Acer Predator Helios 300 Review

by CT | Last Updated: April 20, 2021

Acer continues to delight with the Predator Helios 300. The quality and performance are top notch for a gaming laptop of this price. Even though it was originally released in 2017 (with some upgrades made in 2019), this laptop still ranks on the Amazon bestseller’s list — currently at #5.

predator helios bestseller

Build & Design

The design of the G3-571-77QK is pretty spectacular and sleek in appearance. From first touch you can tell this machine is a high-quality build. It doesn’t go overboard with the typical gaming accents either.

The outside of the laptop looks similar to the previous version, with a few minor changes that are honestly upgrades in my opinion. The top is black aluminum, actually metal, as is the keyboard deck.

It comes with a 15.6″ Full HD widescreen LED-backlit IPS display at 1920 x 1080. The color quality of the screen is not great, and seems a little dim. You can also upgrade to the 17 inch for a little more money which comes with some extra hardware too.

This machine comes with Acer TrueHarmony Technology Sound System and 2 Built-in Stereo Speakers. These are pretty good speakers with great sound, but if you’re looking for professional, studio-quality sound this might not be the one for you.

The cooling fans are pretty quiet and do a great job at keeping this machine from overheating with typical use, which is not something you can say for other laptops in the same category. Although if you’re running a ton of programs or a high-quality game, it can get quite hot and a little loud – as is quite typical with gaming laptops.

The Acer Predator Helios 300 weighs in at 5.95 pounds, and comes with an onboard webcam, a 1280 x 720 HD Webcam that supports High Dynamic Range (HDR). It comes in at 1.1 inches thick.

Keyboard & Touchpad

G3-571-77QK keyboard and trackpad

The Predator Helios 300 comes with a backlit MS Precision keyboard that includes a numeric keypad, which is not always typical for a 15-inch laptop. However the numeric keypad is a little crammed in there and those keys are quite small.

The WASD keys come with a red outline so people will know you’re a gamer as soon as you open this bad boy up. The rest of the keyboard is backlit with white and is either on or off, there isn’t a dimming option with this laptop.

It comes with 4 dedicated macro keys for easy of use with gaming.

The trackpad is quite sturdy and very functional for gamers.

Connectivity & Ports

The Acer Predator Helios 300 comes with the following ports:

This laptop comes with wireless connectivity of 802.11ac WiFi featuring 2×2 MIMO technology (Dual-Band 2.4GHz and 5GHz). It also features Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity.

Performance

Incorporating the latest 7th generation Intel Core i7 processor which is pretty standard in most gaming laptops.

7th Generation Intel Core i7 Processor 2.8GHz with Turbo Boost Technology up to 3.8GHz. 16GB DDR4 2400MHz Memory, 256GB SSD. No PCIe as this is a more budget-friendly version.

The Predator comes with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 with 6 GB of dedicated GDDR5 VRAM card which is impressive as you usually get a 1050 model or lower.

Storage

The Predator Helios 300 comes with a 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD and 1 TB 5400 HDD (2.5″).

While the storage included is not great, it’s very easy to upgrade it yourself. There are tons of videos and tutorials online that will help you get this done pretty quickly.

Battery Life

This powerhouse comes with a 4-cell Li-ion Battery (3220 mAh) that touts a 6-7 hour battery life. This is pretty great considering most gaming laptops with good graphics get around 3-4 hours of battery life before needing to be plugged in.

This is pretty disappointing, but is pretty standard when it comes to the “thin and slim” gaming laptops you’ll see on today’s market. That’s almost expected when you are buying something this portable.

Here’s a quick video of the unboxing of this gaming laptop:

For what you get with the Acer Predator Helios 300, the price tag that comes with it is quite surprising. While you may need to upgrade the memory storage, for around $1,200 (the price at time of writing), this is an incredible option for a solid gaming laptop.

Acer Predator Helios 300 Specs

SpecDetail
Display Resolution1920 x 1080 pixels
Memory / RAMDDR4 SDRAM
Graphics CardNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti 6GB
CPUIntel Core i7-7700HQ
CPU Speed4.5 GHz
Audio SystemWaves MaxxAudio sound technology
Hard Disk Size512 GB
BatteryLithium Ion
Battery Life6 Hours
KeyboardBlue Backlit Keyboard
Connectivity Ports1 – USB 3; 1 x Type-C Gen 2 port (up to 10 Gbps); 3 x USB 3. 1 Ports, 1 x HDMI 2.0 Port; 1 x Mini Display Port
Screen Size15.6 inches
Physical Dimensions14.23 x 10.01 x 0.90 inches
Weight5.29 lbs
Operating System (OS)Windows 10 Home
BluetoothBluetooth 4.0
CT loves marketing, entrepreneurship, and learning about the latest tech. She blogs about laptops has always been a nerd at heart from the young age of 8 when she got her first computer. She now owns multiple machines and spend 10-15 hours a day on them learning about tech and working from home.