Acer Predator Helios 300: i7-12700H, 15.6" 165Hz, RTX 3060, 16GB DDR5, 512GB SSD Expired

The empty m.2 slot is not really 100% usable. There's a cable beneath it that gets in the way. You can force install it, but the your ssd stick will be slightly bent

I'm passing on this one because I want something with at least a 3070 or 3080. Currently running a Triton 300 with a 2070.

If you're interested in feedback on Acer Predator in general I own 4 of them. 1 each for myself, wife and 2 high school age kids. I use an Acer Predator Triton 300 that is about 2 years old now and the other 3 are all Predator Helios 300s all bought at different times and all bought at around the same price point (~$1100 - ~1200).

Addressing some of the comments here. My biggest complaint is definitely the battery life. The 7-8 hours you see in most reviews is laughable. Right after buying my Triton 300 I compared it with my wife's Helios 300 which was about a year old at the time and the battery life was the same. Just sitting on my desk with no applications open and running (certainly no gaming) just Windows and whatever apps are in Startup I could only get about 1.75 hours to 2 hours before it dipped below 10% and it started to issue warnings. So yeah the battery life is garbage, even when you're not gaming.

Also, the Turbo mode button is cool but after a few months I found it would only work when the PredatorSense (included by default) application was open and running in an active window. Pretty minor annoyance.

One final complaint. All of the older laptops have the port for the power cord on the side whereas for my Triton 300 they FINALLY moved it to the back. It's really just an annoyance but for me it was a major annoyance till they changed the design.

As for support we've really had no problems with any of these Predators. 1 year after buying my Triton 300 I noticed battery life had dropped down to 30-45 minutes. I contacted support and they sent me a new battery. Was pretty much no hassle. With 4 of these Predators in the house for the last 4-5 years or so that is the only time I have contacted support and it was easy and hassle free. I know that will not be everyone's experience so Interpret that how you will.

As for other problems my son's Helios 300 developed a noisy fan somewhere in the 2-3 years old mark (beyond support) but it's just the one fan, the PC has continued to function properly, even cooling properly, and none of the fans in any of the other 3 have had any issues. I plan to replace it myself.

As for the noise, you cannot hear the fans when the laptop is NOT over-clocked. However, they are noisy when over-clocked or when put into "Turbo" mode but for me it's just a minor annoyance. Once I start gaming and focusing on the game, I forget all about it but that's me. For others it may be something you can't not hear so YMMV.

As for bad quality, very surprised by the negative comments. Most Youtube reviews I have watched over the years gave positive marks for the build quality given the price point which I completely agree with across the board. I genuinely feel I got a quality laptop for the $$$ spent. I have zero issues with build quality. And where upgrades are concerned, I have increased the RAM and added additional SSDs in every one of these laptops and have had zero issues.

Hope that helps!!