Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI (2025) hands-on review: A mid-range monster?

Acer just announced the new Predator Helios Neo 16 and 18 AI, which bring RTX 50-series power at a pretty decent price. Neo has always been the company’s mid-range lineup, and I’m quietly confident that with the hardware choices made this year, the company may have cracked the code.

Whether it’s that 16-inch OLED panel (or 18-inch mini-LED) option to really make those games look truly gorgeous, the tougher frame with no dramatic plastic bending of that keyboard deck, or that vastly better touchpad, Acer’s paid attention to the fundamentals while giving us some nice added extras.

But the question still stands around just how powerful it will be. We’ve seen just what the 50-series can do in desktops in terms of multi-frame gen and all that DLSS 4 goodness. But outside of some of Nvidia’s promises, we’re yet to see how it really performs.

Plus, there’s the other big question of battery life. The previous Neo systems weren’t necessarily the stamina champs, even when compared to other gaming laptops. But from what I tried, are these in the running to be considered for our best gaming laptops list? Provided the company plays its cards right, absolutely, based on my hands-on experience so far.

Acer Predator Helios Neo 16/18 AI: Specs

Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI: What we like

With an early hands-on like this, it’s all about spotting the signs that a company is onto something, and Acer is definitely on the right track.

Makings of a monster

While we wait to get the latest hardware in our testing lab, we can go off what is being promised from the likes of Intel and Nvidia. That Ultra 200 HX series seems to reverse the course on what happened last year when companies added Intel to their gaming laptops — focusing on performance rather than throttling it with power efficiency.

It’s why I said any gaming system sporting this chip was a red flag, but I’m quietly confident Team Blue has turned this around. This is especially critical given that RTX 5070 or 5070 Ti the Neo’s being outfitted with. Now in pure GPU rendering, the difference between this and the 4070 is pretty small, but that’s missing the point.

With DLSS 4 and all the neural technologies like multi-frame gen and AI-aided ray tracing turned on, side-by-side, Nvidia’s promising a 2x jump in performance in key games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Hogwarts Legacy.

Pair that with up to 64GB DDR5 RAM, and you’ve got a real mid-range beast that could crush 1440p gaming. Oh, and let’s not forget about the new generation of cooling in here too — sporting fans with blades at just 0.01mm thin, and liquid metal to eliminate the risk of thermal throttling.

Strengthening the fundamentals

I’ve dabbled with the Neo lineage in the past, and they’re lower cost shows in some areas like a mushy trackpad and a keyboard deck with a ton of flex.

That’s not the case here, however. Running the Neo 16 and 18 through their typing and clicking paces showed a rigid board and a nice, tactile clicking experience. Of course, totally understand that your go to peripheral will be a gaming mouse (if you’re playing games with a touchpad…are you OK?).

However, for the day-to-day workload, that utilitarian aesthetic helps it blend well into any meeting, and the snappiness of the tactile feedback from the keyboard and touchpad will be satisfying when going through your tasks.

Display options galore

Sure, at the base prices of $1,899 and $2,199 for the 16 and 18-inch respectively, you’re getting run-of-the-mill LCD displays, which I assume will be fine. But that little bit extra can secure a gorgeous OLED panel with 240Hz refresh rate on the 16-inch, and a bright, crispy mini-LED panel on the 18.

I wish OLED could come to the 18-incher too, but these are the configurations we’re getting, and Acer paying more attention to screen quality is most certainly welcome for gaming on-the-go!

Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI: What we don’t like

My main beef comes from joining together some threads from the past of the Neo family, and connecting it to what’s happening with these systems.

Some serious chonk

In terms of dimensions, these are pretty respectable notebooks at just over an inch thick. I’ve seen gaming laptops look more like doorsteps in the past few months, so some sleekness is welcome.

However, at 4.9 pounds for the 16-inch model and a whopping 7.3 pounds for the 18, these are heavy — a drastic increase over last year’s models and something you’ll have to consider when popping these in your backpack. Get ready for more of a hike with these rather than a walk without hefty weight.

What about the battery life?

So let me just state the numbers here. The Helios Neo 16 and 18 are both coming with the same size 90 Wh batteries as last year — both of which were not that good on the stamina against the total wattage 2024’s Intel chips and Nvidia RTX 40 series GPUs consumed.

Now, in 2025, we’ve got an even more power-hungry Intel 200 HX CPU and the 50 series that is reported to have a higher wattage requirement too… Can you see what I’m getting at here?

I don’t want to say anything definitive until we’ve tested these laptops. But this makes me nervous.

Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI: Early verdict

I know I talked about both the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI and 18 AI here, but my focus is on that 16-inch model. With that OLED screen and powerful specs, this could be a mighty machine of portable gaming.

There are some things to worry about here, such as the sheer weight of it and the battery life concerns. But all things considered, Acer’s made improvements where it matters, and I’m excited to see how it fares in our lab testing.