Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop, 15.6" FHD IPS w/ 144Hz Refresh Rate, Intel 6-Core i7-8750H, Aeroblade Metal Fans PH315-51-78NP with Microsoft Office Home and Student 2019 | 1 device

I was in the market for purchasing a laptop. I travel to conventions, LAN parties, and for work, so Id like to have a really mobile gaming PC. I was narrowing my scope to the following: 1. Playing games at higher than 60 FPS at medium to ultra settings, depending on the game and my preferences. This laptop does that. 2. Having a mobile VR machine, that way instead of hauling a beefy PC and all the VR equipment, I just have the laptop and go. This laptop does that very well (I have enjoyed Beat Saber with this laptop) 3. Being able to lightly content create via streaming and locally recording. I havent tried streaming yet. On paper, the laptop hits all 3. Having a hexa-core CPU and a full 1060 6GB, this hits all the bells. Now, to the problems Ive had: Ill share my experience so far: my first laptop purchase came in an Amazon box that look like it had a shotgun blast it, and the actual Amazon box was unsealed. While the actual laptop box looked fine, I was very skeptical. I immediately requested a replacement due to what I experienced, added on to the following: 1. If you wear a watch with a magnetic clasp on your left hand, you may have a bad time. The laptop thinks the monitor lid is closed by my guess, since if I wear my watch band contact a certain area of the left side of the laptop, the monitor will shut down without fail. Itll immediately resume (like opening/closing the lid), but its annoying (this happened on both laptops). 2. If you decide to use a headset with this, the software used may be confusing. The laptop has a beam formed microphone, and when you connect a headset, it deceptively tells you that the beam microphone is still on, instead of your actual headset mic. I troubleshot for a long time, its just something to keep in mind (this happened on both laptops). 3. This laptop only has a HDMI out - remember my desire for a mobile VR rig? Its impossible to output to your VR headset and to an external display like a TV or projector with whats built into the laptop. Im still researching a solution, since Id like for others to watch VR. Itll also only output to only certain monitors at high refresh rates via HDMI port (theres a thread on Acers forums). Newer monitors can do 120+hz refresh rates over HDMI, but most monitors cant. Keep that in mind if youre intending on using this laptop with an external monitor. Also, be weary of a 15.6 inch screen, its small and if you have to look down at a 45 degree angle at your screen for long times, itll suck. 4. Ultimately, the most important, is that this laptop throttles and overheats. Playing a game with nothing else in the background (PUBG, World of Warcraft, etc) will often cause your CPU to reach 100 degrees Celsius, causing it to throttle, FPS spikes, and stuttering until the temp comes back down to the realm. Ive troubleshot a bunch, and what is currently working is using aftermarket and Intel tweaking software to undervolt the CPU. Seriously not ideal, but Im now at a better 80-85 degrees with auto fan control. I also to installed Throttlestop to disable some of the laptop power management features to prevent it from downclocking, even at appropriate temperatures. After some significant software tweaks, I can say Im "happy" with it. I will probably pursue a warranty repair, because Acers community forums stated that the three options are to undervolt, request a warranty repair, or to replace the thermal paste & pads yourself. With the exception of the overheating, the rest of the caveats are minor at best. For a kick ass gaming experience at 1080p (hell, this thing has a 144hz refresh rate screen too!), its hard to beat this.

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I purchased this laptop to be my gaming device while Im travelling. So far I have tested Battle Field 1 and Guild Wars 2 and was able to play at Ultra/Highest settings on both games at 60+ FPS (BF1 - Averaged 75 FPS, GW2 - Averaged 70 FPS). All of this was done without using the available overclocking that is configurable with Acers PredatorSense software. I purchased a 1 TB Samsung 860 EVO SSD to install in the 2.5" bay. After installation I found that the SATA+Power connector had a broken PCB (circuit board). I contacted Acers support and within 30 minutes they had put in an order to ship me out a new SATA+Power cable. I would like to note for those less technically inclined, they did offer for me to return the laptop and receive a completely new one. Since I know my way around a motherboard I chose to just replace the cable myself. So far Im very pleased with this laptop, for those who complained about the keyboard getting hot, this is a common issue on all gaming laptops. It can simply be fixed by setting the fan speed to max when playing video games. I just finished a 2 hour session of Battle Field 1 multiplayer and my keyboard is just slightly above room temperature. I have listed what I liked about the machine and what I didnt below as well as a summary of my review. Pro(s): Performance - This laptop has, at the time of this writing, the latest Intel Core i7 processor. Paired with the GTX 1060, this machine can easily run the latest games on Ultra/Highest settings at 60+ FPS at a resolution of 1080P. Display - The display is leaps and bounds better than many laptops in this price range. Many people complained about the display from last years model. Acer responded by putting a far superior display on this years model. Keyboard - The keyboard has great feedback and travel distance for a laptop keyboard. Customer Service - My laptop unfortunately had a broken SATA/HDD cable. After I discovered the problem, I called Acers customer support. After explaining the issue they without hesitation shipped me another cable. Ill update the post once I have installed and tested it. Con(s): Heavy - Even for a gaming laptop, this machine is heavy. Its a full pound heavier than some of its competition. Battery Life - I will never dock a star for poor battery life out of a gaming laptop. Battery life is always a trade off with every gaming laptop, there are no exceptions. If you plan on gaming with this laptop on the go, ensure you are near a power outlet. Modern Ports - If you are expecting a ThunderBolt 3 port, keep looking. This laptop does include a USB Type C port; however, it is not a ThunderBolt 3 port. Summary: If you are looking for a laptop that can run modern titles at 60+ FPS at a resolution of 1080P look no further this is the best machine for the money. If you are looking for a laptop to do general business with some light gaming I wouldnt recommend this laptop. You would be far better served with a GTX 1050/1050 Ti an 8GB of RAM. This laptop would be overkill and you wouldnt be pleased with the battery life.

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Hello Everyone, This review is a little long but I hope that after reading this you will surely know whether this is a laptop for you or you may want to skip it. I got this laptop in Cyber Monday for $999 + Tax – Great Deal. Laptop arrived on time, packaging was top notch from Acer, nice and sealed. But after a week I noticed some overheating of the system and Amazon offered to replace it and match the price. The new laptop came fast, the old one I had was returned. Later on I discovered that this overheating was not a problem, but the way the laptop is designed. Pros: 1) Great Build Quality. I had Acer VX15 before this, which served me very well, but it got old so I wanted to replace it. The build quality is completely different. The Acer Helios 300 is built from a mix of hard plastic and metal. The metal on the lid gets cold so it is a pleasure to pick it up (if you know what I mean). There is almost no flex to the screen, no flex on the keyboard. The interior around the keyboard and touch pad is also metal and is very nice for touch, however I keep taking off my bracelets/watch because I am scared to scratch it. 2) Track Pad – one word – AWESOME. I read and saw so many reviews about this laptop before buying it and people keep saying that the track pad is medium quality. For me it is perfect. I do not want to say that it is large (larger is always better), but the size is very good which allows for a proper tracking and moving items with a double click around the screen. The surface of the Touch Pad is glass and it is using Windows Precision Drivers out of the box which is a bonus. Gestures work very well and are customizable in the control panel. The buttons are a little bit stiff, but it does not cause any discomfort when using it, although I would prefer physical buttons any day. Using track pad with 2 fingers simultaneously is a breeze as well. 3) Keyboard – It is a good keyboard. Just like any other Acer Gaming Product that I’ve used. The keys light up in Red color, which is a little bit outdated in the end of 2018, wish they had at least 4 zoned RGB lightning available on this machine for a more muted look when needed, but I guess you get what you pay for. You can turn off the backlight if you wish with the function button on top of the keyboard. WASD keys are highlighted with a red accent – again, not something exciting except if you use the laptop only for games. If you use this laptop in a business meeting setup it kind of screams that it is gaming by its WASD red bold keys and exhaust vents. Otherwise great keys, still nothing close to the best typing experience, but good for a gaming laptop. 4) Screen – one word – BEAUTIFUL. It is a Full HD 144HZ panel. Believe me, 144HZ vs. 60HZ DOES make a huge difference not only when playing games, but also when browsing web – scrolling is much smoother. I would never want to go back to 60HZ panel again. Colors are great, you can calibrate those I believe in the Intel Control Panel, but I did not see a need for that as the screen is bright, color accurate and overall great quality. Acer really impressed me on this here. 5) Port Selection – Nowadays it is rare to find lots of laptops that are still rocking the Ethernet port & SD Card reader. Not that I use them a lot, but it is nice to know that I have them. 6) LED Status Lights – Those are located on the right side close to the charging port, which is great because the light does not disturb you while gaming or using the laptop in the dark environment. 7) Speeds – This laptop is very fast. No problem with anything that I threw at it for the past few weeks. I am running any game with ease. On Ultra Settings CS GO I am getting 144FPS, COD: WWII 80-95FPS, GTAV 75-90FPS. 8) Wi-Fi Card – This machine comes with Intel Wireless Card which is the best – fast, reliable and has the drivers pre-installed. 9) Drivers – The machine comes with all the latest system drivers pre-installed including the GeForce Experience Software for future driver updates. You can get the drivers from the Acer’s Official Website. 10) Hard Drive Speeds – Mine came with no HDD, just the Intel’s 256GB M.2 SSD. While it is fast, I wanted to go even further with speeds. I got 2 drives – Samsung 970 EVO m.2 500GB SSD + Samsung 960 Evo 1TB SSD. So now the machine is based fully on SSD Drives! And the speeds are amazing. Attached you may see the speeds from the CrystalDiskMark. Cons: 1) OVERHEATING - Acer decided to place both fans on the right side of the laptop this is why the left side gets HOT. In general CPU temperatures can reach to up to 92 º Celsius. To avoid this, I re-pasted your laptop. DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE OUTCOME OF REPASTING YOUR LAPTOP, THEREFORE DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK. Once I re-pasted my laptop, my temperatures dropped 5-6 degrees lower. I have also under-volted my CPU to have better thermal performance. But once again, do any of the above at your own risk as those can lead to the crash of the system leaving you with a complete brick. I have attached the screenshots of stress tests in AIDA. I purchased the separate cooler for it. 2) Battery Life – expect nothing more than 2.5-3 hours while using it for productivity. 3) No Thunderbolt Support – like really Acer? It is end of 2018 and there is no Thunderbolt? This is very upsetting. But you can still use USB C for data transfers which are faster than the regular USB type A. 4) Ports Selection – I previously mentioned that it is nice to have Ethernet Port & Memory Card Reader, but the rest of the ports selection is not the desired one. Helios 300 has only 3 USB A ports, 2 out of which are USB 2.0. WHY? Why do we need to have USB 2.0 in 2018? Only one USB 3.0. Charging port is located in the nice location though, and does not clutter your using experience should you use an external mouse. 5) Hard Drive Speeds – Mine came with no HDD, just the Intel’s 256GB M.2 SSD. While it is fast, I wanted to go even further with speeds. I got 2 drives – Samsung 970 EVO m.2 500GB SSD + Samsung 960 EVO 1TB SSD. So now the machine is based fully on SSD Drives! And the speeds are amazing. Attached you may see the speeds from the CrystalDiskMark. 6) Getting inside – super hard unless you are upgrading RAM (Max 32GB) or HDD – those have easily accessible 1 screw doors on the back of the machine. The m.2 SSD is located under the hood – easy to replace but it takes patience to open up the whole back panel. As there is a metal outline across the chassis, it is super easy to scratch the laptop while getting inside, so use the PLASTIC pry tool only and take your time, do not rush the process not to scratch your brand new laptop. 7) Fan Noise – Just like any other gaming laptop it is indeed loud. Use headphones while gaming. 8) Surface – super easy to scratch as it is all metal, so be careful. My suggestion to get a skin from Amazon. 9) Dimensions – while this laptop is 15.6 inch just as many others, keep in mind it is larger than majority of others, therefore when picking a carrying case/bag for it make sure it fits Acer Helios 300. My overall Thoughts: Acer Helios 300 is an excellent laptop for people who would like to game from time to time utilizing the power of full sized GTX1060 and seeing an amazing frame rates without compromising on the quality of graphics. It is also great for creators to video edit, photo edit and for any 3D work (haven’t tried myself, but it surely should work fine considering the specs inside). The screen is gorgeous. Using it for productivity is great as well. The weight is on a higher side and a power brick is not small as well, so carrying it around constantly may not be much fun, but if you don’t need an extreme portability, this machine is the way to go. I would however mention that if you do have another $700 to spare, get yourself Acer Helios 500 which is on sale on Amazon right now for $1,699 + Tax. It is bigger, but much nicer. Anyways, this is it for my review, I hope you guys found it useful, and Acer, if you are reading this, I would like to thank you guys for producing such a high quality gaming products for a reasonable prices. You guys rock and I will be your customer for a long time.

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So, I bought this last month and will list a few issues Ive had with it, so that anyone in my position knows what they are getting into: 1.I have had trouble setting the 144hz option, though I have followed many guides, it seems it wont stick on the settings of the game itself. 2. The computer gets very hot, people arent exaggerating when they say this thing is an oven, the wasd keys can even get hot enough to where your like, is this thing slightly burning me lol. 3. You can activate coolboost, and turn the fans on max via PredatorSense(program that controls fan speed and gpu overclocking) but it will be very loud, and unless you undervolt your computer(I have yet to do this) it will still overheat. 4. This computer is not really for lap play, I mean, you can pull it off, but after a couple times, it got so hot the gpu stopped working---LETS BE CLEAR--- THIS THING HITS 190 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT. 5.When you first get started, it is in your interest to create a back up on a flash drive, HOWEVER, BE WARNED, if you reset your pc via the recovery settings, or from your flash drive, it WILL NOT come with the original drivers, NOR, come with the original programs(if you care)---you have to buy it online from acer. My suggestion is you make a memory drive image or whatever---it was my mistake to think backing everything up would return my laptop to 100% out-of-the-box factory defaults. 6. The shift and up-arrow key are basically hugging/making out, so their is no way not to accidentally hit one or the other by mistake, at least until you get that muscle memory down. 8. Be prepared to by some more storage space for the laptop, after just call of duty, I can probably fit just one more big game. 81/2. Also be prepared to do some color calibrating, because straight out the box the colors are pretty dull. 9. Last and to me the least negative, the speakers are on the bottom of the laptop so the sound isnt that great. POSITIVES: 1. Graphics are pretty darn nice. 2. Fans are nice and quiet when you are just browsing/surfing the web. 3. The keyboard has low key travel or whatever, which I thought I would hate, but I am actually pretty fond of it, not too flat, and give enough of a press to feel comfortable typing fast---could be better, but definitely pretty decent. 4. The back-lit keyboard can be turned on and off, and really helps with visibility at night(duh.) 5. Good size screen, good sized laptop in general, I have big hands and they rest comfortably when typing. 6. Big ol trackpad(mousepad). 7. FAST I mean, FAST, gone are the days of waiting for your laptop to start up, you maybe have enough time to straighten your tie lol. 8. You can run multiple things at the same time, and you will be lucky to see the processor flinch. 9. Feels decently sturdy, seen a video online of some guy whom dropped his and the screen survived(grain of salt, wouldnt test it) BONUS: mine came with call of duty black ops 4, free destiny 2(from battle.net) and believe it or not, Predator, like Arnold Schwarzenneger Predator stickers....sick. SUMMARY: The Acer Predator Helios, is definitely worth the money at this price point, however, although you will get to enjoy nice visuals and blazing fast task management, this laptop comes with a learning curve if you arent already more that just somewhat experienced. My recommendation is that you make a recovery image and then fiddle with what you must... Once again, you might be happier buying something more expensive, but this is the perfect computer if you are okay with having a beast with some breathing issues and onion layers of difficulty, least until you upgrade to your real behemoth(the predator can very well satisfy that need as well). Hope I helped! Cheers!

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