Acer Helios 700 and Helios 300 laptops unveiled with Intel 9th Gen and RTX graphics

Aside from new desktops and high refresh rate monitors, Acer's event today also featured plenty of new laptops. Today, we were able to get a look at the new Predator Helios 700 and the Helios 300, tackling the high-end and mid-range gaming laptop markets.

The Acer Predator Helios 700 is the high-end option. Hardware-wise, the top model will feature an overclockable Intel 9th Gen Core i9 processor and an Nvidia RTX 2080. However, lower-tier options will be available, including RTX 2070 graphics and likely a Core i7 CPU option. Acer can also fit up to 64GB of DDR4 memory into the Helios 700. Given that this is a gaming notebook, it also packs a 17-inch 1080p 144Hz monitor.

While the hardware all sounds very good, one of the most interesting parts about this laptop is the cooling. For the Predator Helios 700, Acer's engineers developed a new cooling system. It involves new AeroBlade 3D fans, give copper heat pipes, a vapour chamber and a custom fan profile. The laptop also includes what Acer is calling the ‘HyperDrift' keyboard, which slides forward to open up additional air intakes to improve cooling performance.

As you would expect, the keyboard itself is fully RGB but it also includes ‘MagForce' WASD keys. Similar to CoolerMaster's AIMPAD key switches, this allows the WASD keys to have pressure sensitivity. This allows more control over movement, mimicking analogue stick movement on a gamepad.

The Helios 700 will be available in the US starting this month, with a starting price tag of $2,699.99. Here in Europe, the laptop will be available in July for €2,699.99.

The Predator Helios 300 is a little more sensible price-wise. It starts at $1,199.99 in the US or €1,499.99 in Europe. It is significantly cheaper and ditches the HyperDrift keyboard and some of the higher-end hardware options. Still, it packs an impressive amount of power under the hood.

The Helios 300 will be available with ‘up to' an Intel Core i7 9th Gen processor and ‘up to' an Nvidia RTX 2070 Max-Q. Acer has said that GTX options will be available for this laptop but didn't get into any specific GPU names. We would assume that this means a GTX 1660 option will be available later this year, but we don't know for sure yet.

The Helios 300 also comes with room for up to 32GB of DDR4 memory running at 2666MHz and up to two PCIe NVMe SSDs in RAID 0, with an accompanying hard drive.

The chassis is aluminium, giving it a premium finish. The display has also been re-designed for narrow bezels, all while retaining the IPS panel, 144Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time.

For cooling, the Helios 300 uses the same AeroBlade 3D fans found on its more expensive brother. These fans are 0.1mm thick and use a serrated edge along the top and bottom with a curved fin on the inner side of each fan blade. Acer says this boosts airflow by up to 45 percent, so it should keep all of that high performance hardware in check.

KitGuru Says: Hopefully we'll get a chance to review both of these later in the year. Are any of you planning on getting a new gaming laptop at some point in 2019? What sort of spec are you after?

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