Acer Predator Helios 500 (17.3-inch, 2018) Series

Effortless overclocking ; Stays reassuringly cool ; 144Hz screen

Huge and heavy ; Poor battery life

Lots of power for gaming ; Large, color-corrected 144Hz display ; Easily adjustable CPU and GPU ; Configurable fans

Speakers are mediocre ; Bad trackpad ; Not cheap

The Acer Predator Helios 500 is a beast in almost every sense, from its powerful engine that can handle any game to its massive size. If you’re just looking for a monstrous mobile PC gaming machine, this laptop will impress. However, if you’re looking...

144Hz G-Sync display. Full-power Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 graphics. RGB-backlit keyboard. One-click overclocking.

All-plastic finish. Keyboard lighting is programmable only by zones, not per-key. Short battery life.

Bottom Line: Acer's Predator Helios 500 squeezes full-fat overclockable GeForce GTX 1070 performance into a 17-inch gaming laptop, but we'd like to see a bit more battery life and chassis polish.

8-core Ryzen 7 2700 packs more cores than its Intel rival ; Radeon RX Vega 56 generally outperforms GeForce GTX 1070 ; Plentiful upgrade options ; Pre-approved "overclocking" profiles.

Pretty atrocious battery life ; Skimpy 256GB storage configuration is a puzzler ; Pricey compared to AMD and Core i7 versions ; AMD version outperforms in multi-core tests

Overall, the Acer Predator Helios 500 is a solid laptop that really takes on different personalities depending on which configuration you buy.

Extremely bright Mini LED screen ; Great cooling system ; Deep keyboard

Terrible battery life ; Very expensive ; The 'extra mile' features won’t benefit some gamers that much ; Motion handling not the best

Not the best buy for plug-and-play gamer whose idea of performance optimisation ends at installing the latest Nvidia drivers. But if you plan on going deep and overclocking components, it’s among the best around.

Beastly design; Comfortable keyboard and hotkeys; Awesome speakers; Solid graphics and performance; Remarkably cool while gaming ; Below-average battery life; Display not as colorful as competition ; The Predator Helios 500 truly embraces its name with...

Below-average battery life; Display not as colorful as competition ; The Predator Helios 500 truly embraces its name with powerful graphics and an intense processor, all running at chilling temps.

The Predator Helios 500 truly embraces its name with powerful graphics and an intense processor, all running at chilling temps.

bright Ultra HD display with very good color space coverage ; future-proof RAM configuration ; extensively configurable backlight ; 2x USB Type-C Thunderbolt 3 ; convenient port placement ; great maintenance options ; decent sound system ; good input...

Core i9 unable to reach its full performance potential ; unconventional keyboard layout ; poor battery life ; very high idle power consumption ; material and rigidity too poor for its price ; significantly decreased performance in battery mode

No surprise: The Acer Predator Helios 500 in the 4K version with Intel Core i9-8950HK is another great device for gaming, as it still offers most benefits of the lower-priced version. However, in our opinion the lower-priced i7 model is the better...

bright FHD panel with decent response times ; 144 Hz G-Sync panel ; future-proof RAM configuration ; extensively configurable backlight ; 2x USB Type- C Thunderbolt 3 ports ; conveniently placed ports ; excellent maintenance options ; decent sound...

low-contrast FHD panel ; incomplete sRGB coverage ; odd keyboard layout ; quite pronounced backlight bleeding ; poor battery life ; high idle power consumption ; choice of material and rigidity too poor for its price

With its Predator Helios 500, Acer has once again created a well-rounded gaming powerhouse with more pros than cons when it comes to gaming. Nevertheless, even this 17-inch gaming machine is far from perfect and therefore demands a detailed...

The most powerful laptop we’ve tested ; Superb 4K HDR Mini LED display ; Overclockers welcome

Weighs as much as a small bungalow ; Minimal battery life ; Requires both PSUs for Turbo mode

So, is the Helios 500 the best gaming laptop on the market? Yes. Clearly, the size and weight of the thing must be taken into consideration, as well as the shockingly bad battery life, but in the search for ultimate gaming performance some things have...