Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 2024 Review: Best in class performance

VERDICT:The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 2024 offers top-tier gaming performance with its Intel Core i9-14900HX processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 GPU. Its premium design, excellent display, and impressive thermal management further enhance its appeal. It outperforms its competitors in its price range, making it a worthy investment for gaming enthusiasts seeking high performance without breaking the bank.

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Acer is back with the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 2024, continuing last year’s newly launched Helios Neo lineup. Last year we saw the release of several “budget premium” gaming laptops, which offered top-of-the-line hardware while being comparatively easy on the wallet, especially compared to other high-end gaming laptop offerings. One of our favourites from last year was the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16, part of Acer’s premium Predator Helios lineup of gaming laptops. While the Predator Helios series usually falls under the premium gaming laptop category costing north of INR 2-2.5 lakhs, the Predator Helios Neo lineup was introduced to make the Predator more attainable for the masses. While we still wouldn’t call it cheap, priced between INR 1-1.8 lakhs, the specs you get are comparable to gaming laptops at much higher prices. We were very impressed with the Helios Neo 16’s performance last year, and we were excited to see how well the new 2024 model performs. But before that, let’s get the specs out of the way.

Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 2024 specs at a glance

Processor: Intel Core i9-14900HX (24C / 32T) Max clock 5.8 GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070
VRAM: 8 GB
TGP: 140 W (115 W + 25 W Dynamic boost)
RAM: 16 GB DDR5-5600
Storage: 1 TB NVMe SSD
Price: ₹1,79,999

Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 2024 Build and Design

The new Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 2024 borrows a lot from Acer’s premium Predator Helios lineup in terms of design language. There are also a few subtle changes from last year’s Neo 16 variant. While you don’t get the very best in terms of build quality that Acer has to offer, what you do get still feels very premium. The overall build comprises aluminium which is used in the lid, and polycarbonate for the rest of the body. The protruding rear of the laptop has a transparent coating on the top with the words Helios Neo 16 between an angular pattern; similar to previous gen Helios laptops. On the lid itself, you have a Predator logo in the centre with RGB lighting and alphanumeric text at the bottom right which is an encrypted message from Acer. We’ll leave the decoding to you.

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 comes with a chiclet keyboard with satisfactory travel and feedback. It’s also a full-sized keyboard featuring a numpad. The size and spacing of the keys were also good making for an overall pleasant typing and gaming experience. The keyboard features 4-zone RGB backlighting which can be customised via the PredatorSense software. The precision touchpad is slightly off-centre to avoid getting in the way while typing.

I/O ports

You have a great selection of ports with the Predator Helios Neo 16. Starting with the rear, you have the DC-in port, an HDMI 2.1 port, and 2 USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports. Then on the left side, you have the Ethernet port, a USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port, a microSD card reader, and a 3.5mm audio combo jack. Finally, you have 2 USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports on the right side of the laptop.

Thermals

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 2024 comes with the 5th generation of Acer’s AeroBlade 3D fan tech. The laptop also uses liquid metal over thermal paste for cooling. Cool air intake happens from the bottom, and vents are located on the rear and sides of the laptop.

As far as thermal performance is concerned, the new Helios Neo 16 is middle of the pack. It doesn’t run too hot, but certain clusters, like the middle of the laptop, can go over the 40-degree Celsius mark. The rest of the laptop’s surface averages temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius. The CPU hit a peak temperature of 88 degrees Celsius during our CPU stress test which is within expectations. Meanwhile, the GPU hit peak temperatures of around 81 degrees Celsius during intensive gaming sessions which is again not too high or too low.

Display

We were very impressed with the display of last year’s iteration of the Helios Neo 16. The trend continues this year as well. The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 2024 comes with a 16-inch, WQXGA (2560 x 1600), 16:10, IPS Panel with a refresh of 240 Hz. The panel has an advertised peak brightness of 500 nits, we tested 511 nits during our testing. We also tested an sRGB gamut coverage of 99.5 per cent, and a DCI-P3 gamut coverage of 96.5 per cent. Not only are these excellent scores, they’re better than last year’s model. The presence of a microSD card reader also means that Acer has taken creators considering this laptop into account as well. With the display on this laptop, it’s worth considering for creative workloads.

Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 2024 Performance

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 comes with a 14th-generation Intel Core i9-14900HX which is paired with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU with a TGP of 140 W. This is a great opportunity to compare the Helios Neo 16 2024 with the recently launched HP Omen 16 2024 which is slightly cheaper but features a 14th-generation Intel Core i7-14700HX and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU. The HP Omen 16 is priced at INR 1,60,990 while the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 is priced at INR 1,79,999. Let’s see how much of a difference in performance 20K can give you. We’ll start with productivity and processor performance.

We use the PCMark 10 benchmark to test general productivity and the Cinebench R23 and Geekbench 6 benchmarks to test for single-core and multi-core performance.

You can see that for the most part, the Intel Core i9-14900HX in the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 ends up outperforming the Intel Core i7-14700HX on the HP Omen 16. As it should. The difference is especially noticeable in the Cinebench R23 multi-core performance score, however, single-core performance remains relatively similar.

Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 2024 Gaming performance

The RTX 4070 on the Helios Neo 16 2024 is a tier higher than the RTX 4060 on the HP Omen 16. Both come with TGPs of 140 W, which is the highest allowed configuration by NVIDIA. We start things of with synthetic gaming benchmarks for which we use 3Dmark.

Here, the RTX 4070 on the Helios Neo 16 2024 outperforms the RTX 4060 on the HP Omen 16 across the board. Logically this makes complete sense, as the RTX 4070 is the better GPU on paper. However, this didn’t necessarily reflect in all real-world gaming benchmarks.

In real-world gaming performance, the Predator Helios Neo 16 performs better in all our gaming benchmarks. Some titles, like Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Cyberpunk 2077 are very close in terms of scores, however. That said, the numbers are still great, and there is a significant lead in FPS numbers for other titles, like Red Dead Redemption, Civilization VI, and Metro Exodus. Taking the overall scores into consideration, the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 is the best-performing gaming laptop we’ve tested in the sub-2 lakh category.

Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 2024 Verdict

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 2024 offers top-tier gaming performance with its Intel Core i9-14900HX processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 GPU. Its premium design, excellent display, and impressive thermal management further enhance its appeal. It outperforms its competitors in its price range, making it a worthy investment for gaming enthusiasts seeking high performance without breaking the bank.