Acer Predator Helios 16 and Helios 18 gaming laptops revealed at CES 2023
At CES 2023, Acer showed their complete line-up of gaming laptops spearheaded by the stonkingly powerful Predator Helios 16 and Helios 18 gaming laptops that both come with the latest 13th Gen Intel Core processors, the latest Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series graphics cards as well as upgraded cooling hardware for superior sustained gaming performance. Alongside the powerful Predator Helios series, Acer also debuted the refreshed Nitro 16 gaming laptop and you can check out our hands-on here.
What is the Predator Helios 16 and Helios 18
The Predator Helios 16 ships with a 16-inch WQXGA (2,560 x 1,600 pixel) display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and either a 165Hz or 240Hz display or a more premium Mini LED panel with 250Hz refresh rate and 1,000 nits peak brightness and 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut.
The Acer Predator Helios 16
The Predator Helios 18 has an 18-inch display with a 250Hz refresh rate, 1,000 nits peak brightness and a 16:10 aspect ratio with your choice of a WUXGA 165Hz panel, a shaper WQXGA panel at either 165Hz or 240Hz or a Mini LED 250Hz display.
The Acer Predator Helios 18
Both the Helios 16 and Helios 18 are able to pack a 13th Gen Intel Core i8 or i7 HX processor, up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 mobile GPU with a combined TDP of 165W, up to 32GB DDR5 RAM, up to two 2TB SSD’s in Raid 0 configuration. Keeping all this hardware cool is their 5th Gen Aeroblade 3D metal fan paired with vector heat pipes along with liquid metal thermal paste for more efficient heat transfer.
Both the Helios 16 and Helios 18 both feature a mini-LED per-key backlit keyboard with 1.8mm key travel and anti-ghosting N-key roll-over and feature WiFi 6E as well as comprehensive I/O with a HDMI 2.1 port, a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports with power delivery, a microSD card reader and USB 3.2 Gen2 ports.
Also accompanying the new Predator Helios 16 and Helios 18 are the new Predator X27U and Predator X45 gaming monitors. The Predator X45 display is a 45-inch UWQHD (3,440 x 1,440) pixel curve display with an 800R curvature, supports 98.5% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, has a 240Hz refresh rate and is also TUV Rheinland Eyesafe-certified while also featuring HDR10 support with a peak brightness of 1000 nits.
The smaller Predator X27U has a 27-inch flat WQHD (2,560 x 1,440 pixels) display with 98.5% DCI-P3, a similar TUV Rheinland Eyesafe certification as the larger X45 and HDR10 support too along with a 240Hz refresh rate. Both monitors also feature a KVM switch to swap between laptops and desktops at will without having to change a mouse and keyboard between either one.
Predator Helios 16, Helios 18, X45 and X27U availability
In terms of pricing, Acer announced that the Predator Helios will launch this March in the United States with prices from USD1,649.99, the EMEA in February from EUR2,399 and China also in February from RMB 17,999.
The larger Predator Helios 18 will ship in the U.S in April with prices from USD1,699, EMEA a bit earlier in March from EUR2,499 and in China in February from RMB 20,999.
For the monitors, the Predator X45 is slated to arrive in the U.S in Q2 from USD 1,699, the EMEA in Q2 and China in Q1 while the X27U will arrive in Q2 in the U.S from USD1,099, the EMEA in Q2 and China in RMB 7,999. For more details on Acer’s CES 2023 range, check out their official page here.