Moving up to a GTX 1070 provides a big jump in performance as you’d expect, with the GTX 1070 Max-Q splitting the difference. The full-blown GTX 1060 is solidly ahead of the Max-Q variant in the Dell Inspiron. These gaming results once again show the difference with Max-Q versions of Nvidia’s GPUs. The GTX 1060 inside the Predator Helios 300 excels at this resolution, with frame rates surpassing display’s 60Hz speed across the board. Brad Chacos/IDG Brad Chacos/IDG Brad Chacos/IDG Let’s get to the games! We compare laptop gaming performance at 1080p resolution to standardize results across the board, using the in-game benchmarks included with each title. Again: The Inspiron has a GTX 1060 Max-Q, the Predator Helios 300 being reviewed packs a full GTX 1060, the Gigabyte Aero 15X holds a GTX 1070 Max-Q, and the chunky PowerSpec laptop keeps the pedal to the medal with a full-fat GTX 1070.īut enough synthetic benchmarks. This test illustrates how Nvidia’s efficient Max-Q GPUs achieve their energy savings in part by dialing back performance. We test their visual chops using the Graphics sub-score in 3DMark’s Fire Strike Extreme benchmark, a synthetic benchmark that focuses on pure GPU performance. Gaming laptops need strong graphics capabilities, of course. It’s just lackluster compared to rival screens. Don’t get me wrong: The Predator Helios 300’s display is serviceable overall. Some colors lack pop and feel washed-out as a result, especially vibrant hues. In fact, at 230 nits maximum, it doesn’t even hit the minimum brightness level we use for our battery run-down tests, which run at a standardized 250 to 260 nits to simulate comfortable indoor viewing. It’s nice and sharp with wide viewing angles, but far too dim. I wish I could say the same for the 1920×1080 IPS display. The Helios 300’s keyboard and touchpad excel overall. I’d have preferred dedicated left- and right-click buttons, but hey, I’m a purist. The clickpad-style touchpad handles very smoothly and accurately. They can be turned on or off manually, but not dimmed or customized on a per-key basis. Fetching red backlights augment the keyboard and look nice against the black keys. The chiclet-style keys have plenty of travel and aren’t overly loud in use. The inputs feel comfortable and responsive, too. You’ll feel it in your backpack but won’t break your spine lugging it around. With 5 pounds, 7.9 ounces of heft and a 1.1-inch thickness, the Helios 300 is fairly compact for a gaming rig. Two angled red stripes flank the Predator logo on the lid, ensuring everyone in the coffee shop knows you’re using an Acer. The laptop chassis includes plenty of plastic, as you’d expect in a gaming notebook in this price range, but Acer augments it with a sleek, brushed-metal lid and keyboard deck. Given how easy it is to crack open the Predator Helios 300-the empty hard drive bay is secured shut by a single Phillips screw-I’d recommend going the DIY route to add more storage to the laptop. Acer offers another configuration that supplements the SSD with a 1TB mechanical hard drive, but at a steep $300 premium. This entry-level configuration includes an SSD with a scant 256GB capacity that’ll fill up fast in this era of plus-sized games. Despite the affordable price, Acer didn’t skimp on the memory, stocking the Helios 300 with 16GB of DDR4 RAM. Not here: The Predator packs the same quad-core Core i7-7700HQ processor found in laptops that cost two or three times more, along with a full-fat 6GB GeForce GTX 1060-no dialed-back Max-Q version here. Weight: 5 pounds, 7.9 ounces, or 7 pounds with power brickĪround this price range, you’ll normally find gaming laptops equipped with a lesser-powered GeForce GTX 1050 or GTX 1050 Ti graphics card, or a middling Core i5 CPU.
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