The Predator Helios Neo 16 is Acer’s latest budget-friendly gaming laptop within its Helios series, condensing and subtracting in some ways from its comparable model, the Predator Helios 16 released earlier. Despite its smaller frame and less expensive specs, the Predator Helios Neo 16 is a great machine in my experience and was able to handle anything I played on it, with little to no issues.
But that’s not to say it’s without faults. The laptop comes with some questionable design choices, that while minor, are worth noting. The storage capacity on the laptop is also quite limited, which might be a bitter pill to swallow knowing that some of that minor storage is being taken up by Acer’s software which comes across as a little tacky and unnecessary. As noted in Gizmodo AU’s review, the computer runs fairly hot, its resolution isn’t perfect and the storage space is too little.
Despite these small shortcomings, I still really loved the Predator Helios Neo 16, as it’s one of the best choices if you’re keen on a gaming laptop equipped with an RTX 40 series GPU. And with that, comes a solid, reliable gaming experience for most triple-A titles, and hardware-demanding games.
Specs & How It Runs
The Predator Helios Neo 16 model of the Predator Helios Neo 16 (which, you should if you’re reading this review), then the laptop will come with:
- CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-13500HX processor Tetradeca-core 2.50 GHz
- GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4050 GPU with WUXGA (165Hz) display
- Storage: 512 GB PCIE Gen 4 SSD
- Battery: 4-Cell 90WH
- RAM: 16 GB, DDR5 SDRAM
The Predator Neo 16 includes a standard assortment of ports: Two Thunderbolt ports and an HDMI socket on the back, with Ethernet, AUX, Micro SD, and three USB-A ports on the sides.
To stress test the machine, I booted up Baldur’s Gate 3 and ran the game on its default settings, which set everything to High, to see how well it could handle crowded environments, loading speeds and generate environments, and to my surprise, it ran smoothly. In my two hours of playing, I had little to no issues with framerate drops, low-res textures and slow rendering.
As expected, it ran Final Fantasy XIV to perfection on Ultra settings, and I didn’t feel any clunkiness when min-maxing my rotations as a Black Mage.
Gizmodo AU reported that in their benchmarking, the Predator Neo 16 scored 82fps in Forza Horizon 5 on its recommended settings (set to Low) and in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, the game scored 100fps on recommended settings (set to High).
Given the specs, and the nature of it being a gaming laptop, it does run fairly hot. When playing Baldur’s Gate 3, I had set it on a laptop stand, which after an hour of playing, was almost too hot to touch.
A common complaint made against the Predator Helios 16 is that it has poor, and loud fans. In my experience, while the fans were making some noise, I didn’t necessarily notice that they were a big design flaw. I suspect that the reason people are disappointed about the sound of the fan quality isn’t just because it’s loud, but because the laptop has poor speakers. The sound quality is a bit poor and does get drowned out somewhat. I usually play with headphones on (I have the head dent to prove it), so if I weren’t reviewing it, I’m not too sure if it’s something I would usually catch. But after trialing, it is noticeable that the speakers lack bass, and sound a bit tinny as a result.
There are two models of the Predator Helios Neo 16 you can go with: the first is a cheaper option, with less expensive specs. This was the one I reviewed. But you can get a slightly more powerful model, which features an Intel® Core™ i7-13700HX processor Hexadeca-core 2.10 GHz with a NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4060 with 8 GB dedicated memory. It also comes with a larger 2560×1600 display.
The base model Helios Neo 16 features an Intel Core i5-13500HX and GeForce RTX 4050 GPU with WUXGA (165Hz) display and costs just $1,199.99. For the top-of-the-line model, however, you can expect to pay $2,799.99 for a laptop featuring an Intel Core i9-13900HX with GeForce RTX 4080 GPU and higher resolution WQXGA (240Hz) display.
The Design
Design is a unique one here. Like all gaming laptops, it’s committed to its cyberpunk aesthetic, but it doesn’t feel “loud” here. There’s still a slick and obvious influence here, but nothing too extreme.
One of the more strange design choices was placing the trackpad off-centre from the keyboard. As mentioned earlier, given how hot the keyboard runs, you will most likely need external hardware.
Like all gaming laptops these days, it has its gimmick, and it’s one I’m a little mixed about. The Predator Helios 16’s software is pretty hit-and-miss, with some interesting optimisation choices that can help you explore the laptop’s limits. But ultimately, I found myself disabling features, rather than enabling them.
One of the things you might find yourself immediately disabling is the system boot-up sound. If you just bought yourself a new Predator Helios Neo 16, turned it on, and thought it was about to explode, you’re not alone. The laptop has this alarming, anxiety inducing boot-up sound, which, maybe because of the poor speakers, sounds less like a super computer turning on, and instead like a rocket about to explode on lift off. This was something I immediately disabled because it just reminded me of this copypasta way too much.
Verdict
Overall, the Predator Helios Neo 16 fulfils a great niche for an entry-level gaming laptop that will give you access to plenty of current Triple-A games to run on High settings with stable FPS.
While there is some jank with its software, it’s nothing too intrusive to ruin your experience, and you can thankfully toggle off whatever options are annoying you.
If you’re looking for a reliable gaming laptop to get you started and tackle the current demands of most triple-A games, you can’t go wrong here.
Where to buy the Predator Helios Neo 16
Where you can buy the Predator Helios Neo 16 Intel i-5 13500 HX model: Amazon | Harvey Norman
Where you can buy the Predator Helios Neo 16 Intel i-7 13700 model: eBay | Kogan
Image Credit: Acer
Leave a Reply