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Acer Predator Helios 500 PH517-52 Review Rating
The Predator Helios 500 is Acer’s current flagship gaming laptop. The price of this 4 kg beast is more than twice that of any other Acer laptop currently listed on Currys.
Specification
- Processor: Intel Core i9-11980HK-8-core 3.30 GHz base 5.0 GHz boost
- Memory: 32 GB DDR4 SDRAM
- Storage: up to 2 TB PCIe SSD
- Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
- Display: 17.3 inches, 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160)
- Storage: 2TB NVMe (2 x 1.024)
- port:
- 1 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet, Killer E3100G
- Battery: 74 Wh / 4 hours, 2×330 watt power supply
- Dimensions (W x D x H): 400 x 319.2 x 35.30 mm
- Weight: 3900 grams
Design and build
Acer Predator Helios 500 is a 17-inch notebook computer, weighing nearly 4 kg, so it is very suitable to replace the desktop notebook style. It is easy to carry with you, but you did not put it in your backpack for daily commuting.
You also have problems with power bricks, they are also very large and heavy. Yes, there are two, but you only need one.
With dimensions of 400 x 319.2 x 35.30 mm, it is one of the largest 17-inch laptops on the market. It is wider and deeper than Gigabyte AORUS 17X, and compared to Dell Alienware X17, each dimension is larger. Although this may not sound attractive, the benefit seems to be cooling. There are large intake fans on the base of the laptop, and then exhaust air from the vents on the back and sides. Although I usually prefer a smaller and lighter laptop, once you reach this style and size, the overall size and weight become a bit redundant because you rarely move it.
The thick design and high price means you can get all the ports you need. 5 different USB ports, HDMI, 2.5GbE and Thunderbolt 4. This will easily connect to all your peripherals and 2nd Monitor and become a complete work/combat station.
In addition to the RGB keyboard, there are many RGB elements around the chassis of this laptop and a luminous Predator logo.
Maintenance/upgrade
I usually don’t like to wander around inside review samples worth £4,000, but there are some 2.5-inch drive mounting accessories in the package, so I think it’s necessary to see how easy the upgrade is.
The laptop has a two-part rear panel. You need to remove the smaller panel before you can remove the entire rear panel. Even after removing the smaller panel and extra screws, I still felt more resistance than when I tried to remove the entire rear panel, so I decided to leave it. This seems to give you access to the cooling and main components of the laptop, which you don’t need to access unless something goes wrong.
The smaller part provides access to 2.5-inch trays, batteries, WiFi modules, RAM, and M.2 NVMe drives.
exhibit

My sample has a UHD 120Hz miniLED panel, which is the top option for this laptop. It’s a bit special, maybe one of the things that helps justify the price. There are very few laptops with 4K 120Hz.
I don’t have a proper colorimeter to test the performance, but the display is very bright, color accuracy and black look great.
Overall, this monitor is one of the best monitors I have used on a laptop, but it is undeniable that I am not a serious enough gamer to appreciate the 300Hz refresh rate on other laptops.
Keyboard and trackpad

Since this is a huge and expensive gaming laptop, the keyboard and trackpad are much better than ordinary laptops.
The keyboard is backlit, with bright RGB LEDs and key controls. The lights are very bright, so if you are an RGB fan, you will be impressed. More importantly, the typing experience is good, the stroke of the keys is also good, and it feels more like typing on a suitable keyboard.

You can also replace the WASD keys with the two sets included in the box. Using alternate keys, you can set up Predator Sense to provide some analog control for your keys, and light taps provide different functions than full taps. You need to manually enter Predator Sense and switch keyboard settings. This is a weird feature, I don’t have strong feelings, but I can understand that some people may find it useful.


The trackpad works well, it has proper left and right mouse buttons, which I prefer.
Performance and fan noise
At first, I didn’t realize that there were two power bricks. A laptop can work well with one, but only when I press the turbo button did I realize that you need a second power supply to use this feature.

One thing I immediately noticed about this laptop is that it runs relatively quietly. When I use it, I usually turn on the TV in the background, I can almost hear the fan under light load, and during the benchmark test, the fan does not spin loudly. The sound configuration of the fan is also relatively pleasant, more like a low-end swish than the irritating noise from a small laptop.
This laptop does not have a MUX switch, so the integrated graphics cannot be disabled. This will have a negative impact on performance, but I cannot compare it with a MUX-enabled laptop of similar specifications.
In terms of performance, this can easily handle everything you invest in. All benchmark tests were run at 4K resolution at the highest setting.
- Time spy: 10156 (graphics: 10572, CPU: 8308)
- Port Royal: 6506
- Fire strike: 17791 (Graphics: 21432, Physics: 19718, Comprehensive: 7350)
- 3DMark CPU profile: Maximum number of threads 7413
- PCMark 10: 6475 (Essentials: 9066, Productivity: 8498, Digital Content Creation: 9562)
- Far Cry 6: Average 46 FPS, lowest 39 FPS, highest 50 FPS
- FFinal Fantasy XV benchmark: 10911
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Average 52 FPS, lowest 19 FPS, highest 96 FPS
- Crystal plate: 12038 MB/s read, 9854 MB/s write
After unlocking the CPU, you can also choose to adjust the performance of the CPU. Most people will stick to Predator Sense, but the more adventurous can try the BIOS settings.
Battery
The 74Wh in this laptop will certainly not let you spend a whole day of work, even with light use. Acer claims that it can be used for 4 hours, but I think this is very optimistic.
Notebooks of this caliber have never been designed to use batteries primarily.
The power bricks are large, each providing 330W. As far as I know, 330W should be enough to run it without problems. However, once you start playing overclocking, it might help.
software
The out-of-the-box Acer Predator Triton 900 runs Windows 10, but during the setup process, you are now told that you can upgrade to Windows 11. I keep it on Windows 10 for my review.
As usual, one of my biggest annoyances is Acer Jumpstart, which has a large pop-up window to play some random games that I am not interested in. Advertising on laptops is bad enough, but on the Big Four laptops.
Of course, you can disable the alarm and delete Acer Jumpstart, it shouldn’t exist in the first place.
Although I don’t like Jumpstart, Predator Sense is good, and it provides you with easy access to all settings controls. This includes fan profiles, RGB lighting, and various other features.
Prices and alternatives
Acer Predator Helios 500 is ridiculously expensive, which may not be surprising, priced at £3800 from EbuyerThe old saying “but the desktop will be better” is certainly valid. However, you can spend money to buy a lot of hardware.
The pricing is the same as other powerful gaming laptops, but it’s actually cheaper.
Gigabyte AORUS 17X has a 1080P 300Hz display, 512 + 1024 GB NVMe, and weighs only 3.75 kg, which is slightly lighter. Scan is priced at 4,000 pounds.
MSI GS76 Stealth uses Intel Core i9 11900H, 64GB RAM, 2TB NVMe, and has a 120Hz 4K display.In contrast, it is almost ultra-portable, only 2.45 kg, but you will spend 43,000 pounds
Dell Alienware X17 may be the best choice, depending on sales. At the time of writing, you can get it for only £3224: Intel I9 11980HK, RTX 3080, 32GB RAM, 1TB NVMe, 4K 120Hz display. It costs £3,414 to upgrade NVMe to match Acer. However, the suggested retail price is £3,939.
As early as 2019, Acer had the Acer Predator Triton 900 that completely surpassed the top of the class. It weighs 4.4 kg, has a huge footprint and a reversible display. It sold for only £4,000, which I thought was too expensive at the time. So, by today’s standards, this relatively ordinary laptop is not that expensive at nearly £4,000, which is a bit frustrating.
comprehensive
A laptop priced at £4,000 and 4Kg will always become a niche product. However, if you are looking for a large laptop that can provide similar desktop gaming performance, then this is a good choice.
Compared with the competition, the pricing is attractive and it has all the performance needed to play the latest games at the highest settings. Compared with most displays, the miniLED 120Hz 4K display is a big selling point. It may be a bit bulky compared to other products, but compared to other high-end gaming laptops I have used before, it runs quieter and cooler.



