The Movement Control Order, as we know it in Malaysia, or the sanctioned quarantine at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic (it is not over, by the way) really opened our eyes to plenty of things. It revealed the human ability to adapt to any situation and still survive. It also proved that our technology is ready to handle the situation and give us the kind of flexibility we need in that time of need.
But it also opened a whole other can of worms. Once we started working from home, we realised just how easily we can be productive without being in a professional environment. We also realised that the line between work and leisure is blurred to the point that we cannot see it. In that sense, we tend to be workaholics at home. Time for a change of lifestyle then, a new schedule.
You realised something too. You do not have much entertainment at home. You did not buy a TV because you tend to not be home until quite late in the evening. By that time, you just want to relax, wind down, watch a video or two on your smartphone or notebook, and then sleep. A TV is unnecessary at the time.
Other forms of entertainment get neglected too. Your gaming PC at the corner has collected so much dust that it looks like an ancient relic. You stopped playing that much games because you tend to stay out until its dark and you are sleepy. You want to play games, but you just do not have the energy for it in the past. In the current work-from-home situation though, you realise you have plenty more time to play games. But your Gaming PC is now old and slow. Time to buy a new Gaming PC.
You decide that its best to get a Gaming Notebook because it is the most convenient form of gaming PC to date. You can bring it around when you need to move, you can use it for work, you can watch movies on it, you can play music on it, you can have a LAN party at your friend’s place. It is the most versatile entertainment powerhouse in the world of entertainment powerhouses.
Which one do you go for though? What kind of budget do you stick to? There are so many choices out there at this point? What if you do not have more than MYR 6,000 to spend on one? What is the latest one in the market?
One of the latest gaming notebooks to arrive in Malaysia is the Acer Predator Helios 300. We heard somewhere too that the device was actually planned for an earlier release to no avail. That was due to the COVID-19 pandemics and its disruption toward the logistics industry globally. We do not blame them. It is also priced below MYR 6,000 at MYR 5,199, way below. In short, it sounds like one of the best deals to get if you are in the market for a gaming notebook. Is it though? Let us find out.
Design
The Acer Predator Helios 300 for the 2020 has been updated a little bit from before. The Acer Predator Helios 300 2020 gets pretty much the same GPU set up as before, same RAM size as before, and the same cooling internals. That is where the similarities end though.
The Predator Helios 300 is now packing more power with an Intel Core i7-10750H. With that, it also gets a slightly updated look. Gone is the ‘PREDATOR’ word logo on the cover. You get a much cleaner look on the back of the display now, which is the top clam of the notebook. The mascot logo is still there though, giving you some hints of the power contained within the all-aluminium body.
The power lines that frames the logo is still there too. The powerlines are as iconic as ever, in Predator’s signature blue. Sadly, only the logo in the center of the clam lights up with LED. We feel that the power lines deserve their own LED array to let others know that it means business.
The angled edge still stays, a staple now to Acer’s gaming line-up, including their Nitro series. The angles on the display clam is still a little sharp, but that is not a huge issue, considering that you rarely have contact with that part of the notebook.
The sharp edges that lines the palm rest surface though has been chamfered. They are still a little sharp on the ends, but at the same time the chamfered edges does make it a bit more comfortable for your palms and wrists. That chamfered edge is now chromed all the way too though, to add to some flair to how the device looks on your desk.
Open it up, and you will find, greeting you, is an expansive 15.6-inch IPS panel. With bezels remaining as thin as ever, but not too thin that it becomes awkward for Acer to find creative ways to mount their 720p HD webcam. Of course, we are still hoping that manufacturers include their own window or cap for the webcam just for our safety. At this point of time though, webcam spaces are a premium, so we may not see a webcam window anytime soon.
Look down and you find a full-size keyboard with proper physical number pad section. Instead of a single colour backlit keyboard, it is now a 4-zone RGB keyboard you can control with Predator Sense built into the notebook. There is a dedicated Predator Sense key too on the keyboard for you to access it quickly. I would have preferred a separate dedicated button though this arrangement by Acer makes everything look cleaner and more compact.
If you look closely too, you will see a ‘Turbo’ button on the top left corner of the typing surface. The new slits at the forehead of the keyboard are not speakers, by the way. They are extra cooling vents for the powerful 4th generation 3D Aeroblades. The ‘Turbo’ button is nestled right beside the vents.
This ‘Turbo’ button now lights up when you press it. Instead of just relying on your ears to see if the cooling fans go crazy or not, you can leave your headphones on and check the button instead. Although, the LED is not an expected Predator blue. Instead it is a plain white LED backlight. I would have liked it if it was Predator blue LED backlit. Then again, it could be less visible.
Around the sides, you find all the right interface ports, including a full HDMI out port and a Mini DP port. The charging port though has been moved to the back of the notebook. That also means that there is a big plate now in the middle of the back of the notebook, sacrificing some cooling vent space (hence the extra vents on top of the keyboard). We prefer this set up though, at least the charging cable will not cover anymore ports or vents. The large plate that houses the charging mechanism is quite large and sparse though. We would have liked to see an HDMI port moved there, the Mini DP port should belong there as well, and maybe an extra USB port on the plate.
Other than these things, the changes in design is now more internal. Instead of having an extra HDD slot on top of the 512GB SSD on the device, you now get an extra SSD and HDD slot on top of the 512GB SSD. Because of the new I/O layout too, they have to move the 3D AeroBlade fan a little bit, further apart to the sides. But they have also redesigned the heat pipes and tweaked their routing to make them a bit more efficient and effective, resulting in an improved cooling performance, despite the reduced intake vent surface area.
Hardware
Within the redesigned body, you are getting the same Intel Core i7-10750H as the Acer Nitro 5 we reviewed earlier. You can opt for a cheaper Core i5 edition, but we would suggest that you consider the Acer Nitro 5 then. Still, this one is in a league of its own. It is a Predator, and this one is just MYR 300 more than the top-of-the-line Acer Nitro 5.
For that MYR 300 extra, you are getting a better GPU too. It is just a step up from the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti, but the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is still a much more superior GPU with DLSS 2.0 capabilities and proper ray tracing. In those alone, we do think that the Acer Predator Helios 300 will be a better buy.
If you are in the market for a thin and light though, you might want to look away. It is quite a hefty package, this Helios 300. It weighs 2.5kg and is just about as thick as the Acer Nitro 5 that weighs in at 1.8kg. Remember though that this Helios 300 is mostly constructed with Aluminium.
Specifications
| Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-53-77CF | As Tested |
| Processor (clock) | 10th Generation Intel Core i7-10750H ([email protected]) |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 |
| Display(s) | 15.6-inch IPS LED-backlit (1920 x 1080) ComfyView 144Hz |
| Memory | 512GB NVME M.2 SSD 8GB DDR4 RAM |
| Networking and Connections (I/O) | 3 x USB Type-A 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C 1 x Standard HDMI 1.4 1 x Audio combo jack 1 x Network RJ-45 Intel Wi-Fi 6 Gig+ (802.11ax) Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Battery | 4-cell Li-Polymer |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home (64-bit) |
| Miscellaneous | DTS:X Ultra Audio |
Features
As we have mentioned before, most of the changes are in the internals of the Acer Predator Helios 300. The size has not changed, nor the weight. Plenty of the changes seem quite minor at first, but they do add up to an improved product over its previous one though.
For starters, we like how much cleaner the new Helios 300 for 2020 looks compared to the rest of the previous generation Acer predator notebooks. We can expect this kind of design as well moving forward with other Acer Predator products. The chamfered edges are a big plus in our books because it does help with typing comfort a little, despite the still sharp angle at the ends. But there are more to this notebook than just small improvements.
New Body, New Positions
Like the Acer Nitro 5 that we reviewed earlier last month, the Acer Predator Helios 300’s charging port is now at the back. This, in our opinion, is a big ergonomic improvement. Because of the angled design of the charging cable from Acer (slightly wider power brick for the 2020 version), the cable tends to cover either your I/O ports at the side or the exhaust vents.
You either restrict airflow, or block your ports, which gets very annoying in plenty of cases. Acer will not completely overhaul the cables a well, because a straight plug will disrupt your mouse experience, especially when you game. To right handers, it is a simple solution of moving the charging port to the left side of the device. That is discriminating left-handers though. So, the back is the most sensible choice.
The only complain we have, as mentioned is that the back plate that houses the charging internals is a little on the sparse side. We felt that the Mini DP port and HDMI port should be moved to the back alongside a full-sized USB port or USB Type-C port. Yes, go with what Lenovo has done with their Legion line-up, we like that.
4-Zone RGB Keyboard That is Even Better
Typing essays on the previous Acer Predator Helios 300 was not really a chore to begin with. We find that the keyboard on most gaming notebooks have improved tremendously, especially on Acer Predator notebooks. We feel like they have started understanding that gaming notebooks are still productivity machines when you need them to be. Typing experience is still an important part of a notebook PC.
In that sense, the 2019 version of the Helios 300 is a comfortable typewriter. The key travels cannot be compared to any mechanical keyboards, but they are still easy to work with. They give you enough feedback with some very soft tactile feel. We somehow feel also that the keyboard would be the best that they could have made it.
The 2020 variant though has a better keyboard than before somehow. The keys somehow feel a bit more tactile than we are used to with Acer’s island type individual keys. There is no difference between key travels between the 2019 variant and 2020 variant. The softness and mushiness are much reduced, and the typing experience somehow is made much more comfortable. No, you still cannot compare it to a mechanical keyboard, but it is a good keyboard to work with when you are out and about. Not everyone carries their mechanical keyboards in their bags.
You still get highlighted ‘WASD’, arrow, and Predator Sense keys on the Acer Predator Helios 300. Instead of choosing a single backlight colour though, you can go for multiple colours across four zones on the keyboard this time. You simply fire up Predator Sense to change the settings.
The chamfered edge that lines the bottom of the keyboard plate, is a life saver. At least the edges do not cut into your palms or wrists anymore. We think that rounded off edges or chamfered edges on notebooks should be a thing. It is a small difference that really changes your comfort levels with the device.
Predator Sense + 4th Gen 3D AeroBlade = Stone Cold
The subtitle might be a little of an exaggeration. But to be fair, the combination of the two really works. Because you do not have the restriction of space like you get in a Triton notebook, the Helios 300 can work with bigger intake and exhaust fans and vents. That allows even more air to pass through your hot internals and keep them properly cool.
If you’ve read our review of the Acer Nitro 5, you would have noticed that we mentioned that Nitro sense is not quite as powerful as Predator Sense. That is because Nitro Sense does not do overclocks, while Predator Sense does.
Strangely you cannot really tweak the overclocking settings on your own, not that this information is anything new. Acer do not really want you to cook your internals just for the sake of proving a point. This is as much about protecting you as it is protecting the PC and themselves.
Predator Sense clocks up your CPU and GPU to speeds that the manufacturers deem safe and plausible enough for their fans to keep them at their optimum temperature. Of course, this is done when you kick ‘Turbo’ mode on. The fans go at its fastest too, to ensure maximum airflow for the Helios 300. Nope, you cannot turn the fan down.
In default mode though, the fan is relatively quiet and peaceful. It is still powerful enough technically to run Horizon Zero Dawn at ‘ultimate’ settings and not go overboard with the noise. It does get hot though after a while and you still might want to kick ‘turbo’ mode on, just to manage its temperature.
In any sense though, we never got the feeling that the Acer Predator Helios 300 is ever going to overheat, especially when you turn on ‘Turbo’ mode when ou need a little bit of horsepower. We turn on ‘Turbo’ mode even when we are editing our videos. We also think that the full aluminium top of the Helios 300 does help a little bit in heat dissipation.
Performance
You can safely expect this generation of Acer Predator Helios 300 to really perform. Will it be that much more powerful? I doubt, but it will still be powerful. It is still one powerful device with a 10th Generation Intel Core i7-10750H processor that replaces the older 9th Generation six-core processor. But you still get the same NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 on the graphics end, which is still something of a powerhouse.
Gaming
Of course, we have to talk gaming, this is a gaming notebook after all. We tried games like Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, Horizon Zero Dawn, Assassin’s Creed: Origins, and Two Point Hospital on it. They are not the latest or most demanding games in the market, but Ghost Recon: Breakpoint can be quite taxing on even the most modern of hardware.
The latest, in terms of PC release date, among all the games is Horizon Zero Dawn. It is not the most demanding of games, but we were still excited to play it on the powerful Acer Predator Helios 300. For Horizon Zero Dawn though, you do not necessarily need an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, it could be just slightly overpowered even when you go on ultimate settings. Technically you will do fine even with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti to get the game on ultimate settings.
Of course, for titles like Assassin’s Creed: Origins and Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, hardware will be a little taxed. Still, if we leave the game to decide the best settings for the Helios 300, you are sure to be getting smooth gameplay without too big of an issue. Ghost Recon: Breakpoint can be a little buggy on certain hardware though, so we might have to take that with a pinch of salt. Still, the game clocked at least 40fps in most cases only dropping frames in very few occasions.
Assassin’s Creed Origins is quite an old title to be fair. It is still a beautiful game to work with and requires quite a little bit in rendering power thanks to the vast open world that is ancient Egypt. Still, everything went down smoothly at high settings with fps reaching 120 at some points.
The last title we tested the Helios 300 is Two Point Hospital. That is a game that does not require that much at all to be fair, so you can expect it to run as smoothly as possible with near zero hiccups other than the game’s bugs. You can safely leave the settings at the highest for the game and you will still have no trouble running it even without ‘Turbo’ mode on. Of course, thanks to IPS display and 144Hz, Two Point Hospital looks excellent on the Helios 300.
Bye Bye Wave NX, Hello DTS: X Ultra
The previous generation of Acer’s Predator Helios 300 comes packing Acer’s own Wave NX audio technology. They are not bad, per se. They are just not as polished as we would like them to be.
With Wave NX in the previous generation Acer Predator notebooks, you get Virtual 3D audio if you are using your headphones. Regardless of the headphone make and type, Acer’s Wave NX solution, by default, will adjust the audio according to your head’s placement and movement. This is done via the webcam as well. To create an audio room for you.
While it sounds great in concept, and works nicely to a certain degree, it is inconsistent at times. That feature is removed in favour of conventional speakers. Except, the speakers are not that conventional thanks to DTS: X Ultra tuning.
While audio from notebooks generally lack low-frequency punches, the Acer Predator Helios 300 does have a little bit in thumping. It is not as powerful and defined as what you get if you have proper sub-woofers, but it is enough to enjoy your music with. You do want to have the DTS: X audio software turned on though to make full use of the DTS: X Ultra tuned speakers.
The software allows you to choose between a few audio profiles that is designed for specific uses. If you want to, you can tune the audio on your own too and save is a custom profile. Still, the pre set profiles does a stellar job on their own though. Unless you know what you are doing, best to leave the settings alone.
The speakers are quite loud at full chat, which could be a big distraction to other people in the same room as you are. Thank goodness they still have a 3.5mm jack for you to plug your headphones in for a more personalised listening experience. DTS: X will adjust the audio to that too.
Overall, there is technically not much to shout about in the sound department. Audio is crisp, and you can push it to maximum volume without getting your music to tear at the top. While it could use more low-end grunt, it is still respectable considering that the notebook does not pack a sub-woofer.
Battery
While they did quote that the new 10th Generation Intel Core processors are more efficient in power consumption, we did not actually notice that much in terms of power efficiency bump. There are no specific mentions on the battery life you can get out of the 4-cell battery within Acer Predator Helios 300 from Acer themselves. We did however get about 4 hours of battery life on average with the Acer Predator Helios 300.
Our average use on battery does not include gaming. We mostly have our browser on, sometimes you get 20 tabs out of Firefox, some email checking via Thunderbird or the browser itself. Spotify is on most of the time while we are on the go, of course with earphones plugged in. We did watch some YouTube videos on battery as well, that could take a little bit of toll on the battery life. Oh, we also tend to turn our display brightness settings all the way up.
Still, we managed nearly six hours of battery use at one time before it goes flat. In that case, we turned on battery saving mode immediately after we unplugged it from the charger. In that use case, we did not have Spotify on, the browser was closed as well, and we were only using Microsoft Word in full time in the lowest possible display brightness that we can work with.
Display – 144Hz IPS Dream Like Before
The display, as mentioned, is still similarly sized. It is also still a 144Hz display like before, not a 240Hz unfortunately. Acer did claim that the 15.6-inch display is an IPS panel. That also means that you are getting vibrant and accurate colours for your viewing pleasure.
Of course, you have to remember that this is a gaming notebook. It will not be the most accurate display that you will find on a notebook. IPS display still offers a great viewing experience though. It is still good enough for you to work with colours in videos and photos though. Of course, if you want something with better colour accuracy, you might need to get a secondary display to attach to your PC.
Still, the colours are still quite vivid for a gaming notebook. That also means that you might be able to really enjoy movies and other forms of media on this gaming rig. Thanks to the DTS: X audio too, you do not need to plug in your headphones to enjoy movies on your own.
While 144Hz may not be the fastest display that you might be able to get on a notebook PC it is fast enough for most to enjoy. In this case you get to load up games at up to 144fps. If you are thinking of titles like GTA V or DOTA 2, you will get about 120 to 144fps easily with the kind of hardware The Helios 300 has.
Of course, if you are into competitive gaming, you might want something even higher than 144Hz. Thing is, you may not really need that kind of speed on your display. Your eyes might not even be able to tell the difference between a display refreshing at 120hz and 240hz. In that sense, 144Hz is more than enough for most of us. If you go for the modern AAA titles, you might not even hit 120Hz.
As we said earlier too, the bezels have not really changed from the 2019 Helios 300 to the 2020 variant. They did not go the route of completely redesigning a gaming notebook from the 2019 to 2020 models. They technically did not have to since the only big difference between the two generations is the processor. Still, we do think that they should stick to a slightly wider top and bottom bezel area just so that you can fit properly sized keyboards and properly placed webcams.
The webcam is still a 720p HD webcam though. Nothing too wrong with that, technically. Plenty of notebooks still work with 720p webcams. But we are in 2020 now, 720p is so last decade. We think that notebooks should move to a Full HD webcam format now.
The Acer Predator Helios 300 – Seriously, Why Not?
For MYR 5,199, we seriously think that this package is quite hard to beat. Its closest competitor, we think, is the ASUS ROG Strix G15. While that particular device comes with a 1TB SSD and 16GB RAM, you are paying a hefty MYR 6,699 for largely the same internals. That is more than MYR 1,000 compared to what you are paying for the Acer Predator Helios 300. If you do opt to get another 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD to match, you are still paying less for the Acer Predator Helios 300.
You may be getting less too, in terms of outrageous looks on your PC. The whole point of the Predator Helios 300 though is to blend in a little bit. It is to make sure that no one takes a second look at you when you sport the notebook in your favourite cafés. Plus, you can have your lightshow with the 4-zone RGB keyboard that you can set different profiles on anyway.
By default, the PC is relatively quiet anyway, that also means you can use it in the library and the person next to you will not complain about excessive wind noise. It can be within your production room not too far away from your recording mic too and you barely notice its there. It is only when you decide to ‘accidentally’ hit ‘Turbo’ that all hell breaks loose.
It is not a flashy hardware and it is not meant to be. In that sense, we love it. We love how it looks, how unassuming it is. We love that some may not be able to tell it apart from other Predator products. We love how Predator has stuck to one design choice and work with that identity. We love that we can change the RGB to a single colour the whole way (I am not that big of a fan on RGB). We love the price, as it is you are not paying an absurd amount of money for a top performer. We love its value, its versatility, and its practicality. We even love how it sounds (audio, not the cooling fans), though most of the time I use headphones with it.
Yes, there are some things we do not like too much about it, but we are nitpicking. We would like it to be a little lighter, for example. We also would like to start seeing notebooks coming with 1080p webcams. Maybe a 240Hz display would be really nice too, but that will push its price point up by a little bit.
Would we recommend this package? We would, very strongly. At MYR 5,199, nothing can come close to this performer. You really do not want to pass this up. You can even get your hands on it without going out of home within their online store. At this time, you really do not want to be leaving your homes too much. In that case; get this gaming notebook, and lock yourselves in for days with nothing but you and your games.
