Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop, 15.6" Full HD IPS, Intel i7 CPU, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB SSD, GeForce GTX 1060-6GB, VR Ready, Red Backlit KB, Metal Chassis, Windows 10 64-bit, G3-571-77QK

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I had been looking around for a while at many different gaming laptops, planning to get one for sure, but was really on the fence about which one to get. I looked at all of the MSi, Asus, Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Sabre, etc. and to be honest, all these companies had great gaming laptops to offer for around the $1000 price point I was looking for. And I would hope that anyone looking for a gaming laptop in this price range would understand that companies are going to make compromises to reach that price range. All of the gaming laptops from all of these companies are great for this price range, and they all make their compromises in different areas of their laptops to reach that point. Ultimately though, most all of the other ones I looked at for this price were making their compromise in the the form of the GPU, stepping them down to the GTX 1050ti instead of the 1060 to try and cut costs. This was the only one that I found that still included the GTX 1060, and a 6gb one at that! No, it doesnt have the Aeroblade fans like some of the more expensive Predator line, and doesnt have a Thunderbolt port, but it does still have a USB-C 3.1, and the dual fans that it does have are still very good. Ill try to spare the more specific details on the specs on the laptop, as you can simply read those yourself on the main page here for the Helios 300, so I will move on to the concerns I had and what I think of the laptop so far now that Ive had it for a few weeks and had plenty of time to run it through the mill. There was another reviewer on here that had purchased the Helios 300 as well, and in his review stated that once he got it, Acer did not have the current driver software update on their site for the GPU, so his GTX 1060 in it was useless at that time. He updated his review a few weeks later stating that Acer did finally update their driver software support to the most current version, but I was still concerned about this at the time of my purchase. Needless to say, my concerns about this were immediately alleviated once I got the laptop, as I opened the GeForce Experience program the laptop comes installed with and was easily able to update the driver software within the first 10 minutes of turning it on. Now to my second concern I had, which was heat and cooling I do plan to use this laptop for gaming, and although I dont plan on doing extremely heavy gaming on it, as I have a PS4, Xbox 360, 2 ps vitas, and a Nintendo Switch, all with plenty of games on them to which are my primary gaming platforms, there are just some games you cannot get on consoles, especially indie games that are offered on Steam, and this is my main use for this laptop, but I did want to see what this thing is capable of, so I purchased The Witcher 3 and Far Cry 4 to really test what it can do. Ill say, between those two games, and above all my other indie games and older, easier to run games that arent near as taxing on the hardware, The Witcher 3 is the ultimate test to see what a system can do, as it runs it HARD, pushing the CPU and GPU to their limits as is, but it does run the game EXTREMELY well, keep in mind you HAVE to be plugged in to the power supply for these particular heavy running games to perform adequately, as if you try and unplug and run them solely on the battery power, both Witcher 3 and Far Cry 4 will instantly cut down to 9fps and are completely unplayable in that manner, and this is NOT something that can be changed, it is just the way the BIOS is set up. Trust me, I tried messing with all of the regular settings to which none of them changed this at all, the only way I found that you could possibly get those type of games to run at full 60+fps on the battery alone would be to go into the BIOS and turn up the voltage, but I DO NOT recommend even trying that, as it is just not worth potentially melting your computer just to do this, so settle on knowing you will need to be plugged in when playing PS4-era games. All of my other games, however that are xbox 360-era games, such as dark souls and payday 2, and ALL of my indie games, run a smooth 30-60+ fps in battery only mode. So, back to the heating and cooling, even though it doesnt have the Aeroblade 3D fans, the dual fans it does have work very well and are much quieter than I expected them to be, only really being noticeably audible when turned up to max speed. The rest of the time, they are barely a whisper. I want to note, that I HIGHLY recommend always running the PredatorSense application that comes built in to the laptop, as it is very simple and works great, giving you a very nice window that gives you a live feed of your individual CPU and GPU fan speeds, as well as current temperature/loading monitoring for both the CPU and GPU as well, and records all of that data on a second-by-second basis from the time you open the app to current. It also has very easy settings to use, have Auto, Max, and Custom fan speed controls, as well as having something called CoolBoost which I will get into in a moment. So, while running either The Witcher 3 or Far Cry 4, I noticed that after extended periods of play (1+ hours), on the auto setting and with CoolBoost off, CPU temp was staying around 90 Celsius, and 80 Celsius for the GPU, and there were short spikes that would last a few seconds at a time where the CPU would actually jump up to 97 Celsius, which was enough to concern me, so I tried messing with the settings more, and concluded that if you are going to play any heavy games that tax the hardware this much, I HIGHLY recommend that you turn CoolBoost ON, as once this was on, on the Auto fan setting, playing The Witcher 3 or Far Cry 4 for extended periods, it considerably helped to cut down these max temperatures, where now the CPU max was at 87 Celsius, and the GPU at 78 Celsius max. Much better. Now, as for all of my indie games and Xbox 360 era games, this ran considerably cooler, with Dark Souls pushing the CPU to 72 Celsius max, and GPU 61 Celsius max. So, in conclusion, cooling is definitely more than adequate for light to medium gaming, but to remain adequate cooling on heavy games, I recommend you always turn on CoolBoost first, but once youve done so, it is adequate. In conclusion, I am extremely happy with the performance of this laptop! It hits all of the right marks for someone like me who does do medium and some occasionally heavy gaming on it. As far as all other uses, for web browsing, video streaming and similar tasks, it is more than enough to easily perform well, with web browsing specifically being very fast. It may even be enough to say it is overpowered for such tasks, which is fine by me. The ISP screen is beautiful to say the least, with very good viewing angles, having a VERY slight loss in brightness at about 50+ degrees onward, but it is so slight it is still viewable. The keyboard is very solid, and the keys have good travel and resistance, not too much, not too little. The only qualm I might have regarding the keyboard is the fact that you only get one color on the back lighting for it, red, as I understand that may bother some people, but again for the price point, some compromises are to be expected, and the red backlighting really does not bother me, and actually has really good lighting, not being too overpowering but giving you enough light to be able to easily see all keys well. The touchpad is very good, having smart gesture capability, and the left and right clicking work well on it, as well as tapping the touchpad to click. Battery life overall is actually much better than I anticipated for all the hardware it has, being able to get upwards of 8 hours with light to medium use for surfing the web and doing other things, with gaming obviously draining it much quicker, but Ive been able to get up to 2 hours on some games on just the battery alone without even trying to turn any of the settings down and actually having the screen brightness all the way up. The 256gb ssd that it comes with is blazing fast and I absolutely love it, but I do recommend you consider getting an additional hard drive for it as I did, as it does come with an extra 2.5" slot on the bottom to put an additional drive in it, which I ended up throwing my old 500gb PS4 hard drive in, which was an extremely easy thing to do since they made a simple door on the back that comes off after just removing one screw and is super easy to do yourself, just dont forget to make sure the hard drive you put in it is already formatted or empty, as I forgot to erase all my old PS4 data off the one I put in it, and ended up having to go into the Disk Management settings and delete all the partitions (save files essentially) one at a time before the computer would even recognize the hard drive, but once I deleted all of the partitions, it easily recognized it. In summary, I would definitely recommend this laptop for anyone that is looking for something similar to what I was looking for that wants to get the absolute most performance they can for a price point of $1099 and that isnt concerned too much about being bothered by having a laptop that looks like a gaming laptop.

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I am amazed at what you get for this price point. Pros: -Price/Performance -GTX 1060 easily pushes 1080p monitor -Cooling seems to do a good job -Quality build -m.2 is PCIe/NVMe compatible -free 2.5" bay with mounting included -Matte screen -Not too bulky Cons (I gonna really reach here, no reason to complain at this price): -Single USB 3 port -USB C is NOT thunderbolt 3 -finger prints show easily on metal exterior The build quality is instantly obvious. It is well made both in material quality as well as design. The first thing I did after unboxing was create a backup using a USB 3 stick which took ~1 hour. After that I opened it up and replaced the 256GB m.2 SATA SSD with a Samsung 960 EVO Series - 500GB NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V6E500BW) drive. The process was a little difficult as I wasnt sure how to get the base off after unscrewing all 15-16 screws. As it turns out, with the base facing up and the back facing away from you that you pull from the back vents up. The base has all around the perimeter plastic snaps that require a little effort to unsnap by pulling. Be careful these are easy to break. I broke 1 in my efforts which hasnt had any adverse effects but I could see 3+ being a problem. Once the bottom was off the m.2 is near the ram. 1 screw to release the m.2 drive and getting it back together was not issue. I also put a Samsung 850 Evo 500GB/SATA in the 2.5" bay. I installed Windows 10 Pro (comes with Home) as I have all my computers domain joined to Server 2016 Essentials (Home cant join domains). Install went smooth, setup drivers, programs, AV, etc. Computer boots in the blink of an eye, shutdown/restart is blazing fast. Updated BIOS to latest (I think 1.03 as of this review) and no issues with that. I have only played Overwatch so far, but it runs at a solid 60fps @ 1080p with Ultra settings. I know not the most intense game but still impressive. The screen also impressed me. After doing a ton of research in general and alot on this specific laptop the general complaint seemed to be the monitor. I can tell you unless you are a professional photographer/graphics designer who needs precise color that the monitor is impressive for what it is. It is the MOST matte display I have ever seen, virtually 0 reflectivity. Its 1080p, sharp, 60hz. You dont get premium features like G-Sync but if you run solid 60fps in a game theres no real advantage and its not worth $200-300 more just for that feature in my opinion. Coming from a desktop i7 4770k @ 4.4GHz with a GTX 1070 I am very impressed with this laptop. I needed the mobility as I will be working out of state and travelling alot. I notice no difference in speed, if anything this laptop is a bit faster (most likely thanks to the 960 Evo SSD). It also puts out way less heat then my desktop did. In a relatively small 3rd bedroom/office my desktop could easily heat the room up to the point of needing to open a window or point a fan into the room to direct cool air in. This laptop is not nearly as hot. The cooling in this laptop is great. In a really quite setting you can hear the fans, more so under load, but in typical settings for me with a fan on or a tv on in another room I cant hear them (especially with headphones on). The Predator Sense app is simple and makes controlling the fans easy. Without CoolBlast turned on max rpm of the fans is mid 4k, with it on the max goes up over 6k but adds a noticeable decrease in temps. I usually toggle it on when I know ill be gaming for a few hours. Temps are reasonable in my opinion (Celsius): CPU: 40min/~75gaming GPU: 60min/70max (GTX 1060 disables when not gaming, so temp is min/max gaming) In conclusion, for ~$1k you get a 7700HQ, GTX 1060, 16GB DDR4, nice matte 1080p screen, quality build, NVMe capability, free 2.5" bay, backlit keyboard. Cant go wrong at this price especially when nothing else competes with similar specs. I am very happy with my purchase, would highly recommend. EDIT (1/2/2018): Still works great, no issues so far. Handful of updates for drivers/BIOS. I have still not seen anything that competes with this on specs/price ratio. You would be hard pressed to build a comparable desktop version of this. Very happy with it

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EDIT: Ive owned the laptop for 10 days now and have put it through its paces. I did end up coming up with a few points everyone should know that Ill list below. The first thing to know is that youre going to need to update your laptops firmware. Go to the Acer support site and download the 1.2 AND 1.3 updates for your firmware (which they incorrectly label as a BIOS update). Update to 1.2 *first*, then update to 1.3. Thatll solve a lot of stuttering and freezing you will come across, for example when a UAC prompt comes up. Next, I did reinstall a fresh copy of Windows to help with the stability of the system. I did this by using Rufus to make a Windows 10 installer USB (use Google for instructions). I then had to hit Start, Settings, Update, Recovery, and reboot into UEFI Settings mode. I disabled SecureBoot so I could boot the USB media, installed a fresh copy of Windows 10, then went back into the UEFI settings to re-enable SecureBoot using the .efi file in my new install. I then updated everything, installed the drivers from the website, and my laptop is far more stable than its ever been. I feel like this is an inconvenient step to have to take. I also feel that Acer should be more up to date with its graphics drivers. The Nvidia drivers that theyre running were released in December 2016, and you cant install the latest drivers directly from Nvidia because the graphics card will then fail to start. For these Im docking off two stars from my original 5-star review. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For reference, my comparisons are based on my previous laptop, an HP Elitebook 8760w that I upgraded with a GTX 980, 32GB of DDR3 RAM, a 2nd generation i7, and 3 SSDs in a RAID0 configuration I originally wanted this laptop because of the price point it was sitting at -- it was the only laptop available with a 1060 at such a low price point. My first concern during purchase was the build quality followed by the thermal design. The body feels aluminum but clearly is made of plastic internally. The finish is incredibly nice though it is absolutely an oil magnet. The joints on the screen feel extremely solid and the body shows no sign of flex. The power connector is at a 90° angle which I love. Next is the thermal design. The photos show large vents in the back of the laptop, but only half of those vents are open (the right-most side of the laptop). The other side is filled in. Id have liked if Acer spent more time making the left side match but I suppose itll do. During burn-in and at stock speeds the CPU maxes out 81°C and the GPU seems to top out at 67°C and doesnt appear to throttle back. The fans are configurable but on the stock automatic settings spin up to just over 6k RPMs. With such a wide exhaust in the back and what appears to be very large cage fans its hardly audible at full speed. The chassis (besides the exhaust port, obviously) doesnt perceptibly feel any hotter during full load than it does at idle. My laptop shipped with UEFI Firmware v1.1 and 1.3 was available. I wasnt able to install 1.3 directly and had to install 1.2 first, then 1.3. With my HP Im able to install the stock NVidia drivers but with this laptop Im not able to, which I assume is caused by customizations allowing for changes in screen brightness and whatnot. This isnt a deal breaker, though its bothersome that the driver Acer provides is over 3 months out of date. The backlight on the keyboard is *just* bright enough to be effective and no more, which I prefer in contrast to the backlit keyboard on my HP which is blindly bright at maximum. My 3DMark Basic scores at stock speeds were 3621 for graphics and 3822 for the processor, at an average of 3 runs. Ive not yet played with overclocking. I would absolutely buy this laptop again and have no regrets. Im incredibly impressed with what Ive gotten for the price Ive paid. I do intend to max out my RAM at 32GB and Ive thrown in a Corsair Force LE SSD into the spare 2.5" drive bay, but other than that, its perfect as is.

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This seemed like beautiful machine, at first. My background is in IT. I built custom computers to put myself through college and had always found ACER components to be reliable enough that I used them extensively - particularly motherboards. I currently own 8 laptop computers of various brands and ages and Ive never had an issue with any of them that required that I get help from a service department beyond an email or two.. till now. ACERs quality control, or lack thereof, in the laptop department is cited in several reviews for this machine. In my case, a hinge on the computer was too tight. This caused the area it was mounted to to break which then put all the pressure of opening/closing the computer on the case - specifically the frame around the monitor which split open. After getting ACER involved and explaining, they found "no manufacturing defect" so they would not honor their warranty. Im at the mercy of their "experts" despite my own expertise contradicting theirs. End result: $660 to repair and a lost customer. If they were even willing to meet me half-way, Id have respected them for their willingness to accept their experts cant prove their assertions any more than I can. FWIW, I should point out that the customer service reps I spoke with were nice and friendly but, considering the result, it just ended up feeling like I was just politely stabbed in the gut.

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EDIT: I just updated to nvidias latest gpu drivers without issue last night to play battlefield 1. TRUTHFUL REVIEW: Do NOT listen to the negative reviews on here. They are people with little knowledge on the PC world let alone the gamer PC world. This laptop is top notch for a the price to performance comparison. You are getting a $,1049 laptop with the kaby lake i7, gtx1060, 16gb ram that is easy to upgrade, a 256 SSD, IPS screen. Is this entry level yes? Should you expect small details that arent on this model to drop the price? YES! But the things that were dropped from the G9-593-72VT are not performance changing items. This rig easily handles new games from high to ultra settings killing it in FPS. I play Arma 3 which is extremely CPU intensive and horribly optimized. With some graphics tweaks I was still pushing 50 fps on high. There is NO problems upgrading the GPU drivers. With ANY computer you should be updating the BIOS. If you want a better visual on the performance, check out Galaxy Tech Reviews on youtube. He does a great job laying it out for you. The laptop feels sturdy and looks beautiful. Thank you Acer for developing this model for the economy class of gamers. And thank you Amazon for supplying it with swift shipping. I couldnt be happier.

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Going to give an in depth review on this item since it seems to be a popular one right now. We originally bought this laptop 2 weeks ago for $1050 which I thought was an absolute steal. By far the cheapest I have seen for a name brand laptop with an i7, GTX 1060, 16GB RAM and an SSD. Most laptops with these specs range from 1300 to 1500 bucks. I couldnt believe it when they dropped the price to 1050. 2 days later the price dropped to an absolutely jaw dropping $900. Most laptops in the $900 price range are lucky to even have a 1050ti in them, much less a 1060. We ordered another one (one for myself and one for the girlfriend) immediately. Thus far, we both love the laptops. Performance is what you would expect for an i7/1060/16GB RAM/SSD. It can play just about anything and plays them all at medium to high settings no problem. Newer games with extreme settings might be a little much for it but for 900 bucks its unreal how much value we got from this thing. Pros : -The specs are absolutely unbeatable for $1050 (or if you were lucky enough to get it in the Prime day sale like I was, 900) -The keyboard is well built and feels great with a red underlight. The keys themselves dont light up but at least theres a light underneath them - Absolutely crushes any games at medium to high settings - Lots of connectivity with your standard USB, a USB type C port (not Thunderbolt), HDMI out and an Ethernet port - The screen is acceptable. In a laptop this cheap they have to make compromises somewhere and the screen is definitely one of them. That being said, the fact that its not a garbage panel makes this a win in my book, at this price range. - The speakers are MUCH better than most gaming laptops Ive used and Acers software lets you customize them to sound how you want. Laptop speakers arent important to a lot of folks but are very important to me so I was glad to see that the laptop had a decent sound system. Id give it a 7/10. -Excellent thermal performance with built in fan controls Cons : -Its larger than your Razer Blades, or MSI GS series and a tad heavier. I dont mind the bulk at all, considering its thermal performance beats those laptops significantly. That being said, its just over 5 pounds and not too thick but if youre looking for a sleek gaming laptop, this probably wont do it for you -The USB type C connector doesnt support Thunderbolt and it would have been nice to have a DP or mini DP connector. HDMI out is your only option for video but for my needs its sufficient -The screen isnt very bright. Like I mentioned before, this is a budget panel. The colors are nice and the picture looks fine but its definitely not as bright as some other models out there. If you need a bright screen you probably want to look elsewhere. -Out of the box it can definitely get warm during intense gaming sessions. I was able to control this with the included Acer fan software and tweaking settings a bit but its worth making a note of it. To wrap this up we are both incredibly happy with our machines. Its fast, fairly portable and can play any game out there no problems. It already includes an SSD, all the memory you need, a top of the line CPU and GPU and will crush anything you throw at it. For this price (even the non sale price of 1050), this machine wont be beaten.

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Laptop works great for Virtual Reality with the latest Oculus Rift CV1 and $399 touch bundle. Heres a tip for those worried about not enough usb 3.0 ports on the laptop for oculus users : To have the best oculus performance which requires 3 qty usb 3.0 ports, use the laptops left side usb (3.0) for the oculus headset and then buy this: "AmazonBasics USB 3.1 Type-C to 4 Port USB Hub". This will allow you to convert the laptops left side usb c (3.1) port to usb 3.0 ports power the rifts 2 usb sensors at usb 3.0 bandwidth speeds.

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Beast of a laptop, cant beat these specs for the price. This laptop rips up games, stays cool under fire and keeps coming back for more. The silver/red/black aesthetic looks great on this machine and is very well done. A little flash but not over the top. The keyboard is backlit with red LEDs (can be turned off if its not your thing). Only had this machine a few days and I am extremely happy The Helios comes with a lightning fast 256gb SSD, if you need more storage throw in a 1TB HDD for another $50 and you wont be disappointed. Installing a second storage drive is super simple as Acer provides everything (Screws, mounting kit) but a small phillips screw driver. Screen is crisp and clear and looks great in games. The fans can get a little loud at times but they arent too much louder than an external cooling pad fan anyway so its not a big deal to me, your mileage may vary. Highest I have seen them spin is 4500 RPM (Max is 6100 RPM). The GPU and CPU stay nice and cool while gaming, no issues there. Yes like others have stated the BIOS might need updating, you can get the files from Acer site and there is even a tutorial on Youtube that can help walk you through it (the process is very simple). I would also suggest (as of the date of this review) that you update your Nvidia drivers from the Nvidia website also. I did both of these things and have had 0 issues or hiccups. Long story short, if you want a great gaming laptop at a killer price do not hesitate. Even with a little extra cost for more storage you will be hard pressed to find a more satisfying purchase. I was looking at a few different laptops in this price range, but after comparing/cross checking specs this was the ultimate best deal. Highly recommend buying this laptop.

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The Things I Like: The Acer Predator 300 is a solid machine that can easily run just about any modern game it is given at its monitors 60 Hz refresh rate. It is a solidly built computer, with the majority of the build being heavy duty plastics with metal accents throughout. The body does not bend when you pick it up with one hand. Its speakers are good, but not overwhelming in quality. They are certainly loud enough for movie watching in bed, maybe not so much for playing music at a party. The 1060 runs games really smoothly at 1080p, and the i7 makes light work of multitasking and hardcore CPU intensive games (Looking at you Total War). The fans are powerful, and not loud at all unless toggled to full blast. Speaking of, they can be controlled using the Predator Sense app installed on the computer. I would highly recommend turning on the TurboBoost when playing games. It is also very light for the amount of hardware this thing boasts. It is easily handled and packed away. The design is obviously aggressive, but most gaming laptops share the aggressive design notes and i think it is subtle enough that it would pass in an office setting. At the current $1050 price point you will not find better internals. I managed to pick this up on Prime day for $899 and at that price it is a steal. Adding the Seagate SSHD makes this machine viable as an everyday work/home computer with an additional 2TB of storage. Both the SSD and SSHD are very fast drives, so startups are lightning quick and apps open just about instantly. Things that Bug Me: The monitor is not exactly the best I have seen. It is IPS so view angle isnt an issue, but it is very dim by most standards. I have found myself mindlessly trying to turn up the monitor brightness and then remembering that this is the highest it goes. The track pad isnt the best either. There is an awkward amount of resistance and travel in the push buttons, but using the touch feature makes it much easier to use. I would recommend using an external mouse whenever possible. UPDATE YOUR DRIVERS!! This is very important as the BIOS drivers, Video Card drivers, and just about every other driver is severely out of date. Good news is Acer has them consolidated on their website, so do that first. It is an annoyance though. The last thing is the battery life. It is simply not very good. Expect about 2.5-3 Hours unplugged of browsing and multitasking. Honestly dont even try to game with this unplugged, the hardware simply doesnt have the power supply to run at max output for graphics intensive apps and your battery will die before you are done. This is the same for most gaming laptops, but some more than others. So overall a great machine with a few minor annoyances. I wish I could give it 4.5 stars, but with the sub par battery life, monitor brightness issues, and awkward track pad I couldnt say it is a flawless buy. However, you will not find a better bang for your buck when it comes to gaming laptops if you are strictly looking at the hardware/price ratio. And lets be honest... thats why you are here :)

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It was great in the 2 months it worked. Now the screen goes black all of the sudden when he’s using it and Acer will do nothing to replace it. I think that after spending over $1,000.00 on this computer it should have lasted more than 2 months. I bought it for my son who was leaving for Kuwait in the Air Force He went to Kuwait and is now starting classes on line while he’s there but now has no computer. The customer service woman could have cared less. He is shipping the computer back to me but I’m not sure what to do with it since acer is not standing behind their product and doesn’t want it back

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