Acer Predator Helios PH317 (17.3-Inch, 2017)

Plays 1080p games smoothly ; Core i7 processor ; Good-looking design ; Surprisingly lengthy battery life

Keyboard has familiar chiclet foibles ; Trackpad is too soft ; Mediocre build quality

Despite its size and design, the Acer is relatively affordable. The Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1050 Ti featured here is one of the more modest GPUs from the mobile Pascal roster, offering 768 stream processors, 4GB of memory and a 1,493MHz core clock. That’s...

Cool game-centric design ; Great battery life for a gaming laptop ; Solid CPU and GPU performance ; Three set GPU speeds

Nasty gap between screen and base ; Speakers mounted on the bottom

On a whole, this is a great gaming machine for $1,300. There’s plenty to love at this price point, including means to overclock the GTX 1060 for increased performance. It’s attractive and easy to carry, and the battery is insanely good for a laptop...

144Hz screen ; Strong gaming performance ; More affordable price point

Gaudy, plastic design ; No DisplayPort ; Not-so-great battery life

Just make sure to always bring the charging brick with you, because the Helios 300 isn’t a $2,000 road warrior. It’s an affordable gaming laptop — and a damn good one at that.

Lots of power ; Affordable price ; 144Hz refresh rate ; Decent battery life

Gets too hot ; Loud fans ; Lackluster sound

Despite two glaring flaws, namely the cooling system and the speakers, this budget gaming laptop packs a punch. If you’re serious about gaming but have a limited budget, you’re going to want to pick this one up.

Great 1080p gaming performance ; Powerful hardware for the price ; Comfortable design ; Easy to upgrade storage and RAM

Dim display ; Only 256GB storage capacity ; Lid is a fingerprint magnet

The screen isn’t dark enough to dissuade, though, and it’s the only semi-issue of note in the Acer Predator Helios 300. This is a great notebook.

Easily upgradable; Strong performance; Vivid display ; Uncomfortable touchpad; Give in the lid ; The Acer Predator Helios 300 is a powerful, relatively affordable machine with easily upgradable parts.

Uncomfortable touchpad; Give in the lid ; The Acer Predator Helios 300 is a powerful, relatively affordable machine with easily upgradable parts.

The Acer Predator Helios 300 is a powerful, relatively affordable machine with easily upgradable parts.

great price-to-performance ratio ; fast Wi-Fi ; Nvidia Optimus ; great battery life ; IPS panel

not a lot of ports ; poor sound quality ; limited maintenance options ; slow SSD with coil whine ; screen bleeding

Even though Acer has cut a lot of corners to get the price down (slow SSD, few ports, poor sound quality), the Predator Helios 300 is still a great device. All in all, the 17-incher is an exciting offer for price-conscious gamers. The battery life also...

easily recognizable ; light weight ; slim design ; GeForce GTX 1060 with 6 GB VRAM ; fast Intel Core i7-7700HQ ; good input devices ; 512 GB SSD ; matte display with good viewing angles ; high system performance ; low power consumption ; great port...

sound system is below expectations ; high temperatures under load ; cooling fans make high-frequency noise under load ; cooling fans difficult to clean ; only one free 2.5-inch slot available ; could offer more ports

The Acer Predator Helios 300 is a great entry-level device for gamers. The 17-inch device is equipped with a fast Intel Core i7-7700HQ, and the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 is a solid foundation for playing current games in the native resolution of 1080p....