Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop PC, 15.6" Full HD 144Hz 3ms IPS Display, Intel i7-9750H, GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB, 16GB DDR4, 256GB NVMe SSD, Backlit Keyboard, PH315-52-78VL

This is hands down the best laptop, or even desktop, I have ever owned.That's coming from long time AMD guy. Itpains me to say this, but AMD just doesn't exist in the mobile market atthis time. If you need real power in a laptop, Intel and Nvidia are theonly game in town now. I've started traveling more lately so Ineeded a laptop that could essentially replace my desktop(s) and this Acerhas far surpassed my expectations in that regard. See attached image.The construction is solid, and it looks great, in my opinion...sleekenough to pass as professional with just a hint of "gaming laptop" appeal.The fans can get loud when you're hammering on it, that's true. There is nofree lunch, a laptop must have compromises when they are stuffed withthis kind of hardware. That said, unless you run it in Turbo (readoverclocked) mode all the time I find the fan noise more than reasonable. Ihave not found a game, or CPU workload, that required me to use Turbo inorder to have a good experience. It's just stupid fast. In my opinion, youcan't find a better laptop for the money, period.As you can tell, I love it. Now, I'll answer some of the questions I hadbefore buying it since there seems to be some confusion. The followinginformation is from my own experience, if Acer changes things up in thefuture I can't help you.The is no RGB on this (the 1660ti) version. The keyboard is blue backlitonly. For me, this is a pro as I’m tired of red, and I think RGB is a sillyoverplayed gimmick. If you go to Acer directly, there are differentversions with different features.The RAM (16gb total) is 2x8gb sticks of Kingston 2666mhz...it is in dualchannel. It scores well in the benchmarks that I have ran and from my ownexperience 16gb is more than enough for 95% of people out there. It'senough for 100% of the gamers.The included 256gb M.2 style SSD is also from Kingston and seems toperform quite well. There is an additional empty M.2 slot in there. I didn't use it, soI have no idea what will or won’t work in that slot. I decided to use the open 2.5inch HDD/SSD space for my storage needs. (Please, for all that is sacred,don't you dare put a regular 2.5 HDD in there and hamstring this finemachine). I opted to stay with the Kingston memory theme and stuck a 1tbKingston 2.5 SSD in there. So, as of this writing I have 186gb free on myC: Drive (it's got all the normal stuff loaded up), and I'm loading mygiant Steam library and other big programs onto the 1tb D: Drive. This, inmy opinion, is the way to go.The CPU is an Intel last gen refresh (you know 14+++++ lol). That said,it's a good one. 6 cores, 12 threads at 45 watts it tough tobeat...actually, I don't think anyone is beating it right now. AMDs mobileRyzens are topping out at 4 core, 8 threads as of the time of this writing.I'm sure higher core count CPUs make their way into the laptop market inthe next few years, but for now...this is the best game in town. Also, it's2019, you don't want a quad core, no matter who makes it. Trust me.The 1660ti is a beastly little thing. Nvidia's naming scheme is clearlyinsane, but this guy is sweet. It's based on the new Turingarchitecture and performs quite well. It will smoke a GTX1060 and spit atthe heels of a decent desktop Vega 56...and all the while using way lesspower. For desktops it's a hard card to love, but in a laptop it'sbrilliant.The battery is fine for what it is. People wanting 10-hour battery lifeand 144 frames per second in their games, pull yourself together people.Sacrifices must be made for mobility. When on battery the laptopautomatically switches over to the Intel IGP and doing regular (non-taxing)stuff will get you 4-5 hours. You can force the 1660ti to play ballwhile running on the battery through the Nvidia control panel...but I hopeyou don't plan on a long gaming session...maybe 1.5 hours. Pro tip: Youwant to game? Find a wall outlet.The "Killer" WIFI and internet stuff...actually works. I was gettingstupid fast wireless downloads at distances away from my router thatshocked me. I'm not even going to run an ethernet cable unless I'm playinga FPS. Blazing fast connection and rock solid so far.Sadly, you will have to remove Norton (duh) and Windows 10 comes with theusual fluff that nobody wants...it is what it is. Took me about 30minutes to remove all the silly stuff and download all the stuff I actuallyneeded. Keep the Predator App, I think they will beuseful (Update: It is, see below update). When I was setting up this machine, I did log it into my Microsoftaccount, and it appears I have Office installed. Not sure if that's becauseI have Office on another machine registered to my account...or if thiscomes with Office. Your mileage may vary.The "Turbo" button...here's the deal. It only works when plugged in andabove 40% battery. It basically raises the voltage limits of the machine,while turning on the fans full blast. This results in the CPU auto boostingon more cores and higher than usual. Oh, and it also overclocks the 1660ti!Yes, yes you read that right...basically it's an "overclock button".Normally I would laugh at such silliness, but I have to say...it works. Itsounds like a small jet, but it goes like one too. I use it forbenchmarking and playing around...but you could game with it in Turbo,provided you have headphones. All that said, I'm getting like 62 fps inAC Odysseus on Very High WITHOUT "Turbo". If you're familiarwith this painfully un-optimized AAA title you will understand howimpressive that is, lol. Love that game though...don't judge me.Hope this helps someone make a big decision.Edit: Update 7/18/19I read a review where someone was having issues with an echo on the audio. I didn't have this problem as I have an external sound processor that I use. At any rate, I plugged in my headphones directly (1/8th jack) and sure enough...there was an echo. After a bit of investigation, it's from the "Waves MaxxAudio" App. This app can be tuned/disabled through the Predator App under the App center portion. Turn that guy off, and your echo goes away. That particular App might be useful in a gaming situation, but if your just watching videos or listening to music it falls a little short. I never thought I would say this, but let Windows control your sound and you will be fine, lol.Edit 9-25-19. Man I love this thing. I travel (airplanes) with it weekly and thus far it has been flawless. Every evening when I get done with work I'm reminded how nice the keyboard on this thing is compared to my company issue Lenovo work laptop. No regrets, I'd still buy it at the current price...very few laptops can compete at this price range.Edit 11-26-19. Still the best at this price point. 1660ti is just the best for laptops balancing performance and battery.Edit: 11-23-20. So, shopping season is near and I figured I would update this for people shopping around. I purchased this in July 2019, for less than it is selling for today. Really unsure how that works as there is a new 2020 model that is marginally faster (this is the 2019 version with the 9750h). At any rate, I'm still in love with this thing, I was actually shopping for another one to buy my daughter. Since purchase, I have started running a 1440p monitor off the display port and it does just fine. I'm not getting 100fps at that resolution, but 60fps in most titles with the settings cranked is just fine for me. Also, freesync/gsync, whatever were are calling it these days is brilliant...but only works off display port, not HDMI. In summary, I would buy again at the price I paid for it the first time around ($1199.99).

Simply put, this thing is great especially at the $928 black Friday 2019 price I paid. Good mix of portability, versatility, gaming, without going too far in either direction (being so thin and light that it can't game, being so powerful that it can't be portable). This is a great middle ground, and an amazing price. I'll now break my review down into different sections.Screen: 144Hz is becoming the norm for gaming laptops, including budget ones. For me, the response time is what makes this screen feel great. The 3ms response time is published prominently on the listing because most gaming laptops have response times at least twice that, and I can tell the difference going from my 144hz 9ms 17" laptop I previously used. Same refresh rate, different response "feel". It's noticeable faster on the Helios. It isn't color-calibrated or anything, and according to experts the colors are just mediocre. To my simple gamer eyes, colors pop and games look great. So it does what it needs to!Gaming: The i7-9750H is the standard for this generation of gaming laptops, and it's just a refresh of the 8750H. 100Mhz faster, it's basically the same. Not too much to discuss about it other than the thermals which I'll discuss more later. The GPU is the new GTX 1660TI. This is why the Helios is relatively "cheap" compared to some laptops touting an RTX 2080. Honestly, I've used very powerful gaming laptops, and they do not feel faster. Unless you're going home and hooking the laptop up to a 4k monitor, which you should have a powerful gaming desktop for anyway, you don't need more performance than this. Even with a RTX 2060, the GPU doesn't reach full utilization because the mobile version of Intel's CPUs cannot keep up with the GPU performance. With a 1660ti, you get high settings in games, with over 70-80fps (AAA games), and it's being fully used, so you know that your investment is being put to good use.Keyboard: Acer did an amazing job of mixing a great feel for both typing and gaming. I have not owned the machine for long, but have reached my full typing speed very quickly. Just mushy enough to be comfortable in gaming, but tactile enough for typing to be a breeze and enjoyable.Mousepad: Great for a gaming laptop. The use of Microsoft precision drivers makes it very accurate, and I have been happy with the feel. Click-and-drag functions are easy to do, not something I can say for all laptops.Aesthetics and build quality: The aesthetic is now a blue, not the familiar red that the Helios line has used before. Some non-Amazon models have RGB keyboards, this one does not. I personally don't care, but it's there. In a way I do wish the logo on the back was smaller or less angular, but having my peers know that it's a gaming laptop doesn't really make a difference for me as a student. The build quality is great, and it feels like a quality machine. Yes, the bottom is plastic, but that's true for laptops costing over $2,000 as well. The parts that you touch such as the lid, and keyboard deck are metal, and have no flex in them. It feels like a machine costing hundreds more, evidenced by the fact that Acer uses the same chassis/frame for models costing closer to $2,000. That speaks for itself.Portability: The laptop is relatively thin without compromising on the cooling performance. It is 5 lbs, and this again is good enough without giving up potential performance. The fact that it's 15" and not 17" also adds to the portability, if you're thinking about a 17" and have to move your laptop often, don't do it. The power supply "brick" in the cord is also relatively small for the performance you're bringing around. I can carry the laptop with one hand easily, and in a backpack it feels like it isn't there. Battery life is shorter than an ultrabook, sure, but that's what you should expect. 3-4 hours is enough if you're a student in my opinion, and I rarely need to use my laptop when I'm not near a power plug.Thermals/noise: Acer has done some serious engineering here. I have used ASUS, MSI, and even custom-made liquid metal applied laptops. I know what I'm talking about here. Any ASUS I've tried hits 95+ celsius on the CPU right away even in normal gaming, even with the fans all the way up. Seriously, they're horrible. MSI's that I have experience with are actually quite good at cooling, but they were also thicker than this machine. I most recently used a custom-made Eluktronics laptop with optional liquid metal applied for cooling (goes between the CPU and heatsink for maximum heat transfer). This laptop is actually most comparable to that one, and even is slightly better in some ways. Acer has seriously taken into account the thermal paste they use, the construction of the fanblades, and the necessary fan speeds, PLUS, the machine is undervolted from the factory. From stock settings, the CPU stays in the 80s, usually below 85. Given how Intel has not been able to get past their 14nm process, this is sadly a great result. If you use predator sense software and change the GPU overclock to fast or extreme, you get more performance, and louder fans, resulting in slightly lower temps, plus better framerates, going from 70-76 in my borderlands 3 benchmarking. I personally am a tinkerer, and enjoy messing with settings. I used throttlestop and undervolted the CPU more to -.150V, plus adding 15W to the chip's turbo boost power consumption, changing it from 45W to 60W, and changing the turbo boost time window from 28 seconds up to 40. Even with adding a lot of power to the chip, my CPU stays 77-80 now, with a maximum of 81 in games. This is even with the Acer software set to extreme overclocking, and with the fans in their stock overclocked setting. All summed up, as someone who knows a lot about laptops, desktops, and their cooling issues, this is hands-down an amazing feat. Acer is the only manufacturer in the game right now that cares at all about thermals it appears. The changes they've done with the thermal paste, fanblade design, and undervolting is a GREAT innovation.Altogether, this is an amazing laptop. I'd recommend it to anyone looking in the price range, and even those looking closer to the $2,000 price mark, as the 1660ti GPU is really all you need for a gaming laptop, they almost always have 1080p screens anyway. I'm happy I got it on black friday, but it's well worth the $1200 regular price as well. A last note is storage. The laptop only ccomes with 256gb SSD storage. The included SSD is actually NVMe, and extremely fast. Just plan on getting an additional 1tb slower ssd, or even a hdd if you're desperate. Acer has two extra mounting options included, with hardware provided. You can add a 2280 M.2 SSD, or a 2.5" SSD. You can total have 3 drives in the machine, and that's amazing for a 15" option. Upgrading is very simple, just need a philips screwdriver, and there's many videos online of how to open this laptop.