Best Buy has
Acer Predator Helios 18 Gaming Laptop w/ Protective Sleeve (PH18-71-94F1) on sale for
$2199.99.
Shipping is free, otherwise, select free curbside pickup as an alternative option.
Thanks to community member
Dr.Wajahat for finding this deal
Note, curbside pickup may vary depending on location/availability.
Specs/Key Features- Intel i9 13900HX 24-Core/32-Threads 5.4GHz Processor (13th Gen)
- 18" 2560x1600 QHD+ 250Hz 3ms 1000-Nits Mini LED Display w/ 1080p FHD Webcam
- 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe Solid State Drive SSD
- 32GB (2x16GB) SO-DIMM DDR5 Memory
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 12GB GDDR6 GPU
- Intel Killer WiFi 6E AX1675 + Bluetooth
- Lithium Ion Battery (90W)
- RGB Backlit Keyboard w/ Precision Corning Gorilla Glass Touchpad
- Windows 11 Home OS
- Inputs
- 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C
- 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A
- 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
- 1x HDMI 2.1 with HDCP Support
- 1x RJ-45
Warranty- Includes 1-year manufacturers warranty w/ purchase (parts + labor)
Leave a Comment
Top Comments
tl;dr, at least from my brief impression, great performance, good thermals and amazing feature set for the price. It feels like a budget, premium laptop. They've cut corners in some areas but I think they've nailed it where it matters the most.
Here are some initial impressions.
13900HX, 4080 12 GB, 32 GB DDR5-5600 (16x2 Quad Channel, SK Hynix), 1 TB SSD (Micron 3400) and of course that beautiful HDR 1000 Mini-LED display.
Advanced Optimus, MUX switch, Thunderbolt 4, USB-C charging are all here
Build Quality 8/10
Build quality is good, not top-tier but good. It feels rigid, a bit heavy but not too bad. It's a massive laptop of course at 18 inches. Top and keyboard deck are metal, bottom panel feels plastic. It's not Razer level of build quality but it's about ROG Strix level of quality.
Keyboard 7.5/10
Keys are nicely spaced and don't feel crowded. Keys are a little smaller than I prefer but not close to a deal breaker. Key strokes are fairly punchy, it doesn't feel mushy. Overall I like it, 7.5/10 for a laptop keyboard. This may change overtime as I do a lot of typing.
RGB 8/10
RGB lighting is an 8/10. I dig the back light bar, even though you can't see it while using the laptop. The keys look good, not as good as a Razer laptop which I'd say is the best in class in terms of laptop keyboard RGB. A bit better than Asus though.
Trackpad 6/10
It feels good gliding my finger over it, I do believe it is a glass trackpad however it rattles a bit and feels hollow toward the bottom. Clicking the trackpad feels decent but taps don't feel great. Fine, micro movements feel somewhat unresponsive. If you have used Asus laptops, say a Zephyrus 14 or 16, this is probably 1-2 points lower than those but 1-2 points higher than something like an HP Omen.
Speakers 6/10
If a Macbook Pro 16 has 10/10 laptop speakers then this is probably a 6/10. I'm not an audiophile by any means but these have 0 bass. Clarity is decent. They are serviceable, if I'm trying to be immersed in music, movie or games then I'm grabbing my headphones.
Software 6/10
I've seen worse for sure. Most of the software is complete junk. PredatorSense is the control center software for the Helios 18. It's not as feature rich as something like Armoury Crate but there is less bloat. It's also responsive which is nice considering a lot of the time that has not been my experience using other laptops control center software. You can switch between 4 modes on AC power (Eco, Balanced, Performance and Turbo). You can control the fan speed but there is no fan curve editor which just plain sucks. Also I do appreciate when simple overclock controls are included but that is NOT the case here. You can customize the RGB from PredatorSense, it's decently extensive but I usually just go with the presets. Overall PredatorSense is a bit barebones.
Battery Life 5/10
I haven't had a lot of time to test battery life but at 70% brightness, Eco mode set, 250hz refresh, keyboard backlighting on, dgpu disabled, turbo boost disabled… I've run through 52% battery in 2 hours with mostly light use. So it's not great. I suspect most people don't buy an 18 inch laptop for its battery life though. I feel like 5 maybe 5.5 hours is possible if you optimize for battery life. Performance remains snappy in Eco/Silent mode which in my experience is not always the case so it's nice to see here.
Display 9/10
Trust me, I'm completely spoiled by beautiful displays in all of my devices at this point. This one holds up. I love OLED but HDR highlights are pure eye candy on this display. Black levels are good too. Great display, make sure to get the HDR Calibration tool from the Windows Store. Colors were a bit oversaturated at first. As far as I can tell you cannot set the display to single-zone mode like Asus laptops.
Thermals 8/10, Performance 9/10 (stock, no overclock, no undervolt, no custom fan curves)
Again, I haven't done extensive testing.
Timespy - Turbo Mode
18,838 / 18,863 Graphics / 18,704 CPU
During the graphics portion of the test the CPU averaged 80c, with a max of 85c. However the CPU quickly hit 100c during the CPU test, average around 98c.
The GPU averaged 81c, going as high as 85c at max.
This thing runs hot in Turbo and the fans get loud. I think in most games the temps will be fine. The other modes are far more intriguing to me however.
Timespy - Performance Mode
17,446 / 17,241 Graphics / 18,709 CPU
CPU never broke 71c during the graphics portion of the test, though it was roughly the same temps as Turbo mode during the CPU test.
The GPU hit a max of 76c during the test, averaged 74c or so.
The temps were good in this mode, the fan noise wasn't too bad either, much quieter than turbo. I can game without headphones in this mode.
Timespy - Balanced Mode
15,246 / 14,871 Graphics / 17,795 CPU
The CPU temps hit a max of 73c in the graphics test and stayed cooler averaging 92c in the CPU test.
The GPU hit a max of 75c, average around 72c.
Again temps were good in this mode. Fan noise was not distracting at all, you won't bother people next to you at all in this mode.
Timespy - Eco Mode
13,402 / 12,868 Graphics / 17,525 CPU
Temps were roughly the same in this mode as Balanced mode but now the fans were barely noticeable. I had to put my ear closer to the laptop to hear them which is actually really cool to consider that you are getting about the same performance as a 4070 laptop would get in Turbo mode.
From my initial impressions, I feel like this is a keeper. I will be using it heavily over the next week or 2 and make a final decision. I've never used an 18 inch laptop before and I can see how in some ways it's great (on my desk and the screen size) and how in some ways it's a bit too bulky (portability and using it on my lap). I guess that's not something I didn't already suspect but first hand experience is important to truly know. I'm thinking 16 inches is the sweet spot for me but I don't think an 18 inch laptop is a deal breaker, especially at this price point with these specs and features.
50 Comments
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
My Legion 3080 laptop has 16gigs Vram
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
- the loudness of fans when Nvidia GPU takes over the video.
- max BTU output so you can use it to stay warm on cold winter nights.
- number of minutes fully charged battery can power this monster during gameplay
By that, I mean the specs (CUDA cores, VRAM, shader/RT/Tensor cores) are the same. Problem is power. You can't push 3-400 watts to the GPU on mobile so they will unfortunately always be weaker than the desktop counterpart.
All that being said, I have a 4080 laptop and it gets the job done! 1600p on ultra settings for every game at least getting 100fps. 4k dips quite a bit due to only 12GB VRAM. But with DLSS and/or Frame Generation (don't like using these unless necessary), I keep solid 60fps at 4k in most AAA titles.
Not a huge deal overall as what she's playing isn't hurting too bad by the lower CPU performance, but it's frustrating how much this laptop cost and it seems to be a fairly common issue for this laptop (which came out a bit after we got it of course).
So now I am super gun shy on buying another built up gaming laptop as I don't mind the fans being a bit loud, I just need the laptop to work even when pushing it.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Leave a Comment