#Acer predator helios 500 review 1080p#
#Acer predator helios 500 review manual#
#Acer predator helios 500 review full#
#Acer predator helios 500 review portable#

With nearly 16 inches of width to play with, the keys are reasonably large, with lots of separation between them. The input devices on the Acer Predator Helios 500 are nothing if not colorful and roomy. Keyboard and Touchpad of the Acer Predator Helios 500 (2021) And we're very curious to hear how much that panel adds to the laptop's cost. But we'll have to await a final review unit to say for sure. In short, that should be one dynamic display, with bright lights and dark blacks, which should be great for both AAA gaming and movies. Acer says it will also offer a 2560 x 1440 display option with a 165 Hz refresh rate.īut the most interesting screen option will be the 3840 x 2160 (4K) IPS screen that supports 120 Hz refresh and has a Mini LED matrix, giving it 512 backlight zones, plus what should be high-brightness HDR support. And in casual use and gaming, we didn't find it to be particularly dull or dim. But elite gamers will no-doubt appreciate the speed.

#Acer predator helios 500 review 1080p#

We weren't able to test the 1080p 360 Hz display (or any other aspect) of our pre-production sample. Display on the Acer Predator Helios 500 (2021)

#Acer predator helios 500 review full#

Note that Acer has yet to provide us with full specs, so we are unsure of the exact port speeds/specs. The right edge houses separate headphone and mic jacks, two more USB 3 Type-A ports, and a Killer Ethernet E3100G jack.

#Acer predator helios 500 review manual#

It's possible that audio will improve with final units, but a few minutes playing with the various DTS presets, first choosing the music preset and then fiddling with the manual EQ, didn't yield the kind of pleasing sound output I'd like from a laptop this big and expensive. To be fair, this audio may be pre-tweaked for gaming, bringing key strategic elements up in the mix, but it certainly doesn't make music sound good.

But out of the box, highs and mids sounded harsh, while lows were minimized and there was little in the way of bass, especially for a laptop that literally says Subwoofer on the bottom. That said, I was not impressed with the sound output of the laptop, at least for music.Īcer bills the Helios 500 as having 'True 5.1 channel surround sound' with a subwoofer, and licensed DTS X software is included for audio tweaking. And for music, the light show that the Helios 500 kicks out is almost like a party in and of itself. Having the lights and keyboard echoing what's on the screen is distracting when you're trying to watch a TV show or movie, but it could add to the level of immersion when gaming in the dark. But when watching trailers (and ads) for action movies, the flashing keys echoing gunshots did add something to the effect-I'm just not sure it's something I like. For instance, when I went to YouTube and an ad for YouTube Premium popped up in the bottom-left corner, the keys below it turned red and a purplish-white, mirroring the ad. But my slow reflexes and HDR-happy eyeballs would love to see what a bright, pixel-dense display with 512 backlight zones looks like on a laptop. There will be an optional Mini LED 4K panel with a 120 Hz refresh rate and full-array local dimming, which Acer says is 'comparable to VESA Display HDR 1000.' If you're a top-end competitive gamer, the crazy-fast 360 Hz 1080p screen that came with our unit is undoubtedly the better option. Sadly, one of the most intriguing options of the new laptop wasn't included in the sample they shipped. And the light show can be set to dynamically react to sound playing from the system's speakers, or even what's on the screen.Īcer sent us a pre-production sample in the days before its announcement to get some hands-on time with the new gaming flagship. Aside from the per-key RGB keyboard, there are light bars that run along all four edges of the laptop (yes, even the back).

#Acer predator helios 500 review portable#

As expected, it brings current top-end 11th Gen Intel/Nvidia components, plus perhaps more RGB than I've ever seen on a portable PC. But the laptop is back in a 17-inch shell that's a bit of a departure from the 2018 model.

It's been a couple of years now since Acer overhauled its big-screen Helios 500 desktop replacement rig.