Big, heavy and expensive, the Acer Predator Helios 18 brings together a collection of components that will challenge anything else on the market today
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Our Verdict
This laptop is big, heavy and hot, and that’s because it’s supremely capable when it comes to both gaming and creative work. Having a GPU this powerful in a portable PC is going to be very useful for some users, but they’ll have to pay the same amount as a 16in MacBook Pro for the privilege, and that may send some into the warm embrace of Apple. If you can put up with the weight and the sound of the fans, this is a top desktop replacement machine that, thanks to its big screen, will be bent to all kinds of creative tasks. Yes, it is technically portable, but its weight and power draw count against it in this situation, and you should look elsewhere if you want something you can sling in a backpack.
For
- Powerful
- Stable
- Large screen
Against
- Heavy
- Hot
- Expensive
- Acer Predator Helios 18 review: Key specificationsSpecs as tested
- CPU:Intel Core i9 14-900HX Graphics:Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 (16GB) Memory:32GB DDR5Screen SIZE:18in IPSResolution:2560 x 1600p
- Refresh rate:250Hz
- Colour coverage (stated):100% P3
- Storage:2TB SSD, microSD
- Connectivity:Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth, gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C
- Dimensions:29 x 404 x 312mm
- Weight:3.25kg
- Design & build
- This is a big and heavy laptop. You’re going to need a bigger bag if you want to carry it around, but its biggest draw will be as a desktop replacement, whose only travel is between your desk and the cupboard when you tidy up. The machine’s gaming heritage is seen not only in the GPU-heavy specs, but also in the RGB lighting in the keyboard, screen-back logo and the bar below the hinge. Overall, it’s not too aggressive a design, being mostly black, and the lighting can be turned off. It also makes an obnoxious noise at startup, even if you’ve muted it in Windows – you’ll need to open Acer’s own control software to turn this off.
- As a large laptop, fewer compromises have had to be made in terms of port placement, and they’re all readily accessible. Having the HDMI and charging connectors on the back of the chassis rather than the side is a good idea for a desktop replacement, as they mean fewer cables snaking across your desk to get in the way, but the Ethernet socket hasn’t joined them. It’s a spring-loaded slimline port that may start to annoy if in regular use, but as it’s ‘only’ a gigabit port, and the machine has Wi-Fi 7 on board that can potentially beat it in terms of speed, it may be redundant.
- The weight of the Helios 18 means it’s very stable on a desk, and the extra screen size is always welcome. We suspect, however, that this laptop will spend much of its life hooked up to an external monitor and purchased in the interests of a tidy studio rather than portable gaming, but fortunately it excels in this role
- Features
- At the slightly-more-than-1440p 16:10 resolution that’s known as WQXGA, the mini-LED IPS screen on the Helios 18 does a good job of showing you what’s going on. An immediate upgrade would be to plug it into one of thebest 4K OLED screens, or maybe anice ultrawide, to really get the best out of the GPU, but as it is this is a well featured machine. For some reason, the Helios 18 refused to play nicely with the Datacolor Spyder software we use for checking a display’s brightness and gamut, so we’ll have to take Acer’s word for it that it can display 100% of the P3 colour gamut.
- The extra space afforded by the 18-inch laptop’s chassis means there’s no cramped keyboard or tiny trackpad to worry about. There are full-size keys and a numpad, with none of the odd space-saving key layouts that can trip you up if you’re not used to them. There are no creative-software-specific features such as the ASUS dial on their Studiobooks, but plenty of USB ports to connect external devices to. The machine tops out at USB 3.2 Gen 2 – that’s the 10Gbps one for those not up on the confusing nomenclature – so there’s none of the usefulness of USB4 or Thunderbolt here, but you can use the Type-C ports in DisplayPort mode to complement the HDMI.
- Battery life comes out at a bit more than four and a half hours in our tests, which keep the screen on and run through a loop of common computing tasks. That’s respectable for a gaming laptop, and will be helped by the larger chassis allowing for a bigger battery to be packed inside. Ramp up the power for gaming, or anything that uses the GPU, and you’ll see that figure drop like a stone.Who is it for?It’s for gamers, obviously, but laptops like this have huge potential for creative work. They can blitz through 2D and3D rendering, bring their power to bear on still andmoving images, and the generative AI tools inPhotoshop, orLightroomdenoising, are no problem at all. That huge GPU gives the Helios 18 an advantage over just about everything else when it comes to applying effects and keeping the screen moving, whether you’re rendering aliens to shoot at or just to look at.
- Should I buy it?
- Buy it if:•You want a desktop replacement•
- You need that GPU•You don’t mind the noise
- Don’t buy it if:•
- Actual portability is a concern•Something cheaper will do the job•
- You’d prefer a Mac