At a look
Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Beautiful high-refresh charge OLED show
- Good value for that OLED
- Solid efficiency per greenback
- Lots of ports
Cons
- Doesn’t pull far forward of RTX 5070-powered laptops
- NPU is just too gradual for Copilot+ PC AI options
- 12 GB VRAM is low for GPU-heavy AI fashions
- Bad audio system
Our Verdict
The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI feels prefer it was meant to be a gaming laptop computer and the advertising and marketing division wished to slap “AI” on it. It’s an affordable midrange gaming laptop computer with a surprising OLED show. If you need AI laptop computer options, although — look elsewhere.
Price When Reviewed
This worth will present the geolocated pricing textual content for product undefined
Best Pricing Today
Price When Reviewed
$1,899
Best Prices Today: Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI
$1899.99
The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI is a 16-inch gaming laptop computer with strong {hardware} for an affordable value. But when you’re on the lookout for a real “AI laptop,” this isn’t it. The neural processing unit (NPU) is just too gradual to deal with Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC AI features neither is it able to run probably the most present AI duties. Many patrons don’t understand that fashionable “AI laptops” usually fall wanting Microsoft’s marketed requirements.
Like different gaming laptops rebranded as AI laptops, this machine would excel at GPU-based AI duties, however not more than every other gaming laptop computer. With 12 GB of VRAM, the Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti GPU right here isn’t preferrred for native AI fashions. (For instance, OpenAI’s new gpt-oss-20B mannequin is meant for GPUs with at the least 16 GB of VRAM.)
Moving past the AI branding, it is a tremendous laptop computer — if we deal with it as a gaming laptop computer and never an AI laptop computer. And this OLED show at lower than $2,000 is extraordinarily spectacular. So, for the remainder of this evaluate, I’ll simply deal with it like a gaming laptop computer.
Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI: Specs
The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S is a 16-inch gaming laptop computer with a blazing-fast 24-core Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU, a current-generation Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti GPU, 32 GB of RAM, and a 1 TB SSD. That’s the Best Buy-exclusive configuration we reviewed, and it retails for $1,899. The RAM and storage are finish user-upgradable, too. All it’s a must to do is take away the underside cowl.
- Model quantity: PHN16S-71-98RF
- CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX
- Memory: 32 GB DDR5 6400 MHz RAM
- Graphics/GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 12GB
- NPU: Intel AI Boost (as much as 13 TOPS)
- Display: 16-inch 2560×1600 OLED show with 240Hz refresh charge
- Storage: 1 TB PCIe Gen4 SSD
- Webcam: 1080p webcam
- Connectivity: 2x USB Type-C (1x Thunderbolt 4, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps), 3x USB Type-A (2x USB 3.2 Gen 2, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1), 1x HDMI 2.1 out, 1x Ethernet, 1x microSD card reader, 1x combo audio jack, 1x DC energy in
- Networking: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4
- Biometrics: IR digital camera for facial recognition
- Battery capability: 76 Watt-hours
- Dimensions: 14.06 x 10.9 x 1.01 inches
- Weight: 4.8 kilos
- MSRP: $1,899 as examined
If you desire a 16-inch OLED with 240Hz refresh charge for beneath $2,000, you must severely think about this machine.”
Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI: Design and construct high quality
IDG / Chris Hoffman
The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI is a 16-inch gaming laptop computer that lands someplace between the thinnest gaming laptops and the chunkiest ones. At just below 5 kilos, it’s nonetheless loads transportable for a gaming laptop computer. It’s all black, apart from a reflective Predator brand on the lid and a silver brand on the keyboard tray. The excellent news is that there’s no “AI” brand anyplace on this machine.
While Acer doesn’t specify the supplies in its reviewer’s information, the lid seems to be made from a black aluminum, with a lot of the remainder of the machine made from a black plastic. It feels strong. The hinge additionally feels good and clean, and it’s straightforward to open with a single hand.
While the keyboard lights up with multicolored LEDs if you would like it, the remainder of the machine in its “Obsidian Black” colour scheme is restrained, and it may go for extra of an expert laptop computer than a gaming laptop computer. There are not any mild bars or different results elsewhere on the laptop computer. That silver “Predator” brand beneath the keyboard marks it as a gaming laptop computer, nevertheless.
It’s a strong laptop computer. It feels sturdy, and the plastic end doesn’t really feel low cost. At an inch thick, it’s an affordable thickness for a gaming laptop computer. But it doesn’t really feel fairly as luxurious to the contact as an all-metal laptop computer chassis.
Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI: Keyboard and trackpad
IDG / Chris Hoffman
The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI has a full-size keyboard full with a quantity pad (there’s loads of room for it) and 4 zones of RGB LED backlighting. That customizable backlighting permits you to arrange colourful results with out the price of together with dearer per-key RGB backlighting.
With 1.5mm of key journey, it is a normal membrane-style chiclet keyboard on a gaming laptop computer of this measurement. There’s loads of room for sufficient key journey to make the keyboard really feel good with none additional tips. It feels tremendous — not mushy — but it surely doesn’t really feel as unusually snappy as when producers go the additional mile to incorporate a mechanical keyboard or one with additional actuation drive.
The trackpad is an effective measurement, clean, and responsive. The floor isn’t as clean as a glass touchpad, and there’s maybe a little extra friction than on another trackpad finishes I’ve used just lately — plus the click-down motion lands with a bit extra of a “thunk” than a “click” — but it surely’s tremendous. It’s a regular touchpad, however nothing that stands out towards its opponents. I sport with a mouse, anyway, and I’d be pleased utilizing this whereas I wasn’t gaming.
Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI: Display and audio system
IDG / Chris Hoffman
The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI has a 16-inch 2560×1600 OLED show with a 240Hz refresh charge and as much as 400 nits of brightness (peaking a bit increased in HDR mode.) It helps HDR and Nvidia G-Sync, too.
The show appears nice — I’m a sucker for OLED. I’m excited to see an OLED with such a excessive refresh charge, too. For years, it felt such as you needed to decide between OLED or a excessive refresh charge on a gaming laptop computer. You can get shows which might be brighter and even increased decision on a gaming laptop computer, however this one appears good with the deep blacks you’ll discover on an OLED.
While that is very good OLED, it’s not the most effective one I’ve seen. While taking part in Doom: The Dark Ages, the blacks on this OLED show appeared good and deep, however these aren’t the vivid colours and excessive brightness I usually see on an OLED-powered laptop computer. In lots of methods, it jogs my memory extra of IPS show. That’s not a shock attributable to that 400 nits brightness.
The blacks are good and deep, however the colours aren’t as vivid as I see on brighter OLEDs. As an OLED, it’s a bit shiny and susceptible to reflections, and that may be a problem in a vibrant room, extra brightness normally helps overpower these reflections.
I check the audio system on each laptop computer I evaluate by taking part in Steely Dan’s Aja and Daft Punk’s Get Lucky. The Helios Neo 16S AI’s two stereo audio system delivered loads of quantity. They did a greater job in Get Lucky than in Aja with its exact instrument separation.
But the higher midrange was a bit harsh, particularly at increased quantity settings — one thing that basically comes by in sounds just like the singing in Get Lucky‘s refrain. I discovered the higher midranges fatiguing after only a few minutes in Doom: The Dark Ages, too. I don’t like the way in which the audio system sound, and I’d actually need to use headphones whereas gaming.
Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI: Webcam, microphone, biometrics
The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI has a 1080p webcam that appears tremendous for a gaming laptop computer. In truth, I’d say it’s on the higher aspect for a gaming laptop computer, although the colour and common picture high quality aren’t up there with enterprise laptops optimized for video conferencing.
Since Acer is pushing AI options for the webcam and microphone, it’s price noting that the “PurifiedView” button within the PredatorSense app’s “Experience Zone” simply opens Windows Studio Effects webcam settings — you’ll get these specific results (computerized framing, eye contact, and background blur) on principally any laptop computer with this NPU. And you’ll get extra on a Copilot+ PC that delivers additional options.
The microphone setup was on the quiet aspect and never significantly high-quality. That’s regular for gaming laptops, however Acer markets this as a three-microphone setup for crystal-clear voice high quality. You’ll most likely be utilizing an exterior microphone, anyway. This machine has Acer Purified Voice options you possibly can tweak within the PredatorSense’s “Experience Zone,” they usually’re an enchancment over no results. However, stronger microphone {hardware} would ship a greater voice enter expertise than these stylish AI results do.
You don’t want an “AI laptop” for background noise elimination, anyway.
This machine has an IR digital camera for facial recognition with Windows Hello, so you possibly can register along with your face. As ordinary on fashionable laptops, it really works effectively.
Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI: Connectivity
IDG / Chris Hoffman
The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI has assortment of ports which might be positioned effectively. But it additionally has one of many huge issues I are inclined to see on laptops like these — USB port confusion.
On the left aspect, the machine gives an Ethernet jack, a USB Type-A port, a microSD card reader, and combo audio jack. On the best aspect, it’s obtained two extra USB Type-A ports.
On the again, you’ll discover a DC energy in jack, HDMI 2.1 out, and two USB Type-C ports (one is Thunderbolt 4 and one is USB 3.2). That’s an amazing location and means cables like energy in and video out are popping out the again of your laptop computer and aren’t in the way in which of your mouse and different issues in your desk.
The annoyance is the standard USB port confusion. On the again, one of many USB Type-C ports is a Thunderbolt 4 port whereas the opposite operates at USB 3.2 speeds. You’ll have to keep watch over which is which you probably have Thunderbolt 4 units otherwise you’ll discover them working at diminished speeds.
This laptop computer options Killer Wi-Fi 6E {hardware} and Bluetooth 5.4 assist, and it fortunately has that 2.5 Gbps Ethernet port for wired networking. It’s disappointing that Acer skipped Wi-Fi 7 right here. It’s not an enormous deal, however Wi-Fi 7 assist would make it extra futureproof.
Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI: Performance
I put the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI to the check in Doom: The Dark Ages, and it carried out effectively — because it ought to with this CPU and GPU!
Under load, the followers aren’t unusually loud for a gaming laptop computer. They blow scorching air out of each the again and sides. I’d choose in the event that they solely blew it out the again. The keyboard also can get a bit toasty, particularly within the center.
As at all times, we ran the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI by our standard benchmarks to see the way it performs.
IDG / Chris Hoffman
First, we run PCMark 10 to get an thought of general system efficiency. This is an general system benchmark, however the CPU is a big issue right here. The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI delivered a strong rating of 8,320 because of its speedy Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU.
IDG / Chris Hoffman
Next, we run Cinebench R20. This is a closely multithreaded benchmark that focuses on general CPU efficiency. It’s a fast benchmark, so cooling beneath prolonged workloads isn’t an element. But, because it’s closely multithreaded, CPUs with extra cores have an enormous benefit.
With a median multithreaded Cinebench R20 rating of 13,072, this laptop computer was a bit behind some opponents with the identical CPU, presumably suggesting cooling could also be an element.
IDG / Chris Hoffman
We additionally run an encode with Handbrake. This is one other closely multithreaded benchmark, but it surely runs over an prolonged interval. This calls for the laptop computer’s cooling kick in, and plenty of laptops will throttle and decelerate beneath load.
The Helios Neo 16S accomplished the encode course of in a median of 562 seconds. That’s over 9 minutes. Again, we see it slipping behind related laptops that presumably have higher cooling programs and want much less throttling beneath load.
If I have been approaching this as an AI laptop computer and saying you may be trying to do CPU inference, I’d level out it is a actual challenge — you’d desire a laptop computer with higher cooling to run heavy CPU-crunching duties for prolonged durations of time. (But, since we’ve left the concept of this being an AI workstation behind, it’s tremendous and sure gained’t have an enormous impact on gaming efficiency.)
IDG / Chris Hoffman
Next, we run a graphical benchmark. First, we run 3Dmark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU efficiency. The Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti GPU right here produced a Time Spy rating of 13,528. A benchmark like this one is all concerning the GPU.
What’s fascinating right here is the RTX 5070 Ti on this machine doesn’t pull very far forward of the RTX 5070 within the Alienware 16X Aurora. It’s forward, however solely by a bit bit. Comparing on-paper GPU speeds, it must be forward by rather a lot! The trigger is probably going the TDP. In this machine, the RTX 5070 Ti is proscribed to 115 W max, so it may possibly’t take full benefit of the 5070 Ti’s theoretically increased efficiency within the preferrred world. (The Alienware 16X Aurora additionally runs its 5070 at a 115 W TDP.)
IDG / Chris Hoffman
Then, we benchmark some video games. We begin with Shadow of the Tomb Raider, an older sport, however a good way to match efficiency throughout {hardware}. With a median FPS of 160 in our normal benchmark right here, this machine is according to different related laptops and even ones with quicker RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 GPUs.
IDG / Chris Hoffman
Finally, we benchmark a demanding sport. We run the Extreme benchmark in Metro Exodus. With a median FPS of 56 on this benchmark, this is available in roughly the place we’d anticipate to see it — behind RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 laptops.
Again, that is solely a hair quicker than the RTX 5070 within the Alienware 16X Aurora. While the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S does have a quicker GPU, the benefits are marginal at this TDP stage.
Overall, the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI carried out tremendous. But it doesn’t take full benefit of its {hardware}. The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX doesn’t ship the type of sustained efficiency it may possibly on competing PCs (probably as a result of cooling {hardware}), for instance.
More importantly, whereas the selection of a quicker RTX 5070 Ti GPU appears like an enormous on-paper win that can ship quicker efficiency than an RTX 5070, the TDP right here implies that the GPU on this machine performs equally to machines with RTX 5070 GPUs operating on the excessive finish of what they will handle.
Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI: Battery life
The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI has a 76 Watt-hour battery, which is center of the highway for a gaming laptop computer. Still, it helps preserve weight down and also you aren’t going to sport on battery energy anyway.
IDG / Chris Hoffman
To benchmark the battery life, we play a 4K copy of Tears of Steel on repeat on Windows 11 with airplane mode enabled till the laptop computer suspends itself. We set the display to 250 nits of brightness for our battery benchmarks. This is a best-case state of affairs for any laptop computer since native video playback is so environment friendly, and actual battery life in day-to-day use is at all times going to be lower than this.
Also, since this laptop computer has an OLED display that doesn’t have to make use of additional energy to show the black bars across the video, that offers it a little bit of an edge towards competing laptops with IPS shows on this check.
The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI lasted for a median of 371 minutes in our benchmark — that’s simply over six hours. You’ll get much less in the actual world, so this laptop computer gained’t make it by a workday (possibly not also have a workday) earlier than you have to plug it in. That’s normal for gaming laptops with power-hungry Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processors.
Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI: Conclusion
If you desire a 16-inch OLED with 240Hz refresh charge for beneath $2,000, you must severely think about this machine. Asus’s ROG Zephyrus G16 is one other 16-inch laptop computer with an RTX 5070 Ti, a slower Intel Core Ultra 9 285H CPU, and a 240Hz refresh charge, and Asus’s on-line retailer has it at $2,799 as I’m wrapping up this review.
The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI tries just a few different gimmicks. The “AI” branding isn’t a purpose to purchase this PC over one other gaming laptop computer. And the RTX 5070 Ti GPU — a win on paper — is held again and doesn’t ship the theoretical high-end efficiency it would.
If you aren’t excited by this OLED at this value, I like to recommend you think about different choices. This show at this value is that this machine’s standout function, not AI.