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Acer Predator Helios 18 AI: Two-minute review
The Acer Predator Helios 18 AI is a top-tier gaming laptop with a phenomenal spec that’s sure to whet the appetites of even casual gamers. Despite what lurks inside, its exterior is remarkably restrained. At 18 inches, it’s obviously very large, but the black finish and lack of branding keep its profile reasonably low. However, that large rear protrusion and ostentatious RGB lighting give away its intentions.
I think Acer has done well to keep the Predator Helios 18 AI as slender as possible. Of course, this is all relative given the size of laptop we’re dealing with here, but it’s impressively thin for the most part, although it thickens at the rear.
Build quality is also excellent, equaling the best gaming laptops in this regard. Premium materials are employed everywhere, and the hinge for the lid is smooth and easy to operate, while offering plenty of stability once set.
The keyboard is tactile and snappy, and the generous spacing of the keys makes it easy to type and game on the Predator Helios 18 AI. The number pad somewhat compromises the layout, though, with the space bar paying the highest price; it’s a little too short for my liking.
On the other hand, the large trackpad does a fine job of not interfering while using the keyboard, with accidental contact failing to register in my experience. It’s also very smooth and accurate, should you wish to use it over one of the best gaming mice.
Considering its mighty spec, the Predator Helios 18 AI performs as well as you might expect. Cyberpunk 2077 and Doom: The Dark Ages ran with aplomb, each delivering fps figures in the hundreds with maximum graphics settings, including those for ray tracing.
You will have to endure constant fan noise when gaming, but thankfully this isn’t egregious when the default Balanced mode is selected in the Predator Sense app. The Predator Helios 18 AI also generates a fair amount of heat, which can spread to the sides and the keyboard after a while. Again, though, this isn’t bad enough to cause an issue.
The biggest price you’ll have to pay for all this performance is… well, the price. Starting at $3,000, the Predator Helios 18 AI is incredibly expensive. I struggle to think who’ll need such a large and powerful laptop, and be willing to pay this much for one.
Of course, the entire gaming laptop market is a premium one, but there are better value alternatives out there if you don’t need an 18-inch display and triple-digit frame rates, such as the excellent Razer Blade 16 (2025) or the MSI Katana 15 (2023), the latter of which we think is currently the best budget gaming laptop around.
Acer Predator Helios 18 AI review: Price & Availability
- Starts from $2,999.99 / £3,499.99 / AU$7,299
- Hugely expensive
- Better value alternatives
The Predator Helios 18 AI starts from $2,999.99 / £3,499.99 / AU$7,299 and is available now. It comes with spare WASD and arrow keys, as well as a thermal pad upgrade kit for the RAM.
You don’t need me to tell you what an eye-watering sum this is. It’s understandable considering the spec, and my review unit was even more outlandish, equipped with a 3840 x 2400 display and 192GB of RAM(!).
Prices are similar to the Razer Blade, which performs similarly too. If you want something that’s even better value, the MSI Katana 15 (2023) is, in our view, one of the best budget gaming laptops around, if you’re happy to game at 1080p.
Acer Predator Helios 18 AI review: Specs
| Row 0 – Cell 0 |
Acer Predator Helios 18 AI Base Config |
Acer Predator Helios 18 AI Review Config |
|
Price |
$2,999.99 / £3,499.99 / AU$7299 |
TBC |
|
CPU |
Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX (24 Cores), 2.70 GHz |
Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX (24 Cores), 2.70 GHz |
|
GPU |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 (16GB) |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 (24GB) |
|
RAM |
64GB DDR5 |
192GB DDR5 |
|
Storage |
2TB PCIe NVMe SED SSD |
2TB PCIe NVMe SED SSD |
|
Display |
18-inch WQXGA (2560 x 1600), 16:10 ComfyView (Matte), 250Hz, IPS |
18-inch WQUXGA (3840 x 2400), 16:10 ComfyView (Matte), 250Hz, IPS |
|
Ports and Connectivity |
3 x USB-A, 2 x USB-C, 1 x RJ-45, 1 x SD card, 1 x HDMI, 1 x 3.5mm audio in/out; Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 |
3 x USB-A, 2 x USB-C, 1 x RJ-45, 1 x SD card, 1 x HDMI, 1 x 3.5mm audio in/out; Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 |
|
Battery |
99Wh |
99Wh |
|
Dimensions |
401 x 308 x 29.6mm |
401 x 308 x 29.6mm |
|
Weight |
3.5kg / 7.7lbs |
3.5kg / 7.7lbs |
Acer Predator Helios 18 AI review: Design
- Large but surprisingly thin
- Relatively understated
- Excellent build quality
Given its large display size, the Predator Helios 18 AI is a reasonably understated gaming laptop. The rear bulge that extends beyond the lid hinge gives it some distinction, and the RGB lighting can light up the whole unit like a Christmas tree if you want it to (the bar that runs along the front edge and wraps around the side is especially striking). But switch this off and you’ll struggle to tell it apart from the best business laptops.
It’s quite bulky, although I think the Predator Helios 18 AI does an admirable job of keeping its dimensions contained considering the beastly components that lay within. The front end is reasonably thin, but thickens as it moves towards the back. This increased size does allow for larger vent openings, though, so it’s a worthy sacrifice to improve cooling performance.
The overall build quality is hard to fault. All the materials that are used look and feel premium and durable. The lid is also impressively smooth to operate yet remains sufficiently stable when set in position.
Underneath you’ll find three feet that run across the width of the Predator Helios 18 AI, and they provide plenty of grip on desktop surfaces. They also raise the chassis from the surface by a significant degree, again allowing for improved ventilation.
There are plenty of ports on the Predator Helios 18 AI. On the left, you’ll find an ethernet and a USB-A port, as well as an SD card slot and a 3.5mm audio in/ out jack. On the right are two more USB-A ports, which is a sensible location considering this is where you’ll likely be connecting external peripherals.
On the rear are two USB-C ports, an HDMI port, and a large power cable port. As you would imagine, the power supply is large, but unfortunately the cable running from the brick to the jack end is quite short. Owing to my setup, this meant I had to keep the brick on my desk rather than placing it on the floor, which was quite the inconvenience.
Acer Predator Helios 18 AI review: Performance
- Fantastic AAA performance
- Vibrant and sharp display
- Some fan noise and heat
Gaming with the Predator Helios 18 AI didn’t get off to a particularly auspicious start. When I ran Cyberpunk 2077 for the first time, the game’s benchmark function recorded a disappointing 42fps, with the maximum 3840 x 2400 resolution and Ray Tracing: Ultra preset selected.
Some tinkering with the graphics settings resulted in modest improvements to performance, but it wasn’t until after restarting the game a couple of times that things suddenly improved: I started getting about 100fps, even in busy in-game environments, without lowering the resolution or any other graphical settings.
Similar figures were achieved when I played Doom: The Dark Ages, although I did have to change the DLSS mode from Auto to Ultra Performance to get there. Thankfully, this made no discernible difference to the image quality.
And on that front, both games looked fantastic on the WQUXGA display. Colors were accurate and vibrant, if very slightly washed-out. This is a common issue on many IPS displays, but here the effect did little to detract from the awesomeness of the visuals.
The ultra-high 3840 x 2400 resolution in my review unit offered incredible levels of sharpness, while the high response times resulted in super-smooth gameplay. It’s also capable of very high brightness levels, which helps to keep pesky reflections at bay.
Acer Predator Helios 18 AI Benchmarks
Here’s how the Acer Predator Helios 18 AI performed in our series of benchmark tests:
Geekbench 6.2:
Single – 2,803
Multi – 16,720
Cinebench R24:
Single – 125 13.89x
Multi – 1,728
3DMark:
Fire Strike – 36,158
Time Spy – 17,341
Port Royal – 12,994
Night Raid – 60,951
PCMark10:
8,885
Cyberpunk 2077:
1080p Low – 469fps
1080p Ultra – 361fps
1080p Ray Tracing: Overdrive – 128fps
Battery test:
Movie playback – 3 hours and 2 minutes
PCMark10 (Gaming) – 1 hour 27 minutes
Fan noise is constant when gaming on the Predator Helios 18 AI, but I didn’t find it distractingly loud. The volume increases considerably if you set the Predator Sense profile to Performance mode, though – then you’ll really need one of the best PC gaming headsets to drown out the noise.
The Predator Helios 18 AI does a good job of keeping temperatures down. Its underside doesn’t get too hot, although over time heat leaks out of both sides, which can be a little distracting for your mouse hand. After a couple of hours of gaming, I noticed the bottom of the keyboard became quite hot, too, especially around the space bar.
It wasn’t hot enough to make using the keyboard a problem, though. And what’s more, the keyboard on the Predator Helios 18 AI is great to game with. The keys are clicky but damped enough to make them tactile.
They’re a little on the small side (although they’re generously spaced apart), owing to the inclusion of the aforementioned number pad. This compromises the layout somewhat – especially the space bar, which isn’t as long as I would’ve liked, and therefore somewhat awkward to hit with my left thumb.
The trackpad on the Predator Helios 18 AI is large and very smooth, making it easy to use. Mercifully, it also appears unaffected by contact with the sides of your palms, meaning it won’t accidentally register movements while your hands lean over it to use the keyboard.
Acer Predator Helios 18 AI review: Battery Life
- Large 99Wh capacity
- Underwhelming longevity
- Quick to charge
The battery life of the Predator Helios 18 AI isn’t particularly impressive. Despite its 99Wh capacity, it lasted just under 90 minutes PCMark10’s battery test for gaming scenarios.
This makes it considerably worse than the Razer Blade 16 (2025), which managed about an hour more, but much better than the MSI Katana 15 (2023), which didn’t even last one hour.
Charging the Predator Helios 18 AI back up to full is a surprisingly quick process, though – and given the size of the power brick, you would hope it would be.
Should I buy the Predator Helios 18 AI?
|
Attributes |
Notes |
Rating |
|---|---|---|
|
Value |
The Predator Helios 18 AI is incredibly expensive, and only worth it if you need the absolute best gaming performance in laptop form. |
2.5 / 5 |
|
Design |
The Predator Helios 18 AI is very large, but is admirably thin considering what’s inside. It’s brilliantly made, too, and the RGB lighting is tastefully vibrant. |
4 / 5 |
|
Performance |
My review unit had an RTX 5090 and an Intel Core Ultra 9, so naturally its performance is out of this world. The display is excellent, too. |
5 / 5 |
|
Battery Life |
The Predator Helios 18 AI can’t last an especially long time, but at least it’s capable of replenishing quickly. |
3.5 / 5 |
|
Total |
There’s no denying this is a ferocious gaming machine; you can’t really ask for more from a gaming laptop. But the astronomical price puts it beyond the reach of many gamers, and there are many better value propositions out there. |
3.5 / 5 |
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
Acer Predator Helios 18 AI review: Also Consider
How I tested the Predator Helios 18 AI
- Tested for a few days
- Played AAA games
- Extensive PC gaming experience
I tested the Predator Helios 18 AI for a few days, during which time I played games such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Doom: The Dark Ages, both AAA titles that provide stern tests for rigs owing to their demanding, cutting-edge graphics.
I also ran TechRadar’s series of benchmarking tests, including a battery test where I played a movie on a continuous loop until the Predator Helios 18 AI shut down.
I have been PC gaming for over a decade, and during that time I have experienced a number of systems and components. I have also reviewed laptops previously, as well as copious amounts of gaming hardware.
