5.0 out of 5 stars

A Machine you can Build a Life With

I bought my Acer Predator Helios with my tax return in 2022. Since then my Predator Helios has helped me make and stay in touch with tons of friends, allowed me to build a little following on twitch, and start my business. Not to mention all the movies, shows, music, and games this ‘ol girl has allowed me to experience. She’s one of my most prized possessions – alongside my cat, guitar, and bicycle – and I couldn’t imagine my life without her.

12 people found this helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars

A mostly great laptop with occasional wifi disconnect and graphical glitches

I’ve been using this laptop for a couple months now and it has mostly worked well. The speed is fast and the gaming performance has thus far proved worthy. I use it mostly for work and like to navigate quickly between various software.The biggest issues has been an ongoing problem with the wifi card randomly disconnecting from wifi connections that are stable for other devices, particularly when trying to download or stream large files/data. The other issue has been the screen/graphics card showing screen distortions or glitches a couple times per day. A few times the screen distorted to being unreadable and I had to hard power down the laptop to use it again. It resumed fine after this incident. These glitches occur with variations applications that use the graphics card for an enhanced experience (Excel, Chrome, etc.). Disabling graphics enhancement in the settings of these programs usually helps.The price was great for the components and I otherwise have enjoyed using this laptop. I hope it continues to run well for the long-term (time is the true test).

One person found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

GREAT BUT HAS ITS Flaws AS ALL THINGS DO

This is gonna be short and sweet. It hasn’t given me any issues while gaming, producing music, and just surfing the web. The processor is definitely a step up from what I have and I plan to keep it here. The only CON I have is that when you unplug this guy gaming is not the way to go. Keep it plugged in for the best results while you’re gaming. Everything else works as normal but gaming lacks as soon as you hit about 30% 40%It fits perfectly with on my set up which is constantly growing as it is. It is kinda hefty for a laptop but I kinda like it. Big laptops need love too Craig. Hope this helps

One person found this helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars

It is not better than my other laptop that I bought in 2018

The graphics are not better. I would say they are the same. I didn’t see any difference. The games I played feel the same. Now I play TF2 and old games, so I don’t know how this thing handles newer games, but it really didn’t look good for the old ones. It has a huge problem that I have found when Connected to a monitor if you leave the screen of the computer up for too long there will be no sound unless you restart everything. Also if you are using a Bluetooth speaker, for some reason after awhile the sound gets delay by 1 second. this means that when your character has already said something and now its mouth has stopped the sound will come out right after that. I am going to look on YouTube to see if there is a fix for this nonsense.

1.0 out of 5 stars

Gets 100c hot while gaming with turbo on and a laptop cooling pad, and awful keyboard layout

What the title says. It’s great for gaming if you want this laptop to never last then go ahead let it push and die in a year. I played games like hell let loose, halo infinite, elden ring, assassin’s creed valhalla and also do a lot of rendering work and while it’s normal for these games to get these laptops hot, this thing went up to 90c to 100c hot. This is with a cooling pad, and the fan running at turbo and some how managed to hit tjmax. The build is decent and has seen some abuse such as accidentally dropping it a few times and never noticing any substantial drop in performance. On the other hand, too bad it’ll drop in performance anyways when the interior gets so hot that it needs turbo on all the time as the cpu gets so hot that it lowers the clock speed to save itself. Also, The predator button is the stupidest design choice i’ve ever seen and the program itself manages to take 20% of cpu load and make the laptop hotter by having the program running by itself. I don’t care if I can change the predator button’s settings, as having it where the num lock is annoying and shows how much acer cared about keyboard design when they first made this.Also installing ssd wasn’t bad, but the tutorials are much like acer’s monitor quality: bad. Didn’t show me where to stick the slim thing to open up the laptop so i can install another ssd in there.For what it’s worth and almost a year with this thing and I have a lot of resentment with this laptop, and that i’ll use it until it dies and then go elsewhere.UPDATE: Oh yeah I forgot about about the overly sensitive mousepad. It’s so bad that they thought adding the FN + f2 key would fix an obvious awful design issue that they think a bandage will prevent frustrations. If I Have to press fn + f2 key every time I had to switch from gaming to internet surfing to gaming then why should I even bother buying a laptop to begin with? That thing is neck deep almsot near the space bar that it gets in the way of communication. Meanwhile so many other laptops with similar designs such as small arrow keys to knowing where to place their mouse pad so when you place your hand on wasd, it shouldn’t result in an accidental discharge in CS:GO and give away your position.

12 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Outperforms anything under $2K

I bought it for $1200 and it out performs anything under $2000 (assuming it’s plugged in, duh). RTX 3060, 2 NVMe slots (I added a Samsung 2TB 970 evo plus where I keep my games), extra 2” B SSD slot, great cooling, overclocking function, thunderbolt 4 port of I ever want to upgrade my graphics card and use an eGPU, USB 3.2 ports, HDMI, mini display port, and a processor that will be the last thing to slow down your gaming. Honestly, I pity anyone who buys any other gaming laptop, even other predator models. I play Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 on a high/ultra setting combo at about 100fps plus. That’s pretty sweet for a $1200 laptop. Only complaint, battery life is not meant for gaming though, and that’s the only down side. It’s a portable gaming PC with a ton of upgrade potential with the extra NVMe M.2 slot and thunderbolt 4 port, but it really has to be plugged in for any real gaming.

3 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Great gaming laptop

Runs smooth, great screen quality, and unless you’re installing a ton of large size games the 512GB SSD is good. It’s got it’s quirks- this is the first gaming laptop I’ve had that makes weird noises and physically lags a bit when you unplug it while using it, and I’ve noticed some instances (once a month or so) of graphical weirdness while watching videos online where things will get blurry and require a restart to fix itself- but for a gaming laptop with a 3060 at a decent price it so far seems like a winner. Great for someone who likes to keep up with a few new games every year and wants a machine that can handle that, though more hardcore folks may want to get something a bit bigger on the memory front.

5.0 out of 5 stars

I do recommend the productt

This is my first gaming laptop and I bought it to use it accordingly, also for work and college. I’ve being using it for a month now and I am very happy with my purchase. I very happy whit the quality of the product and its components. It is fast and can play games fluently.I haven’t seen any issues with temperatures or any malfunction of any kind so far.The only issues I have notice is the battery life, it is poor but, I was aware of that before I bought it, and it has some backlight bleed, but it does not bother me at all I believe it is pretty normal for a IPS display at least in my unit.I do recommend the product; it has good quality for the price and for now and the use I’ve giving it I am more than satisfice.

2 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Great performance for the price.

I can say it’s a very good mid level laptop:Games tested so far:FFXIV – 120-150fps on 7.0 with DLSS on and everything maxed.Cyberpunk 2077 – 90-110 fps on High settings, DLSS frame generation and low RTX lighting.Build quality is good, it’s a bit thicker than most laptops in the space but has solid feeling hinges and the keyboard is a bit more clicky than the usual click clack ones laptops have.I’ve heard some people complain about fan noise but compared to other ones I’ve owned the fans are very quiet.Screen quality is very good, feels more bright with bold colors than others in the space, and had no backlight bleed.Has a solid amount of ports, with two normal USB A ports on the right side and two thunderbolt ports on the back next to the HDMI port. Supports displayport over USBC, no issues using it with my Valve Index.Has 2 m.2 slots that can be easily accessed by removing a few screws at the bottom. Note that the left (filled) slot is the only one that can fit a full size m.2 nvme drive, the other slot doesn’t have as much clearance., and some of the thicker ones with cooling pads will not fit at all.Still, this is a VERY easily upgraded laptop, you don’t have to pull apart half the laptop to upgrade the M.2. or ram slots, so Acer is a class act for doing that.Note this is the 2023 version with the blue intakes on the back and not the 2024 version with the black square ones.For complaints: the hinge on the screen seems quite large so the screen position does feel a bit higher than most laptops. Some people may actually prefer that but I like a more sleek look without gaps between the base and the screen when opened.Battery life isn’t great, but that’s to be expected with a gaming laptop.If you can get this sub-$1000, it’s an absolute steal. Highly recommended.

20 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

One of the best mid-tier gaming laptops available!

My gaming rig was on its way out, with an outdated i5 processor, GTX 1060 graphics card (which I paid too much for used on eBay) and 16GB of RAM, so my partner and I discussed what our next PC purchase would be. After much research, I found that the Acer Helios 300 provided a decent integrated graphics card (3060) that could play older AAA titles on Ultra, and newer ones on either High or Medium with little overclocking using stock settings most of the time. Most recently I played the Diablo IV Beta & the Resident Evil 4 remake on High settings, and it looked great on the 1920×1080 screen.On occasion I do plug it into my 4K LG Monitor, or the 4K TV in the family room via HDMI port or Mini Display Port (and doing so increasing the screen resolution to 3840×2160). At this point, its when the overclocking tool(s) become most advantageous. Yes, the fans are a bit loud, but that’s normal for these devices. To combat this I pair either my Apple Airpods Max via BT or my Razer THX headset when gaming on the TV. I also use a cooling mat that has a couple fans on the bottom that help dissipate heat.I’ve also been using this laptop for school work which it does in a flash on anything Office 365. Webcam and built-in mic are more than enough for Zoom calls and proctored exams. This thing is overkill for school work. (Which is just an added bonus.)I’ve also done a bit of video editing using Adobe Premiere and it renders video files much quicker than my old PC. I’m not much of a content creator, but I imagine this computer would be great for extensive 4K video or other more complex projects.Finally, this machine has several options for expand-ability and future-proofing. Since purchasing it, I have upgraded the RAM to 32GB and have installed a second SSD drive (using the included adapter that came in the box). And I’m happy knowing that there is an empty M.2 slot available when I decide to install a third hard drive for when I need to.I have no qualms about the price, and believe it was more than fair for what’s available on the market today. It’s a solid mid-tier gaming laptop that’s more than capable with keeping up with newer titles. With chip shortages, supply chain issues, not to mention the folks who do bitcoin mining grabbing up all the graphics cards, which in turn jack up prices to insane amounts, it was a no-brainer to replace my aging gaming rig with this laptop instead of holding out hope for a better graphics card in the future.

48 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Excellent PC overall, gaming included

Nothing much to say, really. My main purpose reviewing is telling you about the gotchas in video for this PC. Overall, though, it is absolutely excellent. It is utra quiet even with the fans running at high speed. It does get hot, but no performance issues.What I learned about video setup: There are three display ports in this PC:1. Mini DisplayPort v1.4.2. HDMI port v2.1.3. Thunderbolt port v4 (USB-C).All display ports are capable of 4K @60Hz at least. I run my PC connected to 2 LG UltraFine 31.5in monitors at that resolution and refresh rate. However, the DisplayPort function embedded in the Thunderbolt v4 port is run by the integrated Intel HD graphics card, NOT the nVidia RTX3060 card. This is VERY IMPORTANT for gaming: The Intel integrated graphics card will NOT support DirectX 12 Ultimate.On the other hand, displays connected through ports 1 or 2 above will be un by the nVidia RTX3060 card that does support DirectX 12 Ultimate. The difference is night and day. True, I am not loading the most hardcore games ever, but still. So you get a frame of reference, my main 2 games are Age of Empires II DE and Age of Empires IV. I run both in full desktop mode, meaning the 2 monitors treated as one big monitor. AoE II DE reports consistent FPS of 60 (I have V-Sync on, which limits FPS to that of the monitor’s refresh rate) with all graphics settings on. AoE IV does not seem to have a way to show the FPS, but it does run super smoothly.So there. Enjoy this super high end PC at a super low price. Oh, and you MUST use quality 8K-graded cables. FYI, the HDMI cables that shipped with my LG monitors are garbage. Get Vanky or some other reputable 8K cables.

26 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Good, better with upgrades.

Very good colors and screen quality. Speaker is about like most cheaper to mid gaming laptops these days- not great/tinny; I generally use headphones anyway. Fan noise is what you’d expect from a gaming laptop with a 4070 in it. Large brick for battery, generally going to want to keep plugged in if playing any intense games for any length of time.I upgraded ram to 32 gigs (2 x 16) and added a terabyte m.2. Both were very easy to replace expect you’ll need a torque/star drive to get the screws out. You’ll want a hard thin piece of plastic to help pry off the back too. Overall it’s a really good laptop, I’m using it as my main basically now; I primarily play video games like kingdome come, starship troopers, stardew valley and some total war series lately. I also use it for some 2d game dev with godot, aseprite as well as some audio editing.

5.0 out of 5 stars

A lot of power in a small frame

This has been my daily driver computer for almost a year now and I’ve been very impressed. It’s handled every game I’ve thrown at it and more.GPU: I’m going to do this first since this is arguably the most important part. I have the RTX 3060 version. The important thing to note is that this is the MOBILE 3060, which is slightly less powerful than the desktop 3060. It’s nearly equivalent in power to a desktop 1070 Ti. I have been playing some pretty intensive games on it over the last year including, most recently, Baldur’s Gate 3 on max graphics. I keep the screen refresh rate at 60Hz instead of the 144Hz that you can use because it saves battery while also allowing your GPU to rest a bit while gaming. I’ve also capped the FPS at 60 directly through the Nvidia app. Same reason there, I don’t need 144Hz. In BG3, It keeps a consistent 50-60fps while using only about 50% of the GPU. I also consistently play games from Xbox Gamepass on here on max graphics with very little stutter or issues. All in all, I’m very impressed by what a mobile 3060 can do.Screen: The screen is a very bright, crisp IPS screen that’s capable of up to 144Hz. The viewing angle is good and even from the side you can still make out details (albeit a bit dimmer). It gets very bright at max level, almost headache causing, so I personally keep the brightness at about 20%.Battery: Depending on what you’re doing, the battery is…fine. If I’m running a game (not recommended on battery), I can get about an hour out of it. But if I’m just using it day-to-day with my settings (60Hz refresh rate, 20% brightness), I can get 3-4 hours of solid use.CPU: I’ve never had any issues with it multi-tasking or running any app or game. Even when using CPU intensive programs like Handbrake, it will max the CPU but still give you decent performance to continue using it for web browsing and videos.Cooling: The fans themselves are somewhat loud if you get in to heavy duty gaming and I do recommend getting a stand to prop it up to allow for airflow, which drastically helps. There is a physical turbo button which makes the fans go to 100% and are pretty effective at lowering temps but are also loud, so best to only use that with headphones. Under load in BG3, it will run about 60C, which is fairly low. In a more intense game, I have seen it get to 70-75C which is warmer, but still in acceptable range.Overall, I’d recommend giving this a buy if you want a solid gaming laptop but also a daily driver.

13 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Excelente producto

Cumple con todas las características detalladas pero con el tiempo la bateria tiende a bajar su eficiencia.

4.0 out of 5 stars

Good laptop for the price. Also not a touchscreen

Never had a laptop run as good as this. Runs games extremely well and doesn’t lag behind at all. And for those that are annoyed by the start up roar when first turned on, it can be disabled. If you click on the button top left of the numerical pad (looks like the symbol on boot up) that brings up the predator sense menu that you can control your rgb settings, fan settings etc, click on the cog wheel in the top right corner it will bring up a smaller drop down menu and one of the 4 or 5 options includes boot up sound. Just disable it and you’ll never hear it again on boot up. Refer to pictureLoads up quick from start up, has good brightness and sound. Keyboard RGB’s are also changeable, light color, static to dynamic, etc.Pros: quick, lots of storage space, runs games good.Cons: battery does not last very long at all before needing to be charged

5 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Good running laptop, no issues upon arrival

I had a laptop with a 1050ti in it for the past 6 years and used that to game. Decided to treat myself to getting a better one with a good graphics card. Settled on this after doing research and getting opinions from others that are more well inversed in the computer gaming world. Got a good deal, even paid less for this one than I did for the one I had before.Conclusion: Over all for gaming it’s a good laptop as I play Total war Warhammer III with ultra settings, fast FPS, and it’s not too loud.Edit – I completely and utterly look dumb because I, or some in the chain, disabled the mouse with the fn key. Laptop is fine and runs smooth!

2 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Very nice!

So the first one I got worked on day one, but on day 2 it simply did not turn on. I didn’t drop it or anything of the sort. Just like it had zero power. Opened the back but found nothing loose or any frayed wired or anything, so I requested a replacement and sent it back. Got the replacement in three days or less and it’s going strong. It boots up very quickly, the screen is the perfect size, and it is very quick in operations! I also bought an XBOX controller and downloaded some games on the store, like Forza Horizon 5, and it runs perfectly at the same frame rate as it does on my console, at 60 FPS. I love the 165hz refresh rate and I love the illuminating keyboard.Overall it is fantastic. I did buy an external extra 2 TB SSD because all the games practically filled up the 512 GB SSD it came with, but that is not a biggie at all. I absolutely recommend it!

7 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Great entry+ gaming laptop

I bought this laptop to dip my toes in the water for PC gaming and also to use as a personal PC for emails, browsing the web, etc. I used a separate monitor as I wasn’t using this as a mobile gaming set-up. The version I got with the i7 and 3060 laptop GPU was great for warzone. I was able to run well above standard graphics on Warzone at about 100FPS. I never had any issues with overheating, although I did buy a cheap “fan deck” to put the laptop on. The fan isn’t quiet, but that is to be expected with any gaming laptop, especially when under stress. I have since bought a full gaming desktop as I realized I did want to fully make the jump from console to PC but I gave this laptop to my wife who plays the Sims and Age of Empires and she has seen HUGE performance boosts compared to her older Asus Nitro 5. Her games run much smoother on this laptop. I would recommend this laptop to anyone looking to get into pc gaming or someone that is looking for a multi-use portable PC. Be sure to check the specs and reviews for the specific model you’re buying as All gamers store shows reviews for similar pcs with different internal specs.

One person found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Great laptop

Me and my husband game a lot so this worked perfect for us and we can take it anywhere, price was definitely worth it. Keyboard is great condition and it has lasted years and hasn’t even got the least bit dusty out breakable. Great for everyone to buy!

One person found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Good upgrade over 2019 Model

3060 has 105 Watt TDP, but no IGP to dedicated GPU switch. Battery life is about 4-5 hours (with CPU set to minimum and 50% brightness + IGP only). Minor keyboard flex, but keys feel good. Touch pad is very responsive, but has loud tap in the center. Display is very good, minimal light bleed. Display hinges feel solid, minimal to zero wobble when open. Metal laptop base, plastic bottom, plastic display lid. Good amount of storage expansion options – 2x NVMe, 1x 2.5″ SATA. Comes with WiFi 6 (802.11ax) standard – good range and good speeds.Requires lots of prying in the back to open. CPU / GPU fans run much quieter compared to 2019 model. Comes with 230watt AC adapter, and that prevents battery drain during gaming (a complaint I had with the 2019 9570H-1660ti Model). Minimal BIOS settings – no XMP, no voltage settings.I upgraded mine with 32GB OLOY CL18 3200 RAM as it will run at 3200 CL18 without needing XMP. Package, unboxing & presentation had a more premium feel to it.

14 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Laptop gamer helios 300

Me gusto mucho, es multitarea corre bien todos los juegos tanto Warzon, Minecraft que por sierto le agregue un shader rtx y se ve bastante bien, también me gusto la iluminación rgb y el teclado, ese teclado es realmente cómodo y resistente además de que las luces le dan ese toque encantador, además otra cosa que me gusto fue que la pantalla se ve realmente bien me sorprendí mucho, quizás sea por que tenía una que se ve un poco borroso pero no lo sé realmente me encanto la pantalla

One person found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

It’s fine.

So far this computer has been good. I”ve played Doom Eternal and I am now playing Cyberpunk 2077 on it. The games look great and run well. It’s a decently solid machine. I added 2 additional hard drives to it. I did not like how the casing comes apart to add the hard drives. It felt like very delicate procedure designed to break the casing. I got it done without breaking anything, but definitely watch videos on how to do it before you try. The bios is odd, I want to figure out how to set one of the added hard drives as bootable, but the bios doesn’t seem to want me to do that…says something about window boot manager?. I would prefer the old c, d, f, g or whatever it used to be. Sometimes a guy just wants to set the boot order to 1st a non-bootable drive, then another non-bootable drive and then the bootable drive….actually I wanted to figure out if I could load win 10 on another drive and boot to it so I could run some older firewire audio hardware that doesnt support win 11. Guess that I may be too old or not motivated enough to figure it out. Speakers are tinney but ok. Good ports. Keyboard is ok. Sometimes computer is a bit wonky, locks up on weird stuff or won’t boot a game, but I just restart it and everything is fine. The price was good. 15 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Overall great gaming Laptop

The media could not be loaded.

The original purchase of the laptop, the touchpad did not work at all. The return process isn’t quite as easy as I still haven’t even recieved credit yet and I ordered it the beginning of September. I had to order it a 2nd time due to work and after a week or 2 the charging cord fritz and stopped working. I had to work with All gamers store who had to connect me with Acer which was such a pain to get a replacement charging cord sent. Now with all that said, I do enjoy the laptop for gaming and work. The start up is so seemless and the gameplay is flawless! I love the option to turn on the fan separately when playing a high usage game, and the customization of colors of the keys are a plus. I do also love the additon of the side number keypad as I occasionaly work with numbers and it makes it so much easier. I hope that the glitches I had in the beginning were just out of the norm and this will be a future proof laptop!!

30 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Such performance in this price laptop is unheard of, but there are some issues

The Good:Speed. Speed. And more speed.The extra bay allowed me to place my old hard drive in it as a bootable device, so I lost nothingI have not had any operating issues at all and it has handled everything I’ve thrown at it soo far, but I am not a super-high-end gamerThe Downsides:Opening case to add old hard drive requires special tool, but I was able to use blunt end of window razor instead of buying one. If your not comfortable working on stuff and/or don’t have the tool, then you may need to pay to have it done.There is bleed in the corners. If it is something that bothers you, then you will be annoyed. I, personally, don’t play anything where it is noticeable to me unless I look for it. But it is very obvious on a black screen.My skin PH balance is weird. My skin will destroy all metals except real gold. Where my left palm rests on it, the paint is literally gone and it shows bare metal. I’m not sure if it is my PH or an issue with it’s construction, but it doesn’t effect anything to go through the problem of doing a return.

6 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Very happy

Maybe hardcore gamers can nitpick this gaming laptop, Lord knows youtube is filled with many opinions about it (this review is for the US version…apparently corners were cut in some markets resulting in a performance hit), but after a month I can say that I think I nailed it on price vs. performance after days of research and given my sub $2000 budget. It has the requisite 16gb of RAM and the 6gb of ram on the 3060 future proofs it for a few years. (I almost fell for the 4gb 3050ti…don’t do it). It is very expandable. I immediately added a 1 TB NVMe drive and found it easy to open the case and install. There is room and supplied adapter for another SSD beyond that, or you can take that spot over with a larger battery. RAM is removable. I am not a hardcore gamer so I am very happy…haven’t found a game or tech demo that the 3060 can’t do at least 60 fps at ultra settings. Most older games run around 120-140 fps. Build quality is not up to par with the higher end business laptops I am use to, but it is not far off. This was a very good buy at $1200.

2 people found this helpful