Acer Helios PH315-52-710B review
First Impression of PH315-52-710B
For the appearance, this PH315-52-710B looks pretty much the same with its predecessors, but in a blue-ish theme. On the solid cover, you will see the blue logo on it. This Acer Predator’s logo is surrounded by the two lines from each side. This LED logo will light up whenever your computer is on.
The PH315-52-710B logoThis design looks more refreshing compared to the previous black and red overrated color lines with its predecessors.
Coated with solid plastics, the chassis of this PH315-52-710B Acer Helios 17 inch model looks and feels sturdy, there aren’t any noticeably flexes on the screen or keyboard.
PH315-52-710B’s Design
Opening it up, you’ll be stunned with the full-sized keys on the blue-themed keyboard. The keys are very nice, with no mushy feelings or flex.
In my opinion, it has even better keys compared to similar gaming products from other brands.
The plastic-coated trackpad surrounded by those blue lines, and so are some parts of the keyboard deck. The keyboard has a blue backlit by default, and the lighted WASD is easy to find or locate. The base of the keyboard is made from aluminum alloy.
Due to the drivers that support Windows precision, you will like the Windows gestures feature that the trackpad of this laptop supports.
As expected with most of the gaming laptops, the speakers of this PH315-52-710B are at the bottom of the device. This said the quality of the audio isn’t the best out there. I highly recommend using external speakers that will boost the bass and the quality of the overall audio when you game or listening to music or even watching movies.
The Processor
The 9th gen Intel i7-9750H processor has base clock speed at 2.6GHz. When needed, it can boost up max to 4.5GHz. This CPU benchmarks 28% faster than the AMD’s newer Ryzen 7 3750H.
The exclusive turbo button that you’ll find at the very top-left corner of the keyboard deck will be able to reduce the temperatures. Just keep it in mind that whenever you turn on this button, the fans will run and they will get really loud.
Without the turbo mode enabled, thanks to this CPU, this PH315-52-710B is more than capable to cool your laptop.
You won’t likely need to turn this button on, unless, for instance, you have been gaming for a day and night.
The laptop runs surprisingly quiet, even more quite than those thinner gaming notebooks.
Thanks to the GTX 1660ti, which is also running cool most of the time.
Display
The display is a 1080p screen with 144Hz refresh rate IPS panel which will definitely give you a stunning visual gaming quality. Furthermore, this display has a fast reaction time (at 3ms) that will give you better image quality.
The hinge of the screen, especially the bottom hinge feels robust. Usually, the same mid-range device will have a wobble on the hinges, but this one does not. I confidently say, it has even better quality compared to the current market of the more expensive units.
The bezels are not the slimmest I have ever seen, but it is expectable since it is a device to game, the thicker bezels add that the sturdiness to the screen. Actually, the top bezel is also made from aluminum alloy. There is a 720p webcam located on the top bezel of the screen.
Connectivity
This model includes a good selection of ports. You will have Kensington lock, Power plug, RJ 45 ethernet port, 3x USB 3.1 (One of them supports Power-Off charging), and an audio combo jack on the left-hand side.
Switching to the right-hand side, you will have one USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 (which is not a Thunderbolt 3), another extra USB 3.1, mini-DP 1.4 port, and an HDMI 2.0 port.
Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop, Intel Core i7-9750H, GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, 15.6″ Full HD 144Hz Display, 3ms Response Time, 16GB DDR4, 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD, RGB Backlit Keyboard, PH315-52-710B Upgrade
Is it upgradable?
Hard Drive
This Acer PH315-52-710B comes with a Hard Drive installation kit (drive’s bracket) and a cable that you can use to upgrade the storage or memory.
The upgrade’s kit.To upgrade, it’s quite straight forward as this is designed to be easily upgraded.
The default pre-installed Kingston or Hynix PCIe NVMe (512GB) is located in the first M.2 slot. The other M.2 slot is an empty 2.5″ bay that you can use if you want to add a secondary drive. The empty slot will accept the compatible PCI x4 SSD or a SATA hard drive.
RAM
This PH315-52-710B model ships with two memory slots with a dual-channel memory system, which is a total of 16GB. Both slots are populated with the 2 sticks of 8GB 2666Mhz RAM, rather than 2400Mhz. Each slot will accept up to 16GB for a maximum of 32GB total of memory.
Moreover, the manufacturer’s 16GB of RAM is really more than enough for gamers, and of course for other computer users too.
The Battery Life
Due to the 59Wh Lithium-ion battery, the battery life is not the best out there, as expected with any laptop for gamers. They are designed for intensive use hence draining quickly.
So if you likely want to have an on-the-go device that has a long life of its battery cycle, for example, for school, this one isn’t the ideal choice.
The ASUS VivoBook 11 inch, for instance, is a better and cheaper on-the-go unit because it was designed to be an on-the-go notebook with more reliable power. Or if you are a professional who really needs to carry around the lightest laptop without having to power it up on the go, check out the ExpertBook notebook that has 30 hours battery life cycle.
The longest battery cycle of this unit is about 6 hours with light computing tasks. If you game, it will be shorter than that, depends on what you are having on the background. For instance, streamers will open multiple tabs while they game and chat. Additionally, you may like this Acer monitor for setting up a secondary screen.
Summing Up
Altogether summing up this PH315-52-710B review, this is a powerful laptop to game with fast CPU and reliable durability. The 1660ti GPU is all you need if you are a gamer, as it’s perfect for high FPS gaming or streaming in Full-HD 1080p.
With the specs it has, you will literally be able to play any games at the maximum setting with high FPS. And this is without the Turbo button enabled.
We recommend this PH315-52-710B model if you are a gamer or a streamer who needs a laptop to perform your intensive games.
