Digital Storm Triton review

A rare powerful and affordable gaming laptop

Digital Storm Triton review

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Gaming laptops are rarely affordable but the Digital Storm Triton is one of the very few machines that seems to be worth its weight in components. You get a lot of bang for your buck between the Intel Core i7-4710HQ processor and Nvidia GTX 970M graphics card. All that said, the Triton isn't without missteps, including the low-contrast screen and tinny speakers.

We liked

The Digital Storm Triton is an attractive, powerful and, most importantly, affordable gaming laptop. These are three qualities you don't often hear in the same sentence, making this machine special for pulling together such a rare combination.

The graphics card might only have 3GB of video RAM on board but it's no slouch. I can easily run games with a playable frame rate at 1080p and Ultra setting. 60 fps gameplay, meanwhile, is just a few clicks away, typically only requiring me to turn off the ambient occlusion. It's not quite on the same level as a decked-out gaming desktop you can get for the same money, but the Digital Storm Triton is a great option for PC gaming newcomers looking for a machine.

We disliked

Unfortunately for all the good things I have to say about this laptop, I have just as many knocks against it. The screen is an essential part to any machine but the Triton's display is simply terrible. In my time using it, I often had to adjust the screen as I tilted my head because of its extremely narrow viewing angles.

Even if you look at the display dead on, you'll have to increase its brightness as the monitor isn't very bright, which then leads to other problems like washing out blacks. Likewise the speakers leave a lot to be desired from a decently sized speaker bar engineered by Okyno.

Users will also want to keep this machine off their laps as it gets rather hot. Aside from the metal underside potentially searing your lap, you'll also want to keep your hand clear of the blast of heat constantly pouring out the left side of the machine.

Final verdict

Taking the good with the bad, the Digital Storm is still an incredible deal. It has enough computing power to play most modern games at 60 fps with just a few tweak in your graphics settings. What's more, the Triton has enough power to rival some of the biggest and baddest gaming machines I've reviewed, including Origin EVO15-S, which previously showed up the $4,166 (about £2,434, AU$4,443) Alienware 18 equipped with two Nvidia GTX 880M GPUs running in SLI.

For $1,620 (about £1,063, AU$1,974), the Digital Storm Triton is a powerful little machine that's definitely worth a look despite all its flaws.

Kevin Lee

Kevin Lee was a former computing reporter at TechRadar. Kevin is now the SEO Updates Editor at IGN based in New York. He handles all of the best of tech buying guides while also dipping his hand in the entertainment and games evergreen content. Kevin has over eight years of experience in the tech and games publications with previous bylines at Polygon, PC World, and more. Outside of work, Kevin is major movie buff of cult and bad films. He also regularly plays flight & space sim and racing games. IRL he's a fan of archery, axe throwing, and board games.