Acer's New Predator Laptops Pack RTX 50 GPUs And Arrow Lake-HX For Gaming Dominance
As was widely anticipated, NVIDIA kicked off this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) with a new range of GPUs, having now introduced its GeForce RTX 50 series in both desktop and mobile form. That also means a flurry of related announcements from various hardware partners. Count Acer among them, which among other things, has unveiled some new and updated Predator Helios gaming laptops. They include the Predator Helios 16 AI, Predator Helios 18 AI, and Predator Helios Neo 16S AI.
All three product lines pair discrete mobile GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs with new Intel Arrow Lake-HX processors, hence the AI angle in the product names. They're also sleek-looking systems, at least from the renders we've seen. Pictured above is the Predator Helios 16 AI, with features a slick 16-inch OLED display with a 2560x1600 resolution, 240Hz refresh rate, 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, and NVIDIA G-SYNC support.
It's powered by up to a Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, and either a GeForce RTX 5090 or GeForce RTX 5070 Ti GPU. Other specs include up to 64GB of DDR5-6400 memory, up to 4TB of PCIe 4.0 solid state drive (SSD) storage, Killer Wireless Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3 wireless connectivity, Killer Ethernet E5000B for wired connections, dual Thunderbolt 5 ports, and various other odds and ends.
The Predator Helios 18 AI is basically a bigger version of the Predator Helios 16, both of which Acer bills as its "newest and most powerful gaming laptops." Instead of OLED, the Predator Helios 18 AI offers up two mini LED options: one with a 4K resolution at 120Hz, up to 1,000 nits brightness, and 100% DCI-P3); and the other with a 2560x1600 resolution with the same core specs, but a faster 250Hz refresh rate. Both support NVIDIA G-SYNC.
Acer's bigger Predator takes aim at desktop-class performance, and while it still makes use of mobile parts, including up to a Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, users can cram up to 192GB of DDR5-6400 memory inside, as well as up to 6TB of PCIe 5.0 SSD storage. For graphics, it comes equipped with a GeForce RTX 5090 or 5080 mobile GPU.
Finally, the all-new Predator Helios 16S AI takes aim at users who want a thinner system without compromising much on performance. It's less than 19.9mm thin, but still packs up to a Core Ultra 9 275HX processor and a GeForce RTX 5070 Ti. Other specs include up to 32GB of DDR5-6400 RAM and up to 2TB of PCIe 4.0 SSD storage.
As for the display, there are two options, both of the 16-inch OLED variety with a 2560x1600 resolution and G-SYNC support. What separates them is the refresh rate: one goes up to 240Hz and other tops out at 165Hz, which is still fast. Additionally, the response time is ever-so-slightly faster on the 240Hz variant (1ms versus 3ms).
The Predator Helios Neo 16S AI will land at retail first, debuting in April starting at $1,699.99. Then in May, the Predator Helios 18 AI will arrive starting at $2,999.99, followed by the Predator Helios 16 AI in June starting at $2,299.99.
In addition to new gaming laptops, Acer also announced the Predator XB323QK, which is a 31.5-inch dual-mode monitor built around an IPS panel. It boasts a 5K resolution with a 144Hz refresh rate and 0.5ms gray-to-gray (GtG) response time, though being a dual-mode model, users can drop down to a 2560x1440 resolution and crank the refresh rate up to 288Hz. Dual-mode displays have become a growing trend as of late, and we expect to see more announcements as the year goes on.
Other features include NVIDIA Pulsar support, 95% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, and both HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 connectivity. Acer hasn't yet said when it will be available or how much it will cost.
