Meet Acer's beastliest gaming laptops — they're growling with 13th Gen Intel CPUs, Nvidia 40-series GPUs (2024)

If you’re on the hunt for a powerful gaming laptop this year, be on the prowl for the new Predator Helios 16 and Predator Helios 18 gaming rigs. As you might have guessed, these bad boys are outfitted with 13th Gen Intel Core processors and Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-series GPUs.

These laptops will cater to anyone who is sick of gaming on small-display gaming laptops. Why not go big and splashy with a massive 18-inch display? Lots of power and lots of screen — win!

Predator Helios 16 and Predator Helios 18

Say hello to Acer’s most powerful gaming laptops to date: the Predator Helios 16 and Predator Helios 18. Both offer configurations that are packed with a 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700HX CPU or 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900HX CPU. As mentioned, they’ll be paired with Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-series graphics.

“The blazing-fast performance users could experience is remarkable when compared to industry alternatives, as our labs have shown up to 40% higher in Crossmark tests of general PC use and two times in Blender, which many content creators use for work,” said Intel’s Corporate VP and General Manager of Asia Pacific and Japan Steve Long.

The Predator Helios 16 and Predator Helios 18 also offer up to 32GB of DDR5 RAM and up to 2TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD in Raid 0. This bad boy is prepared to tackle the most demanding triple-A games.

Display

If you’re wondering about the display, you have several options for the Predator Helios 16: a 16-inch, 2560 x 1600 display with a 16:10 aspect ratio with a refresh rate of 165Hz or 240Hz. You can also choose a mini-LED panel with a 250Hz refresh rate.

The Predator Helios 18 offers an 18-inch display with a 16:10 aspect ratio with the following options: 1920 x 1200 at 165Hz or 2560 x 1600 at 165Hz or 240Hz. You can also choose an ultra-fast 250Hz mini-LED display that showcases “three times more ambient contrast ratio than conventional displays,” Acer boasted.

The new Predator laptops come with enhanced thermal solutions with dual custom-engineered 5th Gen AeroBlade 3D metal fans and heat pipes for better heat transfer. The liquid metal thermal grease also helps to keep the system temperate, too.

Deck

The deck packs a mini-LED backlit keyboard with 1.8mm of key travel as well as anti-ghosting N-key rollover. Express your personality and passion for gaming with the per-key RGB backlit keyboard that delivers smooth dynamic lightning effects.

Thanks to the mode key, you can conveniently switch between modes to improve gaming performance. You can also use the PredatorSense key to quickly fire up Acer’s gaming control center app.

Connectivity

The Predator Helios 16 and 18 come with the following ports: USB 3.2 Gen 2, HDMI 2.1, USB Type-C Thunderbolt 4, and a microSD card reader. Both laptops come with Intel’s Killer E2600 Ethernet Controller as well as Intel’s Killer Wi-Fi 6E AX1675 frequency band.

Bottom line

The Predator 16 and 18 come with one month of Xbox Game Pass or PC Game Pass. The former will be available with a starting price of $1,649 in March; the latter will hit store shelves in April with a starting price of $1,699.

Meanwhile, the pricing and specs are a little different in the UK, with the Helios 16 starting at £1,899 and the 18 weighing in at £2,099.