Acer - Predator Helios Neo 16S AI Gaming Laptop - 16" OLED 240Hz - Intel Core Ultra 9 - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070Ti – 32GB – 1TB - Obsidian Black

Good with some compromises, amazing for up to intermediate gamers. This is my second one after I had to swap out my first one in less than 24 hours (thank you Best Buy Total otherwise I would have been stuck)—see Unfixable Cons below. I damaged the first one doing a simple unscrewing of the bottom plate. Pros: - Price – you can’t beat this price for the on-paper specs it has. You also get what you pay for, and there are weird limitations to the laptop’s power. More below. - Screen is stunning. Crystal clear, super crisp, vibrant color, looks better than Retina in my opinion. For 240 Hz, which is plenty for me, this OLED screen is flawless, uncompromised and best in class. - Size & aesthetics: it’s not stunningly lightweight, but not too heavy either. However, it is stupidly thin for a gaming laptop and very portable. Takes up slightly more room than the 16” Macbook Pro. This laptop is top notch looks with pretty lights and clean design, and it will turn heads. Some reviewers say the plastic on the back looks cheap. I simply disagree. This is a cool looking laptop. - Numpad and keyboard – I love how this 16” laptop packs in a comfortable-to-use numpad. The key layout is really excellent, too. All keys are a full size, no awkward half keys. Full arrow keys, too. - Performance – I’m running the GPU hungry game Black Myth: Wukong at well over 60 fps, even higher on my 1440p monitor. No tearing, no bottlenecking, super smooth, and gorgeous ray tracing. Though I describe many compromises below, Acer did NOT compromise on performance. It’s a beast performer on Turbo, and you will be able to run most games at ultra settings at HD resolutions at 1080p and 1440p. The 5070ti is capable of 4k performance, but I haven’t tested this. - HDMI and Thunderbolt display support. I recommend not using a dock for video and using HDMI to USB-C direct to the laptop for best results. Fixable cons / annoyances: - Boot startup noise – Sounds like a running circular saw crashing through your window. If you’re setting up your laptop for the first time, you’re going to hear it a lot, and if your computer restarts in the middle of the night in another room, it will wake you. Turn it off immediately in BIOS. - Bloatware – I recommend installing a clean copy of Windows, but be aware, you will need to backdoor the Intel RAID drivers during the installation. May be difficult for an intermediate Windows user. I opted to keep PredatorSense which is downloadable from Acer’s website, and actually has useful tools. Also, it comes with Windows 11 Home, so have a license ready if you require Pro. - Heat – This thing gets REALLY hot. I recommend the Razer laptop cooling pad RC21-02300. Keeps it just a little warm during gaming sessions, cold to the touch during regular use. - Hard drive replacement / expansion – don’t even think about upgrading the paltry 1 TB this comes with (I guess “you get what you pay for”). Your upgraded drive will have to be a secondary drive and will only be recognized by Windows (see cons for Linux note). I wanted to upgrade my main boot drive, and I had a painful time trying to backdoor the Intel drivers to make this work. Unfixable cons: - Modifying – This is the HARDEST laptop I’ve had to modify yet. This laptop does not have easy access panels for upgrading the SSD or memory. Ten torx screws hold down the bottom plate, one of them stripped with no effort, and I warped the aluminum cover because that was the only option I had to remove the stripped screw. You’ll need a special screwdriver which I luckily had and a pry tool. The hard drive and the RAM are underneath thermal tape that is stuck on there pretty good, so use caution when removing. The nvme expansion slot exists, but it’s covered by the RAM’s thermal tape. Be very careful when taking apart, modifying and upgrading this laptop. Not novice friendly. - No Linux – it is difficult to load Intel RAID drivers during a Windows Live USB installation. It is impossible with Linux. If you enjoy dual booting or maining Linux, you can’t do it with this laptop. Period. Alternative ways are running Linux on an external hard drive or running it through a virtual machine, but it is impossible to install and run on board. Comment if you know a way because I certainly don’t. - FINGERPRINT MAGNET!! Looks like I eat nothing but fried chicken with how easy I get prints on the body. - USB-C ports are only on the back of the unit. It’s awkward to reach around to find your USB-C port. I have a dock with front facing USB-C ports so I don’t mind. If I didn’t have that, this would be really annoying. - Battery is butt. You might get an hour on a full charge and with eco settings. Realistically, you’ll get 45-ish minutes with average use. This is largely due to the inability to change refresh rates on the laptop screen, so your battery will heavily power the GPU. No way you’re doing any gaming without this thing plugged in to power. Wattage is limited to the GPU and CPU on battery, and thus games will run at abysmal framerates. I don’t know who out there is getting 3 hours of life, but that’s completely absurd. As this is my second unit, both units battery life was just horrible, so I doubt I have a defective battery. - Speakers are the cheapest, tinniest laptop speakers I’ve ever heard since the 90s. All treble, zero bass, zero depth. You’ll need headphones or external speakers. The speakers do get nice and loud, but the louder it gets, the lousier the quality is. If quality onboard speakers are a must, pass this laptop up. You’ll hate these speakers. Recommended based on the performance, aesthetics, and screen alone. It’s a great laptop if you’re mostly working and gaming at home. Not recommended if you need the complete experience to be quality. I won’t return it, but I can’t say I’m blown away by my experience. 3/5

Let me be clear: THIS THING SLAPS. Tl;dr: if you plan to keep it plugged to a wall and don’t mind bad speakers, don’t look any further. There’s no better deal for an OLED panel, high refresh rate, i9, 5070Ti 12GBVRam and upgradable ram and storage. If you want a more detailed review see below. Let’s get the cons out of the way: -Speakers are bad, but a good headset/headphones can easily fix this. -Battery is awful right now, for some reason you can’t switch the refresh rate to anything that’s not 240Hz, which causes your battery to drain supeeer fast: 1 hour AAA gaming - 3 hours light use. BUT, this is probably something Acer will fix down the line with an update (or at least I hope so). Although, if you’re like me and only use it while plugged to the wall, then it’s really not an issue. -Fans can get pretty loud on TURBO mode lol, but quiet and balance are really nice. -This might be exclusive to my unit: there’s a noticeable hiss/high pitched noise that appears for a couple minutes before the fans start picking up during a heavy usage session. Might be able to fix it by opening it but haven’t done so. TIME FOR THE PROS BABYYYY: -16” 240HZ OLED BEAUTIFUL SCREEN? YESSSSSSIIIR -UPGRADEABLE RAM AND STORAGE IN 2025? YESSSSSIIIIRRR -MULTIZONE RGB KEYBOARD? YESSSSSSSIIIR -THIN BEZELS? YESSSIIIIIR -OVERALL THIN AND LIGHT LAPTOP? YOU GOT IIIITTTTT -DOESNT GET STEAMING HOT? YOUREEEECORRREEECT -PLAYS EVERYTHING YOU THROW AT IT? YESSSSIIIIIIIR -5070TI WITH 12 GB OF VRAM? FOR LESS THAN $2,000??? LEEEESGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOO -INTEL CORE ULTRA 9? YESSSSSIIIIIIR -SLEEK ELEGANT DESIGN BUT STILL GIVES YOU THE OPTION TO MAKE IT MORE GAMERY WITH RGB LIGHTS? YOU GOT IIIITTTT -FROM 2D INDIE GAMES AND BINGE WATCHING YOUTUBE TO PLAYING AAA GAMES AND EXPORTING 60 TRACK SONGS IN ABLETON: THIS. THING. ATE. -IF YOU SEE THIS ON SALE, YOU GOT TO BUY IT. THE VALUE IS TOO GOOD MY GUYS. Pro tip: If you want to further improve air flow, put a book underneath the back part of the laptop to allow for more air intake. I travel a lot for work, and for some reason hotels in the US always have a certain book in their rooms lol, so I use those.

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI (with Intel Core Ultra 9 and RTX 5070 Ti) is a solid upgrade that feels futuristic right away. The OLED screen is a game-changer—like leaping from 720p to proper high-def—with stunning colors, deep blacks, and buttery-smooth 240Hz refresh that makes gaming feel 10x more immersive and vibrant. Overall speed is excellent, nearly doubling the performance of my old Acer Nitro in games and everyday tasks thanks to the powerful Ultra 9 CPU and 5070 Ti GPU combo. Thermals stay manageable if you crank up the fans and ensure good airflow, though the fans get noticeably loud under load (headphones fix that easily). Speakers are a downgrade—tinny and weak compared to the Nitro's—so plan on using a headset or external audio. Battery life tanks once you disable integrated graphics for full discrete GPU power, so it's strictly a plugged-in machine for serious use. One downside: Acer's made it tougher to DIY upgrades—the slim, thin design and tricky bottom cover make adding another SSD a real hassle compared to older models. Great pick for plugged-in gaming if you crave that killer OLED and raw power without breaking the bank.