Acer Readies New Predator Helios 500 Gaming Laptop with Intel Core i9-8950HK Processor

[Chino]

The Predator Helios 500 is Acer's 17.3-inch gaming laptop featuring one of Intel's upcoming six-core mobile Coffee Lake processors. Consumers can choose between a Core i9-8950HK with a 2.9 GHz base clock and 4.8 GHz boost clock or the lower-spec Core i7-8750H that runs at 2.2 GHz base clock and 4.1 GHz boost clock. Independent of processor model, the Helios 500 comes with a Full HD 144 Hz IPS display with NVIDIA G-Sync support. The onboard NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is responsible for graphics duties. The Helios 500's other specifications include 16GB of DDR4-2133 memory and a 256GB M.2 SSD for primary storage. In terms of connectivity options, consumers receive three USB 3.0 ports, two USB Type-C ports with Thunderbolt support, HDMI port, DisplayPort, LAN port, and two audio connectors. The Intel Core i9-8950HK version costs 1999 PLN ($3500) while the Intel Core i7-8750H version goes for 8999 PLN ($2630).


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[_JP_]

"H" means BGA in Intel lingo, which takes the purpose out of having a very bulky but modular and therefore upgradable portable system, last time I checked.
Price checks-out with the novelty factor of this configuration, however as it is, 3 years later and it just falls drastically.
I think about that when I see that 3.5K price tag...

 

[Manu_PT]

"H" means BGA in Intel lingo, which takes the purpose out of having a very bulky but modular and therefore upgradable portable system, last time I checked.
Price checks-out with the novelty factor of this configuration, however as it is, 3 years later and it just falls drastically.
I think about that when I see that 3.5K price tag...

I will rather wait for those tasty MSIs with 7550h + gtx 1060 for half the price

 

[eidairaman1]

"H" means BGA in Intel lingo, which takes the purpose out of having a very bulky but modular and therefore upgradable portable system, last time I checked.
Price checks-out with the novelty factor of this configuration, however as it is, 3 years later and it just falls drastically.
I think about that when I see that 3.5K price tag...

I miss the Inspiron 9100/Dimension XPS Gen1 laptops, they had plenty of space and cooling...

 

[bug]

Please tell me these also come with a QHD or 4k screen, so the only chance to reach those 144Hz is to dig up a 3D Minesweeper somewhere.

@_JP_ H just means high-power which is pretty much required for a gaming platform: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaby_Lake#TDP_classification But don't let that get in the way of a good foaming.

 

[_JP_]

@bug You are not wrong, however until Haswell "M" denoted a socket processor, meanwhile "H" denoted a soldered one. Both within the TDP regions of 35~45W more or less for "Q"s.
Intel might have changed the meaning, but the method and market position is the same, hence my point. We just stopped seeing "M"s around.

 

[bug]

@bug You are not wrong, however until Haswell "M" denoted a socket processor, meanwhile "H" denoted a soldered one. Both within the TDP regions of 35~45W more or less for "Q"s.
Intel might have changed the meaning, but the method and market position is the same, hence my point. We just stopped seeing "M"s around.

Fair enough. And they do offer soldered CPUs, but I'm not sure if there's a letter for them.

 

[_JP_]

IIRC, every mobile CPU Intel makes is soldered, as of now...so every letter?

 

[bug]

IIRC, every mobile CPU Intel makes is soldered, as of now...so every letter?

Oh, all of them? That, I didn't know.
Though I guess I should have seen that one coming, because last time I was looking for a laptop I could barely find a decent one with user replaceable storage and RAM. Ultrabooks (and Apple) be damned.

 

[cdawall]

IIRC, every mobile CPU Intel makes is soldered, as of now...so every letter?

AFAIK this is correct. HK chips just offer an unlocked multiplier for mobile.

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

With a 17.3" screen and a 1070, that display resolution should at least be 1440p, though I'd honestly like to see 4K (and I'm aware of, and do not care about, the fact that the 1070 would not be able to drive a lot of games at native resolution....as I and actually, the majority of PC users use them more often for "non-gaming" tasks)

 

[lexluthermiester]

IIRC, every mobile CPU Intel makes is soldered, as of now...so every letter?

AFAIK this is correct. HK chips just offer an unlocked multiplier for mobile.

They still have socketed mobile CPU's. They also have a lot more BGA's proportionally than than they used to.

EDIT; I just looked it up, you guys are right. WTH?!? Why the hell did this become a thing?

 

[bug]

They still have socketed mobile CPU's. They also have a lot more BGA's proportionally than than they used to.

EDIT; I just looked it up, you guys are right. WTH?!? Why the hell did this become a thing?

Thinness, I guess. Plus, considering I've been building systems for like 20 years now and still haven't come across one person that has changed their laptop's CPU, the niche of people taking advantage of socketed laptop CPUs must be really, really small.

 

[Vayra86]

@Chino I think you missed a "1" or the press release misses one

"The Intel Core i9-8950HK version costs 1999 PLN ($3500) while the Intel Core i7-8750H version goes for 8999 PLN ($2630)"

Or its just a really weird currency

 

[_JP_]

Why the hell did this become a thing?

Thinness, I guess. Plus, considering I've been building systems for like 20 years now and still haven't come across one person that has changed their laptop's CPU, the niche of people taking advantage of socketed laptop CPUs must be really, really small.

A niche, yes. I did make some people happy because of that, allowing them to use their laptop for a while longer, with a simple CPU+RAM...and from around 2010 onwards, SSD upgrade. It also reduces wasted hardware. Jumps in Core 2 Duo days weren't that meaningful (double the cache and some 400MHz more per core), but going from i3 to i7...and in some rare cases, a quad-core i7 made an incredible difference.

EDIT: Obviously, my laptops have CPU swaps.

 

[TheGuruStud]

I love the totally made up CPU model numbers in these laptops.

 

[lexluthermiester]

@_JP_
Screw that, I want to be able to upgrade.

 

[bug]

@_JP_
Screw that, I want to be able to upgrade.

But have you ever swapped the CPU on a laptop? I'm thinking, even with socketed CPUs, a beefier part will probably need better cooling and how do you go around that?
And no, I'm not saying a soldered CPU is preferable. You can at least swap a socketed one for something similar yourself, in case it goes belly up. Not so with a soldered CPU. I'll never advocate for something that takes choice away from the users. Yes, I know the average user is overwhelmed by choice, but I'm an engineer

 

[lexluthermiester]

But have you ever swapped the CPU on a laptop? I'm thinking, even with socketed CPUs, a beefier part will probably need better cooling and how do you go around that?
And no, I'm not saying a soldered CPU is preferable. You can at least swap a socketed one for something similar yourself, in case it goes belly up. Not so with a soldered CPU. I'll never advocate for something that takes choice away from the users. Yes, I know the average user is overwhelmed by choice, but I'm an engineer

Many, many times. Just did an upgrade today on a Dell Inspiron from a Celeron to a Pentium.

 

[TheGuruStud]

Many, many times. Just did an upgrade today on a Dell Inspiron from a Celeron to a Pentium.

Sidegrade much? XD

 

[lexluthermiester]

Sidegrade much? XD

Not really, the Celeron in question is a 1600mhz. The Pentium is 2400mhz. 50% uptick in performance is a bit more than a sidegrade. And for the price it was worth the effort for the user. It was $22 for the Pentium chip. We also upgraded the 2GB of RAM to 8GB and the 320GB HDD to a 750GB Hybrid HDD. For $180 total the upgrade should last them at least the two years before they have to upgrade to Windows 10 at which time they'll likely get a new system. But I digress, we're off topic...

 

[TheGuruStud]

Not really, the Celeron in question is a 1600mhz. The Pentium is 2400mhz. 50% uptick in performance is a bit more than a sidegrade. And for the price it was worth the effort for the user. It was $22 for the Pentium chip. We also upgraded the 2GB of RAM to 8GB and the 320GB HDD to a 750GB Hybrid HDD. For $180 total the upgrade should last them at least the two years before they have to upgrade to Windows 10 at which time they'll likely get a new system. But I digress, we're off topic...

JFC, didn't know they even went lower than 2ghz. What a joke. Should be criminal to sell such a pile.

 

[lexluthermiester]

JFC, didn't know they even went lower than 2ghz. What a joke. Should be criminal to sell such a pile.

Oh yeah, the SandyBridge mobiles started 1600mhz.

 

[Space Lynx]

for that price it should be a gtx 1080... 1070 won't push hardly anything except much older games at 144hz...