Since Acer and Predator is making the Acer Nitro 7 and the new Helios 300, which Should I buy?

Vincent123

The Acer Nitro 7 and the new predator Helios 300 which will be released in June and I don’t know which to buy. I want the laptop that can handle gaming while live streaming on twitch. And I will probably download a lot of games. The N7 will cost 1,000 and the Helios 300 will cost 1,200. I don’t know which to buy, can you help me?

JohndeBritto

You should consider the 1,000 N7 is probably for i5/1650 and 1,200 Helios 300 is probably for i7/1660ti. On top of that, Helios 300 will have better cooler solution! In this hypothetical situation there is any doubt, I would go for the Helios 300. 

Vincent123

JohndeBritto said:

You should consider the 1,000 N7 is probably for i5/1650 and 1,200 Helios 300 is probably for i7/1660ti. On top of that, Helios 300 will have better cooler solution! In this hypothetical situation there is any doubt, I would go for the Helios 300. 

But the N7 is gonna have core I7 and 9750H CPU. And how long do you think the gaming laptops will last until they die?

xapim

The nitro series will always be cheaper than the predators for starters the chassis was all plastic not aluminium like the H300 (not sure if they will make it aluminium in the new series but it would be more expensive) the nitro series is basically the father of the predator series (H300) but regarding performance they both perform the same way if tweaked properly and there is no point in having a better cpu if you dont have a gpu the main here its always the gpu because any cpu will do my 7300HQ performs really well in all latest games i think that even a i7 7th gen if they would pair it with a rtx would perform well also bare in mind the latest and more powerful the cpu is the more heat will generate but as i said both variants properly tweaked/repasted would perform the same side by side if they would have the same gpu of course

tobimaru

"Acer announced today that the Predator Helios 300, Nitro 7, Nitro 5, and Aspire 7 will all max out at an Intel Core i7-9750H CPU. The former three of those will offer an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GPU, although the Predator Helios 300 will still have RTX options, up to an RTX 2070 with Max-Q. The Aspire 7, being that it's not a gaming PC, will max out at a GTX 1650."

"The Predator Helios 300 is a clamshell laptop, offering either a 15.6- or 17.3-inch 1080p screen. It also comes with up to a ninth-gen Core i9, along with either RTX or GTX graphics."

"Finally, Acer introduced new Nitro 7 and Nitro 5 laptops, which are aimed more at casual gamers than the Predator line. The new Nitro 7 is just 19.9mm thin, with a 15.6-inch 1080p screen that has a 144Hz refresh rate. The Nitro 5 is available in both 15.6- and 17.3-inch flavors. Both PCs are offered with either Intel eighth- or ninth-generation processors, and Nvidia GeForce GTX graphics."

Excerpts from actual release articles. So, do you need RTX or GTX? The CPU is almost a non-issue when it comes to gaming, get whatever is best within your budget. Undoubtedly, you can overlap pricing options between models and be left with, "Which one"? At that point it comes down to your preference. Which one looks cooler to you? Which one is lighter? Etc.

If your primary purpose is high/ultra level gaming while streaming, the Nitro might not do it for you. 

JohndeBritto

Well, as far as I can tell the performance between the GTX 1660ti and RTX 2060 in laptops is not the same in desktops. I've seen some reviews that the 1660ti has a quite similar performance than RTX 2060 in laptops. Therefore, I just would choose the RTX if I'd like Ray Tracing in games. 

The high end N7 and the basic Helios 300 probably will have the same hardware (i7/1660ti) and both will be in aluminium. The difference might be the cooler efficiency, RGB keyboard and maybe the 144hz panel. I don't know how will they price this 2 laptops but I would pay 100 bucks more for Helios 300 in this case due to the new N5, which has the same cooler system from N7, reaching 90ºC with just an i5 9300h. So unfortunaly we can imagine how the i7 will be in N7...

AlpineTom

JohndeBritto said:

On top of that, Helios 300 will have better cooler solution!

Did Acer change the internals compared to current/previous 300s, or are still both fans next to each other on one side of the laptop, CPU and GPU next to each other on the other side, and connected to the fans with parallel heat pipes? Because that layout is what's hampering the cooling of Helios 300 and Nitro 5 models. That, and low quality thermal paste, as is tradition among practically all laptop manufacturers.

JohndeBritto

Yes, they changed the internals! Now it seems like the old VX5 which has a really good temps, the best I've ever seen. However this fact doesn't mean it will run in low temperatures! The Dell G5/G7 have that same system and it is very hot laptops reaching 100ºC. I'm expecting a lot from helios 300 due to the new aeroblade fan and this system but we have to wait to see how is gonna be...

AlpineTom

JohndeBritto said:

Yes, they changed the internals! Now it seems like the old VX5 which has a really good temps, the best I've ever seen.

Well, that's good to hear.

JohndeBritto said:

However this fact doesn't mean it will run in low temperatures! The Dell G5/G7 have that same system and it is very hot laptops reaching 100ºC. I'm expecting a lot from helios 300 due to the new aeroblade fan and this system but we have to wait to see how is gonna be...

To be honest, I think it'll be rather good cooling-wise. The biggest problem with bad cooling is the trend to make gaming laptops thinner and lighter, which ultimately compromises cooling. But the new Helios 300 is still quite the tank (which I like), so that's a problem Acer already avoided.

cactus82

I just bought the Nitro 7 (i7 9750h+1660ti) and I can confirm that the thermal is not that great. I played SOTTR and temperature averaging 92-95 degree making the cpu throttle below 3.4ghz. However, after undervolt the cpu, average temperature drop below 90 deg and all 6 cores stay at 3.9ghz. Before undervolt, cinebench R15 scored 850, and after undervolt improved to 1170. So, if you guys want to buy the N7, be ready to undervolt the cpu or otherwise it throttle a lot when gaming or when using cpu intensive task. This laptop easily gets hot when gaming and heavy task due to the thermal design and thin alluminium chassis. I bought it because like the thin design and sturdy aluminum chassis, while it still pack a lot of power for video editing and gaming. Display quality is also great, 144hz + 94% srgb + 300nits brightness are absolute wonderful. Battery life can easily last 5-6 hours when using Acer Balance power plan with 25% brightness. If you need good thermal, helios 300 surely win. but if you want thinner, light, and better battery life, Nitro 7 or 5 will serve you well. 

xapim

Just to point the new H300 comes factory pre-undervolted so yes the temps are great and all the benchmarks i had seen on the 1660ti its in the same level as the 2060 and in some games its even at the same level as the 2070 MQ and regarding ray tracing if im not mistaken didnt nvidia enable ray tracing support in the drivers (seems it was just a software lock after all) for older gtx cards so the 1660ti should work well with it as far as i had read (dont own it cant test it)