Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 review: Affordable, but with all the frills

At a glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

CPU and GPU performance is quite decent for the laptop’s low price
The keyboard is large, flashy and with an excellent selection of keys
The port selection is extremely good – it includes two Thunderbolt 4 ports

Cons

The speaker’s audio is quiet and tuned mostly for the mid and high frequency sounds
My display’s 165Hz refresh rate didn’t do a lot to prevent stuttering
The off-center positioning of the trackpad isn’t ideal

Our Verdict

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 is a great option for gamers on a budget, delivering decent performance, gamer-centric styling and plenty of port options for the fraction of the price of a premium laptop.

Best Prices Today: Acer Predator Helios Neo 16

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Price

$1199.99

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Budget gaming rigs are getting gloriously close to their premium counterparts in terms of their hardware offerings – just like budget smartphones have done for a while now. Quite frankly I love it – it simply means you can get a gaming rig with very decent specs, and from a $3,000 budget, keep close to $2,000 in the bank.

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 is just such a laptop. No, it hasn’t been chiseled from a single block of aluminum and it doesn’t sound like a precision-tuned futuristic boom box, but to me that doesn’t matter much. It’s still powerful enough to produce decent frame rates in AAA games, is exceptionally stylish and has I/O options galore. Plus, you can pick it up for a steal. Read on to discover this gaming laptop’s best features.

Looking for more options? Check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best gaming laptops available right now.

Acer Predator Helios: Price and specs

Looking at the configurations for this laptop and right now, the base model Helios Neo 16 featuring an Intel Core i5-13500HX and GeForce RTX 4050 GPU with WUXGA (165Hz) display costs just $1,199.99. For the top-of-the-line model, however, you can expect to pay $2,799.99 for a laptop featuring an Intel Core i9-13900HX with GeForce RTX 4080 GPU and higher resolution WQXGA (240Hz) display.

“All that space has allowed Acer to squeeze in full-sized arrow keys, a numpad, media keys and even a few useful hotkeys – one of which lets you access Acer’s PredatorSense utility app with a Just single press

Comparing our Helios Neo 16 review unit to laptops in the same budget category, and you can currently buy the Lenovo Legion 5i with an Intel i5-13500HX and RTX 4050 GPU with a higher resolution WQXGA (165Hz) display for $1179.99, that’s $20 less than the most affordable Helios Neo 16.

Up against MSI’s range of budget gaming laptops Acer’s $1,199.99 base model Helios Neo 16 is quite competitively priced. For example, the cheapest 2023 MSI gaming laptop we can currently find in stock online is the MSI Stealth 14 for $1299.99 at Best Buy. This laptop features a Core i5-13620H CPU and RTX 4060 GPU and sports a smaller 14-inch display. Here, I broke down my review unit’s specification as follows.

CPU: Intel Core i7-13700HX
RAM: 16GB DDR5 / 4800MHz
GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060
Display: 16-inch WUXGA (1920 x 1200p), 165Hz refresh rate, IPS-level
Storage: 512GB PCIe Gen 4 SSD
Ports: 2 x Thunderbolt 4, 3 x USB-A 3.2, HDMI 2.1, Micro SD card slot, Ethernet port, 3.5 mm combo jack, Kensington lock
Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2
Weight: 5.73 lbs (2.6kg)
Dimensions: 14.18 x 11.02 x 1.11 inches
Battery: 90Whr
Price: Start at $1,199.99

Acer Predator Helios Neo 16: Design and build

The Neo 16 is designed to give you all the functionality you’d expect in a much more expensive laptop but without the steep price tag. That said, the trade-off is you do get a chassis with more plastic than you’ll find in some laptops. It’s mainly concentrated on the underside, though, which is some consolation. In fact, the base of the chassis and upper most part of the lid both have a good dollop of metal, so your main contact points are robust enough for heavy use.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

The design is quite gamer centric. The laptop’s matte black finish has almost a dark blue sheen to it. The lid features an Acer Predator logo, as well as a code-like scramble of numbers for styling. Vents and grooves sit along the flanks and underside, giving it a kind of futuristic feel. While there’s no RGB light bar to speak of, the laptop’s angular lines and tall display make it appear pricier than it is; indeed, if you’re hunting for a budget gaming rig, you’d be none the wiser that it costs approximately $1,000.

From a size perspective, the Neo 16 is one of the larger 16-inch gaming laptops I’ve seen this year. It measures 14.18 x 1.11 x 11.02 inches which is longer, wider and thicker than options like the Asus ROG Strix G16 and Razer Blade 16. That simply means it needs more table space to sit on. At 5.73 lbs it’s only about 3.2 ounces heavier though, so won’t cause any noticeable difference in portability.

Acer Predator Helios Neo 16: Keyboard and trackpad

The Neo 16’s keyboard is an all-round winner, being large, flashy, and boasting a very generous key layout. It stretches the whole width of the base leaving only a fingernail’s width on either side. All that space has allowed Acer to squeeze in full-sized arrow keys, a numpad, media keys and even a few useful hotkeys – one of which lets you access Acer’s PredatorSense utility app with a Just single press.

I was impressed by the colorful four zone RGB backlighting, which in default mode flashed intermittently like a Fourth of July fireworks display. The keys themselves felt nice and springy. Acer has made certain keys transparent around their periphery which accentuates the RGB. This transparency was especially useful for locating the WASD keys at night, since they really pop out from the rest.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

The trackpad felt nice and responsive too, although I wasn’t a fan of its positioning, which is a little to the left of center. This meant my left wrist had to get by with less space than my right and that my left thumb sometimes hit the trackpad by mistake. It wasn’t that much of an issue, but noticeable nonetheless.

Acer Predator Helios Neo 16: Ports

With five USB ports available, just about all my usual devices were comfortably homed around the Neo 16. Two of these ports, being the very useful Thunderbolt 4 kind, made downloading files at up to 40Gbps while simultaneously streaming to an external display as easy as pie. Two Thunderbolt 4s is one more than you’ll see in some premium rivals too – so hurrah, what a treat!

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I was very chuffed by the other ports on offer as well. I had a HDMI 2.1 port as an extra display option, a LAN port for my LAN cable and 3.5 mm combo jack for my headphones. I even had a Kensington lock, which I wasn’t expecting in a laptop priced so low.

The port placement was spot on, too. In fact, the Neo 16’s designer may well be a southpaw judging by the fact that the ports aren’t bunched around the left side like you commonly see in some laptops. With the two Thunderbolt 4 ports, power and HDMI located along the back, I never felt cramped for space, despite the laptop’s larger size.

Acer predator Helios Neo 16: Display and audio

The Helios Neo 16’s WUXGA display is beautifully framed up by ultra-thin bezels on the sides and top and the panel itself produces nicely saturated color images, but don’t expect the kind of fluid motion you will see in panels with 240Hz refresh rates. Suffice to say, you will occasionally see some micro stuttering – especially when motion pans in from the far left or right. I only saw this occasionally, but it does make a 240Hz refresh rate a very desirable feature I’d definitely want to have.