Acer Predator Helios 18 (2023) | RTX 4080 Gaming Laptop

Acer's Predator Helios 18 gaming laptop has been refreshed for 2023 with Intel's 13th Gen chipsets and Nvidia's RTX 4060, 4070 and 4080 GPU, for ultra-beefy performance. The Predator Helios 18 2023 now boasts a 16:10 Mini LED display clocking in at 250Hz, plus a customisable decal design so you can make it your own.

The Predator Helios 18 is a power-packing gaming laptop that can smash through any PC titles out there thanks to its 13th Gen Intel smarts, paired with Nvidia’s RTX 4080 GPU. Plus of course Acer’s built-in overclocking shenanigans and ridiculous cooling tech - with a free month of Game Pass Ultimate chucked in.

My sample unit came with a GeForce RTX 4080, so it happily blasted through Returnal, Forza 5 and everything else that I threw at it. The Acer Predator Helios 18 2023 serves up a pair of 5th gen Aeroblade fans, custom built for this gaming laptop, which can individually be manually controlled if desired. So no throttling, even with lots of gaming all afternoon long.

Acer Predator Helios 18 2023 Chapters:
0:00 - Baldy banging on
0:42 - Design
1:33 - Ports
2:05 - Specs
2:50 - Predator Sense
3:30 - Gaming test
4:40 - Cooling tech
5:21 - Game Pass Ultimate
6:49 - Display & audio
7:47 - Byyyyyeeeee

[ryansomerville]

Wow, I wasnt fussed about spending £3000+ on this laptop, but since it comes with £10 worth of gamepass I bought 12 so I've got a whole year.

[midnightlightning]

I recently bought the Predator 18 240hz RTX4080 i9-13900 model with 1TB M.2 and 16GB RAM and am very impressed. I don't use it for gaming but needed a powerful laptop for astrophotography processing which utilises the GPU. The first one came with broken seal so was returned. The second one has a slight scratch on the lid but having already returned one I decided to keep it. Not a great start but the build quality seems pretty good, I like the aluminium lid and deck, the bottom is plastic but providing its not abused should be fine and you don't see the bottom very often. I don't really understand benchmarking but I ran PassMark with out of the box settings and got a score of 6834. Interestingly the individual scores and total are virtually identical to my, what I consider powerful, desktop which has Ryzen 5900X, 64GB DDR4 (3200mhz) and RTX 3060. I have since added another 16GB RAM and an extra 2TB M.2 to the Predator - very easy to do and much cheaper than buying the 32GB model from the outset. I understand that it may take more than the manufacturers 32GB RAM limit according to PHP-Memory but I didnt want to risk having issues to stuck to 32GB. I then reran PassMark and was gobsmacked to get a core of 12, 776 ( I repeated the test and got a similar score). I certainly didn't expect this and don't know what to make of it - the only significant difference between the pre and post upgrade tests were the 3D mark scores which were 6185 and 24701 respectively. I can only think that perhaps the original test used the integrated GPU(?), if so its still impressive. So, some other thoughts. I use the laptop on my lap. It is heavy so I bought the Belkin laptop Cushdesk which whilst not perfect, as it does flex a bit, does help, I also put a cushion between my legs so the couch takes most of the weight. It is very easy to use like this, I love the keyboard, very precise. The touchpad works fine but I use a mouse. The 18" screen size is excellent, great when using two panes side by side - it is very bright and clear - I didn’t want the mini-led screen due to astrophotography processing. Under testing my screen has very bad bleed on the left side of the bottom edge but in practice I haven't noticed it when using the laptop. I couldn’t detect any dead or hot pixels so lucky there. The laptop is silent when used for everyday tasks, browsing, email, word processing etc. It does get loud when running full throttle but it is moving a lot of air. According to CPUID HWmonitor during the CPU benchmarking the CPU was running around 80C with peaks in high 90’s. The GPU ran cooler peaking in high 80’sC. I have no idea how it compares to similar laptops but it does what I need and as things stand I am very happy with it. If it lasts as long as my 2009 ASUS N55SL, which I still use, it will have been a good buy – only time will tell.

[Truck_OFF]

Which one is better in terms of quality and performance this or lenovo legion pro 7i?

[purehyperbole]

That "solidly constructed" sounded like it was straight out of the script Acer sent for him.

[zZwellZz]

4080 is the way to go, the only problem is the price...
Great review, uncle Spurt =)

[MrMercedes]

I've had the Acer nitro 5 for 2 years and it's been brilliant and had lots of use. Ready for an upgrade, this could be it

[crappycoder]

That intro wallpaper took me back to memory lane!

[Miracole]

Funny, I had just received the 16 inch version of this laptop just last Friday. Great review Chris!

[RevGaming]

I just bought this helios 18 with the i9 14900 and 4080 and holy shit WHAT A BEAST! i absolutely love it

[calamityyy]

That first desktop background is incredibly nostalgic

[riccccccardo]

Does the thermal grease last forever or do you need to change it?

[RandomGamerwithPotatoisMyName]

What's the wallpaper in the beginning? Any links?

[Louie]

I got the 4090 version and its kicks serious butt

[iamdjnaisanofficial]

Please tell me is it perfect for music like dj controller? please help me 😊

[Durritoes]

I've been watching your vids ever since you've had around 400K subs and I just wanted to say that your reviews are always a joy to watch. I'm glad that you're close to a million subs and I hope you get millions more!

[inne]

How's the laptop so far? Im thinking of getting one since the price is closer to 2k now. Appreciate any information!

Also, im not sure if its worth getting the same specs but ASUS for $350 more...

[HarperEvolution]

Lovely! This review helped me settle on this laptop’s 16” little brother. Well done!

[TransVGal]

Bought it.. its huge a bit heavy but its a beast

[exorias]

i literally cant find this thing online to buy
its like it doesnt exist

[ooppww]

Sad that they don’t release these in India 😭😭😭😭