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Acer's new Predator Helios gaming laptop

Translate from : Acer's nye Predator Helios gaming bærbar

It's not always easy for gaming laptop manufacturers to invent differentiating factors beyond design and small specification differences. But Acer has an interesting feature in the recently announced Predator Helios gaming laptop series: Interchangeable mechanical keyboard switches. Acer has two sets of switches, one called MagClick, which provides tactile mechanical feedback with a travel of 0.3mm, and another called MagSpeed, which uses the same rubber dome as the other keys on the keyboard. Acer claims this "combines speedometer aesthetics with vibrant LED lighting."

Inside the new Predator Helios laptops, Acer has updated with the latest Intel Core 14th generation mobile processors. These are an update to last year's Raptor Lake 13th generation mobile chips and are not to be confused with the new Intel Core Ultra processors for laptops. With up to an Intel Core i9 14900HX processor and up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, Acer promises "breakthrough performance and AI-enhanced graphics" thanks to DLSS 3.5 and the ray tracing improvements that come with it.

The new Predator Helios laptops come in 16-inch and 18-inch screen sizes with WQXGA Mini-LED panels that operate at a 250Hz refresh rate, can achieve up to 1,000 nits of maximum brightness and cover the entire DCI-P3 color spectrum. RGB lighting is also fully present on the new laptops, with the Predator logo, the rear Infinity Mirror light bar and the customizable LED backlit keyboard displaying dynamic RGB lighting effects.

For more affordable gaming laptops, Acer has also updated the Predator Helios Neo 18 and Predator Helios Neo 16 laptops. The two laptops also get an update with Intel's 14th generation processors up to the Intel Core i9 14900HX, although these two units can only be spec'd up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU. The new laptops can be configured with up to 32GB DDR5 RAM and up to 2TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD storage in RAID 0 configuration.

With the same 5th generation AeroBlade fan system and liquid metal thermal paste applied to the CPU and vector heat pipes, the thermal performance of the Helios Neo laptops should be just as efficient as their big brothers. Instead of Mini-LED displays, the new Predator Helios Neo laptops run WQXGA IPS displays with a 240Hz refresh rate, 3ms response time and full DCI-P3 color gamut coverage.

The new laptops feature NVIDIA Advanced Optimus technology, while the displays support G-Sync to prevent screen tearing and reduce latency. Both the Acer Predator Helios Neo 18 and Predator Helios Neo 16 will be available in North America from March, with a starting price of US$1,549.99 and US$1,499.99 respectively. Both laptops will start retailing in Europe in February with a suggested retail price of EUR 2,199 for the Predator Helios Neo 18 and EUR 1,699 for the Predator Helios Neo 16.