The Acer Predator Triton Neo 16 (starts at $1,449.99; $1,599.99 as tested) could easily pass as an office workstation with its understated gray aluminum chassis and an embedded fingerprint reader. But its rainbow-backlit keyboard and 16-inch display with 240Hz refresh rate reveal its gaming roots. The reality is that the Neo 16 straddles two worlds, targeting both content creators and gamers. The laptop can do a little bit of everything well, using an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor and a lower-tier Nvidia GeForce GPU. Hard-core players and designers may want to step up to a more powerful graphics card, and some users will be put off by the system’s loud fans, lackluster speakers, and slightly mushy keyboard. However, the Predator Triton Neo 16 is an excellent choice for entry-level creative pros and after-hours gamers.
Configurations and Design: Ready for the Office…or the Online Battlefield
This versatile member of the Predator gaming line is available in several configurations from resellers, including Amazon, Newegg, Micro Center, and Acer’s website. The base model combines a 1.4GHz Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor with 16GB of LPDDR5X memory and a 6GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU. Its 16-inch IPS screen displays a 2,560-by-1,600-pixel resolution and a 240Hz refresh rate with Nvidia G-Sync to fight screen tearing.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
For $1,599.99, our review unit bumps the internals up to a 2.3GHz Core Ultra 9 185H CPU, 32GB of RAM, and an 8GB GeForce RTX 4060. The $1,899.99 flagship has a sharper 3,200-by-2,000 screen with a 165Hz refresh rate backed by an 8GB RTX 4070 GPU. All configurations provide a 1TB NVMe solid-state drive loaded with Windows 11 Home.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
A silver aluminum chassis tries to distinguish this work-and-play switch hitter from Acer’s traditional gaming rigs, but this is still very much a Predator laptop, as indicated by the Decepticon-like logo at the top of the lid. Opening the laptop, the black, island-style keyboard flickers to life with pulsating three-zone RGB backlighting.
A series of trapezoidal vents above the keyboard help keep the laptop thermals cool enough to operate optimally. A thin button situated over the F2 key cycles through Acer Predator Sense performance modes. The notebook’s touchpad is huge, with a small fingerprint reader in the top left corner, but you still have plenty of space to rest your wrists on the palm rest. The display is surrounded by a black matte-plastic bezel that is slim on the sides and thick on top and bottom. The webcam and mics sit smack dab in the center of the top bezel.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The bottom of the notebook is a ho-hum affair with two rows of vents along the back of the panel with a larger one in the hinge. Two gray rubber feet run almost the undercarriage length to ensure airflow is unobstructed. A series of slits along the front of the panel reveal the bottom-firing speakers. Nine screws hold the bottom panel in place with a pinhole button to perform a hard reset in case you get hung up.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The Triton Neo 16 has just enough ports to stave off the need for a dock. On the right, you’ll see two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 monitor port, a microSD card slot, and a Kensington lock slot. A pair of USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports join the headset and power jack on the left.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The Neo 16 weighs 4.52 pounds and measures 0.82 by 14 by 9.8 inches. That splits the difference between the 16-inch Lenovo Slim Pro 9i (4.9 pounds, 0.71 by 14.3 by 9.6 inches) and the Asus ProArt P16 (4.08 pounds, 0.68 by 13.9 by 9.7 inches).
Using the Acer Predator Triton Neo 16: A Sharp and Speedy Screen
Glossy or matte—that is the question. For the Triton Neo 16, the answer is matte. And while matte displays definitely cut down on glare, they can deliver muted color, but not on the Neo. On the contrary, the 2,560-by-1,600 panel delivers hues that are vibrant in their own right. Street Fighter VI is a sight to behold on the Calman-verified panel, presenting beautiful colors, especially on stages like Bathers Beach with its purple, pink, orange, and yellow, creating a perfect sunset for a beach brawl. The combination of the 240Hz refresh rate and Nvidia’s G-Sync means I don’t see a hint of stutter as I fight my way through SF6’s roster of competitors.
The Triton’s 1080p webcam handles color particularly well. I love how warm my skin looks, and it captures the exact shade of my aquamarine “My Hero Academia” T-shirt. Detail, however, is hit or miss: The camera simultaneously shows the pores on the lower portion of my face while smoothing my forehead until it almost looks like a bad Photoshop smudge. If I’d felt particularly arty, I could have used Acer’s LiveArt software, which uses AI to create a cool image with my test shots.
However, my war against bottom-mounted speakers continues. The pair Acer put on the Triton are only a couple of steps above an old radio. The sound doesn’t carry far at max volume, and bass is nonexistent even with the DTS: Ultra audio software and its eight presets. But it isn’t all bad, as the synthesized strings and keyboard sound clean on Glorilla’s “Don’t Deserve (feat. Muni Long).”
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
I enjoy typing on the Predator’s keyboard. The keycaps are large with generous spacing, and none of the keys has been downsized to make room for additions such as the Microsoft Copilot button or the PredatorSense and media keys running down the right side of the keyboard. The keys are a little mushy, but I don’t experience any uncomfortable bottoming out. I can zip along at my typical 70 words per minute in the MonkeyType online test.
Acer preloads several branded apps on the Neo 16, including QuickPanel for fast access to Acer’s PurifiedVoice and View apps. These AI tools help to enhance audio and visuals during video calls. But PredatorSense is the star of the app show, as this is where you can run system diagnostics, tweak fan speed and performance mode, and change the backlighting profile for the keyboard. Third-party apps like Nvidia GeForce Experience bring several gamer-centric features to the mix, while Killer Intelligence Center allows you to prioritize which programs get network bandwidth priority.
Testing the Acer Predator Triton Neo 16: Exactly Where It Belongs
Befitting its status as a high-end multimedia and gaming rig, Acer outfitted our review unit with an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor. Packing 16 cores and 22 threads, the chip is a multitasking beast. Like every CPU in the “Meteor Lake” line, the 185H has a neural processing unit (NPU). Dubbed Intel AI Boost, the NPU has a base clock speed of 1.4GHz, topping out at 4.8GHz. Intel says “Meteor Lake” chips can reach 34 total operations per second, or TOPS, with the NPU contributing 11 TOPS. The processor’s Intel Arc integrated graphics handle lighter visual functions like video streaming, while Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4060 lends a hand with demanding tasks like gaming and video editing, as well as heavy AI lifting.
For this review, we used two similarly specced laptops to test the Acer Predator Triton Neo 16 against. Both systems have 16-inch displays and entry-to-mid-tier GPUs, and both are geared toward content creation with a bit of gaming on the side: the $1,925 Lenovo Slim Pro 9i and $1,649 Asus ProArt P16 (H7606). We added the Alienware m16 R2 ($1,849.99 as tested) and 2024 HP Omen Transcend 16 ($3,009.99 as tested) to round out the big-brand representation in this arena.
It’s worth noting that whenever the Triton is working on anything remotely tasking, the notebook’s dual fans with Acer’s 5th Gen AeroBlade 3D Fan Technology get loud. It’s not too distracting, but it’s definitely noticeable in a quiet setting.
Also, because we just recently updated our benchmark suite to a new slate of tests, our current pool of comparison systems is a little limited at the moment. This is why we lacked more directly comparable laptops (particularly with the RTX 4060 GPU) at the time of this review.
Productivity and Content Creation Tests
Our primary overall benchmark, UL’s PCMark 10, tests a system in productivity apps ranging from web browsing to word processing and spreadsheet work. Its Full System Drive subtest measures a PC’s storage throughput.
Three more tests are CPU-centric or processor-intensive: Maxon’s Cinebench 2024 uses that company’s Cinema 4D engine to render a complex scene; Primate Labs’ Geekbench 6.3 Pro simulates popular apps ranging from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine learning; and we see how long it takes the video editing tool HandBrake 1.8 to convert a 12-minute clip from 4K to 1080p resolution.
Finally, workstation maker Puget Systems’ PugetBench for Creators rates a PC’s image editing prowess with a variety of automated operations in Adobe Photoshop 25.
The Triton Neo 16’s performance was mixed here. It fell between the Asus and Lenovo during the PCMark 10 overall performance test. While it rallied during the PCMark 10 Storage test, the Triton couldn’t beat either of those competitors on the Cinebench 2024 or Geekbench 6 tests. When I ran the HandBrake test, the Neo 16 again ranked second to the P16 and last on the Puget Adobe Photoshop benchmark. Likewise, the Triton fell between the superior HP Omen Transcend and inferior Alienware M16 gaming laptops.
Graphics and Gaming Tests
We test the graphics inside all laptops and desktops with three cross-platform gaming simulations from UL’s 3DMark suite: Steel Nomad (and its Light variant), Wild Life (and its Extreme variant), and Solar Bay (a ray-tracing test).
The Steel Nomad tests use the DirectX 12, Vulkan, or Metal graphics APIs, depending on the processor in play. Both are non-ray-traced benchmarks. Steel Nomad is built for high-end gaming systems and runs at 4K resolution, while the Light version runs at 1440p with less detail. Wild Life and Wild Life Extreme are less demanding than Steel Nomad, though the two run at 1440p and 4K resolution, respectively. This test compares midrange Windows and macOS systems, tablets, and smartphones.
We turn to Solar Bay to measure ray tracing performance in a synthetic environment. This benchmark works with Vulkan 1.1 for Windows and Android and Metal for Apple devices, subjecting 3D scenes to increasingly intense ray-traced workloads at 1440p.
Our real-world gaming testing comes from the in-game benchmarks of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Cyberpunk 2077, and F1 2024. These three games—all benchmarked at the system’s full HD (1080p or 1200p native) resolution—represent competitive shooter, open-world, and simulation games, respectively. If the screen is capable of a higher resolution, we rerun the tests at the QHD equivalent of 1440p or 1600p. Each game runs at two sets of graphics settings per resolution for up to four runs total on each game.
We run the Call of Duty benchmark at the Minimum graphics preset—aimed at maximizing frame rates to test display refresh rates—and again at the Extreme preset. Our Cyberpunk 2077 test settings aim to push PCs fully, so we run it on the Ultra graphics preset and again at the all-out Ray Tracing Overdrive preset without DLSS or FSR. Finally, F1 represents our DLSS effectiveness (or FSR on AMD systems) test, demonstrating a GPU’s capacity for frame-boosting upscaling technologies.
Let’s kick things off with the straight graphics tests. The Neo 16 and its RTX 4060 GPU got off to a fine start on the 3DMark Wild Life benchmark, besting both the ProArt and the Slim Pro 9i. However, the Triton slipped into second place on the Extreme version of the test and both versions of the 3DMark Steel Nomad tests. That’s to be expected as the Triton’s GPU sits between the Pro 9i’s 4050 and the P16’s 4070. Still, the Acer laptop finished strong on the Solar Bay benchmark, cruising past its rivals.
Naturally, the two gaming laptops with superior GPUs edged out the Triton in these synthetic tests, and this trend carried over into the real gaming benchmark results.
You can expect respectable frame rates when gaming with one of Nvidia’s entry-level chips, but a 4060 GPU can only do so much. This is why it’s no surprise that Neo 16 experienced a near shutout in the Cyberpunk 2077 and F1 2024 benchmarks. Simply put, you’re seeing the RTX hierarchy of GPU power in full display here. As a pure gaming GPU, the RTX 4060 is easily outpaced by the 4070 step-up model.
Battery and Display Tests
We test each laptop and tablet’s battery life by playing a locally stored 720p video file (the open-source Blender movie Tears of Steel) with display brightness at 50% and audio volume at 100%. We make sure the battery is fully charged before the test, with Wi-Fi and keyboard backlighting turned off.
To gauge display performance, we also use a Datacolor SpyderX Elite monitor calibration sensor and its Windows software to measure a laptop screen’s color saturation—what percentage of the sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 color gamuts or palettes the display can show—and its 50% and peak brightness in nits (candelas per square meter).
When pairing a high-powered processor with a lower-tier discrete GPU, battery life can be a crapshoot. So, we were pleased to see that the Triton lasted 10 hours and 16 minutes on the battery test—especially since the time exceeds Acer’s 8.5-hour prediction. The Calman-verified display falls just below Acer’s claims of 100% DCI-P3 color gamut at 98% with a brightness of 475 nits, which is decent for a matte panel.
Verdict: A Fine Jack-of-All-Trades Laptop for Players and Creators
The Acer Predator Triton Neo 16 effectively straddles the line between content creation and gaming. Its Core Ultra 9 processor and lower-tier Nvidia RTX GPU ensure the notebook can handle most productivity, content creation, and gaming tasks with relative ease. The design is such that it doesn’t necessarily scream “gamer,” so it’ll fit in most settings, even an office. The 16-inch matte display delivers punchy color despite its anti-glare coating, and the keyboard, while being a bit mushy, is still comfortable to type on.
However, based on its results during our testing, it’s clear that some consumers might want to scrape together the additional $300 for the RTX 4070 iteration of the laptop. That’s especially true if you plan to do heavy photo and video editing and want higher frame rates when gaming. You’ll also want to invest in headphones, as the bottom-mounted speakers are weak. Plus, you’ll want to drown out the whirring from the Neo 16’s fans. But if lackluster speakers, a slightly mushy keyboard, and loud fans are the only complaints, you can do much worse than the Acer Predator Triton Neo 16.
Acer Predator Triton Neo 16
Cons
The Bottom Line
Disguised in silver aluminum business-casual, Acer’s latest Predator Triton Neo 16 gaming laptop combines gaming chops with a Calman-certified display for content creation in a jack-of-all-trades 16-incher.
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About Sherri L. Smith
