Hz and 1080p options. You do also get more RGB control with the Helios 300 through a configurable RGB light bar below the palm rest and per-key RGB for the keyboard.

Highest tier — As for the Triton 500SE, Acer went for the highest specs possible with up to a 12th Gen Intel Core i9, an RTX 3080 Ti, 32GB of RAM, and 2TB of storage. The updated Triton 500SE squeezes a 16-inch display with a 240Hz refresh rate, a triple-fan system, and a 99.98Wh battery all into a laptop that’s 0.75 inches at its thinnest point.

Unlike the Nitro 5 and Helios 300, Acer designed the Triton 500SE to blend into the workplace or lecture hall, but this sleeper laptop can still run whatever game you want with its high-end specs.

Spring releases — Be prepared to pay up for the Triton 500SE though, as it will be Acer’s most expensive update, costing $2,300 when it’s released in North America this March. The 17.3-inch Helios 300, which will retail for $1,750, and the 15.6-inch Nitro 5 with the Intel processor, starting at $1,050, will also be available in March for customers in North America.

Acer will release the AMD version of its 15.6-inch Nitro 5, and the Intel version of its 17.3-inch Nitro 5 in April in North America, each starting at $1,100. The 17.3-inch Nitro 5 with the AMD GPU will start at $1,150 and be out in May. Lastly, the 15.6-inch Helios 300 will also come out in May, and start at $1,650.