Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop | 15.6″ Full HD 144Hz 3ms IPS Display | Intel i7-10750H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU

I spent a long time searching the Internet for a good gaming laptop, and after much delegation I decided on this; I made the right choice! I’ve tried to simply the computer jargon in the review for those who aren’t all knowing about computers.The Good -GPU:Graphics card is RTX ready, and can easily handle games like Cyberpunk 2077 (which I highly recommend) on the highest settings. FPS (how smooth a game runs) can dip when the screen gets too busy, so I knocked it down everything to High and had a more consistent experience.Gaming:Runs every modern game in my Steam and GOG library, including the Mass Effect Legendary Edition the Master Chief Collection and Sunset OverdriveSSD:512GB SSD is as listed, SSD is superior to hard drives as it is noticeably faster to read/write to memory; meaning faster loading and downloading times. 512GB is a good amount, but the option to upgrade and add another is there, should you be inclined.SCREEN:Screen is quality with 144Hz refresh rate and 3ms delay, no complaints there.(Refresh Rate means how fast the screen updates within a time period, the higher the better; although realistically you won’t need more than 144Hz)OVERCLOCKING:Comes with a handy button to overclock (run it faster than intended) your CPU should you need a boost to processing power. I don’t use the feature, but it may help you reach a more consistent 60-120FPS on more intensive games, on high settings.DESIGN:The laptop looks great, and the RGB settings can be customised through the in-house software. Has a good weight, and the keyboard is decent; add your own keyboard if you want the click-clack of mechanical keys, these are nice and quiet.SOFTWARE:Comes with Windows 10, and a free ‘upgrade’ to a worse OS Win 11. I wouldn’t recommend doing that, but you can do your own research on the matter, it might be better for you.The Bad -Just to note: most of these issues are apparent throughout most gaming laptops not just this one, but it is important you’re aware nonetheless.BATTERY:Obviously, when you put a fat CPU and GPU in a laptop custom tuned to play games, you’re going to make sacrifices somewhere; the battery is the first to bite this bullet.Battery life can be extended through the settings by a small margin, but ultimately you’re looking at 1-2Hrs idle, easily 1Hr or less when gaming. Just don’t use it when it’s not on charge.Some people have noted that the battery flat out dies when not plugged in, not happened to me but it is something to consider.OVERHEATING:Look, I’ll be real with you, the biggest thing that’s going to kill your laptop early is the overheating. You can put the most powerful CPU and GPU, along with the most expensive motherboard together and it won’t mean shit if you don’t have a good cooling system because otherwise you could fry and egg on that CPULaptops suffer the most from this, just not enough space to put in good cooling systems when the main pull of a laptop is how portable it is; classic catch-22.The laptop is marketed with the overclocking feature a mere button press away, but lacks any warning on the damage it can do. Overclocking can give you a boost to processing power, at the cost of cooking your balls should you be utilising the ‘lap’ part of the laptop. This, more importantly, can also eventually damage your hardware should you use it often. I can’t tell you what to do, just do your own research and decide if the gains outweigh the costs, I believe this isn’t needed, but that might not apply to you.I counter this by using a cooling pad for the laptop, which drops the temp a good 3-5°, not much in the grand scheme but does help when I use this on my lap.PRICE:This is just something to be aware of, but this is pretty expensive to some people like myself, that is just the cost of a gaming rig. You’re getting a great GPU for the price with a great product, but if you’re planning on just using it like a regular laptop there are better, more affordable options. Just be realistic with your intentions.The Ugly-NOISE:I have one gripe with this product and it is probably the only thing I dislike about it; the noise. Again, this is something that all gaming laptops suffer from.This thing sounds like a Space X launch right in your living room, and god forbid you max out the fans when overclocking because this thing will actually take off.Also, the speakers are quite possibly the worst I have ever heard. Sounds like you’re eavesdropping on a conversation in a language you don’t understand, in a different country through a tin can and wire set-up.Thankfully these can both be bypassed by having a decent headset, which is basically required for gaming anyway, but you’re going to have to outsource a speaker if that’s what you need. The headset works great, but that doesn’t stop other people from hearing it, so I imagine this could easily spark a domestic situation in a busy household.Roll the credits-Good Shit, not gonna lie, if this is within your budget and the downsides don’t bother you then buy this thing, I’ve got no regrets with this purchase and have recommended it to friends.

I will update my review more after I have used the laptop more extensively; however, this question keeps coming up and for some reason they won’t fix it on the page, so here’s another place where it is corrected:***this laptop definitely comes with a 512 SSD not a dinky 128*** (512 is already getting small by today’s standards!)… but thankfully there is an expansion bay here as well :DFrom what I can tell, if you need a powerful laptop that can do medium-high gaming for the next 1-2 years, then this is for you. The overall specs for general computing outside of gaming should let this laptop be relevant for at least 3-4 years if not longer (I keep everything until it dies, so I’m shooting for 7-8 years just like my last one).Personally, I needed this rig more for large data analysis, but also wanted something I could hook up to a 4k TV at the end of the day and play somewhat recent games, which this can do (however, if that’s your main focus or you’re a competitive gamer, it’s better you build an actual HDCP-type machine… even though this will still work for most current games up to High/Ultra settings, this type of card is not going to quite keep up with new releases for much longer than the next 6 months).An interesting fact about the graphics card — this particular laptop model of the RTX 3060 actually has more cuda cores than the desktop model (i.e., can process certain things faster), but less memory. There are certain applications where it will outshine the desktop version, but in most gaming situations with large vram requirements, it will be slightly slower. (Again if gaming is your PURE focus, not combo-value like mine, go for a model with a 3070 or 3080 if you can afford it, as the jump in gaming stats is pretty large).However, for the current price that I obtained this laptop at ($1350), and considering that the graphics card ALONE is going for $600-700 right now, this is such a killer bang for your buck. With the upcoming chip shortages continuing and possibly increasing, and even though I would typically only buy something like this around black Friday or another holiday with guaranteed sales, this is a pretty good time to buy due to the risk of shortages getting worse. (another friendly tidbit, if you’re in the market for a new vehicle lease or purchase, DO IT NOW… chip shortages will affect car mfgs starting in about Sept and then prices will skyrocket, according to an inside friend of mine). Of course no one can predict the future, but I thought I’d throw this info out there just in case. Obviously future people reading this will know if it came to pass or not!tl;drSeems like an amazing deal. Again, I will confirm that this computer lives up to my expectations after more testing. I’m usually a strict Samsung/ASUS/MSI kinda guy, so here’s my first experience with a large-ticket Acer product, or at least first in over a decade.Updates to come. Cheers.

***EDIT*** ***The Pictures of the Laptop open are a before and after, It does have a WD SN730 Nvme M.2 Pci-e SSD but I also added a 250GB Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVMe V-Nand M.2 Pci-e SSD I had laying around to the build and it’s very very simple to take off and upgrade, just a few screws and pull from the back where the exhaust fans are located and it also has an extra Nvme Screw as well*** I build PCs on the side and have for years this laptop CAN DO IT ALL, it has a great CPU the Core i7-10750H with 6 cores and 12 threads which is plenty for modern gaming and 12Mb of Intel level 3 smart cache and it’s paired with the BEASTLY NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 6GB GDDR6 laptop gpu, which is Overclockable with the touch of a button and has 3840 Cuda Cores and 30 2nd generation Ray Tracing cores also its running 336Gb/Sec on a 192 bit memory bus interface which runs at 14Gb/s and sits around 11 Teraflops of graphical power from a LAPTOP, think about that! I have pushed this thing to its limits Days Gone PC version that’s just released on the 18th I can play MAXED OUT setting on everything and it never dipped below 90fps and my average was around 124-127fps, this thing is just as powerful as my RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio gpu in my one desktop, I own an RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 3080 but they’re all Desktop Gpu’s but it definitely gives the 2070 Super Desktop GPU some good competition without a doubt. And it’s Ampere 8nm architecture so newest Nvidia technology compared to 12nm Turing architecture, and the screen is absolutely gorgeous playing day or night with a true IPS display running at 144Hz @ 3ms, if you want a SOLID GOOD LAPTOP FOR GAMING, this is it, the ACER Predator Helios 300 can’t be beat and I own Asus/Origin/Dell etc etc laptops as well and nothing ever Beats my ACER LAPTOPS, and this beauty is made of a nice metal and sturdy plastic on certain parts but mostly metal and u can see the quality ACER put into this laptop, and yes the PREDATOR symbol on the screen lights up and its perfect for letting others know you mean business lol I recommend 100% for the bang for your buck! That’s it that’s all I got for ya

Just brilliant

Well for starters this device is great , well except for thermal performence . When im gaming this laptop run over 90c . So at this level of heat it is very uncomfortable (painful) to touch the upper part of the laptop . And mostly the cpu is the one gives you most troubles with heat. So only solution so far i found was to use throttlestop software to turn off turbo boost of the cpu and then the laptop runs even the hardcore games at around 70c. But im pretty bummed about that because as you can see one of the most famous marketing point about this laptop is its so called “4th gen aero blade fans” . And even when i turn on the max fan mode it doesnt reduce much heat when gaming (or heavy work). Mostly you can expect is one or two degrees of temperature difference.Other than that overall performence is great. As i said before if you turn off turbo mode (using throttlestop) laptop runs under 45 degrees in normal use. And you need to uninstall the pre installed predatorsense app and reinstall the new version yourself if you need the new features like predatorsense mobile connect support. And more storage would have been better but we can’t complain about that at this price point.Display is gorgeous and super accurate. And no backlight bleeding at all . Color accuracy is great and good for content creation . (Only lacks G-sync )And built design is excellent. I love it .Good job acer !!! (Even though , metal corners are sharp) *Dont keep the fans at max for long periods of time cuz this could reduce their lifespan .So I recommend undervolting the cpu a bitTurning off turbo boostAnd buying a cooling padKeyboard is great , but lot dimmer than expected . especially around arrow keys it is much noticable.I also recommend locking your battery max charging limit to 80% (in acer care app) to prolong battery life.Speakers are very weak compared to the laptop. I can barely hear it from few meters away at 50% sound level . So you have to use a headphone . Specially when gaming or when your fans are at max you can’t hear anything at all but the sound of two jet engines going off.So my only complains are about,1. Good thermals for daily use but lousy for gaming (even though this is a gaming laptop).2. Dim keyboard ( I’ve seen dell student laptops with brighter keyboards).3. And Speakers are hopeless. (Use then in auto profile , cuz RPG,shooter profiles are horrible ).Other than that if you want a high end hardware enabled laptop for an acceptable price go for it .*Benchmark results were way better than I expected.

I want to point out ive only had it a week and will update if anything changes about my review. Overall, before I get into details, I am very satisfied with this laptop and it’s performance.The pricing as what I bought was 1418.99$ for the intel i7-10750H with the rtx 3060 and 500G m.2. The availability of laptops has been pretty bad and I feel I wasn’t overcharged for the current market.Pros:Rtx 3060 is a little better than imagined. It is the 80W variant but will turbo up to 100W with spikes over 115W very well.The turbo button above the keyboard is actually more useful than I would have expected. In cyberpunk at max settings with medium ray tracing it’s an easily playable 55 FPS and turbo activated averages around 5fps or more higher even in the worst areas.Temperatures at first freaked me out cause I saw spikes over 90C. But I found it was only temporary and the average with a decent fan curve was around 69 to 75C on both cpu and gpu.Predator sense software built in is useful. But I still downloaded MSI afterburner for in game over lay though.Cons:Fans get pretty loud when you activate turbo. So if you got a decent headset and nobody around you it won’t bother you. But if your around people they will think you have a jet engine running. But even without turbo mode you get more than playable frame-rates in every game I’ve played. Most newer titles like cyberpunk and ValhallaBattery is whatever. It’s maybe an hr usage if you’re playing heavy games and 7 hrs if you keep power saver mode on and only use it for light work like google chrome or YouTube.Other aspects:Screen was nothing special. Not super bright but not excessively dark or glare issues. Keyboard is fine. Again, nothing special. It’s a laptop. Bloatware wasn’t too bad. Just uninstalled it all. But overall it is a quick responsive little laptop for easy gaming and even can do some work. I’m very satisfied because I’m a trucker on the road everyday and needed something a little more portable but still had performance to play the newer games without going to a 2 grand or more computer. I would recommend it to others.Edit: I forgot to say the pictures are without turbo and with turbo on 3D mark timespy score.