Verdict
The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 is a competent gaming laptop computer , but for the same price , you’re able to have an Acer Nitro 16 with a sharper exhibit , a more potent GPU and more RAM . There ’s no good reason to buy the Neo 16 over the Nitro 16 .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Previously Acer ’s play laptop computer was sluttish to understand . On one death of the scale , you had the entry - level Nitro machines and on the other , the state - of - the - art Triton models . In between sat the Predator Helios range .
But apparently , a oscitancy chasm between the Nitro and Predator Helios line - up had to be plugged . That plug goes by the name of the Predator Helios Neo 16 , which is either an expensive entry - storey motorcar or a tacky mid - range machine depending on how you seem at it .
Currently , only one Neo 16 machine is on sales event in the UK , built around an Intel Core i7 - 13700HX central processor and a Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU . It will set you back £ 1699/$1549 , which bewilderingly is the same price as the top - spec Nitro 16(reviewed here in RTX 4050 guise)with an AMD Ryzen 7 processor and RTX 4070 GPU .
Over in the USA , there ’s more flexibleness for the Predator Helios Neo 16 with a base of operations $ 1199.99 fashion model with an i5 - 13500HX CPU and RTX 4050 GPU . If you do n’t understand what Acer is attempt to do here , welcome to the club .
Design and Keyboard
Although it ’s called a Predator , the Neo resembles a Nitro . In fact , it looks a lot like theNitro 16 . I am unsure I could distinguish the two apart if you plonked them in front of me side - by - side . And it ’s build up like a Nitro , with an aluminum hat and a plastic physical structure . The body is substantial , but the lid is quite wobbly .
Affordable Acer play laptop have never been known for being tripping or compact , and the raw Neo 16 is no exception . At 2.8Kg it ’s quite heavy , and at 360 x 280 x 28.3 millimetre , it ’s on the chunky side . Those dimension are the same as for the Nitro 16 bar heaviness , where the Neo is marginally more portly .
On the back bound of the body , the word Predator is print in Morse code ( well , so I ’m narrate , I do n’t read Morse ) . The blue plastic applique on the rear corner is all that breaks the all - black color strategy .
The Neo has many ports dot along both side and the nates . On the leftfield , you will find one USB - A 3.2 Gen 1 port , a microSD card reader , a Gigabit RJ-45 ethernet port , and a 3.5 mm audio recording combo old salt . On the right are two USB - A 3.2 Gen 2 ports and a Kensington Lock .
On the laptop computer ’s keister are twoThunderbolt 4ports supporting 65W PD charging and displaced person Alt Mode video output signal , an HDMI 2.1 socket , and the DC - in laborer . An indicant of what port are where on the top of the slip would be more utile than the Morse computer code that actually sit above them .
withdraw the base panel from the Neo is very square , and once inside , you could easily access both SODIMM memory one-armed bandit and 2280 PCIe 4 SSD bay laurel . This is just as well as the Neo 16 only come with 512 GB of storage as criterion , which is a weakly elbow grease when you consider the price of the Neo 16 and the size of innovative games : 1 TB should be the entering point for any gaming laptop computer with a retail price above £ 1400/$1400 .
The keyboard is typical Nitro in look and feel ; a chiclet social function with low-set Key and a solid deck . The WASD , full - sized arrow key , and the Predator Sense CP hotkey all have coloured wall , so they are well distinguishable with the four - zone RGB backlight sour on or off . A Turbo key is set into the vent above the keyboard that set the system of rules into high - performance mode .
Despite being made of plastic rather than glass , the touchpad is quiet , responsive , and very satisfying in daily use , whether for productiveness or gaming .
Display and Sound
The display is safe , though I should elucidate that the 2560 x 1600 resolution on our follow-up sample is not what UK client will get . britt are restricted to a 1920 x 1200 resolving instead , which find unfair .
There ’s a lot to like about the USA - specific WQXGA display my review motorcar was fitted with . There ’s good colour gamut coverage with 97.6 % sRGB , 73.2 % Adobe RGB , and 76.5 % DCI - P3 , while the maximal luminance of 511nits was very impressive .
The contrast ratio was also good at 1205:1 , while the Delta E colour accuracy was a highly creditable 1.5 , meaning you could utilise the Neo for colour - critical work out of the box .
Both the Neo display option have a maximal refresh rate of 165Hz and a claim 3ms answer time . And both descend with backup for G - Sync and FreeSync , which is good to see , as well as Nvidia ’s Advanced Optimus GPU - change technical school , which act as an automaticMUX switchand eliminates the need to reboot to enter dGPU - only musical mode .
The only downside of modern Optimus is the few second of halt when the system switches between GPUs , but you soon maturate used to it . Motion manipulation was in force , with minimum blurring or smearing to be get wind in the omnipresent Blur Busters UFO test .
The 2 x 2W speaker system pump out plenitude of volume – 77.2dB(A ) from a pink noise source measured at 1 m – and detail levels are good , but a clear-cut deficiency of bass gave the sound a sleazy tone .
Above the sieve sits a 720p resolution webcam that produced images of fair quality in well - illume conditions , though things became noisy in lower - light environs . There is no living forWindows HelloIR factual recognition , nor is there a fingerprint reader .
Performance
The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 is ramp up around a 16 - core Intel Core i7 - 13700HX CPU and a 140W TGP Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU with 16 GB ofDDR5system RAM and 8 GB of vRAM . That ’s a solid fundament for execute the latest Triple - A games , and of course , you may take advantage of Nvidia ’s latestDLSS 3upscaling vodoun .
The Neo did well when tasked with ply our usual slate of games . run at 2560 x 1600 without shaft tracing or upscaling , Returnal average out 54fps , cyber-terrorist 2077 at 31.5fps , Horizon Zero Dawn at 90fps and Rainbow 6 : Extraction at 93fps . dive deeper into Cyberpunk 2077 , turning on ray tracing knocked the frame rate down to 19fps , but engaging DLSS 3 and Frame Generation fight it back up to 65fps .
The PCMark10 productiveness benchmark score 7062 , while the Cinebench multi - core test give 20,536 . Given the internal components , those were exactly what I expect , like the gaming heaps . You must endow in a organisation establish around a Core i9 central processor and an RTX 4080 GPU to get importantly high numbers in work or diddle .
Something was definitely on the fritz with the 512 GB SK Hynix PC801 SSD in my followup whole . Sequential read speeds were in effect , being uniform and average out over 7GB / s , but sequent write speeds were all over the place and refuse to break the 1.5GB / s barrier , which is wretched , to say the least .
The Neo 16 exhibit in force thermic direction : I did not detect an inner temperature above 77 ° C or an outdoor temperature above 40 ° C . The cool down system is rather gaudy when the buff are run at full focal ratio , and the noise they make is not what I ’d call pleasant , but that is not an issue that feign the Neo 16 any more than the direct competition .
Battery Life
The 90Wh battery kept the lights on for four hour and 58 moment in the PCMark 10 Office battery trial . stream Netflix for an hour take 26 % out of the barrage , so count on what you are doing , you will see between 4 and 5 hours from a full charge . Naturally , that does not include gaming . run away through Returnal can empty the battery in under 90 minutes .
you’re able to keep the Neo 16 commit via the Thunderbolt 4 embrasure , which is just as well because the DC brick is a big quondam hunk and weighs 1.2Kg .
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Should you buy it?
Taken on its own merits , the Acer Helios Predator No 16 is not a uncollectible laptop . The showing is dependable , performance is solid , and it ’s a nice - look machine too .
Why on globe would you expend £ 1700 for a 1920 x 1080 RTX 4060 Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 with 16 GB of RAM when for the same money , you could have a 2560 x 1600 RTX 4070Acer Nitro 16with 32 Great Britain ?
Final Thoughts
I can see what Acer is prove to do with the Predator Helios Neo , but I consider it ’s escape the scar . To vend a auto above the Nitro image convincingly , they should have added some genuinely enhanced lineament like a 1080p webcam , biometric security , a 240Hz display and a 1TD SSD as criterion . And maybe make it humble and light-headed .
That would have put some percipient piddle between the Neo and the high up - endNitro 16 , which , remember , for the exact same toll , can be peck up with a more powerful RTX 4070 GPU , more memory and a higher - resolution display .
As it stands , the Predator Helios Neo is a perfectly nice play laptop , but I ca n’t think of a single reason to grease one’s palms it over the Nitro 16 unless you dead must have three rather than two USB - A ports and Thunderbolt rather than USB 3.2 Gen 2 specification character - atomic number 6 embrasure which the Nitro has thanks to its , admittedly less potent , AMD Ryzen CPU . learn out ourBest Gaming Laptopguide for more choice .
Trusted Score
How we test
Every laptop we review run through a serial of consistent assay designed to gauge key thing , including build character , performance , screen tone and battery sprightliness .
These let in stately semisynthetic benchmark and scripted mental test , plus a series of actual - reality checks , such as how well it runs popular apps .
FAQs
Yes . At the entry horizontal surface , the Nitro serial of gaming laptop computer volunteer mass of carrying into action for the money and have splendid keyboards that look and feel the part . The Helios machine above them cost more but have lovely Mini conduct displays and more powerful GPUs .
It should be because , in Acer ’s worldview , the Neo 16 sits between the Nitro 16 and the Helios 16 , but as it stands in the UK , the Neo and Nitro 16 laptops cost the same , but the Nitro is more powerful and has a good display .
Test Data
Full Specs
