When you turn on the “big blue” Acer Predator Helios 500 17 AMD Review , you’ll know that you’re getting ready for some serious gaming. Its 17-inch Helios 500 model we’re reviewing (PH517–61-R0GX) is not just outfitted to include RGB illumination that extends beyond the keyboard all way to the touchpad and its speakers also let out the sound of a swooping scream each time you turn it on , to announce that the Predator is on its way.

The g15 is the opposite of your typical slim Max-Q gaming laptops, like the ROG Zephyrus G15 by Asus. It is large and heavy, a style that allows it to reach its full potential in performance using the power of powerful graphics and thermals. It comes with the second-gen Ryzen desktop processor as well as Vega 56 graphics, which gives excellent performance in games and other productivity tasks.

Acer Predator Helios 500 17 AMD Specs

• AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 8 GB HBM2
• AMD Ryzen 7 2nd Gen 2700 (3.20GHz)
• 16GB Memory 256 GB SSD
• 17.3'’ 1920 x 1080 IPS Display, FreeSync, 144 Hz Refresh Rate, 72% NTSC
• 16.85'” x 11.73' 1.73'’ 1.52" 9.37 937 lbs.
• 1 x DisplayPort 1 x HDMI 2.0
• 2 1 USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C (up at 10 Gbps ), DisplayPort in conjunction with USB Type-C and USB Charging)

Design

Now you own a large gaming laptop that isn’t going to look like other laptops. The majority of gaming laptops are red and black, but this one Acer Predator Helios 500 17 AMD comes with black with a hint of blue here and there and comes with AeroBlade 3D fans to cool. With the exception of the distinctive blue hue, the rest of the laptop is a standard gaming look.

The frame is cut from plastic, which we find somewhat odd considering that other laptops such as that of the Razer Blade 15 or the Asus ROG Zephyrus S have metallic bodies. If a laptop is priced over one million dollars, we would expect a body made of aluminum but that’s not exactly the case here. Not an affordable laptop either.

Like we said previously, it’s true that the Predator Helios 500 PH517–61-R0GX is quite large, measuring 1.5 by 16.9 by 11.7 inches (HWD) It’s in the same dimensional range as other gaming laptops with 17 inches. Compared: the 17-inch Alienware 17 R5 (1.18-by-16.7-by-13.1 inches) is slightly thicker and heavier weighing almost a pound over the Helios 500’s 8.82 pounds.

If you’re looking for a replacement for your outdated gaming equipment then the Predator 500’s size and power make an ideal choice you might want to bring to tournaments and other similar events.

Ports

A large-sized laptop usually offers a lot of port flexibility which is why this Helios 500 offers exactly that. On the right you will find two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, two separate mic and headphone jacks as well as the Kensington locks slot.

The left-hand side houses the two USB Type-C 3.1/Thunderbolt 3 ports as well as an Ethernet port and one USB 3.0 Type-A connection. To the rear of the device you will find video outputs, namely HDMI as well as DisplayPort outputs which let you expand the screen to three displays using HDMI, DisplayPort and the USB Type-C port.

It’s a bit surprising that an SD-card slot is not present the list of media professionals who typically utilize dSLR cameras as well as high-end camcorders, but have to transfer these extra devices to laptops. Wireless connectivity comes in the form through 802.11ac Wireless-Fi as well as Bluetooth 5.0 along with a Ethernet wired connection.

Another prize in The Helios 500 is the speakers which can produce high-quality sound that’s powerful and loud enough to fill the room and without distortion when turned all the way up. There’s also the 720p webcam that sits on top of the screen, right in the middle within the frame. It’s ideal to video conference, but it’s not your typical high-resolution webcam.

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Display

Gaming laptops don’t have distinctive displays, and the only distinction you get could be due to the GPU engine, either AMD or Nvidia. other features are normal. The Helios 500 you have a 17-inch matte IPS display that has 1080p (1,920 by 1,080) resolution. The only significant additions here is are an AMD Radeon FreeSync and the screen comes with a refresh rate of 144Hz, which is suitable for high-end gaming.

What these features accomplish is enable the screen to show your games alongside other content at speeds of up to 144Hz frames (fps) due to the speedy refresh rate, and you’ll never experience screen tear once you have activated AMD FreeSync.

In games, tearing is a typical form of distortion that occurs when a monitor attempts to write a new frame onto display before that previous frame has been fully written and resulted in the screen having two different halves. If you enable it or AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync let a screen’s frame rate rise and down in line with the frame rate the graphics chip puts out, which reduces the issue of tearing.

Keyboard & Touchpad

The keyboard’s directional-arrow as well as WASD keys are surrounded by a blue paint that makes them stand out. In the top deck close to the hinges, there is an array of hotkeys which can be programmed to any function of your choosing and include auto-overclocking.

Additionally, there’s key backlighting , which lets you change the color of the light within the integrated PredatorSense software, however the whole keyboard and touchpad feature the blue haze backlight as a default. It also extends to six hotkeys and power button. The keyboard does not have programmable lighting for each key Instead, it comes with four zones of RGB backlighting that you are able to modify using a palette that includes 16.8 million hues.

The experience of the keyboard does not let you down at all. Acer utilizes a membrane keyboard, however it’s still capable of providing rich and satisfying keys as well as for a brief moment you’d think that the Predator Helios 500 uses mechanical switches.

Perfomance

This Acer Predator Helios 500 17 AMD model we’re looking at is among the very first Helios 500 to deviate from Intel and Nvidia hardware. Instead, it’s powered by AMD’s premium components and is sure to provide its Intel rivals a tough fight. It is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7–2700 desktop processor, an eight-core 16-thread processor with an initial speed of 3.7GHz and can increase it up into 4.3GHz as Turbo Boost is activated. Its AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 graphics processor comes with eight GB of HBM2 memory and is running Windows 10 Home.

This is a good configurationthat can easily compete with Intel’s Core I7–8700K CPU that is found in gaming desktops, like those from Dell Alienware Aurora and the the iBUYPOWER Pro Trace 928770, both gaming machines that have solid productivity and gaming scores.

With a high-performance CPU and a powerful graphics card this Predator Helios 500 stands out as an ideal laptop for replacing your desktop and is suitable for more complex tasks in productivity like creating media, Photoshop and gaming at simultaneously. Furthermore it comes with Acer Predator Helios 500 has an large 256GB PCI Express SSD. NVMe is a solid-state drive (SSD). The 16GB RAM it comes with is the standard for a mid-range and high-end gaming laptop for 2019.

Gaming Performance

While the Helios 500 is a great choice for its core elements, the gaming experience will get an improvement also. As powerful as it is it is, it’s Helios 500 fares well on modern games compared to its beefier rivals, a few of which utilize processors with pepper and GeForce GTX 1080 graphics chips. It averages 122 frames per second on Fortnite in 1080p at high settings, however it is a bit slower, reaching the 109 FPS at Ultra settings. The game Grand Theft Auto V, with Medium settings it was reported that the Helios 500 earned an average frame rate of 103 frames per second, which is compared to 82fps when playing at the High graphics settings.

This is academic on a screen with 60Hz in which the highest frame rate that could be displayed is 60 fps. However, since this is an 144Hz display and the aim (for gamers that choose this particular machine for this option) is to achieve maximum frame rates.

Although you aren’t able to increase the speed of this AMD Ryzen 7 CPU (only the Core i9 version of this machine has Unlocked GPU) However, the Helios 500 has a built in PredatorSense software that makes it possible to increase the speed of the GPU whenever needed. There are usually three overclock modes : Normal, Faster and Turbo. With these modes, you can increase the speed to get better performance. This machine’s PredatorSense software allows you to control and personalize the gaming environment, everything from light to fan speed, to game profiles.

Even with playable frame rates, very rarely can you increase the frame rate of your game to match the Helios 500’s 144Hz-refresh rate display. Most games will have 60–130 fps. However, games that are less demanding, such as AAA games, should be able to achieve frame rates of 144fps or more regardless of tweaking the settings.

Battery Life

It’s a good thing that the Acer Predator Helios 500 is an ideal desktop replacement and it’s clear down to its battery life , which is quite short. It’s rated at 2 hours and 46 minutes which is a lot less than the Alienware 17R5’s similarly sluggish 3 hours 38 minutes. Imagine trying to work in an establishment like a coffee shop or bar using this massive machine, only to find you realize that they don’t have outlets for power. A battery life of less than 3 hours is difficult to take on any computer, particularly one that’s advertised by the manufacturer as boasting a “long battery life”.

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Verdict

It’s the Acer Predator Helios 500 is an AMD-powered gaming laptop with plenty to love. It’s incredibly robust on the front and is the best in its class in terms of multi-threaded performance due to its 16-thread Ryzen-7 CPU, and is surprisingly quiet considering the amount of processing power when gaming. Its screen is stunning with a fast refresh rate, and AMD’s FreeSync technology makes it more impressive. If it were only that Acer could deliver all of this, and a reasonable longevity of battery, it would be considering an Editors’ Choice of 17.2-inch laptops for gaming.