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日本Acer Predator Helios Neo 18 (PHN18-71) review – This Beast is Our New Favorite Big-Screen Gaming Laptop
With the Predator Helios Neo 18 (PHN18-71), Acer wants to offer a not-so-expensive 18-incher that is still a capable gaming device with a huge display. The design and even the internals are very similar to the Acer Predator Helios 18 (PH18-72). This is great because the PH18-72 sibling is one of the best high-end devices that we have tested up to date. The latter is configured with just top-of-the-line hardware.
This also applies to the PHN18-71 if you pick a machine with the most powerful CPU and GPU options. Here, you can choose between five Intel Raptor Lake-HX processors and three NVIDIA Ada Lovelace video cards. That’s one of the main reasons for the more pleasant price of the Neo 18 model – the most powerful graphics card for the series is the 140W Geforce RTX 4070 (Laptop).
There is no sign of Mini LED displays but that’s fine since the tested panel is PWM-free. The base screen is a 1200p 165Hz variant and you can also opt for a 1600p unit with 240Hz or 165 Hz refresh rate. It’s time for more good news – the Nvidia Advanced Optimus, G-SYNC, and MUX are also available. The upgrade options are adequate and this time around Acer has provided a good amount of additional thermal pads for cooling the RAM modules and the SSDs. The I/O is almost the same compared to one of the PH18-72 iterations – here, the two Thunderbolt 4 ports support 65W charging, not 100W.
The rest seems similar to the abovementioned premium “cousin” – liquid metal for the CPU chip, wider vector heat pipes, a big battery, a huge power adapter, and a 4-zone backlit keyboard. Oh, you get Wi-Fi 6E instead of Wi-Fi 7 but we can live with that.
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/acer-predator-helios-neo-18-phn18-71/
Contents
Specs, Drivers, What’s in the box
Acer Predator Helios Neo 18 (PHN18-71) - Specs
- HDD/SSD
- up to 2000GB SSD
- M.2 Slot
- 2x 2280 PCIe NVMe 4.0 x4 See photo
- RAM
- up to 32GB
- OS
- Windows 11 Pro, Windows 11 Home
- Battery
- 90.61Wh, 4-cell, 90Wh, 4-cell
- Body material
- Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum
- Dimensions
- 404 x 312.08 x 27.15 - 29.15 mm (15.91" x 12.29" x 1.07")
- Weight
- 3.40 kg (7.5 lbs)
- Ports and connectivity
- 1x USB Type-A
- 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
- 1x USB Type-A
- 1x USB Type-A
- 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), Sleep and Charge
- 2x USB Type-C
- 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), Thunderbolt 4, Power Delivery (PD), Sleep and Charge
- HDMI
- 2.1
- Card reader
- microSD (microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC)
- Ethernet LAN
- 10, 100, 1000, 2500 Mbit/s
- Wi-Fi
- Wi-Fi 6E
- Bluetooth
- 5.3
- Audio jack
- 3.5mm Combo Jack
- Features
- Fingerprint reader
- Web camera
- FHD with Temporal Noise Reduction
- Backlit keyboard
- Microphone
- Dual Microphone with Acer Purified Voice
- Speakers
- Stereo Speakers, DTS X: Ultra
- Optical drive
- Security Lock slot
All Acer Predator Helios Neo 18 (PHN18-71) configurations
Drivers
All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://www.acer.com/us-en/support/product-support/Predator_PHN18-71/downloads?suggest=PHN18-71;0
What’s in the box?
Inside the box, you’ll find a 230W or a 330W barrel plug adapter (depending on the CPU and GPU power) and some manuals.
Im guessing they use the same parts as the helios 18 however does it use RGB on the keyboard and logo like the helios 18?