The Predator series from Acer has given us some amazing gaming laptops. The Helios 300 Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-52-78VL is a fan favorite and we were waiting for an upgrade. This device here is the perfect upgrade for the laptop that has been ruling the mid-tier gaming scene. in this Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-52-78VL review, we take a look at this new laptop and see how it has evolved over its predecessor.
The Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-52-78VL gaming laptop comes with an impressive set of features. The pricing of the product is also not that high which means most people on a budget can still afford this. The hardware inside the laptops has undergone a big change and you can now run most of on this laptop which is neat. Is this gaming laptop worth your hard-earned money? Let’s dive in and find that out.
[amalinkspro type=”showcase” asin=”B07QXLFLXT” apilink=”https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QXLFLXT?tag=laptopundernet-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1″ new-window=”true” addtocart=”false” nofollow=”true” sc-id=”4″ imgs=”LargeImage” link-imgs=”false” specs=”9th Generation Intel Core i7 9750H 6 Core Processor (Up to 4.5GHz) with Windows 10 Home 64 Bit~~~NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Graphics with 6GB of dedicated GDDR6 VRAM~~~15.6 inches Full HD (1920 x 1080) Widescreen LED backlit IPS Display (144Hz Refresh Rate, 3ms Overdrive Response Time, 300nit Brightness and 72 percentage NTSC)~~~16GB DDR4 2666MHz Memory, 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD (2 x PCIe M.2 Slots; 1 Slot Open for Easy Upgrades) and 1 Available Hard Drive Bay~~~Backlit Keyboard; LAN: Killer Ethernet E2500 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN; Wireless: Killer DoubleShot Pro Wireless AC 1550 802. 11ac; 4th Gen All Metal AeroBlade 3D Fan~~~” btn-color=”#ff9900″ btn-text=”Buy on Amazon” alignment=”aligncenter” hide-prime=”0″ hide-image=”0″ hide-reviews=”0″ hide-price=”1″ hide-button=”0″ width=”750″]Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop[/amalinkspro]
Design
One of our minor gripes with the older version of the predator 300 is that it had a pretty dull design. Luckily, this new laptop comes with a much better design. The laptop comes with a beautiful brushed plastic surface on top that gives it a matte look with the predator logo on it. We are so used to seeing red and black together in gaming laptops, but this one takes a slight done and gives us a blue and black color scheme which is just as gorgeous.
One of the best things about this device is how upgradable it is. You can easily remove the bottom by unscrewing a couple of tiny screws. This way, you can access the memory and upgrade it, and also upgrade the SSD or the hard drive portion of the laptop.
Being a 15.6“ gaming laptop, this one is not a lightweight device. The laptop has a pretty decent weight of 5.3lbs. Among 15.6“ gaming laptops, we have to say that this is actually light and you will not find most laptops in this weight range at all.
The cooling system on the laptop is also fantastic. We have a 4th Gen Aeroblade 3D fan that gives us less noise and more airflow. In fact, the airflow is improved by 45% which gives us an excellent result. The cooling system does a fantastic job when it comes to maintaining the optimum temperature of the laptop even when you have a gaming marathon going on.
The keyboard on this laptop deserves a special mention. This is one of the most beautiful keyboards on a gaming laptop we have seen. The keys are well spaced and are a pleasure to use. The WASD and the arrow keys are highlighted which gives the keyboard some character.
You can customize the backlighting on the keyboard which gives you the ability to make this unique in your way. Acer brings four intensity levels that you can utilize when it comes to backlighting. This gives each user a unique style and can make your laptop very personal.
The touchpad is a bit too much on the left to our liking. The surface is big enough for you to play with all the gestures in the operating system. While it is good, it is always recommended you get a gaming mouse to have better gaming experience.
Display And Audio
The display on the Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-52-78VL laptop is a 15.6“ LED-backlit widescreen full HD display. This is one of the best gaming displays you can find on a laptop in this price range. The color quality of the display is vivid and you will enjoy the pictures and playing games as well as when streaming your favorite movies on your favorite online platforms.
The IPS panel gives us an excellent contrast ratio which results in deep blacks and bright whites. The viewing angles of the display are also extraordinary making this a fantastic choice for catching up a movie with your friends over a weekend.
The reason why we call this one of the best displays for a gaming laptop is because of the refresh rate. The display comes with a refresh rate of 144 Hz and an overdrive response time of 3 ms. This is fantastic as it gives you smooth gaming experience. The 3 ms response time makes sure that you do not get any motion blur when you are gaming.
The display comes with a maximum brightness of 300 nits which is not that bad when compared with gaming laptops in this price range. Since you will be using this gaming laptop mostly indoors, this maximum brightness can combat the lighting without any issues.
The sound quality of this laptop is also pretty good. There is a good bass in sound which is something you don’t see in gaming laptops. The sound coming out of this laptop can easily fill a medium-sized room. Even at high volumes, the distortion of the sound is pretty low. If you are not an audiophile, you will be perfectly fine in using the audio output of this laptop even during gaming.
Performance
[amalinkspro type=”image-link” asin=”B07QXLFLXT” new-window=”true” apilink=”https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QXLFLXT?tag=laptopundernet-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1″ addtocart=”false” nofollow=”true” alt=”Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop PC, 15.6″ Full HD 144Hz 3ms IPS Display, Intel i7-9750H, GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB, 16GB DDR4, 256GB NVMe SSD, Backlit Keyboard, PH315-52-78VL” alignment=”alignleft”]https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/318rvXW5k5L._SL300_.jpg[/amalinkspro]The processor that runs this Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-52-78VL gaming laptop is an Intel Core i7 processor. This Intel Core i7 chip is a hexa core processor that comes with a base clock speed of 2.60Hz and an Intel Smart cache memory of 12 MB. On paper, this is one of the best processors you can get from the ninth generation of Intel chips.
You can print pretty much any game on this laptop with the help of this process. Apart from gaming, this processor can also handle pretty much any heavy application you throw at it. With a maximum clock speed of 4.5 GHz, you know that this processor is a beast and can chew through your workload like a boss.
The processor gets well complemented by the memory department. We have 16 GB of DDR four type Ram that comes in super handy when gaming. The memory comes with a clock speed of 2666 MHz which is quite fast for gaming. This memory also allows you to multitask freely without having to worry about performance. You can even open 10 or more tabs on your favorite browser without bringing the performance down which is awesome.
Storage
Let’s talk about the storage on this device. The storage we have here is a 256Gb PCIe NVMe SSD. This is one of the fastest solid-state drives you will find in a gaming laptop. Solid-state drives are a huge improvement over mechanical her dress both in terms of speed and data handling. This solid-state drive lot is the operating system in just a few seconds which would never be possible with the mechanical hard drive.
As far as gaming is concerned, the solid-state drive does a fantastic job. It launches your games as quickly as possible thereby reducing the waiting time to a minimum. The reading and writing speeds of the solid-state drive are excellent giving you a superfast everyday performance.
Graphics
The Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-52-78VL gaming laptop comes with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics card. This is an upper mid-range graphics card that is based on the Turing architecture. When compared to the higher-end graphics cards, this GPU does not have any ray tracing or tensor cores.
The GPU we have comes with a dedicated video memory of 6GB that is of GDDR6 type. This graphics card is more of a replacement for the 1060 GPU that we found in gaming laptops in older generations. Performance-wise, this one does a lot better when it comes to handling games.
The Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-52-78VL laptop can play pretty much any game in 1080p without any hiccups whatsoever. You get very good framerates when playing in 1080p and high settings. The frame rates do struggle when you go for a QHD setting or higher. So it is highly recommended that you maintain full HD gaming on this laptop.
As for the games, you can play, you will be able to play pretty much any game on this gaming laptop. Even the latest and the greatest games run fine as long as you don’t want to push the settings too much. If you are into eSports, you will love this gaming laptop as it gives you extraordinary frame rates and stellar performance.
Battery Life And Connectivity
When you search for gaming laptops, battery life is probably the least interesting feature. The Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-52-78VL laptop does a decent job when it comes to battery life. With light use, like browsing the web and streaming videos, you will be able to get around 5 to 6 hours of battery life which is pretty good for a gaming laptop.
This number takes a nosedive when you game. When gaming, the laptop manages to stay alive for about 2 to 2.5 hours. These figures are not bad when you compare it with other gaming laptops. But we highly recommend connecting the laptop to a power outlet when you plan on having a gaming marathon.
When it comes to connectivity, the Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-52-78VL has a lot of options. You get 3USB 3.1 gen one ports, one USB type C port, one ethernet port, one HDMI 2.0 port, one mini display port, and an audio jack. These ports are a very good selection and will come in handy for everyday usage.
The laptop also comes with 802.11ac WiFi. This gives you excellent internet speeds without the need for wires. You also get Bluetooth built-in that makes wireless connectivity with external devices seamless.
Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-52-78VL Review – Wrap Up
If you’re looking for a better gaming laptop that comes with premium features without the premium price tag, then the Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-52-78VL gaming laptop is your friend. This laptop is not without flaws, but the positives work really well and give you a beautiful gaming experience that you can’t get at this price range with other Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-52-78VLs. If you are still on the fence, we say go for it.