Acer Predator Helios 500 17 AMD Review

Posted 2023-02-09 11:32:49

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Many of today’s popular gaming laptops, like the Razer Blade, seem almost ashamed of their heritage. Yea, they can game, but they seek to blend in with a sleek, elegant exterior and thin profile. Acer’s Predator Helios 500, though, lets its freak flag fly. It’s unapologetic as a gaming laptop, both in look and capabilities.

CONTENTS

For the unapologetic gamer
Ready to mash some keys? This is the keyboard for you
Lightning fast refresh rates
A six-core speedster
More graphics power than you probably need

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Acer knows its target audience and offers two configurations of this 17-inch behemoth, starting at the $2,000 base model. Our $2,500 review unit came with an Intel Core i9–8950HK processor, a GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. If you can’t spend that much, the Helios 300 has a GTX 1060 and starts at just $1,500.

Whatever configuration you opt for, Acer has brought together the right ingredients to cook a meaty gut-bomb of a gaming feast.

For the unapologetic gamer

High-end gaming hardware has trended towards subtle designs as of late, but not everyone wants or needs a sleek, nondescript laptop to play games. Some gamers want a laptop that screams its gaming credentials. Others are fine paying less for a thicker, larger laptop with equivalent (or better performance). Whatever the reason, Predator Helios 500 is certainly cut from a different cloth than many of its peers.

This 17-inch laptop has the angular panels, flashing lights, and layers of chrome we’ve come to expect of the Predator brand. It takes a careful eye to distinguish the Helios 500 from the likes of the Predator 17, 17X and Helios 300. There are a couple of small differences between the models, but the key to decoding Acer’s messy glut of brands and names is to know that the Helios laptops are the only models which have been updated in 2018 so far.

That said, we like the admittedly small changes Acer has made for the Helios 500. The red LEDs have been replaced by blue, and silver has been (almost) completely removed from the chassis. Would we prefer a less ostentatious logo, smaller bezels, and sleeker panels? Definitely. The Predator Helios 500 isn’t a looker. Still, for those who want a in-your-face gaming laptop, the Helios 500 fits the bill.

Similarly, the Helios 500 doesn’t pretend to be thin or light in any sense of the word. Weighing in at 8.8 pounds, don’t expect to throw this in your backpack and not notice. Compared to the competition though, it’s actually a bit lighter than the Alienware 17, the king of bulk.

The Helios 500 measures in at 1.5 inches tall with the lid closed, which is thicker than two Razer Blades stacked up. In other words, the Helios 500 is not portable in the slightest, so look elsewhere if portability is a deciding factor for you. The good news is that if you do need to lug it around, you can pretty much guarantee it’ll handle the transportation thanks to its bulky chassis. We did notice some flex in bend in the lid, but everything is as sturdy as a $2,500 laptop should be.

Acer has smartly moved some of the video output ports, like HDMI and DisplayPort, making them both easier to find and out of the way. On the sides, the Helios 500 has a standard array of three USB-A ports, two USB-C ports, and an ethernet jack. It’s all the connections a gamer would ever need, complete with options for futureproofing accessories and powering external GPUs through Thunderbolt 3.

More graphics power than you probably need

The Helios 500 comes with an overclockable Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070, a powerful and smooth graphics card. It’s plenty enough to handle the 1080p display and spits out beautifully smooth gameplay. Unfortunately, the Helios 500 doesn’t offer an optional GTX 1080. You’ll have to opt for last year’s Predator 17X if you want that. Still, in our testing, there weren’t many cases where we felt limited by the 1070. That’s thanks to the laptop’s advanced thermal system, which includes five heatpipes and some large fans.

Its advantage is demonstrated in our 3DMark benchmarking, where it scored 10 percent higher than the Razer Blade or Digital Storm Equinox (both of which use the Max-Q version of the same GTX 1070).

The Helios 500 shines in 1080p gaming, making the most of its components. The Helios 500 even matched the Alienware 17 R5’s framerates across the board, despite its lesser graphics card. With settings maxed, the Helios 500 earned 139 frames per second (FPS) in Battlefield 1, making great use of the high-refresh display. Civilization VI and Deux Ex: Mankind Divided didn’t run quite as well, but still looked and played beautifully on the Helios 500.

The only situation where you may want to splurge for a gaming laptop with the GTX 1080 is if you’re hooking it up to a high-resolution monitor. The games we tested look great at 1440p, but it’s here where the Alienware 17 R5 and Razer Blade Pro start to take a noticeable lead in framerates