expiredDr.W posted Jun 27, 2024 06:13 PM
Item 1 of 2
Item 1 of 2
expiredDr.W posted Jun 27, 2024 06:13 PM
Acer Predator Triton 500 SE: 16" QHD+ 240Hz, i9-12900H, RTX 3080 Ti, 32GB LPDDR5, 1TB SSD $1699
$1,699
$2,099
19% offeBay
Visit eBayGood Deal
Bad Deal
Save
Share
Leave a Comment
5 Comments
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank BeigeRoad455
The primary issue with this laptop is the gpu, a 115w 3080ti is simply a horrendous value for gaming at this price point. A full power mobile 3080ti (175w tgp with dynamic boost) should be around ~15%-20% faster on average than a 115w 3080ti, meaning the gpu in this laptop realistically won't be much faster than a full power mobile 3070ti (for games that don't need more than 8gb of vram). Even worse, laptops with similar overall specs and a mobile rtx 4080 can be found starting at $1600 (on an excellent sale). The mobile 4080 is approximately 30% faster on average when gaming at 1440p compared to a full power 175w mobile 3080ti (which as a reminder, is 15%+ faster than the 115w 3080ti in this laptop).
The only reason whatsoever to ever consider this laptop at $1700 is the fact that the 3080ti has 16gb of vram (compared to the 12gb on the 4080, you need to step up for the 4090 for 16gb current gen). There are definitely specific workloads that greatly benefit from 16gb of vram, but this is a very niche use case. If you absolutely can't afford to step up to a 4090 laptop but absolutely need 16gb of vram for your use cases, as well as needing a very good screen, I could maybe see an argument being made for this laptop. Even still, in that case I'd be looking at refurbished 3080ti laptops closer to $1300.
Funnily enough, even considering how poor of a value 4090 laptops are due to their massive price premium, you'd still actually get better frames per dollar getting a $2300+ (on an good sale) 4090 laptop instead of the one in this deal.
Moving on to the other specs of this laptop, most are rather good, but that should be expected at this price point. The cpu is a bit of a disappointment, for $1700 I'd expect at least the 12900hx (16 core desktop equivalent processor) as opposed to the 14 core 12900h. Rtx 4080 laptops at a similar price point will often have the newer generation and far superior 24 core 13900hx cpu.
There have been a couple of previous deals for the Acer Predator Helios 16 laptop with a 13900hx and rtx 4080 from best buy at $1600, the only spec that's worse compared to this laptop is having only 16gb of ram. Meanwhile, for $100 less, that laptop would be something like 50% faster for gaming at 1440p and has a far better cpu. Link to the deal from a few months ago for reference: https://slickdeals.net/f/17392086-acer-predator-helios-16-gaming-laptop-i9-13900hx-16-wqxga-240hz-1tb-ssd-rtx-4080-1600-free-s-h
Meanwhile, with just a cursory search, I found that at the time of this post b&h is currently selling the Acer 16" Predator Helios 16 with the 13900hx, rtx 4080, and 32gb of ddr5 for $1799, only $100 more than the laptop in this deal. While I'm not necessarily recommending it at that price ($1800 is a bit high for that laptop considering the current state of the market, the upcoming release of strix, and the upcoming back to school sales), compared to the laptop in this deal it's a far better value: https://www.bhphotovide
In conclusion, this is a horrible deal for all but an absurdly tiny subset of people (and even for those with those incredibly niche use cases and circumstances, it still doesn't rise to the level of a great deal).
Leave a Comment