You can get the perfect, powerful gaming laptop at just around $1200. Yes, I’m talking about the Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop. The Predator Helios 300 gaming laptop from Acer is one of the most popular gaming laptop in the market which is a powerful yet affordable gaming machine. And since it is launch it has gained huge popularity among gamers and common laptop users.
Under the price of $1200, this laptop comes with the latest generation processor technology from Intel and an overclockable NVIDIA dedicated graphics card. To review this Acer Predator Helios 300 gaming laptop we have spent a good amount of time with this machine to check its caliber. And, here is what we think about this laptop.
Specifications Of Acer Predator Helios 300
Hardware Specifications:
- 10th Generation Intel Core i7-10750H 6-Core Processor (Up to 5.0GHz) with Windows 10 Home 64 Bit
- Overclockable NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 with 6GB of dedicated GDDR6 VRAM
- 16GB DDR4 2933MHz Dual-Channel Memory, 512GB NVMe SSD (2 x M. 2 Slots | 1 Slot Open for Easy Upgrades) & 1 – Available Hard Drive Bay
- 15.6″ Full HD (1920 x 1080) Widescreen LED-backlit IPS Display (144Hz Refresh Rate, 3ms Overdrive Response Time, 300nit Brightness & 72% NTSC)
- 4-Zone RGB Backlit Keyboard | Wireless: Killer Double Shot Pro Wireless-AX 1650i 802. 11ax WiFi 6 | LAN: Killer Ethernet E2600 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN | DTS X: Ultra Audio | 4th Gen All-Metal AeroBlade 3D Fan
Acer Predator Helios 300 Review
Design:
Now diving in deep about this laptop, let’s talk about the design first. This beast from predator comes with a combination of aluminum and plastic design which is durable and they have not compromises with the build quality.
What makes it stand out is its color, the metal lid, and the two blue stripes which reveal the predator logo. There are two most important aspects in a gaming laptop, firstly it has to look like one and the second one is the build quality. The Acer Predator rocks both the aspects, it gives you the feel of a proper gaming laptop and looks like one too.
Display:
The display of this laptop is appreciable, this gaming laptop features a 15.6 inch full HD 1080P display is pretty sharp, and vibrant too. On top of that, the display of this laptop can bright up to 300-nits and delivers 72% NTSC color gamut.
Every single gamer hates one thing in common, which is a glossy display and the predator has got that sorted too, this display comes with a matte finish coating which means it’s an end to all those unwanted reflections. You can purely enjoy your game even in extreme lighting conditions.
The thing which makes this gaming laptop is ideal in this price range is its 144Hz Refresh Rate gaming display. This 144Hz high refresh rate is mostly available on high end gaming laptops and it provides smooth visuals as compared to normal 60Hz display while you are playing games and watching videos.
Hardware:
When we talk about a gaming laptop, the most basic concern of anyone would be the performance. So before talking about the performance of this laptop, we need to appreciate the hardware which it is built with. This monster is powered by the 2.6GHz of the latest 10th Generation Intel Core i7-10750H processor with turbo boost technology up to 5.0GHz.
To handle multitasking on this gaming laptop the processor is coupled with 16GB of DDR4 RAM. In short, if I had to give you an example of how good the RAM optimization is, you can easily have 30+ chrome tabs opened, watch a live stream at 1080P over twitch and still, you wouldn’t experience any sort of lag.
This gaming laptop is equipped with the powerful NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 with 6GB of dedicated GDDR6 VRAM. Its overall hardware configuration makes this gaming machine as a beast in this price range. And for the storage, this laptop is backed by 512GB of SSD which is enough space to store all your favorite games and the best thing is that SSD works faster as compared to the traditional Hard disk drive.
The best thing about this Acer Predator Helios 300 is that in case if you want to upgrade its hardware then with this laptop it is easy to do that through its back panel. Actually, it has two slots for RAM and storage and from that one is empty for the upgrade.
Gaming:
Well, this laptop’s major selling point has got to be that it has NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card, hence talking about the gaming performance we have experimented with a couple of games.
When our team has played the Andromeda Mass Effect, with the ultra settings the game was running on 70 to 100 FPS, and some times during the gameplay the frames have also dropped to 74 FPS. Similarly, when we have run the PUBG at the highest settings, we’ve noticed that the game had a 117 FPS which is pretty good when compared to the other laptops in the same segment.
Talking about the other games, the laptop has scored 96FPS for Grand Theft Auto V which is decent because the average for this game on other laptops is around 69 FPS. When this beast has undergone the StreamVR performance test, it has scored 7.1 which is better when compared to the 5.6 average among all the other laptops.
Cooling System:
Many of you thinking about heating issues of this gaming laptop am I right? So with this laptop, you don’t need to worry about that because it comes with new 4th Gen Aeroblade 3D Fan technology.
It keeps the system cool and provides stable performance during intense or long gaming sessions. Actually, for a gaming laptop, a cooling system is required to keep both the CPU and GPU cool by exhaust all the inside heat out and it allows to deliver full power performance.
Keyboard & Touchpad:
The keyboard and trackpad play very important parts in any of the gaming laptops. If we compare the keyboard of this laptop with its previous model then it is similar. Like the keyboard of this laptop is full size 4 zone custom RGB backlit keyboard with a dedicated numeric keypad.
If we talk about the size of the keyboard then it is perfect. Actually, the keyboard and trackpad both are easy to get used to, and after using it I find it comfortable to use it without any complaints.
On the upper left side of the keyboard, there is a “Turbo” button which accelerates the GPU’s performance and also runs the fan at its maximum speed to get the best performance.
Connectivity:
Being a gamer on the most important port which you require is the LAN port, and this predator offers gigabit ethernet port which means now you can enjoy great internet speed.
Apart from this, the laptop is equipped with USB 3.2 Type C port, USB 3.2 Type-A port, and HDMI 2.0 port with HDCP Support. Also, the laptop has the obvious port which is a headphone jack, hence this laptop has got all your connectivity needs to be sorted too.
Audio:
Though most gamers love playing games with headphones on, many want to play games with full sound. So talking about the audio on this laptop, we’ve got the DTS X Ultra speakers which are crystal clear, nice, and sound loud too.
The bass is really good too, we were surprised by seeing the amount of output which this laptop can produce. The output of this laptop can cover a full-size meeting room which is surprising.
Well but then if you still want to enjoy some next-level audio, the built-in Acer True Harmony Technology offers different audio profiles such as music, movie, games, but we would suggest the music profile which suits most of the profiles.
Battery Life:
To our surprise, the battery life of this laptop is really good that what we have expected. This beast lasted for around 4 hours which is a big deal for a gaming laptop.
Though most of the gamers play connected to the power sources, there is an instance where you want to enjoy gaming with no strings attached, that is exactly when this battery life is going to help you out. Even when compared to the other laptops with similar specs, they all are dead at around 2 hours and the predator lasted for about 4 hours.
Conclusion
All in all the Acer Predator Helios 300 is a pretty powerful laptop that comes with power-packed specs. This is a total VR ready gaming laptop which is going to cost you a lot lesser money than what you have expected.
Personally, the only downside of this laptop according to me is the brightness of the display, which can be a little improved because we cannot play games in harsh sunlight, though this is not an actual problem because most of the gamers prefer playing inside, it totally depends on you. What makes this laptop the best one is the upgradability, you can easily upgrade the specs according to your need.
Apart from this, the battery life is also really impressive. Talking about the value for money, I think this laptop is worth it considering the price tag which is just around $1200 which is very reasonable for a gaming laptop.
If you are looking for a decent gaming laptop, also which is value for money then the Acer Predator Helios 300 is a perfect choice for you. This is going to be the right purchase for a gaming enthusiast because this laptop is going to last pretty long for the money which you’ve paid for.
