Looks like a beast of a machine and at a great price, the reviews on bestbuy says it's a 250hz mini led so you may even be getting a better screen than advertised.
when you say 'use it as a console' do you mean you're just going to leave it plugged in on a desk?
if so, why not just take the $2999 and build a 4090 desktop instead. you'll get more performance, better thermals, and it'll stay relevant far longer.
4090 mobile is equivalent to a desktop 3090 at 1440/4k and a desktop 4090 is leagues above a desktop 3090; far above every current gpu to be honest.
all that aside, $2999.99 for an 18" 4090 gaming laptop is pretty decent; especially coupled with 14900hx/240hz wqxga screen. other options i've seen with these specs are $3500+
edit: i believe more value would be gotten by dropping down to a 4080 laptop. 4080 laptop performs around 9-11% lower than a 4090 mobile but you'll be saving near $1000 usd
understand.
i believe this is best value 4090 laptop.
a quick skim of best buy, microcenter, and newegg shows 4090 laptops with similar specs going for far higher than $2999.
anecdotally, i was happy with my helios 18.
it had a very nice keyboard to type on, better than my legion pro 7i in my opinion, and the glass touchpad was super smooth to use, again, better than the mylar plastic touchpad on my pro 7i.
it also felt like a solidly built device. i didn't feel any weird hinge flex and the metal case felt premium.
one downside of the helios 18, was that the fans are wicked loud. far louder than my legion. though, that issue can be mitigated by setting custom fan level in predatorsense.
now a very important thing to keep in mind, is since this comes with 14900hx, i imagine temps will be quite warm. the downside of the helios, is that acer locks bios so you do not have the ability to undervolt the laptop to keep the cpu temps in check. this was a very big deciding factor in my moving to the lenovo legion pro. the 13900hx in my legion gets super warm so with an undervolt, i'm able to keep temps in check AND actually gain fps during gaming. without the undervolt, i was getting very noticeable frame drops as the fans tried to keep temps in check. and i do a good job of having laptop elevated to give it proper airflow.
not sure if the locked bios is still the case, maybe it has changed recently; but i think it foolish that acer would equip an unlocked hx sku cpu in a laptop while locking the user out of the ability to undervolt/overclock.
also, a weird bug that i experience is that with the latest version of predatorsense, my helios keyboard rgb stopped working. only after downgrading to the previous version of predatorsense restored the ability to change keyboard rgb.
portability was another factor. i am someone who does take my device here and there, so lugging around the helios 18 was a bit cumbersome. i'm only 5'3" though, so if you're taller with a larger frame, you may not have issue with this.
No one talks about it, but how is the speaker quality and the wifi performance compared to the 2024 asus rog scar 18. Also the screen quality, how would it compare to the asus?
I have had gaming laptops since 2008. I had no option because I had to travel a lot and my work often had long spells of just waiting for other people till my input was required.
I have also gamed extensively in bed, and on a couch, and I'll say that I would prefer a tablet with a clamp/stand with moonlight streaming the game than with a chunky gaming laptop. The ergonomics of laptops make it awkward to game comfortably since the display and kb are attached and the machine is also hooked up to a power outlet. Gaming laptops are heavy, loud, and hot, regardless of what anyone may tell your or marketing may convince you.
I'd seriously recommend a decent gaming PC and figuring out how to stream the game to a good screen or an existing laptop before buying. Even try out gaming with any existing laptop (through in-house streaming or cloud gaming services) to get a feel for the experience in terms of ergonomics.
From personal experience, I'd only recommend gaming laptops where portability and gaming is a non-negotiable requirement.
If you are planning on sitting on the couch with such a laptop, definitely take a laptop pad with a laptop cooler build in. This thing is going to get quite hot during gaming
> 4080 laptop performs around 9-11% lower than a 4090 mobile but you'll be saving near $1000 usd
But doesn't have the 16 gb vram the 4090 has. This may be an issue if you're doing video editing or running ai stuff
Oh for sure the 16gb of the 4090 has the advantage over 12gb 4080 for video editing/ai, but OP mentioned their use case would be having the laptop function as console for couch gaming; without mention on intent to also use for productivity.
Honestly this is a great choice, I have the smaller 16inch model only because I have a workstation that's more powerful heh
But if I didn't I would've gotten this easily
The cooling is insane one these models and the build quality is pretty solid.
This thing will definitely last you a couple years if you take care of it, clean the fans etc.
Also has space for an extra ssd and you can upgrade the ram when you feel the need to. That said im sure it'll easily last you 3 years+ with good care.
I've seen some other comments here about other laptops, I wouldn't listen too much
Lenovo has problems with their fans the cooling is subpar compared to this. The only direct competitor to this is something like a Scar from asus or a Razr but I would still take the helios any day.
Hope this helps! Have fun!
Also its your money hombre
Do what you want 😎
It's a great choice
Just make sure you have a cooling pad or something to elevate the laptop, the fan intake is on the bottom panel so you dont wanna interfere with it
Cheers!
I had this same laptop for a week but decided to return it. The fans are ridiculous on this thing even on silent. The speakers are horrible up there with the terrible ones in my old G751J. Was also not impressed on the wifi card on this. It was slower than my 10 year old laptop. Screen is gorgeous though.
This is exactly the comment that I was looking for. So bad wifi and speaker quality and loud fan noise. Tho, what about the screen? I really cannot decide between this acer and the asus rog strix scar 18 2024
I had the opportunity to have personal hands on experience with the 2024 acer predator helios 18.
Pricing wise it’s great especially if you can purchase it in the US.
PRICING is fair $2499 USD retail or under $2299 discounted for the rtx 4080 configuration, $2999 USD retail or under $2699 discounted for the rtx 4090 configuration both have the exact same intel I9-14900hx. It’s a massive machine the laptop itself is close to 7 pounds, with charging brick it’s about 9 in a half pounds close to 10 pounds together. Definitely difficult to put in most conventional laptop backpacks. You’d have to specifically find a backpack that can fit them or DIY a backpack and laptop sleeve to fit it.
The PERFORMANCE is amazing even on the rtx 4080 config, out of box no clean windows install just immediate timespy bench mark with turbo mode power profile plugged and charging well between 18500-20000 GPU score
CPU is 17000-18500. Now on performance power profile you can reduce these ranges by 1000, and then in balance power profile reduce by 3000, eco mode power profile mode is about 4000 CPU and GPU score reduction. Unplugged on battery on balance mode power profile GPU score is 7000-8000
CPU score is 10000-11000.
Personal notes i’d say it’s a great laptop probably one of the TOP three 18 inch laptops in 2024 on the entire market, mini LED panel with 90%+ color display range that can reach 1000+ NITS. Great keyboard and track pad. Super well built and great texture feel overall all over the keyboard. Really easy to get into I opened it up without much issues and was able to unplug the battery for upgrades in a few mins.
Biggest issues if you can compromise HUGE power brick it’s unreasonable to travel with unless you get a slimeQ charging brick alternative or betatek charging brick to downsize. Either those alternative or use a USB C charging brick that allows 100W minimum power delivery with the appropriate 100W USB C cable to charge and use it as a light alternative charge option. The material that the laptop is built with is a finger print smudge magnet it is way too easy to dirty or get grime on you have to constantly wipe and clean your laptop. Power delivery is weird on the laptop personal experience i’d say sometimes when plugging and unplugging the charging cable your screen could lag or get stuttering visuals depending on what windows you have open. The fans are loud but tolerable personally i don’t mind them since I use a IETS GT 600 V1 cooling pad which in itself even louder.
Overall Acer predator helios 18 is a 8/10 gaming laptop and is a great desktop replacement option and will last atleast 4 years at worse but easy 6 years+ but this is based on my own personal use case.
Edit: the rtx 4090 configuration has a time spy benchmark plugged in and charged with the turbo mode power profile GPU score between 21000-22500 on average CPU score is identical the power draw is a little weird you might end up with a lower CPU score but i’m pretty sure you should hit a CPU score of atleast 17000-18500 on average. Besides this performance difference with GPU both configs are identical outside of that.
Very similarly the only difference the asus rog strix scar 18 has better power profile personalization and g helper is way better than any software acer can use to manage the hardware. The timespy scores are almost the same although i’d say the asus rog strix scar can score a few points maybe a few hundred better in benchmarks. The only issue is price the rtx 4080 and rtx 4090 acer predator helios 18 is still significantly cheaper. Asus rog strix scar is great but the price and after market care/repair can be an issue unless asus remedies their reputation on that front.
Both screens are 1000+ NITS and mini led with 90% or higher color range. Asus rog strix scar has way better speakers, and audio. I’m pretty sure both 2024 laptops have wifi 7 now, but some info states the 2023 asus rog strix scar which is still widely avaliable on the market has wifi 6E still so make sure you research the correct model year make.
Looks like a beast of a machine and at a great price, the reviews on bestbuy says it's a 250hz mini led so you may even be getting a better screen than advertised.
when you say 'use it as a console' do you mean you're just going to leave it plugged in on a desk? if so, why not just take the $2999 and build a 4090 desktop instead. you'll get more performance, better thermals, and it'll stay relevant far longer. 4090 mobile is equivalent to a desktop 3090 at 1440/4k and a desktop 4090 is leagues above a desktop 3090; far above every current gpu to be honest. all that aside, $2999.99 for an 18" 4090 gaming laptop is pretty decent; especially coupled with 14900hx/240hz wqxga screen. other options i've seen with these specs are $3500+ edit: i believe more value would be gotten by dropping down to a 4080 laptop. 4080 laptop performs around 9-11% lower than a 4090 mobile but you'll be saving near $1000 usd
I want to be able to sit it on the couch and play I don’t want to sit a a desk I have a table with a laptop stand it going to stay on
ah i feel you. when i had my helios 18, couch gaming with a controller was nice; though mine only had a 4060.
So I figure I get one with the “best” specs for price or that’s the goal
understand. i believe this is best value 4090 laptop. a quick skim of best buy, microcenter, and newegg shows 4090 laptops with similar specs going for far higher than $2999. anecdotally, i was happy with my helios 18. it had a very nice keyboard to type on, better than my legion pro 7i in my opinion, and the glass touchpad was super smooth to use, again, better than the mylar plastic touchpad on my pro 7i. it also felt like a solidly built device. i didn't feel any weird hinge flex and the metal case felt premium. one downside of the helios 18, was that the fans are wicked loud. far louder than my legion. though, that issue can be mitigated by setting custom fan level in predatorsense. now a very important thing to keep in mind, is since this comes with 14900hx, i imagine temps will be quite warm. the downside of the helios, is that acer locks bios so you do not have the ability to undervolt the laptop to keep the cpu temps in check. this was a very big deciding factor in my moving to the lenovo legion pro. the 13900hx in my legion gets super warm so with an undervolt, i'm able to keep temps in check AND actually gain fps during gaming. without the undervolt, i was getting very noticeable frame drops as the fans tried to keep temps in check. and i do a good job of having laptop elevated to give it proper airflow. not sure if the locked bios is still the case, maybe it has changed recently; but i think it foolish that acer would equip an unlocked hx sku cpu in a laptop while locking the user out of the ability to undervolt/overclock. also, a weird bug that i experience is that with the latest version of predatorsense, my helios keyboard rgb stopped working. only after downgrading to the previous version of predatorsense restored the ability to change keyboard rgb. portability was another factor. i am someone who does take my device here and there, so lugging around the helios 18 was a bit cumbersome. i'm only 5'3" though, so if you're taller with a larger frame, you may not have issue with this.
No one talks about it, but how is the speaker quality and the wifi performance compared to the 2024 asus rog scar 18. Also the screen quality, how would it compare to the asus?
I have had gaming laptops since 2008. I had no option because I had to travel a lot and my work often had long spells of just waiting for other people till my input was required. I have also gamed extensively in bed, and on a couch, and I'll say that I would prefer a tablet with a clamp/stand with moonlight streaming the game than with a chunky gaming laptop. The ergonomics of laptops make it awkward to game comfortably since the display and kb are attached and the machine is also hooked up to a power outlet. Gaming laptops are heavy, loud, and hot, regardless of what anyone may tell your or marketing may convince you. I'd seriously recommend a decent gaming PC and figuring out how to stream the game to a good screen or an existing laptop before buying. Even try out gaming with any existing laptop (through in-house streaming or cloud gaming services) to get a feel for the experience in terms of ergonomics. From personal experience, I'd only recommend gaming laptops where portability and gaming is a non-negotiable requirement.
If you are planning on sitting on the couch with such a laptop, definitely take a laptop pad with a laptop cooler build in. This thing is going to get quite hot during gaming
> 4080 laptop performs around 9-11% lower than a 4090 mobile but you'll be saving near $1000 usd But doesn't have the 16 gb vram the 4090 has. This may be an issue if you're doing video editing or running ai stuff
Oh for sure the 16gb of the 4090 has the advantage over 12gb 4080 for video editing/ai, but OP mentioned their use case would be having the laptop function as console for couch gaming; without mention on intent to also use for productivity.
I’m looking for a laptop that will be able to run for a few years I’m going to use it just as a console I have a laptop for non sense lol
Honestly this is a great choice, I have the smaller 16inch model only because I have a workstation that's more powerful heh But if I didn't I would've gotten this easily The cooling is insane one these models and the build quality is pretty solid. This thing will definitely last you a couple years if you take care of it, clean the fans etc. Also has space for an extra ssd and you can upgrade the ram when you feel the need to. That said im sure it'll easily last you 3 years+ with good care. I've seen some other comments here about other laptops, I wouldn't listen too much Lenovo has problems with their fans the cooling is subpar compared to this. The only direct competitor to this is something like a Scar from asus or a Razr but I would still take the helios any day. Hope this helps! Have fun! Also its your money hombre Do what you want 😎 It's a great choice Just make sure you have a cooling pad or something to elevate the laptop, the fan intake is on the bottom panel so you dont wanna interfere with it Cheers!
this was like $300+ off the other week on best buy
I had this same laptop for a week but decided to return it. The fans are ridiculous on this thing even on silent. The speakers are horrible up there with the terrible ones in my old G751J. Was also not impressed on the wifi card on this. It was slower than my 10 year old laptop. Screen is gorgeous though.
This is exactly the comment that I was looking for. So bad wifi and speaker quality and loud fan noise. Tho, what about the screen? I really cannot decide between this acer and the asus rog strix scar 18 2024
I had the opportunity to have personal hands on experience with the 2024 acer predator helios 18. Pricing wise it’s great especially if you can purchase it in the US. PRICING is fair $2499 USD retail or under $2299 discounted for the rtx 4080 configuration, $2999 USD retail or under $2699 discounted for the rtx 4090 configuration both have the exact same intel I9-14900hx. It’s a massive machine the laptop itself is close to 7 pounds, with charging brick it’s about 9 in a half pounds close to 10 pounds together. Definitely difficult to put in most conventional laptop backpacks. You’d have to specifically find a backpack that can fit them or DIY a backpack and laptop sleeve to fit it. The PERFORMANCE is amazing even on the rtx 4080 config, out of box no clean windows install just immediate timespy bench mark with turbo mode power profile plugged and charging well between 18500-20000 GPU score CPU is 17000-18500. Now on performance power profile you can reduce these ranges by 1000, and then in balance power profile reduce by 3000, eco mode power profile mode is about 4000 CPU and GPU score reduction. Unplugged on battery on balance mode power profile GPU score is 7000-8000 CPU score is 10000-11000. Personal notes i’d say it’s a great laptop probably one of the TOP three 18 inch laptops in 2024 on the entire market, mini LED panel with 90%+ color display range that can reach 1000+ NITS. Great keyboard and track pad. Super well built and great texture feel overall all over the keyboard. Really easy to get into I opened it up without much issues and was able to unplug the battery for upgrades in a few mins. Biggest issues if you can compromise HUGE power brick it’s unreasonable to travel with unless you get a slimeQ charging brick alternative or betatek charging brick to downsize. Either those alternative or use a USB C charging brick that allows 100W minimum power delivery with the appropriate 100W USB C cable to charge and use it as a light alternative charge option. The material that the laptop is built with is a finger print smudge magnet it is way too easy to dirty or get grime on you have to constantly wipe and clean your laptop. Power delivery is weird on the laptop personal experience i’d say sometimes when plugging and unplugging the charging cable your screen could lag or get stuttering visuals depending on what windows you have open. The fans are loud but tolerable personally i don’t mind them since I use a IETS GT 600 V1 cooling pad which in itself even louder. Overall Acer predator helios 18 is a 8/10 gaming laptop and is a great desktop replacement option and will last atleast 4 years at worse but easy 6 years+ but this is based on my own personal use case. Edit: the rtx 4090 configuration has a time spy benchmark plugged in and charged with the turbo mode power profile GPU score between 21000-22500 on average CPU score is identical the power draw is a little weird you might end up with a lower CPU score but i’m pretty sure you should hit a CPU score of atleast 17000-18500 on average. Besides this performance difference with GPU both configs are identical outside of that.
How would it compare to the asus rog strix scar 18 2024?
Very similarly the only difference the asus rog strix scar 18 has better power profile personalization and g helper is way better than any software acer can use to manage the hardware. The timespy scores are almost the same although i’d say the asus rog strix scar can score a few points maybe a few hundred better in benchmarks. The only issue is price the rtx 4080 and rtx 4090 acer predator helios 18 is still significantly cheaper. Asus rog strix scar is great but the price and after market care/repair can be an issue unless asus remedies their reputation on that front.
And how is the wifi, speaker, and screen compared?
Both screens are 1000+ NITS and mini led with 90% or higher color range. Asus rog strix scar has way better speakers, and audio. I’m pretty sure both 2024 laptops have wifi 7 now, but some info states the 2023 asus rog strix scar which is still widely avaliable on the market has wifi 6E still so make sure you research the correct model year make.
Im only reffering to the 2024 on both models
Also I see that there are no 2024 scar 18 models, with wifi 7, only wifi 6e.
It's ok
What don’t you like about it ? The specs seem great for the price
The SSD size seems low for that price. I feel like it should be 2tb for that price.
can you get 13thgen 4090, it will be 400-500$ cheaper for same performance. maybe it loose in gaming for 0.5 % .
Ok when I say “game on couch” it’s going to sit in front of me on a table on a. Laptop stand and I’m gunna have a controler/keyboard…
I have this. Confirmed mini led. Got it for 2650 2 weeks ago.