The 17-inch form factor is not designed with portability in mind. Neither of these systems is one you’ll want to lug around all day, but that’s to be expected. However, if you plan on hooking up to high-resolution monitor, the Alienware 17 R5 will certainly produce better framerates. For 1080p gaming, the Helios 500 is more than enough power than what most gamers will need. While the Helios 500 might be the slightly weaker system in terms of overall hardware, the end result simply looks better thanks to the higher quality, faster panel, even with a lower resolution. Its color accuracy is noticeably better, and its contrast ratio is greater for deeper blacks and whites. Although the Acer laptop is a lower resolution, we found its visuals to be stunning in comparison to the Alienware alternative, and that’s thanks to its use of an IPS rather than a TN panel. There are options for a 1080p and 1440p panel in the price range, while the Helios 500 is limited to a 1080p display, but it is 144Hz - compared with the 120Hz refresh rate of the Alienware laptop at 1440p. Options for more RAM and expanded storage give you some flexibility throughout the price range, but if you spend the maximum $3,900 you can upgrade to a Core i9-8950HK CPU, 32GB of RAM, and a GTX 1080 graphics chip.Ī big part of that configuration and its cost though is the 4K display it comes with. For a couple of hundred dollars more, you can upgrade that to a 256GB SSD instead. Starting at $1,500, it comes with a Core i7-8750H CPU with 8GB of RAM, a GTX 1060 graphics chip, and a terabyte of hard drive storage paired with an 8GB caching SSD. The Alienware 17 R5 has a similar hardware selection, but a broader price range. If you want more for (more of) your money, you can spend $2,500 for the same configuration but with a Core i9-8950HK CPU and 512GB of SSD storage instead. Microcenter even has that configuration at $300 off at the time of writing. For $2,000 you can have an eighth-generation Intel Core i7-8750H CPU paired up with 16GB of memory (with space for up to 64GB), a GTX 1070 graphics chip, 256GB of PCIExpress SSD storage, and a 1TB hard drive. There are only a couple of options for configuring the Acer Helios 500, but both are monstrously powerful. That platform also comes with its own Tobii eye-tracker, which is a nice touch, but it has limited usage in most games at this time. The keyboard on the Helios is fantastic and has been for a few generations, though it does not feature per-key backlighting like the Alienware system does. There’s a little more versatility there, especially when it comes to external USB accessories, but there’s not a huge difference between the two. It also has HDMI and DisplayPort connectors, as well as an ethernet connector, and a headphone jack. In comparison, the Helios 500 has more USB ports, with three USB-A and two USB-C. That offers lots of options for running larger, external displays, with many of those ports located on the back, so they’re well out of the way when you’re gaming on a desk. The Alienware machine has a lot of ports filling its flanks, with two USB-A and a single USB-C connector alongside an Ethernet port, headphone jack, Thunderbolt port, HDMI port, and mini-DisplayPort. CES 2023: Acer’s redesigned Predator Helios 18 looks like a winnerĭell XPS 15 vs.
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