With the release of newer and more powerful games every day, the demand for a great gaming laptop seems only to rise. There are many gaming laptops right now in the market in the $1500 range including Alienware 13, Razer Blade Pro, Asus FX502VM and MSI Leopard Pro. With the debut of Acer Predator Helios 300 PH317-51-787B, the situation has only been spiced up. Let’s get into the nitty gritty then.
Check out the latest price for the Acer Predator Helios 300 PH317-51-787B
Specs:
- CPU – Intel Core i7 Quad-Core (7th Gen), 2.8 GHz
- GPU – 6 GB DDR5, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
- Memory – 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4, extendable upto 32 GB
- Screen – 17.3-inch Full HD IPS (1,920 x 1,080)
- Storage – 1 TB SATA HDD + 256 GB SSD
- OS – Windows 10 Home edition
Benefits:
- Performance – This is loaded with a 7th Gen Intel i7, 16 gigs of DDR4 RAM and a powerful Nvidia GTX 1060. It is as efficient in doing general purpose day to day work such as surfing the net or playing medias as in running some fancy high-end game. Many benchmark games like Overwatch, Doom, Witcher 3, Battlefield and Mass Effect: Andromeda ran at an admirable >60 fps steadily on ultra settings. The 1060 GPU performs almost as efficiently as its desktop counterpart. And greatest of all, it hardly ever gets overheated. The cooling system gives an astounding performance in keeping it nice and cool.
- Price – It’s almost otherworldly how Acer has managed to deliver all these features (especially a GTX 1060; most of the other laptops in this range offer either a GTX 1050 or a GTX 1050 Ti) in such a price range. Some of the competitors with similar configurations would cost you an extra $600 or $700 (aka Razer Blade). So, you sure get a lot of value for your hard-earned money.
Downsides:
- Battery – Confession time!! Helios doesn’t own a good battery just because Acer claims so in a big black font on their website. I mean, there’s no way a tiny 48 Wh battery could be sufficient for a gaming laptop like this. In a standard situation, it can last as long as 4 hours. Not bad, huh? But while doing some intense task like playing games, it hardly even lasts an hour.
- Screen – Okay, when Acer managed to offer all these features in this price tag, they had to cut down some of the details. Yes, it’s the screen. First of all, it isn’t as bright as it should be as a 17 inch Full HD display. It seemed a bit dim in comparison with the others. Also, on proper testing, it showed an average dE (delta E) value of 5.6 covering 70% of the sRGB colour space. Bottom line: the screen is not extremely crisp and colour accurate.
Verdict:
Okay, let’s sum up the situation: great performance, good cooling, slightly bulky build, good aesthetics, good keyboard and trackpad, an average display and a below the par battery. And, all of this at an amazing price. It, by far, overwhelms all of its drawbacks. So, if you are after a budget gaming laptop then it’s definitely a steal at that price.
Check out the latest price for the Acer Predator Helios 300 PH317-51-787B