I have always been very skeptical about gaming laptops, which manufacturers have been pushing onto the market since the mid-2000s. I have tried to evaluate the concept several times, testing gaming laptops from different brands, but I have never been satisfied with the result – significantly slower than a gaming desktop, significantly more expensive, not as convenient. The events of recent years have changed my attitude towards this segment, and a month of playing and working with the Acer Predator Helios 18 AI has shown that such devices have already caught up with desktop gaming PCs in terms of performance and may be interesting for those who need a powerful gaming system that, in case of need, can be taken with them.
The woman's life was easy until she made it busy
It all started when one not-so-good morning my gaming/work PC, which I had so painstakingly assembled two years ago, fell ill. For the second time in two years. It wasn't that I wasn't prepared for malfunctions, in over 30 years of coexistence with home and work PCs I had seen a lot of the most amazing glitches and the most incomprehensible problems, but still, it was unpleasant. The repair was supposed to take at least two weeks, so I started looking for a temporary solution for a replacement.
I found a laptop for work quickly. I borrowed my daughter's old Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air 13.3 with an Intel i5 processor, which she no longer uses. We bought this laptop for college back in 2019, so it had already worked its way through, but it was enough for editing texts and writing historical articles about rocket planes and space stations, especially if you connect the laptop to an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Although, to be fair, Chrome with a large number of open tabs on it slowed down noticeably, and Windows 10 and the lack of modern Office caused some inconveniences. Plus, even during normal office work, the old laptop got very hot and buzzed louder than my desktop.
With games, which make up a large part of my work and leisure, it was much worse. The Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air 13.3 couldn't even handle Magic: The Gathering Arena, which I play every day, while the iPad Air 11 (M2) runs this game without any problems. The only new games I managed to run on the old Xiaomi are Tiny Bookshop, and even then, despite the simple graphics, it "barely breathed" on this laptop, and the cute Ukrainian Hidden Things Forest Elves. By the way, both are really good, if you like slow, cozy gameplay and a pleasant atmosphere, I advise you to try them.
So I turned to the editorial team and partners for help and, thanks to the assistance of the Ukrainian Acer representative office, became the temporary owner of the Acer Predator Helios 18 AI PH18-73 gaming laptop.
Igor Sushon has already tested this laptop in detail and talked about it in a large text and video review, so I won't repeat myself and will focus on my personal impressions of this device.
First meeting and connection
To be honest, the size and weight of the Acer Predator Helios 18 AI PH18-73 box scared me. The laptop box is significantly larger than the case of my gaming desktop and weighs about the same. After unpacking, my fears subsided – the Helios 18 AI weighs “only” 3.5 kg, plus the power supply “pulls” another kilo. Yes, it’s a lot, but this is a full-fledged desktop replacement, it simply cannot weigh less.
The Acer Predator Helios 18 AI has a gorgeous backlit keyboard and an impressive 18-inch IPS display with a resolution of 2560×1600 pixels, a refresh rate of up to 250 Hz, and mini LED backlighting. They're really cool, but I didn't plan on using either.
Why limit yourself to an 18-inch display, even if it's very cool, when I already have a 27" LG UltraGear 27GN850 on my desk? The extra inches aren't a problem, especially when working with text, editing photos, and playing games. Besides, I'm already used to the 16:9 aspect ratio, so I didn't want to go back to 16:10. In addition, some video game developers, especially indie ones, stopped supporting 16:10 formats 10 years ago.
The keyboard is a bit different. I'm used to low-profile keyboards, which I've been using for over 20 years, so the Acer Predator Helios 18 AI keyboard is simply too high for me, causing discomfort in my hands, which are already my weak spot.
So I connected the Acer Predator Helios 18 AI to the monitor via HDMI and threw a Logitech USB Unifying adapter to it for my Logitech MX Keys Wireless Illuminated Graphite and Logitech MX Vertical, since the laptop has enough ports. I wrote about vertical mice in general, about the Logitech MX Vertical, and about carpal tunnel syndrome separately.
The Acer Predator Helios 18 AI has a very good and powerful speaker system with six speakers, but since I had already connected everything I had, I decided to use my own F&D V620 Black system. Although it is small, it is not bad and "loud".
Powerful laptops should be placed on special stands for better cooling, especially since I used the Helios 18 AI in a closed form, as a kind of mobile gaming system unit. I didn’t have a separate stand, but the laptop fit nicely on the legs of the LG monitor stand. And the air access is better, and the hot exhaust is further away from the hands, and the space on the table is free, you can put your hands correctly.
But on to the main thing, the games.
Games
As I wrote at the beginning, before gaming laptops, even hi-end class, were inferior to desktop PCs, now it seems they have finally caught up with them. That is, I did not feel the transition from my desktop to a laptop at all. No fps drop, braking, stuttering, it's just the same gaming experience that I had on the PC.
First, I tried the racing game The Crew Motorfest on the Acer Predator Helios 18 AI. At one time, I rated this game mediocre, but for some reason I keep coming back to Hawaii. After the new large island of Maui was added to the game for free, it literally blossomed. And the new seasons with the participation of Red Bull and Ferrari are very good. For the convenience of cross-platform play, the frame rate in The Crew Motorfest is limited to 60 fps, and this is noticeable. Of all the games that I tried on the laptop, it was this one that loaded and heated up the video card the least – 39-45% video load, temperature 55-60°C.
All other new games loaded the video card to 90-99% and heated it up to 70-75°C. I note that I always turn on DLSS Best Quality and Frame Generation if the game allows it, so yes, the main load falls on the video. All games were tested at the maximum available graphics quality in the monitor's native resolution of 2560×1440 pixels.
I started playing Starfield again on the Acer Predator Helios 18 AI, it was running at 90-120 fps. Now I'm back on the PC – the same fps, the same gaming experience.
I played on a laptop and wrote a review of Deadzone: Rogue – 70-75 fps, but this game is really not very well optimized, everyone notices this.
Grounded 2 has a general problem with optimization – 30-45 fps. On a desktop PC it’s the same. Of course, this is Early Access, but Obsidian Entertainment should work with Epic Games to increase the fps. Yes, this is Unreal Engine 5.
Another game that performed worse on the laptop than on the PC was F1 25. It ran at 45-50 fps instead of 70-75 fps on the PC. But this seems to be a problem with the removal of PhysX support in the GeForce RTX 50XX series graphics cards.
What really surprised me was Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. On the Acer Predator Helios 18 AI it runs better than on the desktop, delivering 80-110 fps, instead of 70-90 fps on my PC. And yes, I know that MSFS 2024 runs even on the Xbox Series X|S, but there it is always a compromise in terms of graphics, plus it is impossible to use mods. On the laptop I use all my favorite add-ons and graphics improvements and get more fps than on the desktop. Amazing.
In addition to these games, I managed to try the "roguelike" Hell Clock – it's fast, but the graphics are simple; check out all the available content of Titan Quest II – the game will be good, but so far there is only one act and it clearly needs optimization (yes, it's Unreal Engine 5 again); and of course, I played Magic: The Gathering Arena. That is, I did everything I do on the desktop.
Work
At first I used a Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air 13.3 for work, and in the evening I switched to an Acer Predator Helios 18 AI. But then I got tired of switching HDMI and peripherals, so I started working on a gaming laptop.
Some of my friends think that working on a gaming laptop is inconvenient, you can't take it with you to the couch or to the hallway during an air raid alert, but I don't take a desktop with me either, so as a desktop replacement the Helios 18 AI works well. In office applications it makes no noise at all, the fans are off, there is no hot air exhaust. Dropbox, Chrome and a Windows account allow you to very quickly set up a workplace on any temporary computer, so this is not a problem at all.
Nuances
One of the main questions I was asked was whether the noise from the Acer Predator Helios 18 AI's fans would be annoying while gaming. Well, the Helios 18 AI is indeed noisy while gaming, but no more so than my desktop in the same situations. The problem is that my desktop is under my desk and my laptop is on the desk, so the noise seems louder, but it's even and doesn't bother me. Especially in racing, simulators, and shooters, where there's enough roaring engines and explosions. In strategy and role-playing games, the situation should be worse. But in general, all this can be solved with good headphones, and the sound positioning in games will also be better.
Another problem is the exhaust of warm air from the sides of the laptop. In the summer, when it's already +30°C outside, this is not very pleasant, but in the winter it can be an additional advantage. I had the laptop under the monitor, so the warm air did not get on my hands at all and did not interfere.
Interestingly, I didn't find any specifications for the Acer Predator Helios 18 AI audio chip anywhere, but it seems to be better than the one on my desktop motherboard, because I suddenly heard new, unexpected overtones and details in the painfully familiar compositions that I use as background music while working.
And one more thing. Yes, my use case for a gaming laptop is quite unusual, but… I wouldn’t give up an external power button. Opening the laptop every time is not very convenient.
Expensive or not?
As of now, the Acer Predator Helios 18 AI PH18-73 costs about 200 thousand hryvnias in Ukraine. This is twice as much as my gaming desktop with all the peripherals and OS. On the other hand, some models of the Apple MacBook Pro 14" 2024 also cost under 200 thousand, but you won't be able to play games on them. Yes, maybe the MacBook is a good laptop for creative work, but games are more important to me, so sorry, Apple.
Will I buy a gaming laptop now? No. I'm used to desktops and have always been guided by the optimal PC configurations that Oleg Kasich recommends in the PC of the Month series, plus the ability to get into the system unit and change something there is important to me. In addition, a large screen and familiar convenient peripherals are also good.
But I can perfectly imagine the categories of users who might need such a laptop. After the start of the full-scale invasion, I heard many stories, both from Ukrainian game developers and ordinary users, and even from our readers, about how in February-March 2022 people fled the occupation, leaving their workstations and gaming desktops. And it's great if you managed to remove the SDD or HDD, sometimes there was not enough time for that either.
If in this case only games were lost, it's okay, you can buy a new PC, install Steam and continue from the same place. It's worse if you lost home photo archives, personal projects or work from several years. You can't upload everything to the cloud.
In the case of a laptop, even a heavy gaming laptop, it's easier to find space in a backpack or car. You can't drag a desktop through checkpoints or through the woods.
Another category of users who, as I know, love powerful laptops is… our military. Among them are many young people, gamers, and they want to be able to relieve stress and get a little distracted, of course, during periods of relative calm or in the rear. Someone chooses Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, smartphones or tablets, those who are used to playing on PCs buy gaming laptops. This is normal.
In both cases mentioned, price is not the most important thing.
Instead of a conclusion
Well, it was an interesting experience. Gaming laptops have really finally caught up with gaming desktops. Yes, the price difference is still significant, but the performance difference is not. If you desperately need mobile power, a gaming laptop is really the way to go.
Finally, let me remind you that these were my subjective impressions of the Acer Predator Helios 18 AI PH18-73. If you are looking for testing from a pro, then here it is, in text and video format.
I would like to thank the Acer representative office in Ukraine once again for helping me obtain the Acer Predator Helios 18 AI PH18-73 gaming laptop for temporary use.
Special thanks to Serhiy Svitlychny for helping me with another assembly/disassembly of my home PC.