The Acer Predator Helios 500 17 AMDÂ is a high-quality AMD-powered gaming laptop. It is extremely powerful on the front end and outperforms anything else in its class in terms of multi-threaded productivity. This is the one of the finest laptop money can buy for gaming. If you are interested and want to know more about it then read this article till the end.
Acer Predator Helios 500 17 AMD Configuration
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 2nd Gen 2700 (3.20GHz)
- Graphics: AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 8 GB HBM2
- RAM: 16GB DDR4 2400MHz
- Display: 17.3-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS (144Hz, FreeSync)
- Storage: 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD and 1TB HDD 7200RPM
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0
- Dimensions: 16.9 x 11.7 x 1.5 inches / 429.2 x 297.2 x 38.1 mm
- Weight: 8.8 lbs. (4KG)
- Operating System: Windows 10 Home
Acer Predator Helios 500 17 AMD Detailed Review
In various ways, the Acer Helios Predator 500 is a heavyweight laptop. It’s large and hefty, has some of the best hardware available in a laptop, and costs a fortune. It’s also overkill for the majority of people.
The Helios 500 is a laptop that is entirely dedicated to gaming. As a result, it’s quite good at what it does. Its performance is outstanding, the keyboard is excellent, the thermal control is excellent, and the screen is about as modern as laptop displays get, even if far higher refresh rates are available for less money.
It is unquestionably the best choice for individuals who want to try overclocking their laptop’s graphics processor to get the most out of it.
Design
Acer Predator Helios 500 17 AMD features a black chassis with some blue accents and includes AeroBlade 3D fans for cooling. Except for the distinctive blue tint, everything else appears to be normal gaming fare.
The lid features a huge light-up Predator logo, the thermal vent on the back resembles something taken from a flashy sports vehicle, and there are way more illuminated pieces than are really necessary. The RGB backlight on the keyboard is a given, but there’s also a bright strip on the front edge, an illuminated ring around the touchpad, and extra LED strips on the sides and back.
The Predator Sense app on the Helios 500 also allows you to completely customise their behaviour. The lid of laptop is made of aluminium, while the remainder is made of strong plastic. This gives Acer better control over where the heat from the internals ends up because plastic conducts heat slower than aluminium.
Display
Because of its high 144 Hz refresh rate and incorporation of AMD’s screen-smoothing FreeSync technology, the 17.3-inch, 1080p resolution, IPS panel display is remarkable. The panel also boasts a wide variable refresh range of 60-144 Hz, which means that as long as your frame rate is higher than 60 fps, you should not have any screen tearing or stuttering.
The display on the AMD Predator also covers 114 percent of the sRGB colour spectrum, which is less vibrant than the 133-percent premium gaming average. The 303-nit average brightness of the screen outperforms the 276-nit G-Sync panel in the other Helios 500 model, as well as the 280-nit category average.
When you combine that power with outstanding colour coverage (almost 100% of DCI P3) and the clarity of a FHD resolution panel, you get one of the best gaming laptop displays. There are certain things that could be better. However, for the time being, this is one of the finest laptop gaming screens available.
Performance and Graphics
The Acer Predator Helios 500 17 AMD has an AMD Ryzen 7-2700 desktop-level CPU an eight-core, 16-thread processor with a base frequency of 3.7GHz. It can boost up to 4.3GHz with Turbo Boost. It has AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 graphics and 16 GB of HBM2 memory.
With such a potent CPU and a decent graphics card, the Predator Helios 500 stands out as an ideal desktop replacement laptop for demanding productivity tasks like media creation, Photoshop, and gaming. The Acer Predator Helios 500 also includes a 256GB PCI Express NVMe solid-state drive (SSD). Its 16GB of RAM is common for a 2019 midrange or high-end gaming laptop.
This variant of Acer’s Predator is prepared to impress, sporting a strong desktop-class CPU (AMD’s Ryzen 7 2700) and GPU (an AMD Radeon Vega 56) in comparison to similarly priced devices that often feature mobile Intel CPUs and Nvidia GTX  graphics. The AMD-powered Helios is more than capable of running recent titles at High settings, including VR games.Â
Keyboard and Touchpad
The directional-arrow and WASD keys on the keyboard have blue borders. On the upper deck, near the hinges, there is a row of specialised hotkeys that you can configure to perform whatever function you want, including auto-overclocking.Â
There is also key backlighting, which allows you to adjust the lighting hues in the machine’s built-in PredatorSense software. But by default, the entire keyboard and touchpad have a blue haze backlight, which also extends to the six hotkeys and the power button.
The feel of the keyboard, as expected, is great. Acer uses a membrane keyboard in this case, yet it still provides deep and satisfying key strokes. The 2.3 x 4-inch touchpad seemed accurate and smooth, and the actual keys below it aren’t too hard.
Battery
Laptops this large and powerful have a short battery life. And you’ll need to be plugged in when gaming. Even if you only intend to use this laptop to watch movies, perform light productivity, or surf the web. You’ll need to have it plugged in practically constantly. With heavy usage, it lasted only one hour and 33 minutes.
Ports
Two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, separate headphone and microphone jacks, and a Kensington lock slot are on the right side. Two USB Type-C 3.1/Thunderbolt 3 ports, an Ethernet, and a single USB 3.0 Type-A port are on the left side. Around the rear of the laptop are video outputs (HDMI and DisplayPort) that allow you to extend the screen by up to three monitors using HDMI, DisplayPort, and the USB Type-C port.
Final Verdict
The Acer Predator Helios 500 17 AMD is a high-quality AMD-powered gaming laptop. It’s quite powerful on the front end, outperforms everything else in its class in terms of multi-threaded productivity thanks to a 16-thread Ryzen 7 CPU. And it’s remarkably quiet considering the computing grunt during gameplay. Its screen is excellent, with a fast refresh rate, and AMD’s FreeSync technology makes it even better. Hopefully this article helps you to know more about this beast of a gaming laptop.
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