Acer’s Newest Gaming Laptops Have Huge 16- and 18-inch Display Options – CNET

A lot of gamers will be pleased with what’s coming in 2023 from Acer. The new 16- and 18-inch Predator Helios gaming laptops announced Tuesday at CES 2023 feature the latest 13th-gen Intel Core processors, Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series graphics, enhanced cooling, beautiful big displays and a whole lot of lights.

Predator Helios is a premium gaming line, so Acer will offer the best in new components inside. Along with the latest Intel and Nvidia options, they’ll support up to 32GB of DDR5-4800 RAM and up to 2TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe solid-state drives in RAID 0. The components will be kept cool with “dual custom-engineered fifth-gen AeroBlade 3D metal fans and vector heat pipes in the shape of rectangles for improved heat transfer,” Acer said in its announcement.

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The Helios 16 will come with three 2,560×1,600-pixel display options with a 165Hz or 240Hz refresh rate or a Mini LED panel with a 250Hz refresh rate, 100% P3 color gamut and a peak brightness over 1,000 nits. The 18-inch Helios has those panel options as well as an entry-level 1,920×1,200-pixel display at 165Hz. 

The new designs use a mini-LED backlit keyboard with deep 1.8-millimeter key travel. The per-key lighting uses less power while giving the keys bright, uniform color. A customizable RGB light bar also runs across the top of the back vents. 

The Predator Helios 16 is expected in March starting at $1,650 with the Helios 18 following in April with a starting price of $1,700. Both laptops are expected to be available in Europe a month earlier than in the US, though. Pricing for the UK and Australia wasn’t immediately available, but the price for the Helio 16 converts to approximately £1,370 or AU$2,445. 

Acer also introduced new Nitro gaming laptops for those who want a bigger display still but at a lower entry price. Available in 16- and 17.3-inch sizes, the new Nitro gaming laptops will also be available with the latest Intel and Nvidia chips, up to 32GB of DDR5 memory and up to a 2TB PCIe Gen4 SSD for storage. Display options will include a 2,560×1,600-pixel panel with a 165Hz refresh rate on the 16-inch version and either a 144Hz or 165Hz full-HD or 165Hz quad-HD display on Nitro 17. 

Both the Acer Nitro 16 and 17 are expected in May with a starting price of $1,200.