At the next@Acer livestream last week, Acer introduces a few more of gaming laptops for its 2023 range to accompany the new Predator Helios 16 and 18, which recently have been made available in Malaysia.
One of them is the introduction of the Predator Helios Neo.
The Neo moniker here is to represent a more affordable option of the Helios laptops, which now go on sale starting at RM11,999 in Malaysia- way higher than the usual Helios pricing point start and out of affordability for most gamers without big spending power.
For reference, the 2022 Predator laptops start at RM7,999 in Malaysia with the highest spec starting at RM11,999, the current starting price of the Helios 16.
And for a comparison point, the retail price of a PS5 console (which will always be cheaper than PC setups of similar specs due to manufacturers selling them at a loss) is RM2,299.
The Predator Helios Neo should fill back the void in that 2022 pricing point the new 2023 models have left, starting with the Predator Helios Neo 16 retails at $1,199 USD (roughly RM5,348.74).
The Predator Helios Neo 16 (PHN16-71) uses the 13th-gen Intel Core HX CPUs, up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 with an MGP of 140W, up to 32GB of DDR5-4800 MHz RAM and up to 2TB of SSD. So specs-wise, the top-of-the-line variant of this gaming laptop doesn’t look too shabby.
The Helios Neo is using Acer’s AeroBlade fan tech and liquid thermal grease, just like the Helios.
So how did the price got cut down? It’s probably the screen and the chassis.
The new 2023 Helios laptops goes hard on screen specs by using mini-LED displays at 240Hz refresh rate. The Helios Neo 16 won’t have that.
The Helios Neo 16 will have at least two differing panel specs: WQXGA (2560×1600) IPS display at 165Hz and 3ms response time, and WUXGA (1920×1200) display with a 165 Hz refresh rate and 100% sRGB.
It’s a worthy trade-off, not everyone will make full use of the higher-level displays that content creators and professional graphics work require.
The chassis looks like it’s shared with the 2023 Nitro laptops (which isn’t a bad thing as that design is riffing on past Helios 300 laptops) than the sleeker 2023 Helios 16 and 18. It also looks less clean thanks to it featuring “laser-etched encrypted codes” that are supposed to be decipherable as some sort of Easter Egg.
At least with Acer pushing up the Helios line they still haven’t forgotten the customers that can only pay up to the previous pricing point for their laptops. And the trade-offs to have it priced more affordably seems reasonable.
The Predator Helios Neo 16 will become available in North America in May and is already out in China. Give it a few more months from now and we’ll see arrive in Southeast Asia and particularly in Malaysia.