Acer Predator Helios Neo (16-inch, 2023)

Good display and keyboard ; Easy to upgrade the storage and memory ; Good range of I/O ports including two Thunderbolt 4

You can get a Nitro 16 for the same price with a better GPU ; Offering only a 512GB SSD as standard in 2023 is a joke ; Big and heavy, as is the the power adapter

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 is a competent gaming laptop, but for the same price, you can have an Acer Nitro 16 with a sharper display, a more powerful GPU and more RAM. There’s no good reason to buy the Neo 16 over the Nitro 16.

Ultimate portable gaming power ; Mighty Nvidia GeForce GTX 4090 GPU ; Dual SSDs in RAID 0

Premium price ; Side and rear port locations could be improved ; Runs loud and hot

While the Neo 18 is one of the best gaming laptops we've tested, our admiration is somewhat tempered by its hefty price tag.

Excellent 16:10 display ; Solid performance for its price range ; Lots of ports ; Sensible starting price

Speaker quality is so-so ; Fans can get very loud ; Terrible battery life even for a gaming laptop

Acer offers a sidegrade to its mainstream Predator gaming lineup with this 'Neo' variant, which proves to be a fine laptop given its sensible pricing and good performance. It also offers a fantastic display and good thermal performance - just be...

Impressive performance for the price ; Exceptionally bright display ; Touchpad is a joy ; Plenty of ports

Bigger and heavier than its competitors ; Predator Sense software could be better ; Weak speakers ; Cramped keyboard layout

Acer's Predator Helios Neo 16 is a hefty budget gaming laptop that maximizes GPU performance for the money, which should appeal to power-hungry gamers less fixated on portability.

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

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

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.

Good performance ; Excellent screen ; Solid build quality

Low battery life ; Noisy fans ; Obnoxious noise on startup

Packing the latest 2024 tech, The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 gaming laptop brings with it impressive rendering and generative AI capabilities via its fast CPU and capable graphics chip. It’s hot and power-hungry, though, and probably best left on the...