Acer Predator Triton 14 (2023) vs Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023): Which gaming laptop is best?

14-inch gaming laptops offer power and tremendous portability. The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2022) is one of our favourites and a new model was announced at CES. It’s now getting some fierce competition from Acer, with the Mini LED-sporting Predator Triton 14 (2023).

Some of the best gaming laptops around are 14-inch models, putting less strain on your back and taking up less room in your office. Asus refreshed its impressive G14 at CES 2023 and, while it’s yet to be fully released, it looks to be a strong upgrade.

For Acer, the company has simplified its naming conventions, dropping the arbitrary number (‘300’) and just going with the screen size. In a world of seemingly endless laptop models and confusing names, it’s a small but welcome change. The biggest change is a new Mini LED display option along with the latest specs from Nvidia and Intel.

By comparison, the new G14 offers Nvidia and AMD components as well as a Mini LED screen option too. Let’s take a look at the full picture of just how the new Triton 14 stacks up against the ROG Zephyrus G14.

The G14 has the raw power advantage

Whether it’s a limit of the Acer Predator Triton 14 system or just a choice to position itself lower down the market, in terms of gaming performance and the cheaper price that comes with that, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 has the capability to completely smoke its Acer rival for power.

This comes down to the option to spec the G14 (2023) with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090, RTX 4080, RTX 4060 or RTX 4050. The Triton 14 is limited to just RTX 4070 and RTX 4050 graphics chip options. We’ll be interested to test the comparable configurations come review time but the G14, with a 4090 choice on the board, will be capable of far more.

It’s about choice too, with more options available from the Asus on GPU as well as CPU. The Acer is only available with an Intel Core i7-13700H, while the G14 can come equipped with an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS pr Ryzen 7 7735HS chips.

Acer’s Mini LED wins on refresh rate

The quality of the display will require our in-depth review testing to decide which one of these gaming panels is truly better but, for gaming specs, the Acer has the edge.

The top spec screen options on both these devices are Mini LED, meaning they should have crisp detail and deep blacks, and have 2560 x 1600 resolutions. However, gamers looking for extremely high refresh rates may have had their minds made up for them. The Acer Mini LED stretches to 250Hz, compared to the G14’s 165Hz.

Triton 14 features a safe design

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is one of the best-looking laptops on the market, so the Triton 14 had a tough challenge from the off. The ROG Zephyrus range does a great job of presenting laptops that are eye-catching and stylish without being garish. The G14 also maintains a surprisingly low weight, around 1.7kg, despite the massive power it can pack in.

Acer, by comparison, isn’t a brand that often wows on the design front and can be described as functional. This looks to be the case for the new Triton 14. Its specs are exciting but, its design, is less so. The chassis gives default laptop vibes, a shape you’d draw if asked to assign “laptop” in Pictionary. Nevertheless, it also weighs an impressively low 1.7kg and is slightly thinner at 19.9mm compared to the 20.5mm of the Asus.

Asus looks set to win on price

The starting prices of the Acer Predator Triton 14 and its Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 rival are looking like it could be a close-run thing, but we can’t be sure quite yet.

We know the G14 will start at £1,900 for the base RTX 4060 and AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS model. The UK pricing for the Triton 14 is yet to be revealed but the base RTX 4050 and Intel Core i7-13700H configuration will start at $1,499/€2,399. This would roughly indicate a slightly higher price at the low end for the Acer, but we’ll clarify once we have clearer UK information. That would put a lower-spec 4050-sporting Triton 14 up against a more powerful G14 with a 4060 graphics chip. This would put Asus in a strong position, value-wise. On the release date, both devices are expected to be available to buy from May of this year.