Acer is updating its 2023 laptops to include 13th-Gen Intel and Ryzen 7000 series CPUs and Nvidia Lovelace RTX 40-series GPUs
During their recent press conference, Acer announced significant upgrades for their 2023 range of gaming laptops, bringing the mighty 13th-Gen Intel CPU and Ryzen 7000 mobile CPUs to their Helios and Nitro ranges, along with RTX 4080 mobile GPUs. Unsurprisingly, these will be Acer’s most powerful laptops to date.
The two new Helios laptops that were announced are the Predator Helios 16 (PH16-71) and Predator Helios 18 (PH18-71), which can be specced with either i7 or i9 HX CPUs with an RTX 4080 GPU with a TGP of 165W. Early benchmarks suggest performance similar to that of desktop RTX 3080 GPUs, which is a tremendous feat when you consider the compact dimensions and much lower power draw of these laptops.
The Predator Helios 16 offers a 16-inch (16:10) WQXGA (2560×1600) display at 165 Hz or 240 Hz or a Mini LED panel at 250 Hz, powered by AUO AmLED technology that supports over 1000 nits peak brightness with 1,000,000:1 high contrast ratio and 100% coverage of DCI-P3 colour gamut for rich, vivid colours. The Predator Helios 18 sports a breathtaking 18-inch (16:10) display with the following options: WUXGA (1920×1200) at 165 Hz, WQXGA (2560×1600) at 165 Hz or 240 Hz, or AUO’s superfast 250 Hz Mini LED display that showcases three times more ambient contrast ratio than conventional displays and supports 1000 local dimming zones to provide total freedom of use even in poor lighting conditions.
Housing all this powerful tech is a new design for the Helios series, featuring a simplified matte black chassis with clean edges and thinner bezels. Several ports are located on the back of the laptop with a customizable RGB light bar that runs along the top of the back vents.
The Predator laptops come with the Intel ® Killer ™ E2600 Ethernet Controller, Intel ® Killer ™ Wi-Fi 6E AX1675 frequency band support for fast, seamless gameplay. The gaming laptops cover a full range of peripherals with USB 3.2 Gen2 ports, including an HDMI 2.1, two USB Type-C Thunderbolt ™ 4 that support power delivery, and a Micro SD ™ card reader.
A mini-LED backlit keyboard compliments the new design with 1.8 mm key travel and anti-ghosting N-key rollover. The per-key RGB backlit keyboard has been redesigned to showcase bright uniform colour (with less halo) and smooth dynamic lighting effects, requiring less power and helping expel heat efficiently with a specially designed backlight module. The new dedicated Mode key provides instant mode switching for improved gaming performance, while the PredatorSense key makes it easy to quickly open the app. Users can also utilize PredatorSense to enable Predator Pulsar lighting for added customization on their keyboard’s per-key RGB backlighting. In addition, Acer’s gaming control centre, PredatorSense, has been updated to version 4.0 and offers a more robust design that makes it easier to control system settings and monitoring, while the new Scenario Manager feature enables the creation of
personal profiles for different gaming setups.
The Predator Helios 16 (PH16-71) will be available in North America in March, starting at USD 1,699.99; in EMEA in February, starting at EUR 2,399, and in the UK in June from £1,899.
The Predator Helios 18 (PH18-71) will be available in North America in April, starting at USD 1,599; in EMEA in March, starting at EUR 2,499, and in the UK in March from £2,099.
The new Nitro models offer a more affordable entry point, sharing the same RTX 40-series GPUs, M.2 PCIe-Gen4 SSDs and DDR5 memory, but they will feature AMD’s new Ryzen 7000 mobile CPUs. In order to keep the cost down, you will only get a four-zone RGB keyboard backlight and the displays aren’t quite as cutting edge, but unlike Nitro laptops from a few years back that looked a little listless in comparison to the Predator range, these displays will still support full sRGB coverage and high refresh rates.
These Nitro devices have dual fans, four fan outlets located at their sides and rear, an upper air intake, and are further supported by liquid metal thermal grease to aid cooling over intense gaming periods. They each come installed with NitroSense software and a dedicated NitroSense key, allowing users to monitor their systems’ temperatures, as well as adjust fan speed and power performance settings to keep the hardware running as cool as possible.
Each model comes with Killer DoubleShot Pro and is Killer Wi-Fi 6 1650i enabled to provide more bandwidth. To heighten the gameplay and streaming experience, these laptops feature an HD camera, two microphones, and two speakers with DTS: X® Ultra audio so players can fully immerse themselves in lush soundscapes. The new Nitro gaming laptops also possess a range of superb connectivity options with an HDMI 2.1 port, a microSD card reader, two Thunderbolt™ 4 ports supporting Power Delivery, and three USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, with one that allows for offline charging.
The Acer Nitro 16 (AN16-51) will be available in North America in May, starting at USD 1,199.99; in EMEA in May, starting at EUR 1,499, and in the UK from £1299.
The Acer Nitro 17 (AN17-51) will be available in North America in May, starting at USD 1,199.99; and in EMEA in May, starting at EUR 1,599 and in the UK from £1499.
