Reddit reviews Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop (G3-571-77QK) with Seagate 2TB FireCuda SSHD 2.5-Inch Drive Bundle (cable & bracket sold separately)

I took the plunge early/mid-July and got a refurbished Eluktronics N850HK1 Premium Gaming Laptop for about 950. I'll start with cons:

-access to motherboard requires unscrewing 16 screws, including 3 behind battery

-initial issues with running games on battery at 30fps cap (fix was installing new nvidia drivers and changing battery boost on nvidia experience from 30fps to 60fps)

Now the pros:

-well put together, no/very little flex

-dark souls 3 performs at max settings at 60fps with small dips in some areas when on max performance mode. (fan noise and heat noticeable but acceptable when on flat surface)

-lower end titles (freedom planet, 2d sidescroller) when on power saver mode works great with no hardly noticeable heat, fan

-no bloatware, excluding windows 10 bs

Neutral:

-somewhat low battery life (2~3 hrs when pushing AAA title), but expected with gaming laptop at this price

-laptop opens to max 120 degrees, give or take

-5lbs

-entirely plastic body

-support is meh (called them initially about the 30fps when on battery issue, informed me that its designed that way)

Overall, I don't regret my purchase. I've upgraded the RAM to 32db (idk why I did that, only plan on gaming and surfing on it) and installed a 2TB hybrid HDD. Both work fine on it.

But would I buy it again after know all this? Probably not. I'll likely would have chosen the Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop with 2TB Hard drive bundle seeing as it has a 1060 (approx 20% better performance in games overall) for $1140. Thanks for reading my rant.

imo as you want best performance you should try going for a gtx 1060 laptop one of which can fit your budget try the helios 300 .
https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predator-Helios-GeForce-G3-571-77QK/dp/B073G2L9PH/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1501877204&sr=8-2&keywords=helios%2B300&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predator-Helios-GeForce-G3-571-77QK/dp/B073G2L9PH?th=1 40 dollars more for a 1060 6gb and and 2 tb sshd. In my opinion, very much worth it

I am surprised those specs would run your programs even close to decent, the laptops you linked are solid options though, out of them I would go with this one other than that I would also recommend that you check This Sager because it comes with everything you need , i7 quad core CPU which is one of the best in the market and great for your usage, 16GB of ram for smooth multitasking, Good SSD storage of 256 GB for faster boot up and loading, 1 TB of HDD for storage, Full HD IPS screen which is a must have for this price range, high build quality, very good heat management, 1060 GPU that should be able to handle the games you mentioned on high settings with very good FPs, and it is within your budget.

Understand how you feel :-( the Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop with 2TB Hard drive bundle is a better package did some research on it recently

Oh hey, I just noticed the first only has a 256 SSD, and the second is only a 1050 card. However, the first can be upgraded with a 2 TB hard drive for still less than the ASUS. What do you think?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073G2L9PH/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thpcgaha-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B06Y4GZS9C&linkId=0ce85627c19aa7a99e87570a5e14b535&th=1

Which is better, this ACER or the ASUS?

Is this the helios you are talking about?

What about the bundle with the hard drive? https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predator-Helios-GeForce-G3-571-77QK/dp/B073G2L9PH/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=pc&ie=UTF8

Idk if I'm tech savvy enough to install it

I have the same laptop. you good fam. If you get 4gb more ram, you can play Breath of the wild on cemu perfectly. Just make sure you look up how to undervolt your cpu and overclock your gpu. If your looking to buy a laptop, get the 1060 (much better value that I wish I took advantage of), or wait until the next generation near the end of the year. Wii games and ps2 games can run on a potato gtx 960m btw. the newest citra update focuses heavily on the gpu so that might be a reason to get the 1060. 1050ti handles pretty much all games good though. This is the bundle I should have gotten instead of the 1050ti: https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predator-G3-571-77QK-FireCuda-separately/dp/B073G2L9PH/ref=pd_sbs_147_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B073G2L9PH&pd_rd_r=ZP35MXY8YTCM7459EEGW&pd_rd_w=32JvU&pd_rd_wg=AKUxR&psc=1&refRID=ZP35MXY8YTCM7459EEGW&dpID=41XpUlrE3zL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=detail

Still looking. My newest contender to a thinkpad would be one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predator-i7-7700HQ-1060-6GB-G3-571-77QK/dp/B073G2L9PH/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1510018351&sr=1-1&refinements=p_n_feature_four_browse-bin%3A2289792011%2Cp_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A13580790011%2Cp_n_graphics_type_browse-bin%3A14292273011&th=1

still looking for suggestions however

Would appreciate opinion on gaming laptop... I'm eyeing the Acer Predator 300, although just having a 256gb HD wont cut it. I see amazon is selling a bundle to include a 1TB storage drive.. is it safe to assume the laptop can have both installed simultaneously?

I'm comparing that above laptop bundle to this Asus laptop at Best Buy. It looks like the processor may be slightly slower, and its got 4gb less RAM, but its also got a larger screen with G-SYNC and includes both SSD/HDD.

They're virtually the same price... which of the two would you choose, and why?

Clevo/ sager laptops lack ergonomics, build quality + they make you feel like a cheapie with bad unboxing experience

My suggestion is Acer predator Helios 50dolars cheaper better build quality slightly better specks and trustworthy
Link:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y4GZS9C

Edit: and I read all the post

Acer has some extra slots and amazon has a bundle with 2 tb of hard disc

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073G2L9PH?th=1&psc=1

Edit: sorry I can't post replies I have a ban now because I helped some helpless laptop buyers