$1459.19 Cert. Refurbished sold by
Acer via eBay, after applying the coupon
SHOPCYBER20 at checkout.
"2-year warranty: This item has a 2-year warranty serviced by Allstate."
SPECS:- 16" QHD+ (2560 x 1600, WQXGA+) 16:10, 240Hz, 500-nits, 100% sRGB, Anti-glare, IPS Display, G-Sync
- Intel Core i9-13900HX, 24C (8P + 16E) / 32T, P-core up to 5.4GHz, E-core up to 3.9GHz, 36MB
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 12GB GDDR6, Up to 165W, DLSS 3 (Deep Learning Super Sampling), Ray tracing
- 16GB (2x 8GB) SO-DIMM DDR5
- 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD
- Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax) + BT 5.2
- 1080p FHD Webcam
- RGB Backlit Keyboard
- 4-Cell: 90 Whr Battery
- 5.73 lbs. / 2.6 kg
- Model: PH16-71-93FR
- Ports:
- 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
https://www.ebay.com/itm/26647515...001c9db2f8
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18 Comments
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I'll probably wait till bf and see if it drops or if there are any other equivalent offers (maybe with a 14900HX or a Ryzen 9). I'm thinking if I'm going to carry a big laptop there can't be such a difference with getting an 18 inch.
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Not sure if if its the 13900hx processor, but even if i fixed it, im buying a headache, so i had to return. On the market again
I messaged them on Ebay asking for a replacement device btw, and they said they would not replace, only process a refund.
FYI, this thing has a charger that is heavier than a brick. If your planning to travel with this thing, the laptop + charger might not be for you. (330 W charger lol)
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Not sure if if its the 13900hx processor, but even if i fixed it, im buying a headache, so i had to return. On the market again
I messaged them on Ebay asking for a replacement device btw, and they said they would not replace, only process a refund.
FYI, this thing has a charger that is heavier than a brick. If your planning to travel with this thing, the laptop + charger might not be for you. (330 W charger lol)
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Havent gamed yet on it but used it for 4.5 hours in a cafe no charger doing light tasks on its eco mode. Thought that was pretty good for a big laptop like this. Id recommend but yes you can get a DUD just hope that its not!
Not sure if if its the 13900hx processor, but even if i fixed it, im buying a headache, so i had to return. On the market again
I messaged them on Ebay asking for a replacement device btw, and they said they would not replace, only process a refund.
FYI, this thing has a charger that is heavier than a brick. If your planning to travel with this thing, the laptop + charger might not be for you. (330 W charger lol)
Havent gamed yet on it but used it for 4.5 hours in a cafe no charger doing light tasks on its eco mode. Thought that was pretty good for a big laptop like this. Id recommend but yes you can get a DUD just hope that its not!
Opens the box.
"Looks like the picture."
Slaps on "Certified Refurbished" sticker.
Opens the box.
"Looks like the picture."
Slaps on "Certified Refurbished" sticker.
- this is a damn good laptop, especially for the money. If my plan was to keep this for 4+ years, I might be willing to pay an extra ~$100-150 ($200 tops) for Lenovo's Legion 7 series, but the Helios 16 is very nice, and doesn't feel cheap. For the record, last year I had purchased an rtx 4080 Legion i7. I kept that one for a couple weeks before returning it.
- I saw a pc gamer review from 2023 mention the annoying startup sound. It's nbd, you can easily click it off in Acer's UI.
- don't be put off by people talking about how heavy the power brick is. ALL high-power gaming laptops have chunky bricks. If you want something sleeker, buy an rtx 4060 or Radeon IGP laptop. Beefy gpu/cpu performance isn't free.
- ALL the good, high-power, gaming laptops are loud. The ones that aren't noisy either have (relatively) crap performance, or else run hot. Supposedly the Helios is a lower performer amongst the 4080 options, but it also costs less, and will still stomp all over mobile 4070.
- note that this thing has some nice features not offered on some of the competition. Nvidia Optimus is a big deal for me, as is the 2nd open/empty ssd slot, Thunderbolt 4 (2 ports), and sd card reader. The per-key rgb is also something I appreciate since I have that on my desktop, but my old Alienware laptop only offered rgb "zones".
Hands-on:
Received my 32GB Helios (not-Neo) 16 w/ 4080 a couple days ago. Haven't had much time yet to properly put it through its paces and torture test it for stability etc. Fresh launch into Win 11, the fans were being a bit obnoxious in balance or normal mode (I forget what it is called, 1 step above "Quiet"). The fan noise was probably only ~34dB or so, but as with all tiny fans that whiny pitch is a bi**h. Really, it isn't THAT loud, but I'm used to my desktops being whisper quiet under full load w/ all fans running sub-1000rpm, so I'm definitely picky. I also prefer to not wear headphones unless gaming competitively.
Don't let all my babbling about fan noise turn any of you off buying this laptop. The Helios fan noise is totally normal and happens with nearly every gaming laptop I've ever used until I dial them in with voltage tweaks, fan curves, ThrottleStop, etc. Mind you, this includes the Lenovo Legion 7 w/ rtx 4080 I purchased for a few weeks last year.
Anyhow, for the time being, I locked the screen refresh to 60, and elevated the rear of the laptop up off the table so it could breathe properly. This drastically improved temps which of course meant the fans turned on a lot less often and ran quieter when they did spin. Lifting up the rear of your laptop with spacers, or (optionally) a laptop pad is expected for gaming laptops, so just do it folks. Jarrod on YT and plenty of others have thoroughly tested lifting the laptop off the table surface. It makes a massive difference that is typically not improved much (if at all) by using a cooling pad. On my last gaming laptop, I used to place cup/table coasters under all 4 corners which worked great.
After fiddling around a bit, I removed most of the bloat/crapware, updated Windows/drivers/etc. Downloaded Steam, Cyberpunk, Elden Ring, and some other games. Gave Elden Ring a whirl and it ran flawless straight out of the box. Downloaded Nvidia's new replacement for GeForce Experience, clicked "optimize", and it practically maxed out all settings or close enough. All-Ultra in most games is just a waste imo, but nbd here since this is all demo stuff leading up to full-fledged stress testing. No official dlss in Elden Ring, but maybe I'll try the mod later. With MSI Afterburner's old v3 graph stretched across the entire screen, I watched temps, clocks, cpu/gpu/ram usage, and all that stuff while simultaneously running Elden Ring and other games, playing multiple videos, browsers open, Epic Game Store's slow-ass UI chugging along etc. Mobile i9 HX + its IGP and Nvidia chip is a beastly combo.
Build-wise, early impressions so far are that the Helios is a much more impressive piece of kit than I expected based on what I'd read elsewhere or seen in a few YT vids. All-metal upper with sturdy plastic bottom makes this far more durable than my old but well-built Alienware m15 r1. The m15 was a rock solid tank, but the Predator beats it easily… mostly. Make no mistake, the Helios 16 is BADASS, but if I'm going to nitpick, these are a few minor YMMV:
- The top lid and keyboard deck are fingerprint magnets. On my old Alienware m15 the keyboard deck was made of a grippy almost rubber-like finish that felt good to rest hands on without covering it fingerprint oil. Also, the top rear of the laptop is finished with an acrylic/glass that looks pretty cool imo, but isn't likely to be as durable as metal. Again, I'm nitpicking here.
- The keyboard feels very good and the per-key rgb is glorious. If you're used to a good mechanical, this ain't gonna impress, but it is def solid for a laptop. I'm not a fan of the silly Predator key near the backspace/numpad, and also wish the power button was moved off the keyboard. Nbd, flagged them both with a different color, marked the typing home keys, etc.
- both Thunderbolt 4/usb-c ports are in the rear. Nbd for me, but it would have been nice to have at least one on either side.
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