On the surface, the Acer Predator Helios three hundred isn’t a head-turning gaming laptop. It’s a 15-inch system with an Intel Core i7-7700HQ processor and GeForce GTX 1060 portraits, which is a baseline platform for plenty portable gaming machines. But what piqued my hobby became the rate: the Helios is basically the cheapest gaming pc with those specifications available on the market, at $1,049 on Amazon, and user evaluations were in large part wonderful.

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With this in mind, I wanted to get a few fingers on time with this gaming pc to peer in which Acer has cut corners and whether or not the pc is honestly worth your coins. After all, every time a laptop strives to be the most less expensive in any category, sacrifices are regularly made to get there.

In this situation, the Predator Helios three hundred doesn’t compromises on specs. Some gaming laptops ditch the SSD of their price range editions, however the Helios 300 packs a 256GB SSD in its base version. There’s still 16GB of RAM, similar to most different GTX 1060 gaming laptops. And the show; once more, it’s 1080p, so there is no distinction on paper relative to similar products. For the charge, it seems like a splendid deal.

But there are some aspects to this computer that Acer hasn’t prioritized. The design is one of them. The Helios three hundred isn’t slim, at 27mm thick, and the bezels across the display are as massive as most budget gaming laptops. It’s additionally round 6 lbs heavy, which is on the top end for GTX 1060 laptops of this size; the maximum transportable often shave two kilos off this weight. Despite the load and size, this pc only packs a forty eight Wh battery, that's mid-tier for this hardware.

Note: This Laptopmakes a speciality of the 15.6-inch version of the Helios three hundred. A large 17.3-inch version is likewise to be had.

The construction of the Helios 300 is simple, essentially simply ticking the packing containers for what a modern gaming computer should offer. There are two brushed metallic sections – the lid, and the keyboard surround – but the relaxation of the computer is made from matte plastic. Little attention has been paid to preserving the tool seamless, so the stop end result is a aggregate of numerous extraordinary materials and textures. It works, however handiest due to the fact that is an access-degree product.

There’s no scarcity of gamer fashion round this computer, in particular at the lid, which features Acer’s competitive Predator brand along side a few purple highlights. It’s a comparable tale while the laptop is open: a huge Predator brand underneath the show, red highlights across the keyboard and trackpad, plus a typically angular layout that’s commonly limited to gamer products. Some like this aesthetic; I’m no longer a big fan.

The vents along the lower back have received their dose of gamer style as well, way to a large crimson outline. It’s thrilling to peer that 1/2 of those ‘vents’ are essentially fake, leaving simply one 1/2 of the overall area for actual airflow. These are the best vents across the sides, so all exhaust is going via this one smallish port. This once more is Acer choosing a purposeful, basic design over something greater sophisticated, that is first-rate for a reasonably-priced pc.

The selection of I/O ports on this computer is, unsurprisingly, simple. The left has Ethernet, HDMI, a unmarried USB three.0-A port, and a USB three.1 Gen 1 Type-C port, along side an SD card reader. The proper gets the power port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and USB 2.0-A ports. So sure, the Helios 300 handiest has a single USB 3.0-A port, as Acer possibly believes you may use the right USB ports for an external mouse and possibly keyboard as well. Ideally all 3 USB ports would help as a minimum 3.0 speeds.

They keyboard in all fairness traditional for a laptop: nothing unique but not anything awful both. Its travel and tactile comments is just like many ultraportable laptops, with a spongy though not insufferable response. Each secret's spaced effectively, with Acer managing to cram in full-sized arrow keys and a numpad into this tool. The WASD keys are highlighted, and the keyboard has a red backlight. Again, not anything unique like RGB right here, just your popular gaming laptop keyboard.

You’re going to need to use a mouse with this laptop for gaming, but the trackpad protected isn’t horrible for casual use, that's a piece of a marvel thinking about it uses ELAN hardware. Now, it’s not the exceptional trackpad I’ve used, and tracking overall performance is best fair, however for net browsing and different light responsibilities it’s flawlessly serviceable.

Up until now, the whole thing is quite general for an access-degree gaming computer; it’s still now not clear what hardware Acer has compromised to hit a low rate point. I say “up until now”, because I’m approximately to speak about the display, that's with the aid of a ways the worst component to this computer.

On paper, there’s not anything inherently incorrect with the panel. It’s a fifteen.6-inch 1920 x 1080 IPS LCD that runs at 60 Hz. There’s no excessive refresh rate or G-Sync guide, which isn’t sudden for a budget laptop, and that’s first-rate. When you dig in to the performance of the display, however, extreme troubles are exposed.

To start with, the panel on my Auroraunit is handiest able to 65% sRGB insurance. This is completely unacceptable for any contemporary show, and pretty frankly I became greatly surprised at this result. After checking some different evaluations, it seems this determine can range a bit, as I’ve seen different assessments suggesting as much as eighty five% coverage. I may additionally have a specially horrific overview pattern, but anyways, something less than about ninety five% sRGB insurance must no longer be tolerated in 2017 for any product class, finances or no longer. In reality I’ve seen lots of other low-tier gaming laptops that provide plenty better sRGB insurance.

This horrible gamut end result ends in sizeable undersaturation, because the display definitely cannot push colors to the specified vibrance stages. Images look flat and lacking punch as a result. Put this show next to anything which could produce sRGB appropriately – we’re no longer even speaking about extensive-gamut panels here – and the Helios three hundred show appears underwhelming to say the least.

With this form of gamut, it’s no marvel to peer horrific coloration accuracy. The comparison ratio is okay, at 1160:1, and colour temperatures are perfect for the most element. But the gamut prevents this display from ever hitting even half of-decent accuracy stages, and it’s not something calibration can correct. Brightness is likewise vulnerable, at most of only 230 nits.

Will you notice the terrible show at some stage in gaming? It depends on the sport, but as the panel can not reproduce the brilliant, punchy colours we assume on the high-quit on sRGB shows, particle results and so forth may be washed out and desaturated.