Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop PC, 15.6" & Acer Predator Cestus 510 RGB Gaming Mouse with Acer Mousepad - The Predator from Fox

I've had some time to run this laptop through its paces after several weeks testing it out. I was a bit concerned about the small storage, but it is easy enough to upgrade it or add an SSD or small format mechanical drive for storage needs should that become necessary. For now, the 240 GB M.2 SSD works at about 60% capacity. I did find it curious that it runs considerably faster than a similarly equipped tower I have, but that one also has a great deal of hardware and drivers since it serves as the main computer out of 4 for a Boeing flight simulator.Out of the box the Acer Predator Helios 300 15" screen was ready to go. I removed the trial antivirus and Office 365 versions, and installed my preferred OS, the prerelease version of Windows (I've been doing it for years due to the unusual way I use my computers). I then got into the tools and assigned specific programs to either the default GPU or the Nvidea GTX-1060 6GB GPU as appropriate, regardless of whether I would be using my MR headset (also Acer) or not. I added an external switch controlled USB 3.1 hub and the MR headset and was impressed. The sound, when sent through the laptop speakers, is pretty good, on par with TV's roughly the same size, though a bit softer than I'm use to due to the speakers pointing down rather than at me. It's plenty load enough to be heard in the next room clearly, but not so loud it bothers the neighbors like the flight simulator does (I guess I'm louder than the nearby airliners taking off, lol).Once I was happy that everything worked, I allowed Acer to update any outdated BIOS requirements, and then had to get into the BIOS to turn the screen backlighting on full time, rather than have it turn off after a few seconds of inactivity (annoying, but saves power if on battery only). This picked up the speed a bit further towards what I had expected according to all I researched about this machine. I then personalized the screen lid with my own stickers, preferred to the Predator logo and name at university.The primary function of the Helios 300 is in the virtual world, mimicking as closely as possible the arrangement of multiple screens from the flight simulator "inworld" so I could study more effectively and productively for my classes when my disability leaves me stranded in bed at somewhat unpredictable and annoying times. I have Second Life and Sansar set up, both of course to the GTX-1060. Second Life does not appear to have a working model for mixed reality (or even full virtual reality from what I've read), but my testing with Sansar does appear to work rather well. Both operate at roughly 60 fps when I hit the turbo mode, heating things up to roughly 80 deg Celsius at maximum settings on the main screen (Second Life) and with mixed reality (Sansar). A quick word to Linden Labs about the controllers not being recognized had them coding to fix that problem. I'm stationary in the real world, so the controllers are much needed in the virtual world to move about (hence the choice of mixed reality rather than Oculus or Hive at twice the price, plus costs and problematic setup of sensors, in a wheelchair, not happening.For school I get Office365 Student and Educator from the University, all the apps, plus speech to text apps for days I cannot type. I find I do have to use the headset I have for me to be heard properly, the mics built into the laptop tend to pick up everything and try to type words it interprets from the sound of GE and PW airliner engines screaming on departure over my apartment complex. It even tries to type out the birds having their early morning music jam in the large tree outside my window. The headset doesn't pick up anything more than a foot from its front, so problem solved.If planning on intense gaming with this little beast, I strongly recommend a cooling pad under it. At 80 C, that's 20 degrees from being able to boil water at sea level, so a tad warm on the lap. I do not recommend closing the lid during MR/VR sessions at all due to the high temperatures, especially when ambient room temperature is more than 70 F or so.The Helios 300 also comes with 16 GB DDR4 memory, which I intend to upgrade to the maximum 32 GB when I go to add an additional large capacity storage drive. Adding storage and RAM is easy, one screw each for access, 4 additional screws for removing the drive caddy waiting for your storage option. One note on the drive this one came with, what happened to the Optane M.2 drive the machine is supposed to come with? Intel reports that it was installed, but the drive my system arrived with is not the Optane drive it was told was installed. Just a thought, so long as it operates as specified I'm good, and the Optane storage module was never in the description, so no worries. Just an odd thing to come across, I guess.Despite having the extra $200 to go with a 17.3" screen rather than the 15.6" (with a 1 TB drive instead of 256 GB), I am using this one for school when unable to use my main rig, and take it to every doctor appointment to stay caught up with school even if they opt to admit me into the hospital (life with my disability). The 15.6" is much easier to handle behind me than the heavier and larger 17.3" I have retired, which means it can go in my backpack rather than rest on my lap and then slide rapidly forward to the floor when I inevitably have to stop short to avoid running someone down in the hallway that just stepped out from around a corner. Still, the picture is crisper than the older and larger one, which makes watching documentaries or reading my assignments much more pleasant due to reduced eye strain. 2 hours before bedtime (at home), the screen switches modes (a Windows feature) to seriously reduce blue light levels, which works rather nicely to insure I am ready for bed on time and not lying awake for a few hours after.As mentioned, I do not advise having the lid closed when the laptop is running, not even in sleep mode (as technically it is still running), since heat can build rather quickly. I hate touchpads, largely because one of my meds reduces electrical conductivity in my digits (fingers and toes), so touch screens and pads do not see me or act much differently than I had intended. I picked up a rather nice gaming mouse (unknown where the previous one I ordered ended up, but it wasn't with me) that works rather nicely, and it allows me to switch dpi settings on the fly depending upon my range of motion limits on any given day (the higher, the faster and further the pointer on the screen moves, a gaming feature that works nicely wit disabilities as well). On better days, or when I need finer control on a mesh object I am building, I can down-tune it to move more slowly and shorter distances with the same effort. Just a thought, throwing it out there in case others would rather a mouse over a touchpad. The touchpad is easily enabled and disabled using Fn + F7. If you are like me and type a lot, this is a handy little feature.At first, I wasn't certain about the keyboard, since I rarely get along with this particular design. I can type with confidence, however, as it feels quite mechanical compared to my retired Acer laptop I thought had the same design. The red backlighting is easy on the eyes, even when typing in the dark. Just be sure to get into the BIOS to turn the backlighting to always on, or do what I did early on after the update and just memorize the positions of keys that do nothing unless you combine it with another key, pressing those will turn the backlighting back on. It's LED, so they contribute little heat and consume very little power, but for some every watt counts I guess. The numeric keypad works okay, I'm literally use to actual 10-key calculators, so this one is smaller and more bunched together, but I'm sure I will adjust.I never recommend hibernation mode, since it rarely comes back up the way you had it when you told it to save what you were doing. Odds are it'll come up with problems, requiring you to reboot anyway. Sleep mode works (with the lid open), and you can shut it down and later quickly power right back up again.This laptop is "brick-able" if stolen, so keep your serial number handy just in case. You'll lose all your data, but that happened when someone ran off with it anyway. The idea is to destroy the data and make the computer unusable without having to replace everything other than the case, power supply, and battery. It's cheaper to buy one than it is to steal one (most portable electronics are going to this) Do what I do and save important things (like my classwork for the current term) on the one drive, it will then be waiting for you when you get home, to work, or to class when you sign in with your Microsoft account email. Also, be smart and pick a randomly generated password and PIN, you will find life much easier if you do. I use Windows Security for antivirus and firewall protection, it's free and I figure it is their operating system therefor they know where all the security issues are. If not, everything is backed up regularly anyway.There are plenty of videos on YouTube to show you how to easily upgrade storage and memory, including upgrading of the M.2 primary drive, not to mention lots of tips and tweaks for all gamers and power users. Make sure one of the first things you do is register your new laptop with the manufacturer to start your warrantee. I did not go with the Amazon one, mainly because by the time I might need it, I've already replaced the laptop with the latest and greatest anyway. I've had excellent experience with Acer laptops for several years, and have worked on the hardware side of things with tower, desktop, all-in-one, and laptops, so simple repairs I can do for myself (since 1978). If you aren't comfortable doing those repairs, the Amazon warrantee is a very good one (from what I've been told), and I do get it for peace of mind with tech I do not know how to repair. To date, I have yet to have a warrantee issue with Acer, and I look forward to that continuing with this machine. The current price for this laptop is excellent, a bargain when you consider a similarly equipped gaming tower now costs much more.Grab one while you can, and have fun!

Hello Everyone,This review is a little long but I hope that after reading this you will surely know whether this is a laptop for you or you may want to skip it.I got this laptop in Cyber Monday for $999 + Tax – Great Deal. Laptop arrived on time, packaging was top notch from Acer, nice and sealed. But after a week I noticed some overheating of the system and Amazon offered to replace it and match the price. The new laptop came fast, the old one I had was returned. Later on I discovered that this overheating was not a problem, but the way the laptop is designed.Pros:1) Great Build Quality. I had Acer VX15 before this, which served me very well, but it got old so I wanted to replace it. The build quality is completely different. The Acer Helios 300 is built from a mix of hard plastic and metal. The metal on the lid gets cold so it is a pleasure to pick it up (if you know what I mean). There is almost no flex to the screen, no flex on the keyboard. The interior around the keyboard and touch pad is also metal and is very nice for touch, however I keep taking off my bracelets/watch because I am scared to scratch it.2) Track Pad – one word – AWESOME. I read and saw so many reviews about this laptop before buying it and people keep saying that the track pad is medium quality. For me it is perfect. I do not want to say that it is large (larger is always better), but the size is very good which allows for a proper tracking and moving items with a double click around the screen. The surface of the Touch Pad is glass and it is using Windows Precision Drivers out of the box which is a bonus. Gestures work very well and are customizable in the control panel. The buttons are a little bit stiff, but it does not cause any discomfort when using it, although I would prefer physical buttons any day. Using track pad with 2 fingers simultaneously is a breeze as well.3) Keyboard – It is a good keyboard. Just like any other Acer Gaming Product that I’ve used. The keys light up in Red color, which is a little bit outdated in the end of 2018, wish they had at least 4 zoned RGB lightning available on this machine for a more muted look when needed, but I guess you get what you pay for. You can turn off the backlight if you wish with the function button on top of the keyboard. WASD keys are highlighted with a red accent – again, not something exciting except if you use the laptop only for games. If you use this laptop in a business meeting setup it kind of screams that it is gaming by its WASD red bold keys and exhaust vents. Otherwise great keys, still nothing close to the best typing experience, but good for a gaming laptop.4) Screen – one word – BEAUTIFUL. It is a Full HD 144HZ panel. Believe me, 144HZ vs. 60HZ DOES make a huge difference not only when playing games, but also when browsing web – scrolling is much smoother. I would never want to go back to 60HZ panel again. Colors are great, you can calibrate those I believe in the Intel Control Panel, but I did not see a need for that as the screen is bright, color accurate and overall great quality. Acer really impressed me on this here.5) Port Selection – Nowadays it is rare to find lots of laptops that are still rocking the Ethernet port & SD Card reader. Not that I use them a lot, but it is nice to know that I have them.6) LED Status Lights – Those are located on the right side close to the charging port, which is great because the light does not disturb you while gaming or using the laptop in the dark environment.7) Speeds – This laptop is very fast. No problem with anything that I threw at it for the past few weeks. I am running any game with ease. On Ultra Settings CS GO I am getting 144FPS, COD: WWII 80-95FPS, GTAV 75-90FPS.8) Wi-Fi Card – This machine comes with Intel Wireless Card which is the best – fast, reliable and has the drivers pre-installed.9) Drivers – The machine comes with all the latest system drivers pre-installed including the GeForce Experience Software for future driver updates. You can get the drivers from the Acer’s Official Website.10) Hard Drive Speeds – Mine came with no HDD, just the Intel’s 256GB M.2 SSD. While it is fast, I wanted to go even further with speeds. I got 2 drives – Samsung 970 EVO m.2 500GB SSD + Samsung 960 Evo 1TB SSD. So now the machine is based fully on SSD Drives! And the speeds are amazing. Attached you may see the speeds from the CrystalDiskMark.Cons:1) OVERHEATING - Acer decided to place both fans on the right side of the laptop this is why the left side gets HOT. In general CPU temperatures can reach to up to 92 º Celsius. To avoid this, I re-pasted your laptop. DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE OUTCOME OF REPASTING YOUR LAPTOP, THEREFORE DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.Once I re-pasted my laptop, my temperatures dropped 5-6 degrees lower.I have also under-volted my CPU to have better thermal performance. But once again, do any of the above at your own risk as those can lead to the crash of the system leaving you with a complete brick. I have attached the screenshots of stress tests in AIDA. I purchased the separate cooler for it.2) Battery Life – expect nothing more than 2.5-3 hours while using it for productivity.3) No Thunderbolt Support – like really Acer? It is end of 2018 and there is no Thunderbolt? This is very upsetting. But you can still use USB C for data transfers which are faster than the regular USB type A.4) Ports Selection – I previously mentioned that it is nice to have Ethernet Port & Memory Card Reader, but the rest of the ports selection is not the desired one. Helios 300 has only 3 USB A ports, 2 out of which are USB 2.0. WHY? Why do we need to have USB 2.0 in 2018? Only one USB 3.0. Charging port is located in the nice location though, and does not clutter your using experience should you use an external mouse.5) Hard Drive Speeds – Mine came with no HDD, just the Intel’s 256GB M.2 SSD. While it is fast, I wanted to go even further with speeds. I got 2 drives – Samsung 970 EVO m.2 500GB SSD + Samsung 960 EVO 1TB SSD. So now the machine is based fully on SSD Drives! And the speeds are amazing. Attached you may see the speeds from the CrystalDiskMark.6) Getting inside – super hard unless you are upgrading RAM (Max 32GB) or HDD – those have easily accessible 1 screw doors on the back of the machine. The m.2 SSD is located under the hood – easy to replace but it takes patience to open up the whole back panel. As there is a metal outline across the chassis, it is super easy to scratch the laptop while getting inside, so use the PLASTIC pry tool only and take your time, do not rush the process not to scratch your brand new laptop.7) Fan Noise – Just like any other gaming laptop it is indeed loud. Use headphones while gaming.8) Surface – super easy to scratch as it is all metal, so be careful. My suggestion to get a skin from Amazon.9) Dimensions – while this laptop is 15.6 inch just as many others, keep in mind it is larger than majority of others, therefore when picking a carrying case/bag for it make sure it fits Acer Helios 300.My overall Thoughts:Acer Helios 300 is an excellent laptop for people who would like to game from time to time utilizing the power of full sized GTX1060 and seeing an amazing frame rates without compromising on the quality of graphics. It is also great for creators to video edit, photo edit and for any 3D work (haven’t tried myself, but it surely should work fine considering the specs inside). The screen is gorgeous. Using it for productivity is great as well.The weight is on a higher side and a power brick is not small as well, so carrying it around constantly may not be much fun, but if you don’t need an extreme portability, this machine is the way to go.I would however mention that if you do have another $700 to spare, get yourself Acer Helios 500 which is on sale on Amazon right now for $1,699 + Tax. It is bigger, but much nicer.Anyways, this is it for my review, I hope you guys found it useful, and Acer, if you are reading this, I would like to thank you guys for producing such a high quality gaming products for a reasonable prices. You guys rock and I will be your customer for a long time.

Good laptop

Great value and power for the money. Clear 144hz screen. Runs slightly hot but configuration and a cooling pad fixed the issue instantly

I was really hoping for a better thing to say about this laptop but here are the main concerns. I'm writing this review after about 12 days with this gaming laptop :- Blue Screen of Death (see picture) happening at random times (after launch: 5 mins, 15mins, 1 hour, or 10 hours) : DPC WATCHDOG VIOLATION. Results : crash & self restart- No Bootable Device : see picture (happens after the DPC WATCHDOG VIOLATION). Results : stuck, need to power off then power back on and the laptop works until it does the Blue screen of death again.- Windows out of date : you litteraly have to download and update everything about windows.After going online and dropping by some forums, it seems I'm not the only one who happens to get these errors with this gaming laptop. Nothing seems to be able to fix it.Unless there is a fix coming out in the next few days, I'll return it and make sure to buy another brand.This is unnaceptable for something of this value.Disclaimer : no hardware has been modified nor added, it's the vanilla laptop.

Impresionante, poderosa y bella Laptop. Nada.mejor por los 24mil que pagué por ella. En efecto tardó un par de semanas en liberar la aduana, me pidieron algunos papeles, nada complicado. Pedida el 23 de noviembre y arribada el 7 de diciembre 2018. Imbatible a ese precio. La tarjeta 1060 es la de 6 GB! El teclado, la pantalla son sublimes. Vale oro cada kilo que pesa ! Muy recomendable.

Un diseño elegante, un desempeño sensacional. La compré porque necesito la potencia para editar videos y otros programas de escritorio, con la movilidad de una laptop. No me ha decepcionado, es una pc magnifica.