At a Glance: Acer Predator Helios 300 (2019) Review

Acer’s Predator Helios gaming laptops have been highly competitive in recent years, offering a strong balance between performance and affordability. The new 2019 Predator Helios 300 systems come equipped with the latest processing technology from Intel and Nvidia, giving these new systems a clear edge over last year models.

Design and Hardware

Along with the upgraded hardware comes an updated appearance that helps the new 2019 systems stand apart from their 2018 predecessors. Instead of the overplayed red-and-black color scheme, these new systems are predominantly black with teal highlights. The notebook’s chassis is primarily constructed out of plastic, but the system does feature a metal plate behind the screen that helps to reinforce the body and give the system a more expensive and premium look.

Our sister site PCMag received one of these units from Acer for testing purposes and ran it through a series of benchmarks to gauge its performance. This system came equipped with an Intel Core i7-9750H processor and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics processor as well as 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. The Predator Helios 300 also features a 1080p 144Hz display, and it sells for $1,199.99 as configured.

The test results were compared against four other systems. The full specs for these other systems are listed in the chart above.

Benchmarks

Kicking things off with Cinebench R15, we see the three i7-9750H notebooks dominating the less well equipped Dell G5 15 SE and the Lenovo Legion Y530 — no real surprise there. The Predator Helios 300 manages to best the MSI GS65 Stealth in this test, but it’s not quite fast enough to surpass the Dell G7 15.

Testing with Photoshop CC shows the Acer Predator Helios 300 pull into first place with the Dell G7 15 falling down into third.

The gaming tests run by PCMag show the Acer Predator Helios 300 performing relatively well against the competition, especially against the Dell G7 15 that comes with a more powerful RTX 2060 graphics processor. Generally we would have expected to see the Dell G7 15 maintain a sizable lead over the competition in these tests, but instead, it struggles to surpass the GTX 1660 Ti inside of the Acer Predator Helios 300. Testing with 3DMark shows the Acer notebook just slightly behind the Dell G7, and when tested with Unigine Superposition 1.0 the Dell G7 falls far behind the Acer Predator Helios 300 and MSI GS65 Stealth at 720p resolutions.

Technically the Dell G7 returned the highest average frames per second when tested with both Far Cry 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider, but the Acer Predator Helios 300 is just one frame per second behind in both titles.

This should come as a real slap in the face for Dell, as it sells the tested G7 15 laptop for roughly $600 more than Acer Predator Helios 300, in large part due to the faster GPU. Unless there is a major sale going on or you are just a big fan of Dell, this removes any real incentive to buy the Dell system when you can have essentially the same performance from the Acer Predator Helios 300 for significantly less.

Conclusion

It’s always enjoyable to see a product get the upper-hand on a significantly more expensive competitor, but does that make the Predator Helios 300 worthwhile? In short, yes. Currently, you can pick up the Acer Predator Helios 300 on sale from Amazon for $1,099. Of the systems included in these tests, the two that came closest to matching the Predator Helios 300 were the Dell G7 15 and the MSI GS65 Stealth. The first of these retails for around $1,803.99 whereas the latter notebook costs $1,699. These higher price tags may come with some extra features and benefits, like the MSI GS65 Stealth’s full metal exterior and more compact form factor, but in terms of raw performance, neither of these more expensive systems best the Acer Predator Helios 300.

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