Acer's line of mid-range gaming laptops has four new additions today following the company's refresh of its flagship models at CES 2024. On Tuesday, the company unveiled a pair of new 14-inch entries along with two updates of existing 16-inch models. The Intel-powered Predator Helios Neo 14 and Nitro 16 will join the AMD-powered Nitro 14 and Nitro 16 and will launch globally later this spring.
As is often the case with pre-launch laptop announcements, Acer only reveals the minimum price of the devices rather than a full breakdown of specifications and costs (Acer says these are not finalized yet), making it impossible to assess their value. general. You can expect that information closer to their respective releases in May and June.
The Acer Predator Helios Neo 14, one of two all-new models, is the first sub-16-inch variant in the high-performance lineup. (At $1,800 and up, it's also the most expensive of the new batch.) That price gets you up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor (with dedicated ai acceleration) paired with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 laptop GPU. Lower-cost models will drop them to an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H or Intel Core Ultra 5 125H and RTX 4060 or 4050 graphics.
The top-end variant has a 14.5-inch WQXGA (3072×1920) display with a 165Hz refresh rate, 100 percent coverage of the sRGB color spectrum, and NVIDIA G-Sync support. Its cheaper variants will drop the resolution to 2560 x 1600 or 1920 x 1200 with a 120Hz refresh rate.
The Windows 11 laptop has a 76Wh battery and offers up to 32GB of LPDDR5X SDRAM and 1TB of storage. It weighs 4.19 pounds, has a built-in 1080p webcam, and supports Intel Killer Wireless Wi-Fi 6E. Includes a USB-C/ThunderBolt 4 port with microSD reader. On the cooling front, it uses a fifth-generation AeroBlade 3D fan and Vortex Flow technology.
The Predator Helios Neo 14 arrives in North America in May, starting at $1,800.
The Nitro 14 is the first 14-inch variant of the company's mid-range Nitro line. It should offer solid performance with an AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS processor and RTX 4060 graphics. Cheaper variants drop it to a Ryzen 5 8645HS processor and RTX 4050 or 3050 graphics.
Its maxed-out model gives you a 14.5-inch 2560 x 1500 display with a 120Hz refresh rate, 9ms response time, and 100 percent sRGB gamut support. The base model drops it to 1080p at 120Hz.
The laptop has USB 4 and USB 3.2 Type-C ports, a pair of USB-A ports (including one with offline charging support), HDMI 2.1, and a microSD slot.
The Acer Nitro 14 arrives in North America in May. Starts at $1,300.
The company's updated Nitro 16 launches in separate Intel and AMD variants with different model numbers (AN16-73 for Intel and AN16-43 for AMD). The first has up to an Intel Core i7-14700HX processor, while the AMD version has up to a Ryzen 9 8945HS (the same as the maxed out Nitro 14). Otherwise, the two models are only separated by extremely small differences in weight (5.37 pounds for AMD, 5.4 pounds for Intel) and Wi-Fi (the Intel-branded Killer Wireless Wi-Fi 6E vs. a Wi-Fi -Nondescript Fi 6E for AMD).
As for the many specs that the Intel and AMD variants of the Nitro 16 share, they both have Nvidia graphics, maxing out at the RTX 4060 with 8GB of dedicated GDDR6 RAM. The cheapest models change it for an RTX 4050 or 3050.
Its displays have a resolution of up to 2560 x 1600 with 500 nits brightness, 165 Hz refresh rates, and a 3 ms response time. Each of the laptops offers up to 32GB of DDR5 SDRAM and 2TB of storage. They have 76 Wh batteries with measly 720p webcams.
Both versions of the Nitro 16 will launch in North America in May. They start at $1,400. If you're considering the new models, you can expect a more detailed breakdown of configuration pricing at or around launch, so stay tuned.
