![]() ![]() There are lots of similarly priced laptops on the market, offering similar specifications, but I think it's the screen that sets this model apart. It does get fairly loud, but it keeps the frame rates high, and that's a trade-off that I'm sure many people will be happy to make. The keyboard area stayed cooler and more comfortable to use on this machine than any in recent memory, and that's no doubt due to the extra breathing room afforded by this sizable chassis. The upside of that is the excellent cooling. That's nothing unusual, in the world of gaming laptops, but while you might be happy to lug about a behemoth with an RTX 4080 inside, it's a bigger ask when it comes to a specification like this. It's a chunky and heavy machine that's best constrained to household use, especially when you factor in the bulk of the hefty power brick. The majority of Acer's own software is, at least, quite useful, allowing you to easily control the RGB lighting and performance profiles.Īs for the downsides, it's mainly the size and weight that would hold me back from recommending this to everyone. It does, unfortunately, have a bit of bloatware installed, such as ExpressVPN, a McAfee trial and Dropbox, which is a tad annoying, but far from the worst that I've seen. ![]() Regarding the operating system, the Helios 16 ships with Windows 11 Home, and there are very few surprises there. It does get hot around the light bar at the rear of the chassis, but since you aren't going to be touching it, that's absolutely fine. The upside of all the noise is that the laptop stays exceptionally cool, especially around the keyboard area where your hands are likely to be. These vents are well placed, too, ensuring that the hot air is blown away from the user and that you aren't likely to get a hot mouse hand. In performance mode, they're noisy but more reasonable, and they do their job well, as evidenced by the heat billowing out from the vents at the rear of the chassis. The fans get extremely loud in turbo mode, sounding a bit like a jet engine taking off, but it certainly helps the frame rates. There's a handy little physical toggle switch to the lower left of the display, and this allows you to switch between quiet, balanced, performance and turbo presets. Most of the time, I chose to pair the laptop with a good gaming headset, instead. ![]() They have a tendency towards sharper sounds, which could come in handy for competitive gaming, as it allows you to pinpoint footsteps well, but it also means that dialogue and music can sound a little tinny. ![]() The DTS X speakers are capable of outputting some serious volume and there's a good level of spaciousness and detail to the sound. It has a blistering fast 250Hz refresh rate, as well as Nvidia G-Sync support, so games always look buttery smooth and free from tearing. I mainly stuck to things like gaming and watching Netflix, and in those cases, the display provides rich vibrant colours that look great. The panel covers 100 per cent of the DCI-P3 colour space, so it could prove to be useful for creative work. It's my preferred aspect ratio for most tasks, it's great for productivity and translates well to gaming, too. It's a 16:10 panel on this model, meaning you get some extra height compared to a traditional 16:9 display. ![]()
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