You can never go wrong with an 11th-gen Intel Core H-series processor combined with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30, especially when these are planted on an Acer Predator machine. Revamping its line of well-loved gaming laptops, Acer wowed the crowd recently when it launched the new Acer Predator Helios 500. So what makes this gaming behemoth better than its competitors? Let's find out!
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| Acer Predator Helios 500 Review; Locked and Loaded |
DESIGN and DISPLAY:
As expected from a device coming from Acer's powerful Predator line, the Acer Predator Helios 500 looks battle-ready in all its angles. The familiar-looking Predator logo is seated at the rear part of the laptop screen, planted on a black slate with a matte finish, and is framed by two blue accent lines.
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| Predator's Logo at the Back |
At the bottom of the back part of the lower body of the laptop are LEDs near the exhaust and two charging ports in the center. Yes, there are two ports to charge this monster laptop, and there are also two gigantic chargers included in the package.
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| Acer Predator Helios 500 Charging Ports |
Although made mostly of plastic, the Acer Predator Helios 500 looks sturdy and feels premium enough to the touch.
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| Mini Display, HDMI, USB Type-A, and two USB-C Thunderbolt |
Surrounding the entirety of this gaming beast is a generous selection of ports. The ports for Mini Display, HDMI, USB Type-A, and two USB-C Thunderbolt are on its left cheek.
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| Kensington lock, two USB Type-A ports, RJ45 Ethernet port, and 3.5mm audio jacks |
The Kensington lock, two USB Type-A ports, RJ45 Ethernet port, and 3.5 headphone jack are on the opposite side.
The Acer Helios Predator 500 is an RGB spectacle with its backlit keyboard and illuminated touchpad. This design detail is complemented by the impressive display of this gaming laptop, which comes in a 17.3-inch 1080p screen with a 360Hz refresh rate. The display exudes vibrant colors with an impressive amount of detail, sharpness, and clarity. Although the display's bezels aren't that thin, it's not distracting, and we find the thick chin of its screen as an added design detail of the laptop.
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| full-sized fully programmable RGB keyboard |
What's also beautiful about the Acer Predator Helios 500 is its adequate full-sized keyboard with matte finish chiclet keys that come with fully programmable RGB lighting via the PredatorSense software. There's a dedicated key for the PredatorSense program, which is lit in blue, similar to the WASD keys. The keyboard's key travel is used, and it's generally good to the touch, which is essential, especially since this is a gaming keyboard.
In terms of its audio, the Acer Helios Predator 500 delivers decent sound -- both for gaming or just casually listening to music -- through its front-facing speakers that are beautifully placed on both sides of an illuminated bar at the front part of the laptop.
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PERFORMANCE:
With its powerful internals, there's no doubt that the Acer Predator Helios 500 can deliver when it comes to what it's made for: an immersive and outstanding gaming experience. Thanks to this laptop's 11th Gen Intel Core i9 CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, 32GB RAM, and 2TB PCIe M.2 SSD, we had an overall impressive time trying out different games like DoTA 2, PUBG, Valorant, CS GO, TF2, Call of Duty, and even The Sims. It also fared well when we tried editing videos with many Google Chrome tabs opened in the background. But, of course, this just means that this laptop is a master in handling multiple simultaneous tasks.
We were able to use the Acer Predator Helios 500 as our daily driver for a couple of weeks, switching between doing work-related tasks and long hours of gaming, and there wasn't any single stutter that we encountered. Speaking of work-related tasks, we used it for AutoCAD and SolidWorks 3D modeling and rendering, and it does not break a sweat.
Another good thing about this gaming beast is that it runs on a Windows 10 Pro with little bloatware out of the box, unlike other laptops which you have to spend time removing pre-installed applications that you don't really need.
FINAL WORDS:
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| Acer Predator Helios 500 |
From the outside to the inside, the Acer Predator Helios 500 is the epitome of gaming mastery. Although we couldn't run benchmark tests, we can attest that this laptop is worth every penny based on our real-world usage. So if you're planning for your next big spend, the Acer Predator Helios is a good gaming investment.