The Acer Nitro 18 AI combines big-screen play with small-pocket prices, stepping away from leading Intel gaming processors and halving RAM compared to other RTX 5070 Ti systems, while undercutting most of the market in its launch RRP. That's an interesting proposition, especially when PC gaming prices are rapidly soaring to unobtainable levels.

With the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 and 16GB RAM at the helm, the Nitro 18 AI isn't going to beat some of the best gaming laptops for those with a larger wad of cash to spend. However, for a sub-£2,000 rig with a sturdy display, relatively slimline form factor, and decent performance scores, it could well be a tasty pickup in 2026.

Acer Nitro 18 AI configurations

There are a limited number of Acer Nitro 18 AI configurations on the market, with the machine topping out at an RTX 5070 Ti. All of them use AMD's Ryzen AI 9 365 processor, paired up with a QHD+ display running at 165Hz, and the vast majority of the models you see will sport an RTX 5070 Ti GPU like my test device. RTX 5060 and RTX 5070 options are available, but they're far less widespread on the shelves. There are, however, more 32GB RAM options available via retailers and Acer's own store.

That AMD processor holds the Nitro back when compared with the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX usually applied to an 18-inch upper mid-range machine, and the 16GB RAM is half that I would usually expect to see from a similar spec.

The 16GB RAM / RTX 5070 Ti model I've been looking at comes in at £1,749.99, a solid price for an upper mid-range graphics card in a chunkier 18-inch form factor. This is among the cheaper options for this card, though returns do diminish when you look at £1,659.99 RTX 5060 options. If you're interested in this machine, the spec I'm testing seems to offer the best value for money from a pure cost perspective.

Acer Nitro 18 AI performance

The Acer Nitro 18 AI has a pretty spotty performance record. While some figures seem decent for an RTX 5070 Ti machine with 16GB RAM behind it, others look a little off-mark. After running my initial round of tests, though, the machine was fully reset, updated, and all settings triple checked to match previous rigs. The next round produced the same results.

Overall, we're below what I'd expect to see from an RTX 5070 Ti machine with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 processor at the helm. Its main competition in this testing pool is its sibling; the RTX 5070 Ti Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI - admittedly one with a boosted Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor and 32GB RAM.

These drawbacks, then, don't necessarily come from any thermal issues or even a problem with the 12GB RTX 5070 Ti itself. In Fire Strike's more CPU/RAM-testing benchmark, the weaker AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 snags that final score in the physics test. The graphics portion of the run looks decent, averaging at around 38,571, while the physics score averages at 15,814.

As Steel Nomad demonstrates, there's nothing going awry with the overall power of the RTX 5070 Ti here. Had there been space in the Nitro 18's budget for a CPU with a higher core and thread-count, these synthetic benchmarks could be a lot closer.

In-game, the Acer Nitro 18 AI struggles to keep up with the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI in lighter runs like Shadow of the Tomb Raider at FHD resolution, with more dense strategy action from Total War: Three Kingdoms also proving troublesome compared to other RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5070 systems. Taken in isolation, though, there's little to complain about. I was still well above 60fps in both High and Highest settings at 1080p, only faltering on that margin in Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered.

Interestingly, the Acer Nitro 18 AI seems to pull ahead of some of its competitors with the resolution cranked up to its full native 1600p. Here it overtakes the Asus ROG Strix G16 in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, middles the pack in Total War: Three Kingdoms, and takes a steady lead in Cyberpunk 2077. Strangely, we fall off that podium in Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered, though, with the system struggling to hold its 60fps in High settings.

What I loved about the Acer Nitro 18 AI

A rare slimline design

18-inch gaming laptops come with a trade-off. You're sacrificing that portability that has defined the form factor for so long, while typically picking up a more immersive display, a wider array of ports, and a chunkier cooling system. The Acer Nitro 18 AI feels like it's meeting us half way.

Not that this is a magically backpackable gaming laptop - it's still a heavy, wide machine that's going to hurt your shoulders no matter how sturdy your bag is. However, it is noticeably slimmer than most of the market (most because that Razer Blade 18 is always lurking). Heavy-duty rigs like the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 and MSI Raider A18 HX sit fat on a desk top, while this skinnier form factor perches neatly.

The simple aesthetic well-worn by this cheaper, no-nonsense Nitro line certainly helps as well. The tapered lips and clean lines are complimented by an all-black chassis, a simple glossy 'N' logo on the rear panel, and a much thinner wedge shape than I typically see from machines of this size. All that allows the vibrant RGB lighting under the keyboard to shine ever brighter. If you're after a desktop rig that won't scream its gaming intentions at you every time you look at it, this is a worthwhile offering.

Not OLED but still a solid display

You'll find far more sophisticated gaming laptop panels much further up the price scale, but for its relatively modest price tag the Acer Nitro 18 AI still sports a bright, bold, crisp display. The IPS pulls off a surprising level of vibrancy in its colors, offering a far better experience than previous Alienware gaming laptops.

You're not getting the high-contrast impact of an OLED or Mini LED here, but there's still plenty of energy in its colors, sharpness, and power.

Comfortable, snappy keyboard

The numpad-toting keyboard is one of the shining stars here, which is rare for a machine that typically de-prioritizes its chassis quality. Full-sized keys (including that number pad) and bold lighting cover a particularly satisfying tactile experience.

Yes, there's a little more flex in the main deck area than you'll typically see in a more expensive machine, but key action is crisp and snappy, with an energetic bounce and plenty of travel on the way down. It makes for a notably pleasing typing and gaming experience, never fatiguing over longer days either.

What to consider about the Acer Nitro 18 AI

There are higher performing RTX 5070 Ti rigs out there

While they will often, admittedly, come in higher than the Acer Nitro 18 AI's cost at RRP, there are RTX 5070 Ti machines out there that will give you better bang-for-buck performance. The Nitro isn't lacking - you'll still be smooth at 60fps in most games with a few graphical tweaks, but others can net you higher framerates in more competitive titles and hold their own across a wider range of more demanding games.

If you're not tied to this lower-end budget, it's worth exploring Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX options, or those with additional RAM budget.

USB-A ports mounted to the right

Like many 18-inch gaming laptops, the Acer Nitro 18 AI mounts a good deal of its ports on its rear. Excellent, big tick in my book - it's so much tidier for a machine that's likely going to be spending most of its life on a desk top. These rear ports are reserved for more permanent setup connections; power and HDMI, with both USB-C options mounted here as well.

Unfortunately, though, the USB-As are located on the sides, specifically two are to be found on the right side of the chassis. It's a small frustration, but one that will likely get in the way of right-handed use of the machine. Knocking a mouse hand against a cable or dongle every time action calls for a wider pan can get old (and cramped) pretty fast.

Trackpad feels much cheaper than the rest

While the keyboard certainly impressed with its quality, the trackpad feels a little less polished. There's a hollow spacey feel that never quite gets to 'mushy' status but certainly doesn't feel as sophisticated as the rest of your inputs.

Should you buy the Acer Nitro 18 AI?

At full price, you're going to struggle to find an 18-inch RTX 5070 Ti gaming laptop under £2,000 these days, so the ball is in Acer's corner from a raw price perspective. The machine does enough with that GPU to hold its own in the performance arena, even if it's lagging behind other more expensive options further up the price scale. You're still going to be running your games smoothly and without hiccup.

Its screen, keyboard, and overall physical design also work hard in its favor as well. Despite its lower price, this is a system that still manages to delight in the hands and before the eyes. Build quality holds up with very little flexing and wobble, aesthetics remain measured but still flashy in that configurable lighting, and the overall profile has a nicely slimline appeal to it. Trackpad and port placement aside, the machine itself stands tall.

The problem is discounts. While cheaper gaming laptop deals are definitely getting harder to come by, there will be times when machines far better prepared for more demanding titles will be skirting around this RRP. While I can recommend the Acer Nitro 18 AI to those after a big-screen experience on a budget, I'd also urge you to look closely at sale prices on the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI and Asus ROG Strix G16 when you're about to head to checkout. If they're matching (or within £100 of) the Nitro's price tag, they will likely boost you to higher framerate opportunities.

How I tested the Acer Nitro 18 AI

I used the Acer Nitro 18 AI as my main work and play device for a period of two weeks, while also running additional benchmark reps alongside separate devices.

I primarily tested the rig across Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Total War: Three Kingdoms, Cyberpunk 2077, and Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered, testing at both 1080p and 1600p in each game's High and Highest settings (RT: Med and RT: Ultra for Cyberpunk).

I then used 3D Mark to test against Steel Nomad, Time Spy, and Fire Strike synthetic benchmarks. Each test was run in the system's highest power setting (Turbo) with benchmarks carried out three times each, averaging each for final results. For more information on how we test gaming laptops, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also rounding up all the best Asus gaming laptops and the best Razer laptops for more slimline options. Or, check out the best gaming handhelds for premium portable play.

If last week's Prime Day offers have taught me anything it's that it's tough to find even the best gaming laptops with more than 16GB RAM on the discount shelves these days. Imagine my surprise, then, when one of my favorites turned up in Best Buy's 4th of July sales - with not only the full 32GB but an RTX 5070 Ti GPU in tow.

The machine in question is the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI, a jack-of-all-trades rig that just wants to run your games well and show them off on a premium OLED display, without bulking out your backpack or constricting its components with a super slimline design. At $300 off, we're looking at $1,899.99 for this configuration at Best Buy (was $2,199.99). These days, that's a pretty solid rate.

This is a particularly low price for an RTX 5070 Ti machine with 32GB RAM in 2026. Best Buy only has a handful of gaming laptops with that GPU for less cash on its shelves, and they all halve your memory. For $100 less you can pick up the Asus ROG Strix G16 (16GB RAM and a sacrifice in display resolution, panel type, and speed). The MSI Vector is slightly cheaper still, at $1,779.99 - again with only 16GB RAM and a drop down to a 144Hz FHD+ IPS panel.

The Acer Nitro Slim is the cheapest of the bunch (at $1,599.99), but drops you all the way down to 512GB of storage with that 16GB memory and display drop.

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Newegg's looking pretty similar, with only lesser-known brand Hasee offering an RTX 5070 Ti gaming laptop with 32GB RAM for less than this Acer Predator price point.

Value's certainly on Best Buy's side in this week's cheap gaming laptop deals, then, but is the Helios Neo right for you?

I tested this exact RTX 5070 Ti configuration, albeit with a little extra storage, so my testing benchmarks provide plenty of insight into how this 16-incher will perform in the real world. Spoiler: It's pretty tasty.

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI keeps pace with slimmer RTX 5080 machines like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 and Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 from my testing pool. While it couldn't quite keep to 60fps in Cyberpunk 2077 across QHD+ benchmarks, you'll only need a few minor graphical tweaks to keep those numbers steady. Lighter titles like Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered, however, are rock solid. You'll have no problems in FHD resolution either, Cyberpunk is still well over 60fps here.

• See all gaming laptop deals at Best Buy

I'm also rounding up all the best Asus gaming laptops and the best Razer laptops for those after something a little slimmer. Or check out the best Alienware laptops on the market.

I'm at Computex this week trying all sorts of new gaming hardware, and one of the first to grab the headlines has been Acer's reimagined handheld PC, the Predator Atlas 8. People are right to be excited about this new best gaming handheld contender. Not only does it pack in some really powerful Intel innards inside it that stand apart from the standard AMD chips used in portable PCs, but it's yet another option in a blossoming handheld market.

I've had the chance to go hands-on with it though, and as the resident PC controller expert here at GamesRadar+, I was taken by it for totally different reasons than its impressive specs. For me, when it comes to handheld gaming, comfort is king. If you can translate the experience of actually holding a comfortable gamepad in your hand to an on-the-go device, it's going to unlock a whole new level of enjoyment and usability.

I love me some handheld gaming, but if I'm totally honest, I'm not all that interested in trying to cram expensive gaming PC performance into a portable footprint. I think, as we've seen, it just drives the cost of entry for what should be a really accessible type of device into realms where hardly anyone can afford them as a secondary (or even primary) way to play games.

Not to mention, the types of games I tend to want to take with me on the go aren't the performance-heavy singleplayer games or the competitive multiplayer ones. Both of those are examples of games I want to enjoy at home with my proper setup. For me, it's the indie games, the narrative adventures, the open worlds that I want to keep coming back to from the yesteryear of my Steam library, but if a handheld isn't comfortable, I'm not going to want to play when I'm out and about.

That's something that Acer has absolutely nailed with its new handheld. I remember testing the first iteration of its handheld gaming PC when it was first revealed at IFA a couple of years ago, and although it had some cool design points, it was launching before the era of the larger, more comfortable MSI Claws, and well before the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X paved the way for more pronounced grips on handheld devices.

There's been a serious evolution with the Atlas 8 in terms of ergonomics. Acer isn't exactly known for its controllers, but you wouldn't know that from holding the Atlas 8 in your hands. Acer has managed to translate a lot of great design philosophies from a pro controller to a handheld form factor. It's not afraid to be bulky, putting some girth into the display/mid-section of the console courtesy of its Predator AeroBlade dual-fan cooling system. But that also translates to the grips, which have an equivalent amount of heft.

This has knock-on effects all over the place. Asymmetrical thumbsticks don't feel like such a stretch anymore because your hands wrap around and down, as opposed to stretching and straining around the flat back of a device in order to bear its weight. The back buttons are suddenly easier to press regularly because, again, that middle finger isn't so tied up with making sure you don't drop your pricey portable.

Even from a design and aesthetics standpoint, the Atlas 8 somehow looks more natural than the Xbox Ally, which arguably does look like someone's ungracefully stuck two cylindrical grips to an existing device.

In my experience of going hands-on with both the Atlas 8 and the revitalised 20th anniversary edition of the Xbox ROG Ally X at Computex, my thought is that it's actually okay for a handheld PC to be heavy, because as long as you can grip it properly, your hands aren't going to fatigue as easily, or even notice the extra weight because of how things are balanced. I say that as an owner of the original ROG Ally X, which certainly has some weight to it, but doesn't have the ergonomics to back it up.

On the Acer side of things, the Atlas 8 even has trigger stop switches, which change its triggers from standard analog Hall Effect depression into a microswitch instant click. These can be huge for giving you improved feel across different genres of games, and to my knowledge, this is the first handheld gaming PC to add this feature. It's all about comfort with the design of the Acer Predator Atlas 8, and I applaud Acer for pushing the envelope in this regard because it's certainly going to give the Xbox ROG Ally X a run for its money, and beyond its Xbox branding, I think the reason that device is proving so popular is that it puts comfort front and centre.

For more, take a look at the best retro handheld, the best TMR controllers, and the best gaming laptops.

After weeks of fervent rumors, Acer finally revealed the Predator Atlas 8 handheld yesterday - but that's not the only new device heading our way. Alongside the chonky Intel Arc G3 system, the brand is also bringing its Nitro Blaze Link to market in 2026.

This isn't a hyper-expensive handheld PC, but it could pave the way for more interesting portable play. The system is designed to pair with specific Acer gaming laptops (the Predator Helios 18 AI and Nitro 16) to stream games. It's the PlayStation Portal to the PC world.

This isn't the first time the best gaming handhelds have relied on WiFi after all. Before Sony stepped in we had the Logitech G Cloud - and fans of the best mobile controllers have been remote playing on their phones for years. However, with all the component shortages plaguing the industry, bumping prices, discontinuing devices before their time, and ruining supply chains, it could be time to revisit the stream.

The PlayStation Portal has come on leaps and bounds with streaming technology, with its latest updates proving that stable on-air gameplay isn't just possible, it's actually enjoyable now. Acer releasing a stream-friendly (and hopefully budget friendly) companion device is welcome news in the same week the Steam Deck hit $1,000. After all, the fully loaded Predator isn't exactly going to be a cheap affair.

The Acer Nitro Blaze Link doesn't have a price tag just yet, but is expected to hit the shelves in late 2026.

• See all gaming handhelds at Amazon

For more portable play, check out the best Steam Deck accessories and the best retro handhelds.

Intel is seemingly ready to send its Arc G3 line up to the best gaming handheld battlefield, and the grand unveiling could happen tomorrow. That's May 28 for those of you looking to circle your calendars, which might be handy if you've been waiting for anything portable PC-shaped by Acer.

In an Intel Arc G3 report by Videocardz, the publication says it has information regarding the May 28 unveiling. The core of the leak links to MSI's Claw 8 EX AI+, a successor to the excellent Claw 8 AI+ that's already popped up a few times via accidental retail listings and benchmarks. It pairs 32GB RAM, a 1TB SSD, an 80Wh battery, and an 8-inch 1920×1200 120Hz display with a 14-core Panther Lake chip.

The new MSI handheld should pile some pressure on existing premium portables like the ROG Xbox Ally X, although that ultimately hinges on price. It apparently isn't alone on the reveal podium, though, as Acer is apparently set to release a contender known as the "Predator Atlas 8".

The longstanding tech maker's Predator Atlas 8 is technically a sequel to Acer's original Nitro Blaze lineup. What's that? You had no idea Acer handhelds were a thing? Well, that's probably because the company released a 7-inch model in very limited quantities before deciding to put the two 8-inch options on hold.

For all intents and purposes, the Acer Nitro Blaze handhelds feel like vaporware, but the new Predator portables could serve as a redemption arc. The alleged plan right now is for Arc G3 Extreme and Non-extreme flavors that use the same 14-core chipset as the Claw 8 EX AI+, but there's zero mention of potential pricing or other specs.

I'd take all these Intel Arc G3 rumors with the usual grain of salt, but if the new Acer handheld swaps out the Nitro branding for a Predator logo, it could be a worrying pricing clue. The latter is the laptop maker's "premium" brand reserved for gaming PC, laptops, and graphics cards with higher specs and features.

My personal fear is that, rather than focusing on challenging affordable devices like the Steam Deck OLED (still AWOL, FYI), or even the non-X ROG Xbox Ally, Acer will instead lean into the saturated premium portable market and create another $1,000 monster.

• More gaming handhelds at Best Buy
• Gaming handheld accessories at Amazon

Sticking with the classics? Swing by the best retro handhelds and best retro consoles for remakes, emulation systems, and more.

I've always thought the best gaming laptops should fade into the distance, not take up my whole desk or backpack. That's why I've championed 14-inch machines for this long. I've been through generations of Razer, Asus, Acer, and HP's slimline rigs, shouting the benefits of compact machines to anyone who would listen. Now I'm putting them all head to head.

The subjects of today's trial are three of the most popular 14-inch gaming laptops on the market; the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, Razer Blade 14, and Acer Predator Triton 14. Asus has held onto the crown for another year running, but it's last year's model doing that work - not the 2026 version I had on my test bench earlier in the month.

While the Zephyrus G14 is the best 14-inch gaming laptop I've tested so far, the new release is likely going to be significantly more expensive. The RTX 5070 Ti performance I benchmarked offered a real tangible boost in playable framerates (especially in more demanding runs), but we still don't know when these machines will hit the market and with supply chain difficulties, that all-important price tag is looking higher by the day. I've even spotted more budget machines retailing with just 8GB RAM, so there's no telling how high those luxury rates could climb. It may well be one of the best Asus gaming laptops, but if it's out of reach it's all for naught.

That means we're sticking to 2025's entry for the top performance slot, with Razer taking home the design award and the Predator proving best for those after a true hybrid work / play system.

The contenders

Full benchmark results

The best 14-inch gaming laptop performance

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 does something very few 14-inch gaming laptops can; take you all the way to the RTX 5080. While Razer and Acer tend to halt at the RTX 5070, Asus pushes further with two more GPU classes above its competition.

The RTX 5080 2025 model I tested last year handled QHD gameplay far better than the GPU-capped Razer Blade 14, with Shadow of the Tomb Raider running at 155fps in its highest settings and Cyberpunk 2077 holding its own at 55fps in RT Ultra. There's a new kid on the block, though.

The 2026 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is the latest in line, and the RTX 5070 Ti configuration I've had on the test bench managed to beat last year's numbers thanks to a higher overall wattage. With all that under its belt the latest model can handle 60fps Cyberpunk in full whack - something I haven't seen from a 14-incher before.

There's a caveat to that performance, though, and one that brings me back round to last year's release as my primary recommendation. The new Zeph still hasn't hit the shelves in the US, and looking at the eye-watering pricing across the rest of the world it doesn't look like this is going to be an easy upgrade. With the cost of the 2025 offering packing significantly higher value I'd stick with the older model right now.

The best 14-inch gaming laptop design

The latest Razer Blade 14 has been my ride or die for months now, and I previously ran the model before it as my daily driver. It can't quite match the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 for sheer performance (Razer can only get an RTX 5070 in this thing), but if look and feel are your primary concern this is an easy winner.

Razer hasn't changed the rulebook of its gaming laptop designs in some time, because it doesn't need to. Each machine is CNC milled aluminum with a supremely durable finish. That means this thing handles like a solid brick of luxury, but one that doesn't take up your entire backpack (or hurt your shoulders).

It's a super skinny 14-inch gaming laptop but there's no flex or creaking anywhere across the chassis. Not only that, but the premium feel continues inside with a gorgeous OLED panel and a particularly satisfying keyboard underneath.

This is no cheap alternative, though. While the Blade 14 can see its own price drops, that MSRP is pretty firm and an RTX 5060 build often comes in more expensive than RTX 5070 options elsewhere. If you need to balance looks with power, though, it's an excellent option.

The best 14-inch gaming laptop battery

If you're hunting down the best 14-inch gaming laptop for battery, you likely need an all-day workhorse that can run your favorite games later on. That's precisely what the Acer Predator Triton 14 wants to do. The strange Intel Core Ultra 9 288V processor choice means you're not getting the full potential of the RTX 5070 (as tested) under the hood, but it does lend itself to a particularly power-economical device that can run your office for a full day before plugging in for some games.

The Predator Triton is a little confused in its use-case, but for those after a true two-in-one that could be a niche win. With a stylus included in the box, that slightly weedier processor (from a gaming perspective, anyway), and efficiency at its core, this is a real hybrid machine.

It's priced a little high for its benchmark results, I must say. Considering this rig can sometimes sit higher up the price scale than even the Razer Blade 14, its 2,593 Steel Nomad 3D Mark score raises some eyebrows and the fact it's just clinging on to 60fps in Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered could give some pause for thought.

This isn't a framerate chaser, though, it's a jack of all trades for work and play. If you're happy bumping down to 1080p to get solid High-settings performance in more demanding games, all while benefitting from a slick and streamlined business machine, this is well worth investigating.

How we test 14-inch gaming laptops

I run all 14-inch gaming laptops through the same series of tests as any other machine, with each rig set to its highest preset performance profile. First up comes 3D Mark. This is a testing suite of benchmarks that put GPUs (and, to a lesser extent, CPUs) through their paces across demanding scenarios. I primarily use Steel Nomad, the most recent release, for the best real-world performance indication, but also run older tests Time Spy and Fire Strike to provide context around earlier releases.

Steel Nomad tests a system's graphical stability and speed across a non ray-traced scenario. Rendering techniques and devices like volume illumination, ambient occlusion, and depth of field are all core to this test, pushing a system's ability to maintain a smooth visual experience. Steel Nomad presents a score at the end of each benchmark - like all 3D Mark tests, higher is better.

I run each of these synthetic benchmarks three times, taking the final average score as my main result.

Then we're onto real-world performance. I benchmark in both 1080p and 1600p using each game's 'High' and 'Highest' settings, running each test three times and taking a final average score. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the easiest test, before moving up to Total War: Three Kingdoms, Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered, and Cyberpunk 2077.

Outside of pure performance testing, I work, play, travel, and live with each 14-inch gaming laptop for a minimum of two weeks before finalizing my review.

For more information on how we test gaming laptops, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

Also consider

Should you buy a 14-inch gaming laptop?

I wouldn't recommend a 14-inch gaming laptop to everyone. After all, there are some performance sacrifices inherent in this more compact form factor. However, with SoC machines becoming a real possibility in the next few years, we could see a larger trend towards more portable power.

As it stands today, without the extra chassis space (read cooling space) of a 16-inch or 18-inch device, these rigs typically run hotter, have more trouble with thermal throttling, and cost you slightly more for the privilege. It's not easy to squeeze high-end components into a portable shell, after all.

I personally wouldn't buy anything else, though. I take my gaming laptop with me everywhere I go, working most of the time but also relying on it for gameplay when I'm away from home for a few nights. I don't want a chunky device that's going to take up all my bag space just for the sake of a few hours of gameplay. I don't want to have to lug a giant power adapter across the country. I'm happy to sacrifice a few frames to save my back, shoulders, and inventory space.

If that sounds like you, a 14-incher is absolutely the way to go. They're the best all-in-one gaming laptops for a hybrid work / play approach. If you know you're going to keep your machine at home for most of its life, a larger model is going to give you a more immersive display, generally better performance, and better cooling.

I'm also running through all the best Asus gaming laptops and the best Razer laptops on the market. Or, if you really want something a little chunkier, check out the best Alienware laptops I've tested.

I've long been singing Lenovo's praises. The 10th generation Legion 5 offered an OLED display and excellent performance for a fantastic price point, but it looks like that rig might be on its way out. While it can sometimes be found on the shelves for a decent rate things seem to be shifting in the last few weeks and this gaming laptop deal from Best Buy is another nail in the Legion's coffin.

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI was always jostling with Lenovo's mid-ranger. At a similar price, and still sporting an impressive OLED display, it meets the same needs of the budget-conscious player while offering a slightly wider range of components. It just never managed to stay consistently cheaper on the shelves.

That's all changed this week. While the Legion 5 is in the awkward process of being replaced by a newer (more expensive) generation, the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI is taking a $400 discount at Best Buy, dropping it all the way down to $1,199.99 this week.

So how does the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI stack up against the best gaming laptops on the market? I tested an RTX 5070 Ti configuration in my review - a beefier configuration with more VRAM to play with. Still, it managed to perform better than RTX 5080 configurations of more compact machines like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 and managed to post sturdy 60fps+ framerates in everything but Cyberpunk 2077 at QHD.

That's not going to be the case with this cheaper RTX 5060 model but, as I found when I tallied up exactly what the best mobile GPU is for a gaming laptop upgrade, the RTX 5060 can still hold its own across FHD benchmarks. This is a rig that's going to see you through a wide range of games with that resolution bumped down, and plenty of lighter titles in QHD with some settings tweaks.

That's just under the hood, though. It's rare to find an OLED panel on a gaming laptop this cheap - so far only this rig and the Legion 5 have pulled it off. Not only that, but this is a particularly strong example of inky blacks, high contrast, and powerful vibrancy. There's a little more glare than you'll find further up the price range, but if you typically play in darker environments you won't even notice.

• See all gaming laptop deals at Best Buy

I've also been testing all the best Asus gaming laptops and the best Alienware laptops available. Or check out the best Razer laptops for something a little more compact.

The world of 14-inch gaming laptops is certainly a small one, with only Razer and Asus populating these ultra-portable shelves in recent years. There's one other rookie in the wings, though, and the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI wants a piece of the work-play pie. Going up against some of the best gaming laptops on the market is no easy feat, though.

With a price tag that rivals the very top end of this market, the Predator needs to work hard to justify its position. Unfortunately, with a weaker processor, awkward touchscreen display, and slightly more restrictive supply of components, Sneki wins this Razer Blade 14 vs Acer Predator Triton 14 AI matchup for the majority of gamers. That changes slightly if you're a professional content-creation powerhouse, but overall I'd point most players (and their ~$2,500) in Razer's direction.

Performance

The Acer Predator Triton 14 AI uses a weaker Intel Core Ultra 9 288V processor, which keeps it restricted in overall performance. The larger L3 cache on the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 of the Razer Blade 14 is pulling its weight here, giving that RTX 5070 more space to get its engines revved even if Intel's performance cores can move a little faster than AMD (5.1GHz turbo vs. 5GHz).

We're not comparing apples with apples here, though. The Ryzen processor can multithread, running eight threads from its four performance cores - Intel's CPU keeps things like-for-like. The Predator Triton's processor is technically running at a higher clock speed, but Razer's is doing more with its 5GHz.

From my testing, it means a 17.16% performance decrease across PC Mark 10 benchmarks.

That drop makes its way over to more dedicated gaming tests. 3D Mark Steel Nomad represents the most up-to-date run for these systems, testing graphics card performance (and how well the CPU lines up those tasks) across a non ray-traced landscape, rendered internally at 4K.

From my entire testing pool, RTX 5070 gaming laptops typically fall around the 3,200 to 3,300 mark in this test. With their slimmer designs, both the Razer Blade 14 and Acer Predator Triton 14 AI fall below this average, but the Acer is trailing well behind. With a 2593 final score, there's a 17.28% performance disparity here.

Things are similar in-game. Lighter runs like Shadow of the Tomb Raider demonstrate a 19.17% performance decrease when the Acer's running at full QHD+ resolution in max settings. That gap is closed slightly in the more demanding Cyberpunk 2077, with both slimline rigs struggling to keep their heads close to 60fps. Acer's framerates trail by 10.2% in this benchmark.

What does that all mean for you? It means you're going to need to sacrifice more to run more demanding games at 60fps on the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI compared to the Razer Blade 14. That means dropping textures down, killing more advanced lighting effects like ray tracing and ambient occlusion, and possibly scaling back to 1080p in full-throttle titles.

• Winner: Razer Blade 14

Display

Both the Razer Blade 14 and Acer Predator Triton 14 AI use use 120Hz OLED panels with a 14-inch 2880 x 1800 display. Both are slightly over-specced in their resolutions, especially if you tend to only play more demanding titles, while both keep their refresh rates a little more conservative.

There's one key difference here. The Acer Predator Triton 14 AI has a touchscreen. If you're buying a productivity laptop first and a gaming machine second, that could well be a benefit. It's rare to find these kinds of panels on rigs with RTX 5070 grunt.

If you want your machine to primarily function as a gaming laptop I'd steer clear. That's because the touchscreen tech enforces a faintly visible series of pixels across the screen. It doesn't get in the way of gameplay too much, but it's certainly noticeable in brighter shots and everyday web browsing. At least, it would be enough to give me pause when considering dropping more than $2,000 on a gaming laptop.

Otherwise both panels match up nicely. There's perhaps a touch more glare on Acer's model, but nothing that's going to shift the dial too much.

• Winner: Razer Blade 14

Build quality

Acer has certainly been eyeing up the best Razer laptops from the design room. The Predator Triton 14 AI is almost like-for-like in its CNC-milled, matte black construction. The brand's Predator logo occupies the same spot on the main lid, with the same RGB backlighting. Meanwhile, the inside is similarly barren of stamps, iconography, and additional levelling details.

Acer includes a slightly alternative two-tone internal design, with a lighter gray panel around the keyboard and also adds another logo in the bottom right corner. Other than that, these are very similar machines to look at.

Razer has thickness on its side, but not by much. If you're going for ultimate portability, the discrepancy between the 0.68-inch Blade and 0.64-inch Triton might make for a new point of consideration, but the reality is these are both about as skinny as gaming laptops come. They travel well, sit tucked away on a desk, and both weigh around 1.6kg.

Razer uses a super-strong T6-grade block of aluminum for its main chassis and, while Acer's materials aren't specifically listed, it's ever-so-slightly harder to flex. Really the only difference, though, is when I hold the corner of each machine between my thumb and fingers and push up and down. There's more resistance in Razer's deck than Acer's, but it's an almost insignificant disparity.

• Winner: Razer Blade 14

Keyboard

This is where Acer might claw back some points. The keyboard on the Predator Triton 14 AI packs a slightly crisper feel than the Razer Blade 14. Combined with larger keycaps, it's taking the lead slightly for those who regularly type for long periods at a time.

Both decks offer a particularly snappy response reserved for high-end machines, but there's an extra sense of energy in Acer's clackers. By contrast, the Razer Blade 14 can feel a little softer under the fingertips.

• Winner: Acer Predator Triton 14 AI

Extra features

Both machines come with their own software packages, though Razer's is a little more intuitive in its layout and manages to stay less in-your-face than PredatorSense on the Triton. The latter feels a little outdated in its angular, science-fiction design but still gives you access to performance and fan settings as well as key machine metrics.

That Intel processor also means that the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI is able to take advantage of Thunderbolt 4. In short, it's better for high-speed external displays and data transfers, making it a point of note if you're leaning more into the content creation side of this value package.

I also won't be able to live with myself if I don't warn you about that boot up noise. Acer's entry has a particularly booming sound effect running out across its speakers as soon as it powers up. It's not pleasant.

• Winner: Tie

Razer Blade 14 vs Acer Predator Triton 14 AI

The Razer Blade 14 is a higher performing laptop than the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI, with a display better suited to gaming and a slightly improved build quality. It's easily the better buy for the majority of players, providing better bang-for-buck power value and a clearer screen to see it all on. It's still got the portable productivity chops most will need, but spans its work/play hybrid philosophy in a more balanced way.

I would only recommend the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI to those primarily buying a productivity machine, and you'd have to be a power user to make the most of it at that. Thunderbolt 4 is going to serve content creators better than USB4 and that touchscreen panel could well be on your hit list as a must-have.

• Winner: Razer Blade 14

I'm also hunting down the best Asus gaming laptops as well as the best Alienware laptops on the market. For something even more portable, though, check out the best gaming handhelds.

Acer has unveiled more details around its 2026 gaming laptop lineup, with Arrow Lake refreshes of its Predator Helios Neo 16S AI, Predator Helios Neo 16 AI, and Predator Helios Neo 18 AI slated to hit the shelves in July. That's a little later than we've seen new generation machines in previous years, but it's no secret as to why.

Just like the rest of the industry, even the best gaming laptops are facing uncertainty due to component shortages. RAM and SSDs are being hoovered up by AI manufacturers, squeezing demand and increasing costs for both brands and consumers. That's why it's a little quiet on the gaming laptop front this year.

It's March now, and Acer's announcement is one of the first tangible mentions I've received of new-gen hardware. In any other given year, I'd be snowed under with new releases, but in 2026? Nothing.

It certainly doesn't bode well for our wallets. Even Acer's comms are silent here as well, with no mention of an MSRP for any of its three new rigs. With the Intel Core Ultra 200HX Plus models offering up to RTX 5080 GPUs and 240Hz OLED HDR displays, these machines aren't going to be easy on the bank balance.

I'll save you the marketing fluff. Like most of this year's gaming laptops, these are going to be incremental refreshes to the same Acer Predator Helios machines we've been enjoying all year.

That Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus CPU clocks slightly higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX headlining most of last year's gaming laptops (5,500MHz vs 5,400MHz) with the same 14 cores running at a slightly higher rate (5.4GHz vs 5.5GHz on P-Cores and 4.7GHz vs 4.6GHz on E-Cores). Both processors tap out at 160W of power.

All that to say, actual in-game performance upgrades are going to be minimal, but you're going to be paying a hell of a lot more for it.

I benched last year's RTX 5070 Ti Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI, and she's certainly going to hold her own in the years to come. While more demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077 will need a helping hand to stay over 60fps in full QHD resolution, this slimline machine is batting with RTX 5080 rigs in titles like Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

That's from a machine currently on sale for $1,549.99. I can confidently bet we won't see that kind of pricing on 2026's new releases anytime soon.

Last year's gaming laptops have already made it out of the factory; they're not subject to the same RAM shortages or SSD prices as their predecessors. While discounts like this are still around, it's going to take more than an incremental CPU update to convince me that new-generation rigs are going to be worth their inevitably high price tags.

• See all gaming laptop deals at Best Buy

I'm also hunting down all the best Asus gaming laptops as well as the best Alienware laptops and the best Razer laptops for more options.

RTX 5070 Ti gaming laptops are about the closest you'll get to 80-Class power at under $2,000, and Best Buy's latest sale has hit a true mid-range hero this week. The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI is fairly unassuming on the shelves, but with $350 off the price of an RTX 5070 Ti configuration, it's being shunted into the limelight this week.

This gaming laptop deal comes courtesy of Best Buy's Tech Fest Sale, so the offer only stands until Sunday. What do you get? Only an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, 32GB RAM, and an OLED screen for $1,549.99. Considering that starting $1,899.99 rate, and the fact that most other RTX 5070 Ti gaming laptop deals are over $1,700 right now, that's a fantastic saving.

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI is perfect for those after a jack of all trades. It doesn't lean into performance as hard as some of the best gaming laptops on the market, but it does offer sturdy framerates, a gorgeous display, and a slick, slimline design for a price I don't see too much of these days.

• See all Tech Fest deals at Best Buy

I had a good time with the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI when I had it on my test bench back in October. Even at MSRP, you're getting better components inside the chassis than you normally would in this price range, and that display - while being a little glossy in practice - offers some fantastic contrast for more immersive gameplay moments.

A slimline design means it's good to go for both work and play, though it's not as compact as something like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (also on sale for $1,899.99 at Best Buy right now). If you're after an everyday laptop that will also run your Steam collection well, though, it's more than up to the job.

It's also one of the few mid-range options to offer the RTX 5070 Ti. You're far more likely to find an RTX 5070 or RTX 5060 GPU under the hood of a machine like this. The Lenovo Legion 5 Gen 10 is going for the same value-packed OLED proposition and taps out much further down the GPU scale, while the more expensive Alienware 16X Aurora opts for a chunkier chassis that still maxes out at the 5070.

So what can you expect from this rig? This spec is pretty much identical to the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX / RTX 5070 Ti version I benchmarked last year.

At full 1600p (this version's native resolution), the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI beat even RTX 5080 machines in lighter games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, while managing to hold its head above 60fps in Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered and Total War: Three Kingdoms at max settings. Cyberpunk 2077 is a 1080p affair if you're going for a crisp 60 as standard, though.

We've still got a good leap from RTX 5070 performance here. At QHD, the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI offered up a 17.7% increase in Shadow of the Tomb Raider max settings compared to the chunkier Asus ROG Strix G16, with a 27% increase in performance across Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered.

That RTX 5070 G16 is tough to find for a decent price as well. An RTX 5070 model will currently set you back $2,199 at Newegg and $1,929 at Best Buy. Spending $380 less for a boost in performance, even as small as that of Cyberpunk 2077 (3.9%), seems like a no-brainer.

• See all gaming laptop deals at Best Buy

I'm also hunting down all the best Asus gaming laptops as well as the best Razer laptops and the best Alienware laptops on the market.

The Acer Predator Triton 14 AI has a snake problem. This is a productivity-gaming laptop designed to bridge the gap between work and play much in the same way as any other 14-inch rig. With a fantastically bright OLED display, super suave aesthetic, slimline portable form factor, and surprisingly rich keyboard, there's plenty going for it. Unfortunately, its price tag pushes it into the big leagues, and it's not quite equipped to take on the competitors it finds there.

That's because this isn't just a gaming laptop. Acer has invested more into the productivity side of things (it's the first time I've been greeted by a stylus when unboxing a gaming laptop) with a touchscreen, pen support, and a far more efficient processor. If you're a pro looking for something that's gaming-ready, this could well be a good match, but things get a little muddy when coming from a pure PC gaming standpoint.

I've been using the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI for two weeks, comparing it against some of the best gaming laptops on the market, and while I've had a blast running it I just can't get the numbers to work.

Performance

The Acer Predator Triton 14 AI is working with slightly different internals than most 14-inch gaming laptops I've tested. The RTX 5070 sitting at the top of this configuration ladder only runs at 110W compared to the 115W version in the Razer Blade 14, and the Intel Core Ultra 9 288V is more focused on efficiency and AI productivity power than it is raw gaming performance.

With all that said, the Triton's performance is a little more understandable. It's a way behind the Blade 14 with the same GPU, and its top RTX 5070 spec obviously can't keep up with the RTX 5080 Asus has managed to squeeze into the G14.

3D Mark's Time Spy, Fire Strike, and Steel Nomad are GPU and CPU intensive tests that stress a system and report a final score based on a combination of each system's performance. The higher the score the better the result. Here, the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI fell behind its main competition across each test.

Fire Strike and Time Spy test different elements of your graphics performance independently, with the former largely focusing on particle effects and geometry and the latter offering a newer benchmark that pulls more complex 3D rendering scenarios into consideration. In the older (read, easier) test, the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI comes in 20% behind the RTX 5070 Razer Blade 14 but more interestingly, that drop off is pretty much matched (a 19.16% decrease) in Time Spy.

Steel Nomad is the most up-to-date benchmark, putting rendering capabilities to the test. It's the best way to rank more modern systems, providing a more realistic image of real-world performance. The Triton is, once again, at the bottom of the pack, scoring 17.28% below the Razer Blade 14's RTX 5070 spec.

All of that means nothing without some actual games, but unfortunately the Triton struggles to keep up in the 1080p arena as well. Easier tests like Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Total War: Three Kingdoms offer up some decent numbers - still behind the Blade, but three-figure nonetheless. You'd struggle to find an RTX 5070 machine that doesn't offer up such scores, though.

Cyberpunk 2077 struggles to stay over that 60fps threshold in RT Ultra even with the resolution bumped down. This is strictly a medium settings, 1080p game for the $2,500 laptop.

Overall, the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI drops an average of 14.4% in performance at 1080p, highest settings, compared to the Razer Blade 14, with that sacrifice most keenly felt in more demanding games where the Triton is shunted into sub-60fps territory.

Interestingly, the performance gap is closed in QHD+ tests. The Acer Predator Triton 14 AI manages to keep a tighter pace with the Razer Blade 14 in Cyberpunk 2077 - though it's straying a little further from that 60fps threshold, performance is only down 10.2% compared to Sneki. In fact, the Triton manages to post a slightly higher score in Highest settings on Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered. We're still slightly behind here, but the demanding pressures of that higher resolution seems to affect each machine similarly.

What I liked

A super streamlined design

You're going to struggle to find a chunky 14-inch gaming laptop. After all, these are devices designed to slot into your work life just as much as your gaming setup - they need to be low profile, portable, and slimline. The Acer Predator Triton 14 AI makes this look almost effortless.

It's not quite as thin as the Razer Blade 14 (0.64-inches), sitting at 0.68-inches tall, but there's really not much in it. It's also carrying the same brick-like density, simple matte black chassis, and rounded corners. Without the Predator branding, I'd be hard pressed to say whether I was looking at a Blade or not if it weren't for the different keyboard styles.

That means this is incredibly easy to transport and, should you tone down those LEDs, easy to slot into a more subdued environment. The main back panel holds a lit Predator logo that lets this more professional side down a little, but with that switched off this is a more reserved design than the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, and that's a gaming laptop modelled after an ultrabook.

Bright OLED display

Set inside that slimline frame we have a particularly bright, vibrant OLED display. This face looks fantastic, rivalling that of the Razer Blade 16 and Razer Blade 14. The panel leans into cooler hues particularly well but still manages to retain its warmth when required, with crisp color contrast running throughout. It's not quite as sharp as Razer's more high-end screens, and lighter tones did draw some dot marks in regular browsing, but this is certainly a step above the more budget-focused options found on the Lenovo Legion 5 Gen 10.

Resolution runs just above the QHD+ 1600p I'm usually testing, extending into so-called "3K" territory at 2880 x 1800, though that bump in pixels means a reduction in speed. This panel only runs at 120Hz, whereas you'll find 240Hz options with QHD+ resolutions that will suit more competitive players better overall.

Fantastic controls

The Acer Predator Triton has been designed as a hybrid machine, there's a stylus in the box for crying out loud. That means there's a little more attention to the keyboard here. It's not quite up to the scissor switches of the Razer Blade 16, but there's definitely more snap and pop to these clackers than you'll find in similarly thin models.

That sense of energy makes for a fantastic typing experience, I was working all day from this device without a sense of fatigue or mush. It's also crisp in gameplay, where the shorter stops of a chiclet style keyboard often fall into the trap of feeling spongy under repeat presses.

The trackpad is similarly slick, with a smooth surface presenting absolutely no drag under the fingertips. Light tap inputs are picked up fast and heavier force clicks feel crisp and light as well. It's a large pad as well, matching the Blade 14's generous width. My only gripe here is the lack of definition to the lower lip. With no way to tell I was at the bottom of the track pad I often found myself falling off the edge, wondering why my inputs had been dropped.

What to consider

Performance is only so-so

This isn't a value-minded RTX 5070 that can get away with some framerate drops due to its lower price tag and weaker cooling. This is about as premium as it gets for the mid-range card, and it's not keeping up with similar systems. The Blade 14 wins out on nearly every benchmark, and Asus has managed to run a similarly compact form factor while extending its configuration range to an RTX 5080 for even better performance.

Not every gaming laptop can sit at the top of the pack, and 50fps - 60fps in the most demanding games at their highest resolutions and settings is expected from this graphics card. When comparing benchmark data across a whole bunch of RTX 50-Series machines to find the optimal mobile GPU upgrade, I found that an RTX 5070 machine will average out at 51fps in Cyberpunk 2077, 146fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and 61fps in Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered. The Acer Predator Triton 14 AI falls well below those averages, and many are taken from far cheaper machines.

That slimmer design is playing its part. As gaming laptops squeeze their waistlines so too do they drop framerates. It's just a part of running components in more cramped conditions. Unfortunately for the Triton, though, the Blade 14 has a slightly slimmer shell and still posts higher numbers.

Which also means the display feels unbalanced

That higher resolution display is a little wasted here. I was struggling to maintain a steady 60fps even at a 1600p resolution, regularly bumping things down to 1080p during everyday play to maintain a steady stream of pixels. Adding extra headroom to this panel feels, at best, unnecessary and at worst counter-productive.

Dropping down to 1080p means faster framerates, but we're still met with that 120Hz cap. That's not going to make too much of a difference in more demanding games but competitive players driving those settings all the way down are going to be limited.

I jump every time I turn it on

It feels silly to be committing these thoughts to words at the end of a review, but it's testament to just how annoying the boot up sound is that I'm dedicating real time and page space to this gripe. Every time I turn on the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI, I'm met with the most obnoxious, loud, whooshing sound effect. It's ridiculous, and it's not even a pleasant wake up song. It just reminds me of a series of angry PC noises, kind of like a fan gasping through dust for its final breath, before a speaker-crackling jingle rings out across the room. Thanks, I hate it.

Should you buy the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI?

The only listing I've found that matches the spec I've been testing sits at Newegg, and it's an inflated $3,199.99 price tag. I know that's inflated because a configuration with double the storage sits at $2,599.99. Safe to say you're going to be spending Razer Blade prices to nab yourself this slimline rig. That's a serious problem if you're just investing in a gaming device.

Every tick box you'd need to check in order to end up with this machine in your cart has already been scribbled by Razer. It's a very similar slimline chassis with a subtle design, high-end OLED display, slick keyboard and trackpad and an uber portable form factor. Razer just posts better performance with it, it's as simple as that.

Things get a little muddier if you're a professional. After all, just as much as the Triton is a gaming laptop, it's also designed as a high-performance productivity machine. That's where the added benefits of that touchscreen display, stylus support, and boosted speakers come into play - and the more efficient processor is going to be a lot easier on your battery compared to the Blade 14. In this scenario, yes the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI edges out ahead of the Blade.

Should the Triton see significant discounts in the future, potentially to a $1,500-ish position that starts to threaten cheaper Lenovo Legion 5 offerings things might be different. At MSRP, however, this is a tough sell to the PC gaming crowd with both Razer and Asus in the limelight.

How I tested the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI

I spent the last two weeks running the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI as my main laptop for all work and play. That time was split between using the machine in a monitor setup via the Razer USB-4 dock and using the device straight on the desk. While I have used benchmarks obtained in previous reviews in my performance comparisons, I also tested the Triton directly against the Razer Blade 14 for a few play sessions as well.

In-game benchmarks were carried out across 1080p and 1600p resolutions, with Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Total War: Three Kingdoms, Cyberpunk 2077, and Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered benchmark tools running at both high and highest settings three times each. Final scores were calculated from an average across all three runs.

Synthetic benchmarks were carried out in 3D Mark Time Spy, Fire Strike, and Steel Nomad. Again, these tests were run three times each, taking an average result at the end. All benchmarking was completed in the system's Turbo performance mode.

For more information on how we test gaming laptops, take a look at the GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also finding the best Asus gaming laptops and the best Razer laptops for a deeper look at the competition. Or check out the best Alienware laptops for something a little chunkier.

I've been pitting the best gaming laptops against each other to find the best value mobile GPU this week, and the RTX 5070 had something to say. When taking actual retail prices into account the extra cost when moving up a GPU class from the RTX 5060 are vastly outweighed by performance gains. Considering RTX 5080 rigs seldom drop below $2,000 that means, when the deals hit, the RTX 5070 is the best value spec to aim for. Thankfully, Newegg has just proved my point.

The Acer Nitro V16 has dropped from an already-modest $1,399.99 MSRP down to $1,249.99 this week, for a full $150 saving (and a free copy of Resident Evil Requiem). I rarely see RTX 5070 machines at less than $1,400 - in fact, this is one of the few rigs that naturally sits under that threshold at its starting price. The average 'as sold today' price of an RTX 5070 machine sits at about $2,239.01 (March, 2026), saving you about a grand compared to the competition.

I completed my Acer Nitro V 16 review a couple of weeks ago, pitting it against the MSI Katana B14W for a spot in the 'best budget gaming laptop' category. It's a slightly slimmer, more streamlined chassis than the Katana and its performance dropped away from more expensive machines (when comparing an RTX 5060 spec across similar options). That meant it didn't quite pip MSI to the top spot.

Here's where it does win out, though.

The Nitro is a more geared towards hybrid work and play. It's a more understated design that does a better job of looking like a slick slimline device. It doesn't have that 'gamer' aesthetic that the Katana still tip-toes around, and with an RTX 5070 under the hood you'll be getting better framerates than I did in my RTX 5060 testing.

It's not a powerhouse, but it never claimed to be. While MSI has it beaten in raw numbers, anyone looking for 60fps in more demanding games will be set here (I was nearly pushing that threshold a whole rung down the GPU ladder).

It's also a lot cheaper than the Katana right now. The most comparable spec I've found currently has a $1,549 sales price at Best Buy - $300 more than the Nitro today.

The MSI Katana I tested stripped things back compared to this configuration, with a FHD+ display and an RTX 5060 GPU. Today's model bumps up your graphics and swaps out the lower resolution panel for a QHD experience. That means I don't have benchmarks for the particular display type, but taking a look at my performance gives us a good indication of where your RTX 5070 might be taking you.

• See more gaming laptop deals at Best Buy

If you're after something a little more powerful, check out the best Razer laptops and the best Alienware laptops. Or, for more slimline designs take a look at the best Asus gaming laptops available.

OLED gaming laptops were once reserved for those with exponential budgets in their back pockets, but something changed last year. Machines available for as little as $1,299 started proudly sporting these high-contrast displays, running affordable mid-range or even entry level components while still offering panels only the best gaming laptops could have dreamed of a few years ago. These days, it's easy to find an OLED gaming laptop for well under $1,500, but two options stand taller than the rest right now.

The Lenovo Legion 5 Gen 10 and Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI are both available for between $1,100 and $1,500 with an RTX 5060 graphics card, offering some of the best bang-for-buck value on the market, especially if you can't part with that premium display.

The OLED gaming laptops to watch in 2026

Lenovo Legion 5 Gen 10

I can't tell you how many times I've spotted the Lenovo Legion 5 Gen 10 slimming down its price point and rushed to get a story out. Even at full price, this machine represents exceptional value for anyone after a high-contrast display. Where does it fall short? Well, its panel throws up considerably more glare than the two more expensive options on this list. If you're used to playing in a daylit room, you may well struggle with darker scenes. It certainly comes to life when the sun goes down, though.

Configurable up to an RTX 5070, I tested an RTX 5060 version and came away impressed with its FHD performance in both lighter and more demanding games. Yes, you'll need to employ a few DLSS tricks or dial some sliders back for full 60fps in heavier titles, but that's the norm for a GPU of this class.

This is the best value gaming laptop I've tested so far for a reason, and it's currently the cheapest machine I recommend with an OLED display.

Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI

In the middle we have the Acer Predator Helios Neo. This is a slightly more expensive model, but it compliments that higher price tag with an RTX 5070 Ti configuration option, a far less glossy display, and a slick design. I tested that top-end version, so my benchmarks will run a little high compared to the RTX 5060 configuration we're talking about today. Still, there are some translatable findings.

The Helios I tested managed to keep pace with far more expensive rigs, giving the admittedly slimmer Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 and its RTX 5080 GPU something to think about, while beating the chunkier Asus ROG Strix G16.

The crown jewel is that OLED panel, though. These machines start at around $1,600 at full price, $400-odd more than the Lenovo Legion 5 above. Both rigs offer excellent contrast and colors, but the Predator fares better in higher lighting conditions as well.

Do you need an OLED gaming laptop?

These two OLED gaming laptops are certainly cheaper than the rest of the market, but it's still only worth grabbing a high-contrast display if you know you'll make use of it. That's why you don't typically see too many 18-inch devices running these kinds of displays.

If you're buying a gaming laptop only to hook it up to an external display, there's no reason to invest so much in the panel. In that case I'd prioritize port speed, Thunderbolt 5, and a chunkier chassis for better performance. Dropping back down to an IPS display could well leave space in your budget to climb up a GPU class, offering far better returns when connected to one of the best gaming monitors.

Having spent the last year getting my hands on all the latest OLED gaming laptops, though, I'd generally recommend most players shoot for a high-contrast display. The difference in color handling and overall clarity is undeniable - just one look at the best Alienware laptops (a brand that hasn't quite jumped on the OLED bandwagon just yet) shows how much you can spend on an inferior screen.

I upgraded to an OLED Razer Blade 14 last year and haven't looked back.

• See all gaming laptop deals at Best Buy

I'm also hunting down all the best Asus gaming laptops. Or, for something more portable check out the best gaming handhelds on the market. If you need the full tower power, take a look at the best gaming PCs we've been testing.

Anyone who has ever shopped around for a budget gaming laptop will recognize the Acer Nitro V 16 AI. This new generation of cheaper rigs is doing things a little differently, though. Gone are the harsh angular lines, chunky chassis' and internal design stamps, this is a slimline machine ready to take on bigger games with a subtle confidence.

In a market where some of the best gaming laptops will cost you well over $4,000, cheaper rigs are feeling the squeeze. The RTX 50-Series is an expensive generation, but the Nitro still manages to outpace sub-$1,000 models with its FHD+ display and low profile design. Value isn't always on its side, especially in its picture, but if you want a budget-friendly alternative to work / play hybrid luxury rigs it's well worth considering.

Configurations

This is a lower mid-range build that so wants to drop into the entry-level with a few discounts under its belt. In the US, you're most likely to find a $1,299.99 price tag associated, while the UK has a few more options spanning £1,199.99 to £1,499.99.

That means most configurations are centred around an RTX 5060 GPU with 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD. That's to be expected from this kind of rig, though the MSI Katana drops back to the RTX 5050 for even cheaper options as well. Both rigs can push up to an RTX 5070, though there are fewer of these on the shelves at the moment.

I'm testing a configuration that I'm yet to stumble across in the wild. That AMD Ryzen AI 7 450 CPU is tricky to find in off-the-shelf models, you're more likely to see an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 at the top end of the market in the UK and the US's selection seems to be capped at the AMD Ryzen 7 350. If you can find one of these newer AI CPUs, it's well worth the upgrade over the red team's weaker processor options.

The rig I've had on the desk also sports 32GB RAM, another spec I haven't seen in the wild in the US. The UK has a couple of these models around, but you're looking at 16GB Stateside.

Design

With a sophisticated shiny black design, understated branding elements, and a slimline profile, the Acer Nitro V 16 AI is a far cry from its ancestors' loud, gaudy designs. Players no longer have to sacrifice slick aesthetics to keep that price low, though there are still some telltale signs that this is a cheaper rig.

An indented 'N' logo on the lower right corner of the main palm rest cheapens the look a little, despite blending into the main color of the deck itself. Similarly, a small hatched print underneath the arrow keys means the internal design is still slightly clinging onto the trends of yore.

Still, this is an understated design compared to the rest of the market.

It's an all-plastic build, but it's still extremely sturdy. The main area is a particularly solid brick, revealing absolutely no flexing in the palm rest area and zero creaks when lifted from the corner. It's a more steadfast build quality compared to the MSI Katana and feels sleeker than the Asus TUF A15.

The display panel is held by two smaller hinge joints on each edge of the laptop, providing it with a little less stability compared to previous generations. Opting for a gaming laptop that uses a hinge stretching across the full width of the deck is always going to give you the least wobble and the best chance at longevity.

Here, there's significant shaking of the display whenever it's manoeuvred. The top lid itself also displays a high level of flex when manipulated, a common feature among cheaper gaming laptops but one some rigs have managed to overcome. It's a necessary sacrifice to slim that waistline down, though, and if you're after a work / play device that weighs in significantly cheaper than the likes of the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 your bank balance will certainly thank you.

Display

Looking at the rest of the $1,300-ish gaming laptop market, the Acer Nitro V 16 AI's display certainly stands above cheaper options, but moving just a little further up the price scale poses two problems. First there's the Lenovo Legion 5 Gen 10 with its OLED display packed into its own comparative price tag. Then we have the MSI Katana with its jump up to QHD resolution in the same IPS package. While the Nitro's FHD+ resolution is still outpacing super budget options like the Lenovo LOQ (that stick to a 1080p panel) the best value still sits with these two competitors.

In isolation, though, this is as strong an IPS screen as I've seen. Even the best Alienware laptops have struggled with their screens in the last few years, offering dulled IPS panels with low brightness. At a fraction of the price, the Acer Nitro is out in front of older Alienware 16X Aurora models.

The picture itself is smart, crisp, and offers an excellent vibrancy for an IPS panel, with an anti-glare coating that keeps it in play in brighter environments. That's a benefit over the Legion's OLED screen, which struggles with reflections even on a gray day, but if you're going for high-contrast immersion with the lights off there are still other options out there.

Ports

Connections are split across both sides of the main deck area, with two USB-As and a 3.5mm audio out on the right flank, and a third USB-A, HDMI, Ethernet, and USB-C connection on the left. That's a solid selection of ports, with space for all your usual gadgets and then some.

Keeping two USB-As on the right side does pose issues if you have larger receivers or wired accessories that could get in the way of the mouse hand, though. Many gaming laptops opt for rear-mounted ports to solve this problem, though admittedly this is rare in cheaper, slimline rigs.

Keyboard and trackpad

A full-sized keyboard is great to see on a slimmer machine, you're getting all your main keys as well as a number pad in here, with slightly larger keys on the latter compared to the MSI Katana. Switches themselves feel crisp and smooth, with a snappy return that avoids the mushy feel of cheaper decks. There is, however, more flex in the keyboard area than I've seen in other models. Natural typing force is still solid, but applying a little extra pressure than usual results in bowing.

In everyday life, it's no game-changer. I only really noticed it when mashing buttons closer to the middle of the keyboard in-game. There's just a hair less spring to each repeat press.

The trackpad, however, punches just above its weight for this price class. It's larger than most, providing generous landing and sweeping space for everyday productivity on the go. It's also got a much snappier force click than a lot of cheaper rigs, which instead opt for a soft, squishy feel. Both the surface and tracking response is super smooth with lighter taps easily registered.

Performance

My 32GB RAM / RTX 5060 configuration of the Acer Nitro V16 AI couldn't quite keep up with the competition in-game. At 1080p, the Lenovo Legion 7 Gen 10 still keeps the top spot in this testing pool, with the Nitro sitting either at the bottom of benchmark results or middling in easier runs like Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

There's something kneecapping performance here, though I'm testing with a clean system and settings set to Turbo mode. After all, it even notched just below an RTX 4060 Asus TUF A15 in Total War: Three Kingdoms. My best guess is that slimmer form factor is holding the Nitro back compared to its chunkier counterparts.

That means there's a degree of performance sacrifice in favor of portability here, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. After all, I only strayed from the minimum of 60fps in Cyberpunk 2077 during my testing, and with DLSS 4's MFG switched on I was soaring at 143fps anyway. This feels like the kind of scenario the RTX 50-Series was made for.

Still, those lower numbers do mean the Acer Nitro V 16 AI may fare less well in a few years time compared to similarly priced alternatives from MSI and Lenovo.

Synthetic benchmarking told a similar story, though the Nitro maintained its generational lead over the RTX 4060 Asus TUF A15 in all tests this time. Fire Strike scores are closing the gap with the Lenovo Legion 7 here, one of the more expensive machines in my pool. Still, the very similarly priced MSI Katana has a solid lead.

Steel Nomad is the toughest of these synthetic tests, and it's where the Nitro fell furthest behind the rest of the pack. The rest of my RTX 5060 rigs kept well above 2,500 in their scores, whereas the Nitro dropped down to 2,382.

Should you buy the Acer Nitro V16 AI?

Whether or not the Acer Nitro V16 AI is right for you ultimately comes down to how much you want to pay and what you need a gaming laptop for. If it's going to spend 80% of its life on a desk or on your couch, and you want the most immersive gaming experience possible there are better value options in the QHD performance of the MSI Katana and the OLED panel of the Lenovo Legion 5.

If you're going for a slimline hybrid work / play gaming laptop at around $1,000 and you're happy to wait for sales, the Acer Nitro V16 AI should be on your consideration list. Its FHD+ performance keeps it competitive with cheaper options, while its subtle design allows it to keep a lower profile than the likes of MSI.

How I tested the Acer Nitro V16 AI

I've been using the Acer Nitro V16 AI as my main gaming and work laptop for a period of two weeks. That time has been split between using the laptop solo on a desk and connecting it to an external monitor setup. All gaming was completed on the laptop's own display itself, though. I benchmarked the Nitro in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Total War: Three Kingdoms, Cyberpunk 2077, and Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered, running each test at 1080p and full 1200p resolution across high and highest settings three times each. The final results are taken as an average of each of these three runs.

I also ran 3D Mark's Time Spy, Fire Strike, and Steel Nomad three times and took an average of all runs for each final score. Between benchmark runs, I also used the Acer Nitro V16 AI for my current Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 run, while also testing in CS2 and Planet Coaster.

For more information on how we test gaming laptops, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also testing all the best Razer laptops and the best Asus gaming laptops to find each brand's winner. Or, for something even more portable, check out the best gaming handhelds on the market.

Need something to feast the eyes on? The best gaming laptops spent the last year jumping on the OLED bandwagon and speeds grew faster and the display tech dropped in price. If you've been keeping one eye on these high-contrast panels and another on your bank balance, though, I've got one record-breaking deal to offer this week.

The Lenovo Legion 5i has just sailed down to a brand new record-low price at Best Buy, shedding $560 from its $1,559.99 MSRP to hit just $999.99 in the brand's latest sales. That means you're getting an OLED gaming laptop for less than a grand, a sentence I haven't been able to say before today.

The Lenovo Legion 5i Gen 10 was already pushing its launch price well with that high-end panel, so I'm not surprised it's the first model I've seen at this kind of price. It's a cheaper rig, and I did notice a little more glare on its screen as a result, but it's more than up to the task of running your Steam library with a little extra visual pzazz. However, if you want to make the most of that QHD+ display in more games, that RTX 5050 GPU may well struggle.

That's where another deal comes in.

While I was marvelling at this holy grail of a gaming laptop deal, the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI couldn't help but tickle my peripheral vision. For $150 more than the Lenovo Legion 5, you're picking up a slightly more solid body, a boosted RTX 5060 graphics card, and a screen that offered up less glare overall in my testing.

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI is a jack of all trades machine. That OLED panel is still working hard for you, alongside boosted specs and a full-sized keyboard underneath. Not only that, but the RTX 5070 Ti version I reviewed actually managed to beat slimmer RTX 5080 models in some benchmark runs.

Lenovo Legion 5 Gen 10 vs Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI

So which gaming laptop should be heading to checkout with you this weekend?

It depends on whether you can break past that $1,000 price barrier. The Lenovo Legion 5 Gen 10 is an impressive machine in isolation - there aren't any other OLED panels at three figure price tags right now, and very few in this price range offer such a sophisticated look and feel. If you've got a hard budget set I'd jump right on this offer, I've never seen it before and loved my time with the chassis in testing.

If you've got a little wiggle room on that budget, though, the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI is going to give you a lot more for your cash. The display still has a little glare to it, but it's more forgiving of brighter environments than Lenovo, and it's got that 240Hz ticket in its back pocket. An RTX 5060 isn't going to get you up to those speeds at full QHD+, but if you're looking to drop down to 1080p for some competitive gameplay it's certainly worth considering.

On top of that, the Helios Neo adds a full-size keyboard into the mix as well as a slightly chunkier form factor. While a drawback for portability, that extra breathing room means components have typically performed a little better in this chassis than they have in others during my testing.

• See all gaming laptop deals at Best Buy

After something completely different? I'm running through all the best Asus gaming laptops and the best Razer laptops if you want to spend a little more. If you're maxing out a budget, though, check out the best Alienware laptops on the market.

Back in my day you had to choose. Did you want a thick, chunky gaming laptop that could actually run your games, or a slimline one you can actually pick up? Kids today don't know the struggle, and I'm glad - because it means I can take the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI around town while I work from coffee shops only to plug it in and enjoy some Doom: The Dark Ages when I get home.

This is the latest release in a relatively recent trend of the best gaming laptops. Machines no longer have to pad out their chassis' with thick cooling tech in order to run because more efficient components give us enough power in a much smaller form factor, and the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI (breathe) is going all in.

It's far from the only rig of its kind. In fact, I've reviewed a whole wad of similarly designed gaming laptops this year. Both the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 and Razer Blade 16 will run you a lot more cash, though.

Configurations

My review unit sits near the top of the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI configuration roster, with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, RTX 5070 Ti graphics card, 32GB RAM, and 240Hz OLED display. It's that 2TB SSD that contributes to the larger $2,299 price tag, though, as it's a little more difficult to get your hands on. Halving it down to 1TB will see you scoring the same specs for $1,899.99 right now.

That's a fantastic starting position for an RTX 5070 Ti gaming laptop, especially considering most lower mid-range configuration options tend to cap out at the RTX 5070. That's the case for the Lenovo Legion 5 Gen 10 but also the vastly more expensive Razer Blade 14. Acer wants you to have the full 12GB to play with here, though.

We've got a little more breathing room for higher framerates, as well as a solid range of cheaper specs should you wish to keep that price closer to $1,600. If you want, you can go all the way up to 64GB RAM and a 4TB SSD - but you'd need to really prioritize that storage to pick up an RTX 5070 Ti machine for $2,599.

Design

Like many slimmer machines, the Predator wants to fly under the radar. This is a matte black machine with a very slight wedge shape and a subtle, understated logo situation. The only branding is a hidden logo towards the vents and a glossed Predator icon in the center of the lid. If you didn't spot the jutting cooling shelf, you may easily mistake this machine for a regular business laptop.

It's got the waistline for the job anyway. At 2.3kg, it's lighter than the similarly-styled Alienware 16X Aurora as well as the slightly cheaper Lenovo Legion 5 Gen 10. At its thinnest point (right at the front lip), it's also much skinnier, measuring at just 0.64-inches. That's the same thickness as the Razer Blade 14, the luxury brand's most compact machine to date.

It's built to travel particularly easily, though the aforementioned cooling shelf could prove tricky if you have a particularly small backpack. It is, however, made from a slightly thinner material than you'll find on more premium models. That's not to say I have concerns, in fact everything feels solid with no creaks and only light flexing to the main deck - less, even, than I found on the keyboard of the HP Omen Max 16, and that's my favorite release of the year. There are build quality sacrifices present here, compared to the likes of the best Asus gaming laptops, for example.

Display

OLED displays are making their way to the mainstream this year and newer releases are using these panels in far more affordable rigs than ever before. While the Predator Helios Neo 16S AI isn't the cheapest gaming laptop with an OLED display right now, that would go to the Gigabyte Aero X16 with the Lenovo Legion 5 hot on its tail. However, this panel is built a little different.

It's got fantastic color reproduction, with super vibrant highlights and excellent detail in darker scenes. Contrast is super crisp, with inky blacks and colors popping across the scene. Not only that, but everything's running in full QHD+ 240Hz quality you'd expect from a mid-range price tag.

There is a little glare. This is a glossy panel, but it's nowhere near as offensive as the Legion 5 or HP Omen Transcend 14. I spent far more time marveling at the details than I did inspecting my own face.

Ports

With three USB-As and two USB-Cs (including a Thunderbolt 4) spread across the sides and rear, you're well stocked for accessory connections and easy charging. You do have one older Gen 1 USB-A port in here, but there's plenty of speed elsewhere. More expensive machines can also upgrade that Thunderbolt 4 to the newer Thunderbolt 5, but the move only makes sense if you want to output at multiple high-speed 4K monitors and the RTX 5070 Ti would struggle to stay smooth anyway.

Having these USB-A ports split across the sides could be frustrating if you're using wired accessories. Having these connections on the side can often create a spider effect, with cables strewn across the desk and interrupting your mouse hand. Wireless receivers will keep that sprawl down, though, and you've still got rear-mounted USB-Cs to keep some cords out of the way.

Keyboard and trackpad

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI has a softer but still satisfying keyboard. A 1.5mm key travel keeps things suitably springy, with a tactile bounce to return to full height and a nicely cushioned landing spot for comfortable typing over longer sessions. You've also got a bold set of RGB LEDs under the keys themselves.

Full-sized arrow keys and a decently sized number pad round this offering out particularly well - you'd be surprised how much you can spend on a gaming laptop only to be faced with half-sized keys.

The trackpad isn't quite as solid as the keyboard it accompanies. The plastic construction feels a little softer than I'd like, and especially compared to the glass pads you'll find in more premium models. However, for casual navigation it holds up well, offering a smooth glide and responsive tap.

Performance

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI certainly benefits from moving beyond the RTX 5070 cap that seems to be hampering other releases. The RTX 5070 Ti model I tested comes in much cheaper than its competitors in this pool, but still manages to hold its own in the benchmarks.

It's a little behind the chunkier Asus ROG Strix G16 (RTX 5070) in Fire Strike, but easily beats it and the skinnier Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (RTX 5080) in Time Spy. Steel Nomad is a tougher task, where the RTX 5070 Ti Acer naturally falls under the higher-class card.

1080p in-game benchmarks really let the Predator open up. It manages to top the charts for Shadow of the Tomb Raider framerates, but its Cyberpunk 2077 and Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered benchmarks are more representative of the more modern gameplay experience. I was consistently well above 60fps even at the highest settings in both titles here.

The Helios even beat the RTX 5080 inside slimmer Asus ROG Zephyrus machines. The real test comes when that resolution is cranked up, though.

In QHD, the Predator starts to fall under the slimmer machines a little more regularly, though it still runs slightly faster than the RTX 5080 Zephyrus G16 in Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered. Still, you're going to be struggling to keep your head above 60fps in more demanding games at highest settings with an RTX 5070 system, and the RTX 5070 Ti inside gets us just a little closer.

Cyberpunk 2077 averages at 51fps when pushed in full RT Ultra, but new DLSS features can also bump that up to 162fps if you want to turn on 4x Multi Frame Generation.

Should you buy the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI?

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI is a sturdy gaming laptop well worthy of its lower mid-range price tag. Its fantastic OLED display beats other cheaper panels on the market, though doesn't quite give the Razer Blade 16 anything to worry about, and its push up to the RTX 5070 Ti certainly serves it well in performance as well.

A slimmer design that still maintains power is always going to win in my books, so while you're still not going to be hitting 60fps in RT Ultra on Cyberpunk QHD+ here you're still getting an excellent price to performance ratio.

If you want to spend a little less, the Lenovo Legion 5 Gen 10 skews slightly towards better value, though you're dropping the extra power from your GPU. If you don't want to sacrifice high-end components or build materials, I'd check out the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 or Razer Blade 16 instead.

How I tested the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI

I used the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI for work and play over a period of one week, using the device as I would my usual gaming laptop. I worked solely from the laptop itself for two days, spending a few more days connected to a separate monitor system. I only ever played using the laptop itself, rather than another screen.

I tested using Doom: The Dark Ages and Spiritfarer from my current backlog, but also tested directly in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Total War: Three Kingdoms, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, and Cyberpunk 2077 as well as 3D Mark's Time Spy, Fire Strike, and Steel Nomad.

For more information on how we test gaming laptops, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also rounding up all the best Razer laptops and best Alienware laptops on the market. For something a little more sturdy, though, take a look at the best gaming PCs we've tested.

I didn't have the best time with the last iteration of the Acer Predator Orion 7000. When it arrived, one of the RAM sticks wasn't seated properly, there may have been a problem with the AIO cooler, and the sheer volume of the case fans made it a tough rig to like. Regardless, it was hard to argue with the Intel Core i9-13900K processor and RTX 4090 GPU inside it. So, despite some pitfalls, it was still up there with the best gaming PCs you could find.

Since then, Acer has been hard at work in the PC market. The next rig from this brand was the excellent Acer Predator Orion X, a small form factor monster that cured so many of the 7000's ills. In the last two years, we've also seen an emergence of graphics cards, SSDs, and RAM, all made by Acer and sold out with their prebuilt PCs. Then, at IFA last year, we got the news that Acer was listening to feedback, and with the next iteration of its Predator Orion PCs, much quieter, more efficient cooling would be a key focus.

This really cemented in my head that Acer doesn't just want to make PCs and components, it wants to make PCs and components of the highest order, and a willingness to listen to feedback is a telltale sign of a brand that wants to improve. The only problem? Quality comes at the highest end of the price scale. This configuration of the new Predator Orion 7000 that I'm testing will set you back £3,299 in the UK, with a US price still to be confirmed. Expensive RTX 5080 GPU or not, that's a high price to pay for a PC - even one as powerful as this.

Specs

I do have to wonder if an AMD configuration was ever on the cards for Acer's latest range of gaming PCs. The new chassis was revealed back in September 2024, and although Intel and Nvidia have always supplied the Orion machines with CPUs and GPUs, it feels like there's been a rather large change of momentum for both of those brands since that reveal. Nvidia's 50 Series GPUs haven't had the best reception, Intel's Arrow Lake desktop processors have been fighting an uphill battle to improve performance since launch, and a lack of support for legacy motherboards has played right into AMD's hands.

In fact, one con of this build is that by opting for the Intel Core Ultra series processors, the LGA1851 CPU socket may not be as future-proofed as an AM5 motherboard would have been. Essentially, Intel is a lot less likely to service this particular motherboard with new CPUs for you to upgrade to than AMD is.

For a brand that's beginning to produce all of its own components now (including AMD Radeon GPUs, not Nvidia ones), I'd be very interested in seeing what a fully homegrown Acer Predator Orion 7000 could look like. As it stands, these Predator Orion motherboards are locked to Intel CPUs, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were contracts in place for Nvidia to brandish them with its GPUs.

There definitely seem to have been at least some changes made in the time between reveal and launch, because when I saw the Predator on the IFA show floor last year, it was holstering an RTX 4090. The engineers on the Acer team did hint to me that there would be availability for the 50 Series GPUs (which were only rumoured to be in the works back then). Almost a year later, it looks like those 50 Series cards are the only options for this rig now. Perhaps delays in the Predator Orion 7000 actually hitting the shelves have come from graphics card stock shortages rather than a proposed change of GPU supplier. Either way, you can get up to an RTX 5090 in the new Orion 7000.

As for the other specs, Acer says you can get up to 128GB of DDR5 RAM, although 32GB seems to be the standard you'll get out of the box. You can have up to 6TB of PCIe M.2 storage out of the box, but some SATA trays and a handy M.2 hot-swappable SSD enclosure in the roof of the chassis allow you to add more of your own. The processor I have in this rig is an Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF, but you can get yours with up to Intel's Core Ultra 9-265.

Thankfully, if an RTX 5080 or 5090 configuration is too rich for your blood, the Acer Predator Orion 5000 variants often come out a little later, offering a cheaper sum of parts for less power. As a drawback, you may only get two front fans as opposed to the three found in the 7000 Series machines, but that may not be too big an issue if you get the same AIO cooler.

Design

Speaking of cooling, that's where the biggest differences lie between this version of Acer's flagship desktop and the older models. Hands down, the worst thing about the previous version was its noise levels and inadequate cooling. To be absolutely fair, the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) had its work cut out for it trying to keep a 13th Generation Intel flagship CPU cool, but my god, I don't know what was happening with the AIO and thermals in the version I tested. The CPU was regularly reaching the boiling point in stress tests, and when I say the PC was loud, it may still hold the record for the noisiest prebuilt PC I've ever tried.

Comparing it to the 2025 model is night and day, however, and that's all down to innovations that Acer has made. I have to give the brand credit where it's due; these aren't exactly small reworks - a redesigned fan system and AIO cooler that has a higher RPM feel like "from the ground-up" level updates. And it shows, because this PC has been so stealthily quiet from the moment I started testing it.

The innovations come from the removal of the interior walls between the three system fans. By taking these out, Acer found that it could reduce motherboard temperatures by a quoted 9°C in its in-house tests. The AIO's pump header now operates at 3,400RPM, and a redesigned "cool plate" apparently boosts heat absorption. After looking inside the PC and seeing the enormity of the pump header, I'm not surprised in the slightest by those 9° testing differentials - that thing is massive!

When I first got up close and personal with the new Orion 7000 chassis, I was a little worried that all this cooling innovation would be hamstrung by the fact that the front panel only has a small, side mesh wall on its borders. I was wrong because there was no point during the testing process for this rig where I noticed the fans kicking up.

Covering the top intake fan on the front of the case is a bold Predator symbol, which also appears on the tempered glass panel and on the AIO's pump head. RGB lighting from the fans and Acer RAM purrs beautifully from within, creating a really nice afterglow effect.

Acer's homemade PSU caters up to 1200W, which is more than enough for what's in this high-end configuration I'm reviewing, but also gives you plenty of room to upgrade later if you opt for a more reasonable 5000 system.

Acer's own motherboard does have a few drawbacks, though. The BIOS still feels really limited, even if it does simplify more complex menu systems for newcomers to PC gaming. The worst part is that its rear IO feels like it's been halved. You get 1x USB-C port, 3x USB 3.2 ports, and 2x USB 2.0 bays. You also get an Ethernet port and some audio jacks, but that's it. No Wi-Fi antenna slot, the motherboard is fitted with Wi-Fi 7. But compare that to the NZXT Player Three RTX 5080 Edition, which has ten USB ports on its rear IO alone, and Acer's motherboard seems oddly stingy. On top of the new Predator Orion chassis, you get an additional 1x USB-C, and 3x USB 3.0 ports, but those aren't exactly practical if you have lots of things to plug in. As someone with all sorts of content creation gadgets like Stream Controllers and Audio mixers in use at any one time, that didn't feel like enough for me.

In terms of display, you get 1x HDMI 2.1 port in your GPU, alongside 3x DisplayPort 2.1 slots. Like last time, the GPU has been mounted in the inverted position, which certainly looks nice and stops any degree of sag occurring, but it does make getting in and around your motherboard a lot tougher. In fact, with all the quirky branding and panels inside the PC that hide the motherboard and cable clutter, this really comes across as a PC that's not designed to be upgraded or modified in any way. That's reflected by the case's transparent panel, which you still need to unscrew with a screwdriver to remove - in 2025, no less.

Performance

The first thing I want to make clear, and get out of the way, is that while testing this rig, I had no issues of overheating and barely noticed the fans working. This is what you should expect from a PC that you need to spend upwards of £3,000 on, but it's such a stark contrast from the last iteration of this machine. It's a huge win for Acer, and it shows what can happen when feedback is taken on board. It's not all that common that bigger names in this market do something like that, and often big companies in the PC space can act in ways that are anti-consumer. We see that all too often, but Acer is bucking the trend.

On the other hand, high prices aren't exactly pro-consumer, but I'll talk more about that later on. For now, let's focus on performance.

While doing stress tests and demanding benchmarking, I didn't see the CPU reach a temperature above 85°C, and the GPU above 71 °C. That's a massive improvement from the CPU frequently reaching boiling point last time around. Granted, the AIO has a much easier job here since its processor isn't the hot-headed Intel Core i9-13900K. Still, the redesigns are doing their job, and the PC stays sublimely quiet, even under stressful loads.

For me, the most natural point of comparison for the new Predator Orion 7000 is another RTX 5080 build I tested this year, the NZXT Player Three. Similarly, the CyberPowerPC Ultra XT3D, which sports a slightly weaker AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU. Both of those machines harness an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor, so comparing their benchmarking scores with Acer's latest Intel powerhouse is very interesting.

The Orion scores the highest of the three in Cinebench's multicore CPU test, as the other two both came in just shy of 23,000 points. In the single core tests, the two comparison PCs came in with ~2090pts, while the Orion 7000 scored just above that with 2191pts. It might seem like Intel's CPU is outperforming AMD, but when we switch to more gaming-oriented benchmarks, things aren't so clear-cut. In 3DMark's FireStrike test, the NZXT rig came out with the highest score of 55,985, which, for some reason, Acer's build was 10,000 short in. Besides that, the Orion 7000 came out on top in every benchmarking score.

One area where Acer is really showing its strength is in memory and storage. Both the NZXT Player Three and the CyberPowerPC custom build fall victim to one of the most common shortcomings of any prebuilt gaming PC: a weak SSD. Both of them scored sequential read speeds in CrystalDiskMark of under 5,000MB/s, which is dreadful for the types of power those machines have (not to mention the amount they cost). A weaker SSD is common in prebuilt gaming PCs because it's a component that will keep costs down while also catching the least flak when you're talking about a few seconds extra of loading time. But as someone who also reviews SSDs individually, that doesn't sit well with me.

Acer's 2025 edition of the Predator Orion embarrasses the other gaming PCs we've tested lately by using SSDs that are at the upper echelon of the Gen 4 market, and that's how it should be. Storage is a real, real strength of this build, and if you care about the shortest of loading and file transfer times, this is a PC well worth considering. It is a bit odd to me that Acer didn't throw one of its own SSDs in here, though. I was a bit confused when I first looked inside the chassis and saw an SK Hynix drive that didn't even have its motherboard heatsink on. There's a screw next to the M.2 port, which indicates that there is a motherboard heatsink panel, but it isn't anywhere to be found in my testing build. Thankfully, the SSD only peaked at 50 degrees in my benchmarking, so the thermal sticker is clearly doing its job. Still, this is a small building quirk that I'm a little confused by.

I'm very impressed with how the RAM performed in the AIDA64 Extreme benchmark, too. I've just received some of Acer's DDR5 RAM to test separately, and I'm now very excited to see what it can do. Annoyingly, I had to go into the BIOS myself and turn XMP on to get the best out of it, but hey, at least this is now an option in the Predator BIOS menu, which it wasn't last time.

Looking at gaming, there are a lot of scores to admire here. This shouldn't come as a shock since the RTX 5080 is really the 4K graphics card to beat for most gamers at the moment, and it does most of the heavy lifting for this PC.

Rather unsurprisingly, the RTX 5080 outperforms the CyberPowerPC we tested in 4K gaming benchmarks. For how much more the 5080 will set you back in dollars and cents than an RX 9070XT, the performance boost isn't massive.

Still, the results are very, very similar to the ones I saw when benchmarking the NZXT Player Three that also harnesses the RTX 5080, and if Acer has come away with any wins here, it's mainly tests that concern DLSS, and these performance increases could be due to many factors, including driver updates.

It's hard to distinguish a clear winner between the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D in NZXT's machine and the Intel CPU used here. Both perform really well when put alongside the 5080. AMD sneaks in a win in Total War: Warhammer 3's Battle benchmark, but not by much. That 3D V-cache definitely shows its worth when you look at the price of it, which is why I'd be really keen for Acer to use these next time around.

Overall, this is an excellent PC that performs brilliantly in 4K gaming tasks, as expected.

Should you buy the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2025)?

More than any iteration of the Predator Orion 7000 that's come out previously, you should absolutely buy this PC if you're on the hunt for a high-end configuration. It's a gaming powerhouse, and the innovations and improvements that have gone on behind the scenes have made massive strides to tackle the issues I had with its predecessor.

Frustratingly, I can't bring myself to give this thing a better review score than the last model, even with all the improvements. As great as it is, it's available at Currys in the UK for £3,299, and that's an inexplicably high price to pay - even for an RTX 5080 computer. It's harder to judge this PC in raw value because of how many proprietary parts are used. The PSU, the chassis, the cooler, the fans, and the motherboard aren't sold separately, so I can't put them into PCPartPicker and see how much it'd be to build them together yourself. But I can look at the price of other RTX 5080 gaming PCs and see that even if they're over £2,000, they're not quite £3,299. To be honest, most keep themselves under the £2,500 mark.

With other manufacturers charging ~£100/$100 for builders' fees on top of the value of the PC they're selling you, I'd understand if this one was just over £2,500. Acer is a big name, after all. As it stands, there has to be something funky going on for this to sit £300 over £3,000. With so many smaller brands offering as close to the value of parts as possible, it's tougher for me to recommend this PC to you because you can get similar specs for far less cash.

Thankfully, Predator Orion 5000 options will exist, and I do see them discounted on occasion. But if there's one thing I wish for the next iterations of Acer gaming PCs, it's a more reasonable price tag. These PCs are amazing, but I can imagine them being prohibitively expensive for most gamers. Perhaps this brand moving into the use of AMD value parts (including its own GPUs), could bring down the price next time.

How I tested the Acer Predator Orion 7000

I put the 2025 Orion 7000 through the same gaming PC benchmarking process that we force every prebuilt machine we review through. As well as using it for average day-to-day tasks, I performed a number of industry-standard benchmarking tests that are designed to make every component sweat, as well as ones that test the performance of the whole PC working together.

I also put it through the wringer of demanding games. This included Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Returnal, Black Myth Wukong, Cyberpunk 2077, and Total War Warhammer 3.

For more on how we test gaming PCs here at GamesRadar+, check out our hardware policy.

Want to get to know your PC parts a little better? Check out the best RAM for gaming, the best graphics cards, and the best SSDs for gaming.

Budget gaming keyboards rarely have it all, and in the case of the Acer Predator Aethon 330 you are making some sacrifices in sound and feel to achieve a lower-than-average price tag. Still, with wireless connectivity, a compact 60% form factor, and Kailh switches, there's plenty going on here. This is a much better deal in the UK, where the Aethon 330 comes in at just £49.99. Over in the US, that $99.99 price tag is still a little too much to justify considering the sub-par build compared to other models.

The best gaming keyboards can be pricey, but considering you can pick up a much better feel and sound just a little further into the $100 price range, there's significantly higher value out there.

Design

The Acer Predator Aethon 330 wants to stand out on a desk, and it does so with the help of an all-white (more cream) form factor, plenty of Predator branding, and a set of blue WASD keycaps. The actual chassis is a much crisper color than the caps themselves, which look a little dulled by comparison and pick up dust and debris particularly easily.

The aesthetic is relatively stylized by the standard of modern tastes. The Predator logo is stamped across the space key and the main legends use a stamp-like typeface that feels a little outdated.

Still, the plastic base is impressively sturdy considering the price and there's no flex to the main top plate either. This is a well-constructed chassis in the budget price range, though you're missing out on the sound-dampened designs of only slightly more expensive models.

The result is an incredibly loud typing experience. Clicky switches aside, there's a significant amount of reverb and echo around the main deck area, so everyday typing is blighted by constant pinging.

I'm glad this isn't a simple stock black keyboard, though. The slick white chassis and sturdy build quality suggest a slightly higher price tag than some would expect from a wireless model, though it's not the best implementation of double-function keys I've seen.

RGB is a big win for this deck. While some cheaper models pack lacklustre LEDs, these shine incredibly bright and manage to stay uniform even across longer legends. It's rare to find this level of lighting power at a lower price point, so those going all-in on RGB displays will be well served.

Keycaps

This being a smaller 60% keyboard means that pretty much every key on the right-hand side has a double-function of some kind and, with the large fonts and gray printing, things can look pretty busy. The caps themselves have the thinner construction of an ABS make but the grainy texture and doubleshot main legends more commonly associated with PBT.

I can't find any information on the actual material used, but the surface feels like PBT under the fingertips, while holding the thinner response of ABS when actually used. The fact the caps can flex fairly easily when removed from the main deck leaves me to believe these are in fact ABS with a textured finish, though it's an impressive implementation. They certainly feel more comfortable than the shiny, slippery keycaps I recently tested on the far more expensive Corsair K70 Pro TKL.

Switches

I'm not a natural fan of clicky switches, but if you don't mind a loud typing experience and prefer as much auditory feedback as possible you won't be put off by the Kailh Blues under these keys. The switches themselves actuate at 1.9mm with a strong tactile bump, travelling a full 4mm in total. That's good for everyday typing, there's no need for a forceful push here, and it's easy to fly across keys with a much lighter tap. However, they're far from the most satisfying clackers on the market, and certainly won't be right for those after a deeper, thoccy experience.

In the Acer Predator Aethon 330, these switches feel particularly hollow and scratchy. With the thinner keycaps, lack of sound dampening, and softer feel, they have a lethargic bounce past the point of actuation and can feel mushy as a result.

Software

There's no software associated with the Acer Predator Aethon 330. RGB lighting is configured directly on the board, with preset cycling available via a function layer. There's no way to set your own keybindings with on-the-fly macro programming, and the dual-functions that are explained in the manual are only indicated with ANSI layout keys, even when shipping in ISO.

Controls

As a result of that lack of software, your onboard controls are significantly limited. Yes, this is a 60% keyboard with all the usual dual-function controls, but there's no media control legends printed onto the deck and no mention of playback or volume settings in the manual. RGB can be shifted between 19 different settings, brightness can be raised or lowered, and speed can be shifted, but that's about it.

I wasn't expecting the world considering the price point, especially in the UK. However, you do get far more functionality from other brands' budget models. While you might be more limited to wired devices, and it's worth remembering this is only a Bluetooth connection, devices like the Razer Cynosa V2 feature full software support for macro settings as well as dedicated media controls. Even Razer's more premium Huntsman Mini offers more functional controls in this 60% form factor, and it's regularly available for less than the Acer Predator Aethon 330 in the US (though not in the UK).

There's another problem here. A dual-function has been doubled up. Hitting Fn and the question mark key essentially kills your access to arrow buttons, which would usually be accessed via a secondary layer. The problem is that the question key also shares its functionality with the up arrow, which means this directional button can - essentially - never be used.

In a super fun twist, while those arrow buttons are enabled, the question mark is also out of bounds. Hitting shift and then the key simply highlights a portion of text. That's not something I've ever seen before.

Connection

The Acer Predator Aethon 330 does have one trick up its sleeve that cheaper gaming keyboards in the US (and similarly priced models in the UK) don't. That Bluetooth functionality makes it a little more versatile than the wired-only RK Royal Kludge or Redragon decks that would otherwise offer better value overall.

This is a slower connection than the 2.4GHz you'll usually find on a gaming deck, and it's not fast enough to keep up with the rest of the market. However, if you play slower strategy or simulation games it's certainly enough to see you through. The Bluetooth connection was solid during my testing, though its range is limited.

Actually setting up a new connection is a little hit and miss. The onboard controls didn't always work for me, simply flashing the RGB lighting without even pairing half the time. Once it's all up and running, though, there's space for three connections and an easy keybinding to switch between them on the fly. I preferred to use the 1,000Hz wired connection during most of my gameplay, though.

Battery

Acer doesn't publicly state its battery life anywhere, but I managed to squeeze just under 30 hours of juice out of the device while running it without any RGB lighting. With those powerful LEDs on at full whack, I just about made it through a day of use. That's far from competitive, while wireless gaming keyboards are generally more expensive than this, there are models only slightly above that $100 price threshold that perform much better.

The Corsair K65 Plus Wireless is only $50 more than the Acer Predator Aethon 330 is currently available for in the US, and packs a 266-hour no-RGB battery life. The Cherry MX 8.2 is $40 more in the US and I managed to get through just under a week of work and play on a single charge.

In the UK, things are a little different. The £49.99 price tag on the Aethon across the pond works particularly hard to keep it relevant. You'll struggle to find a wireless deck from a mainstream brand for that cash, let alone one with a battery life that can compete. The Redragon K596 Pro RGB taps out at ten hours for around £60 - £70.

Typing

If you're a clicky-switch fan you'll enjoy the clack of these Kailh Blues under your fingertips - this switch design is favored among typists for its speed and low pressure requirements. That's all true of the Acer Predator Aethon 330, these are low-resistance clackers that only require a slight push to actuate down to their tactile click. They're far from the fastest on the market, and I found myself regularly dropping a press accidentally, particularly on the space bar.

Still, that speed meant the Aethon 330 kept up more expensive 60% decks like the Alienware Pro Wireless gaming keyboard and Asus ROG Falchion RX Low Profile in my typing speed test, even scoring a higher accuracy score than the heavier Alienware model.

The scratchy, mushier feel underneath that actuation point, and the louder reverb across the deck as a whole doesn't make the overall typing experience all that pleasant. Even if you're a fan of those clicky blue switches, there's too much going on elsewhere around the deck to truly appreciate them. The texture of the keycaps does make skating across the deck a little more comfortable than I had initially expected, though.

Gaming

Relying on a Bluetooth connection for gaming didn't give me the reaction speed I needed for particularly competitive endeavors, but I was able to get some good twitch-reactions in with a wired setup. Those clicky switches made for a nice, speedy approach to Apex Legends and CS:2, even if their tactile bump is a little restrictive when it comes to repeat presses.

If you're mashing keys, you'll want to find yourself a deck with a linear switch feel, as the actuation notch here slows down speedier hits considerably.

The lack of software-level keybinding and macro settings was a little frustrating for more complex combo moments, especially if I usually rely on a turbo-key for repeated movements in certain action-adventure titles. On the whole, though, the Acer Predator Aethon 330 functioned well in-game, with only a few missed inputs here and there. If you're playing slower titles you'll be fine, though anything ranked will need a more sophisticated deck.

Should you buy the Acer Predator Aethon 330?

In short, probably not - especially if you're in the US. Where the price currently sits at $99.99 the Aethon 330 doesn't just not offer enough value against the budget wireless market, it also comes with too many control sacrifices and outright problems. There are a number of gaming keyboards only $20 - $50 more expensive than this that offer far more features, faster 2.4GHz connection speeds, and sound-dampened builds.

In the UK, things are a little more complex. The lower £49.99 price tag is certainly enticing, it's extremely cheap for what it is - a wireless 60% gaming keyboard with solid RGB functionality. I'd still only recommend it to those who like a blue clicky switch, need to spend less than £50, and want the versatility of a Bluetooth connection for productivity purposes while still flashing those LEDs during gameplay.

How I tested the Acer Predator Aethon 330

I used the Acer Predator Aethon 330 for all daily work and play for two weeks, testing in both Bluetooth and wired mode. I primarily used the deck for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and South of Midnight, while performing more specific tests in Apex Legends and CS:2. I fully charged the device on unboxing and ran the battery down multiple times during this process, both with RGB lighting fully enabled and switched off. I completed three one-minute tests on TypingTest.com, taking the average score across all as my final result. For more information on how we test gaming keyboards, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also hunting down all the best membrane gaming keyboards if you're after something a little cheaper, or check out the best hot-swappable keyboards and best Razer keyboards for a larger investment.

Acer is well-famed for its budget gaming laptops, with the Nitro line squeezing high-end components into cheaper chassis’ to provide excellent value for money overall. Not only that, but in my testing these machines often do so without sacrificing display quality. The Acer Nitro V 14 is the latest of these cheap and cheerful machines to hit the market, aiming itself towards a more portability-concerned use-case of hybrid work and play. Its sacrifices are obvious, from the all-plastic chassis to the non-configurable keyboard backlighting, but considering it’s one of the cheaper RTX 4050 models (at MSRP) available, it’s often granted a good deal of leeway.

The best gaming laptops do more than pack the most expensive graphics cards into luxury CNC milled builds, they offer value-busting performance all across the price range. Right now, the best budget rig I’ve tested is the Asus TUF A15. At $100 more than the Acer Nitro V 14, though with a larger form factor, the A15 would be struggling to hold onto this position - if it wasn’t for one crucial element: availability. It’s near-on impossible to actually find the Acer Nitro V 14 for purchase, which makes an overall recommendation tricky.

Design

All-white is a bold aesthetic choice for a cheaper gaming laptop. While I tend to naturally prefer white tech for a slightly more premium feel, the effect isn’t truly realized here. The all-plastic construction and angular lines cheapen the feel considerably. Inside, the entire keyboard is recessed inside a beveled cut-out, with an extra slope carved into the front lip of the device as well. By themselves, these design features are par for the course - you’ll find a lot of budget machines using cheaper materials and sticking to a more gamerfied aesthetic. However, in combination with a plastic that flexes particularly easily in the main deck and display, things feel a little rudimentary for a four-figure price tag.

I do, however, prefer the embossed design of the iconography sitting on the palm rest area. A Nitro ‘N’ is carved into the lower right corner, with ‘<< Victory Stars Here >>’ underneath the arrow keys. It’s a more subtle nod to the machine’s gaming roots than that of the Asus TUF A15, which features super cringey ‘Caution: High Framerate Zone’ lettering stamped onto the bottom of the wrist rest. The Nitro avoids this ick as much as it can while still featuring mantras of its own.

The Acer Nitro V 14 is a particularly compact machine, though, and it feels like it takes a leaf out of the dusty tome that is the Asus TUF Dash F15. This was my daily rig a few years ago, and I loved the slimline design (one that was rare to find in a budget-friendly machine back then) and visually interesting main deck area. If you’re looking for a backpack friendly cheap gaming laptop in 2025 there are far more options open to you these days. The Nitro V 14 is on the slimmer side of the market, measuring in at 0.8-inches and weighing 1.7kg. That’s more heft than the Asus TUF A14 (my current favorite gaming laptop for portability), which beats Acer’s waistline by 0.1-inches while only weighing 1.45kg. However, this 14-inch device is considerably easier to transport than both the Asus TUF A15 and HP Victus 16, which both sit at over 0.9-inches thick and over 2kg in weight.

Sacrifices are felt in the keyboard and trackpad. Both are obviously made from cheaper components, with a plastic touchpad that sticks just a little too much to truly feel like I’m gliding and a soft feeling to the keyboard that nearly verges on mushy. Unfortunately, the keyboard backlight is set to a stock light blue and isn’t configurable separately. The color actually looks pretty slick against the white frame of the laptop itself, and illuminates evenly under each low profile key. The layout is well-balanced, if slightly left-leaning, though I never noticed my palms knocking against the trackpad too much.

The main lid keeps things simple with a shiny surface (matte would have made it feel slightly more premium, but we’re dealing with a budget laptop here) and a glossy Nitro ‘N’ logo set into the plastic itself. There’s no unnecessary ‘gamer vibes’ going on here - the back panel slots nicely into both gaming and professional situations, a big win for its portable design.

Features

My aforementioned concerns around availability mean I could only find one configuration of the Acer Nitro V 14 on the web, and that’s the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS / Nvidia RTX 4050 version I’m testing. If that’s the only collection of components available, Acer’s rig could struggle to compete with the likes of the HP Victus 16 and Asus TUF A15. Both of these machines also cater to the mid-range with additional RTX 4060 and RTX 4070 GPUs on offer, and a wider variety of CPU options as well. That means there’s more wiggle room in the exact experience you’re getting with these competitors - though the Acer Nitro V 14 is still well-specced overall.

After all, it’s the cheapest RTX 4050 gaming laptop in my testing pool, and that GPU is paired with plenty of juice from the Ryzen 7. I’m using 16GB RAM, but the deck can run up to 32GB, with either 512GB or 1TB of SSD storage space as well. That’s all pretty standard for an entry level gaming laptop, and I’m glad to see Acer moving away from 8GB memory options at their base level. HP still ships some of its Victus machines with this outdated amount.

The V 14 also has a neat trick up its sleeve with USB 4 compatibility. While more commonplace nowadays, this extra functionality (it’s much better for docking your system to an external hub) isn’t to be taken for granted. Both the Asus TUF A15 and Asus TUF A14 offer the same port, but the HP Victus 16 falls behind in this regard.

Elsewhere, the Acer is fairly restrained in its port offerings. One USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 connection is available on each flank, with an HDMI on the left, and a 3.5mm audio connection on the right. That’s all you need for a lightweight work session on-the-go, but if you want to plug in more accessories when home you’ll be relying on a dock. This is the fewest number of ports amongst my entire testing pool, dropping an Ethernet and extra USB-C from the Asus TUF A15, a USB-A and ethernet from the HP Victus 16, and a USB-C from the Asus TUF A14. When not using my hub, I struggled to find space for a mouse, keyboard, headset, and controller connection all at once (especially considering the mouse I’m testing at the moment uses a USB-C connection). Of course, you might not be using all those accessories at once - but be prepared to change connections a little more regularly.

There’s a good amount of extra functionality baked into the keyboard, though. I initially found it odd that Acer had opted to use dedicated buttons (in a right-hand column) for playback, while volume controls were relegated to the function row. As a gaming laptop, it would make more sense to prioritize quick access to volume levels than skipping a track. In-game, though, I realized I only ever tend to adjust volume from my headset anyway, and found the dedicated skip button particularly helpful when listening to music while working. If you don’t use a gaming headset, this layout might be counterproductive, but if you do it’s particularly smart. You’ve also got a handy mic-mute button (doubled up as play / pause) and a dedicated Nitro Sense launcher as well.

That’s because Nitro Sense is your main control hub, not the Planet 9 software that for some reason comes pre-pinned to the taskbar. Planet 9 is dystopian nightmare fuel as far as marketing bloat goes, looking like a Windows 95 program existing solely to show you random streams. It’s odd that this is presented front and center while the actual settings software is hidden behind search menus.

Nitro Sense is gaming software through and through. Its orange home page looks like a fake interface from an early 2000’s kid spy movie, with angular cutouts, generic ‘sci-fi’ fonts, and a slowly rotating cluster of dials around your GPU stats. It does, however, provide an easy quick look at your current profile, temperatures, and fan settings without any marketing guff getting in the way.

The first tab, Scenario, allows you to choose profiles for daily use, gaming, and ‘quiet occasion’, which sounds a little sombre, choosing your GPU and CPU clock rate across four presets (Quiet, Balanced, Performance, and Turbo), as well as the speed of the fan. Acer’s TrueHarmony EQ presets can also be selected in this panel, but I never noticed them making much of a difference to the audio.

Elsewhere, battery and charge limits, display bluelight filters and keyboard backlight settings can all be altered in the ‘Personal Settings’ tab. A more detailed view of your current speeds and temperatures can also be viewed in the ‘Monitoring’ tab.

You’ll be viewing that all on a 14-inch FHD+ (1920 x 1200) display running at a 120Hz refresh rate. That’s a smart selection of panel specs for this configuration, keeping things affordable by providing the kind of panel the RTX 4050 will actually be able to push. I was impressed with the overall color and brightness of this screen as well. It’s rare to find a cheaper gaming laptop that doesn’t dull its colors and limit its brightness (the Asus TUF A15 does suffer for this unfortunately). Acer has always been great at keeping its visuals shining no matter the price point, though, and that’s clearly true of the Nitro V 14.

Contrast is vivid, the picture remains sharp and detailed across both high and low light scenes, and I’m treated to bold, vibrant coloring in all hues. That’s a real rarity for a machine this cheap, and while it’s not going to outpace OLED, Mini LED, or even simply HDR-enabled, panels, it certainly offers better visuals than most budget rigs (and some premium Alienware laptops as well.)

Performance

I don’t get too many RTX 4050 gaming laptops in for review that often, so my main point of comparison here is the HP Victus. With its larger chassis, the Victus beats the Acer Nitro V 14 across in-game benchmarks in everything apart from Returnal. It’s got more space to play with and therefore more cooling to keep everything running. The Nitro still puts out some playable framerates, even moving things up to more demanding titles like Black Myth: Wukong and Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered. The following was recorded in Turbo mode with fans set to Max, with frame generation on where automatically enabled by individual titles.

The Acer Nitro V 14 can confidently take on older titles like Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Total: War Three Kingdoms even at their highest settings. While the latter dipped just below the ideal 60fps in an average test, it’s still perfectly runnable. Those more generous textures and greater details start to grind things to a halt when we get to more complex titles, though, with The Talos Principle 2 and Black Myth: Wukong struggling to stay near 60fps at ultra settings. High is workable, though you’ll still notice a few stutters and dropped frames during more intense moments.

Frame generation was made for rigs like this. The Acer Nitro V 14 was never going to top the performance charts, but its RTX 4050 GPU is chugging along nicely under the hood. Without the brand’s own inserted frames, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered drops from an average of 98fps to 63fps in High settings, and 81fps to 51fps in Highest. The Talos Principle 2 dips down to 56fps and 26fps respectively, from 68fps and 33fps with the system enabled. It’s not going to be worth it every time (the system load does increase significantly in Horizon, and works too hard in Black Myth: Wukong resulting in lower framerates overall), but in lightweight packages like this it can sail you over that 60fps threshold without needing a step-up in your GPU model.

Synthetic benchmarks push that RTX 4050 GPU to its limit, and I’ve pitted it against the same 14-inch and entry level 15/16-inch gaming laptops here. The extra thickness in the Acer Nitro V 14 is certainly helping it push its overall score beyond that of the tiny RTX 4060 HP Omen Transcend 14 in the easier Fire Strike test, but it still can’t quite keep up with HP’s more robust build. It does dip below the Transcend in Time Spy as well, just nestling under HP’s 7,913 score.

The AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS is a speedy CPU, so while it’s not necessarily shifting the dial across overall in-game benchmarks with that RTX 4050 in tow it’s certainly up for more demanding productivity workflows. Second only to the fantastic AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 in the TUF A14, the Acer Nitro V 14 storms through PC Mark 10’s intensive test, scoring an impressive 7,362.

Should you buy the Acer Nitro V 14?

While it doesn’t quite have the power to take on the Asus TUF A15 as the best budget gaming laptop on the market right now, the Acer Nitro V 14 certainly gets a lot right. If you’re looking for a portable machine with a display that looks better than its price tag would suggest, this is a fantastic option. The cheaper build quality will feel a little less slick in the hand compared to Asus’s counterparts, but if you’re at the bottom of the RTX 4050 budget range and you’re happy dialing some settings back for ultra graphics it’s a go-to. Its framerates aren’t as high as that of the HP Victus 16, but I’d argue the boost in display quality is worth it considering everything is still easily playable.

However, if you can spend a little more cash, the Asus TUF A14 remains my favorite slimline gaming laptop and it’s not too far away from Acer’s price point. With that AI processor in tow, you’re spending $400 more on Asus’s model but picking up a better build quality, more ports, a slimmer design, double the RAM, and a higher resolution QHD+ display. The jump to an RTX 4060 GPU also makes a marked improvement to performance in more demanding games like Returnal and The Talos Principle 2 as well.

How I tested the Acer Nitro V 14

I used the Acer Nitro V 14 for all daily work and play over the course of two weeks. In that time, I used the device both on its own and connected to an external monitor setup, while also travelling with it and working outside of my main desk area. I primarily played Avowed and Oxenfree 2 during my own testing time, while also running in-game benchmarks across Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Total War: Three Kingdoms, Returnal, The Talos Principle 2, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, and Black Myth: Wukong. I tested the last three titles in that list with frame generation both on and off. Each benchmark is run three times at both high and highest graphical settings, with the results above representing an average from each of the three tests.

I also used synthetic benchmark tools in 3D Mark for a more formalized score of GPU performance, using Time Spy, Fire Strike, and Steel Nomad. PC Mark 10 was used to test CPU performance and compare against similar models.

For more information on how we test gaming laptops, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I’m also hunting down all the best Razer laptops and the best Asus gaming laptops on the market. Or, for something even more portable, check out the best gaming handhelds available.

If you’re on the hunt for a cheap gaming monitor, chances are you’re eyeing up 1080p displays. Normally I’d encourage opting for lower-resolution screens, but I just stumbled across a 1440p display for under $150 that puts full HD offers to shame. The catch? Well, you'll need to move fast, as the deal ends in less than 24 hours.

Thanks to Best Buy's Deal of the Day, Acer's 27-inch Nitro KG272U Pbmiipx is down to $149.99 from $349.99. That's a phenomenal $200 saving on what is a serious best gaming monitor contender for 1440p players, and it also brings the screen to a new record low. Looking back at previous offers, it only managed to fall to $199 at Amazon, and it'll currently set you back $269.99 at the rival retailer.

For the most part, 1440p 170Hz monitors of this calibre don't tend to drop under $200. That realm of pricing is dominated by 1080p models, so it's safe to say I'm excited about this QHD discount. If I didn't know any better,. I'd say this feels like an early Prime Day monitor deal, especially since July's event didn't manage to top Best Buy's current offer. 

Should you buy the Acer Nitro KG272U Pbmiipx?

As a rule of thumb, I always advise players to match their system specs with monitor resolutions. That way, you'll be sure to end up with a screen that provides the exact level of performance you need without feeling redundant. The Acer Nitro KG272U Pbmiipx serves as a fantastic example of a display that strikes a nice balance for mid-range PC gaming, and it will save many of you from making do with 1080p.

Of course, for some of you out there, a 1440p 170Hz display might not be completely ideal. Don't get me wrong, it's a bargain at its current price, but if you're aiming to play shooters and boost fps on a lower spec GPU, 1080p might be plenty. If that's the case, checking out alternative offers like Asus' TUF Gaming 24-inch model for $99 (was $159.99) at Amazon might be far more economical. Both its size and specs make more sense for affordable competitive gaming than Acer's screen, particularly if you've no interest in extra detail and fidelity.

Ultimately, I'd recommend Acer's 170Hz panel to budget PC players looking for faster visuals. That's not to say this screen won't serve as a PS5 monitor, and it'll also happily hook up to a gaming handheld using a Steam Deck dock. That said, its QHD resolution is a better fit for FPS players rocking something like an RTX 4070 rig, as you should be able to run many shooters at an appropriate frame rate using that setup.

It's worth noting that since the Acer Nitro KG272U Pbmiipx is sitting at $150, I'm focussing on the entry-level side of things. If you've got more cash to splash, there are plenty of alternative options that'll pack more of a punch. Personally, I'd be tempted to aim for something like the KTC G27P6, especially since it falls dramatically during seasonal sales. 

Yes, you'll still be looking at paying around $400, but you'll end up with glorious OLED visuals and a faster 240Hz refresh rate. That advice is really only for those of you without budget constraints, as if you've got less than $200 to play with, Best Buy's limited time Acer deal is worth jumping on ASAP. 

Looking for a wider selection of screens? Swing by the best 4K monitor for gaming and best monitor for Xbox Series X. Alternatively, take a peek at the best curved monitors for immersive displays.

Acer is the latest brand to step into the handheld gaming PC arena. The brand revealed its Nitro Blaze 7 yesterday at its presentation ahead of IFA 2024, and after fighting through a sea of other media folks who were keen to get their hands on the device, I got to try it out for myself. 

The best gaming handhelds are all the rage at the moment, and Acer has arrived pretty late to the party. There's the Steam Deck and its OLED counterpart, the Asus ROG Ally X, Zotac's upcoming Zone, MSI's claw, and Lenovo's Legion Go. These are all big names, and they're just a few of the devices Acer has pitted itself up against. From an initial look, the Blaze 7 looks like just another option. We don't yet have a price or release date, but we know its specs, which don't exactly stand out from the crowd.

An AMD Ryzen™ 7 8840HS processor seems like it'll keep its 7-inch 1080p, IPS touch display adequately powered. A 144 Hz refresh rate is present but might struggle to be tapped out without using Radeon Super Resolution upscaling trickery. There's generous storage capacity of up to 2 TB of M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD, which is appealing to me, and 16 GB LPDDR5x memory at 7500 MT/s is more than enough for its Windows 11 OS. 

Compared to the spec lists of those aforementioned handheld rivals, this isn't necessarily a trend-setter. However, I'm a firm believer that technology like this is more than the sum of its spec sheet, and after trying it out, three things in particular stood out to me. 

Comfort is king

I review PC controllers, and I have to admit that alarm bells rang in my head the moment this device was revealed and no back buttons were present. These are helpful functions to have on a smaller device, and I'd honestly consider them a must-have for a handheld - particularly because so many other options include them. 

As I was testing the Blaze out however, a product manager from Acer stood ready to answer my questions, and when I asked what was behind the decision to leave back buttons out, he told me that the team's research had shown that the majority of people find them tricky to use, and so they chose to save some costs. 

While I'd always argue including them would make the handheld more appealing to a wider group of people, I wasn't completely turned off. The rest of the ergonomic package did enough to keep me interested for a quick run through some Shadow of the Tomb Raider. 

There's a really nice curved shape to the grips that makes it feel easy to hold for longer sessions, not to mention gripping the thing so it doesn't slip out of your hand. This type of design choice is fundamental for an expensive new gadget- not that I'm throwing too much shade at the Nintendo Switch here.

The face buttons feel great too, and I really loved the almost haptic-like feedback I felt when pulling the triggers. Rumble of any kind can be hard to get right a lot of the time - especially when a plastic chassis can send an uncomfortable and often loud sensation throughout the whole device. The feedback of the Blaze doesn't over-extend itself though, and I really liked how it supported gameplay. 

If there's one thing that worries me about the ergonomic package on offer here, I'd say that it's the choice to use offset thumbsticks. The sticks themselves were big enough that precise movements were easy, but in smaller form factors like the best mobile controllers, it can cause thumb-cramp that I could already feel after a quick play-test here. I know a lot of people prefer this controller layout, so it's hardly going to be a deal-breaker for most.

A smooth operator

The Nitro Blaze's IPS display isn't necessarily going to stand out against the likes of a Steam Deck OLED, even if its RDNA 3 APU from AMD is much more advanced. Still, with the help of AMD's frame rate assisting tech, I was pleasantly surprised with how smoothly the panel operated. 

Shadow of the Tomb Raider was running between 70-90fps during my short hands-on time with the Nitro Blaze. Admittedly, this was based on the settings tuned up by Acer before the trial I had with it, but still. As someone who tries to make every game run on a PC at a minimum of 100fps, and uses one of AMD's desktop GPUs in the form of an Acer Predator Radeon RX 7800XT, I really enjoyed the speed of the display on a smaller, handheld device. The Blaze didn't feel like a compromise of my at-home setup - more a continuation I'd be happy taking on the go.

Sometimes, using the likes of FSR or DLSS can cause textures to look a bit softer, even on a good display - a small compromise for the increased performance these can give you. I was pleasantly surprised to see some crystal clear imagery on Acer's device though, even when FSR was running. Details were vivid, colors popped, and there wasn't a jaggy line in sight. 

There seems to be a good blend of performance options for the talent of the panel on this device, which I like. I particularly liked how easy it was to play around with the device's performance modes, which brings me to my final observation.

How convenient...

The other thing I noticed was how many clever design choices had been made for the convenience of the user. Wanting to know if this was a potential way for me to test out the best SSDs for gaming, I asked the product manager from Acer how easy it was to remove the back and slot a new drive in. With a smile, he said it wasn't difficult at all - two screws on the top and two on the bottom secure the back of the device, but removing these isn't going to damage anything or void warranties. It was clear this was something they had been careful to design. 

The Acer rep made a point of showing me the USB-C ports for charging on the top and bottom of the device, which I was a fan of. He told me these were put in to give players more convenience and more options for playing while charging or plugging into a USB Hub, or dock. 

There's even a fingerprint scanner on the Blaze's power button, which is a nifty wee security touch. Accessing the PC's performance options and brightness can be done at any time with the touch of one button, and a digital keyboard can be brought up in the same way. 

I made a point to try and test the on-board speakers too. A noisy exhibition space where interviews, conversations, and a whole load of echo were happening around me was not exactly an easy testing ground for speakers on a handheld. Still, I could hear the louder points of the game audio in the correct directions relative to Lara Croft, which was impressive indeed. Again, it'd be nice to properly test these out when I don't have a dozen influencers shoving at me and chirping in my ear, but for a first try, this wasn't bad. 

For desktop PC buying advice, check out the best CPUs for gaming, the best RAM for gaming, and the best computer speakers.

Buttons or keys? It's a question that's divided PC players for generations (well, a couple of decades) but ultimately we all know some games are made for a set of joysticks and others need that mouse and keyboard combo. Makers of the best gaming laptops seem to have ignored this inconvenient truth, until Acer. 

The brand showed off its latest concept project, dubbed 'DualPlay' at IFA this week. A gaming laptop trackpad that can physically detach from the main chassis, revealing a full gamepad underneath. It adds a fair chunk to the palm wrest section of the laptop, but takes unique advantage of new taller 16:10 displays to add extra functionality to the experience overall. Each side is set out as you would expect, with an Xbox-style asymmetrical layout, but can also be split for a more Nintendo Switch-like experience. 

For the concept demonstration, the whole device is tacked onto a Predator gaming laptop, but there's more than an extra set of buttons here. Releasing the controller from its trackpad prison also allows two external speakers to pop out the sides. Just what these grills are doing when you're using a standard keyboard setup is unknown, but it's a neat feature by itself.

Obviously, Project DualPlay is only a concept and likely won't make it to market in its current state. However, there are very few real experiential innovations taking place in the gaming laptop world at the moment. The last time we saw any real change to the established clamshell design was the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 - featuring a whole second screen that really did add to the experience. Innovations have always been below the surface in this world and it's high time we saw more functional developments. After all, this year's roster of gaming laptops has showed that internal upgrades can be minimal.

We've had no new graphics cards to play with and Intel's 14th generation CPUs offer up marginal iterative upgrades in terms of sheer gaming performance. To truly capture audience imagination, and drive excitement around new releases, brands are going to need to keep experimenting with exactly what a gaming laptop has to offer for the entire play experience as a whole - especially now that 100+fps framerates are rapidly becoming the norm.

Can't wait for something like the DualPlay to make it into reality? Check out the best Alienware laptops instead, or we're also rounding up all the best Asus gaming laptops and the best Razer laptops on the market. 

Acer's Predator Orion 7000 has been a staple of the prebuilt gaming PC market for years now, but today at the brand's presentation ahead of IFA 2024, a new version of its flagship desktop has been revealed. 

This update does more than than swap out the components inside the machine, however, as a new chassis design, innovative cooling methods, and a relaunch of its Predator Sense monitoring app could improve what I already deem one of the best gaming PCs on the market. 

I reviewed the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) model last year, and while it was powerful enough to earn the top spot on our buying guide overall, I wasn't impressed with the machine's cooling abilities, nor its noise levels when trying to keep an Intel Core i9-13600K CPU below boiling point. It seems I wasn't the only one to notice this though, because inside the latest Orion 7000 chassis lies a new system fan and AOI cooler that the team at Acer told me came as a result of listening to feedback.

The new Predator CycloneX 360 system fan was shown off during Acer's keynote presentation, and it removes the borders between three frontal fans to increase the amount of airflow reaching the motherboard. This means a change from the older Orion 7000 chassis, which features only two frontal intake fans. The new three-fan setup will be used on the updated AIO CPU cooler, which utilizes a new pump header that I'm told has a much faster RPM than Acer's previous one.

Overall, these new designs are said to boost the desktop’s cooling efficiency by 15% and lower the motherboard's temperatures by 9 degrees Celsius compared to the previous model. I asked Acer if this would result in more fan noise as a result, but the team told me decreasing the volume was a priority and that the new system runs a lot quieter.

The updated Predator Orion 7000 will feature up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, and a 14th Generation Intel Core i9 processor. Interestingly, I talked to Acer's Manager of Consumer Stationary, and asked if we'd see more affordable configurations on the shelves for those of us who can't afford the best graphics cards and best CPUs for gaming. I was told that there are plans to launch other models, but they may only feature two frontal fans as opposed to three.

Elsewhere in the rig, the GPU is now mounted vertically - something which feels as much a stylistic choice as it is an evolution from what the brand learned with the Acer Predator Orion X, the ITX version of a Predator prebuild.

Storage and connectivity seem to be as optionally beefy as they have been on earlier Orion models. Thanks to a removable SSD enclosure on the top of the chassis, as well as multiple M.2 bays on the motherboard and an HDD tray, there's loads of room to upgrade your space for games and media.

The 1200W PSU keeps you futureproofed for upgrading parts later on as well, and the rig will come with either 16GB or 32GB of multichannel DDR5 RAM.

Lastly, Predator Sense, the proprietary monitoring app that comes with any Orion desktop PC, is seeing an update. There's now even some Nvidia integration for capturing gameplay, broadcasting to a streaming platform, and utilizing AI features.

The only thing I don't know about this update to one of my favorite gaming PCs is the pricing and release date. Either way, this all adds up to an exciting upgrade that fixes some of my biggest grievances with an enthusiast-grade gaming PC. It'll be hard to tell how effective the changes are until I get hands-on with it, but a brand like Acer listening to feedback and acting on it is always a good sign.

For more gaming PC stories, check out the best RAM for gaming, the best PC cases, and the best computer speakers.

The Acer Predator Rift may confuse some. While Acer’s PC-centric Predator brand is one that’s likely to feature somewhere across your setup, it’s probably not the one that comes to mind when searching for a new gaming chair. Sure, Acer has come out with showstopping all-in-one pods like the $14,000 Thronos, but it still hasn’t come close to establishing a reputation as a major player in the gaming chair arena.

But what if one of the best laptop brands could also deliver some of the best gaming chairs too? For $299 / £299, it's not outside the realm of possibility that the Predator Rift competes with overly expensive premium brands as a cheaper alternative.

I got the opportunity to check out if Acer's gaming chair could live up to its pedigree and – spoiler alert – it does. At least for the most part.
 

Design and Features

The Acer Predator Rift sports a pretty classic gaming chair silhouette, with a high headrest and curved back. Its cover is black with a matte finish, which is a great choice when it comes to synthetic leather, as it lends a little more of a premium feel than the shiny pleather alternative. The blue chevron stitching down the main body of the chair and racing stripes give it an eye-catching but not gaudy pop of color. You’d better hope you like the colorway on the Rift, as that’s the only one it comes in. No contender for the best pink gaming chairs here, unfortunately.

Mercifully, the Acer Predator Rift’s design has saved me the indignity of having the brand name printed on my at-work office chair. Sure, I’m a total beast when I’m #gaming but HR would agree that “predator” isn’t a word that has especially positive connotations. Instead, the chair is emblazoned with the Acer Predator logo: an angular, abstract animal-skull-meets-butterfly design that is perfectly inoffensive even to non-gamer aesthetic sensibilities.

The Acer Predator Rift is like if you took the dubstep out of an MLG montage and played Adele over it. On one hand, it’s definitely trying to court an audience of wannabe eSports champs and teenagers with kitted-out gamer dens. However, it’s still subtle enough in its execution so as not to alienate those who have no idea what Gfuel is and are just looking for a nice, comfortable desk chair. 

How does it succeed in being that nice, comfortable desk chair? For a start, it has a decent number of features, especially for a chair in its price range. There’s a wide range of adjustments that can be made to both the height and angle of your chair. Also, the armrests are adjustable in eight directions – a mechanism that's controlled by buttons that I mistakenly activated a shameful amount of times during my testing process. There’s not a whole lot of width to the armrests, so when I would go to reposition myself in my seat, it wasn’t uncommon for me to accidentally trigger the 4D motion with the pressure of my hand.

While there’s no real lumbar support built into the chair itself, the curve of your back is well supported by the chair’s detachable cushions. I’ll admit that this is a feature that I wasn’t initially optimistic about. I’d been burned too many times by this ergonomic compromise — I’ve had too many lumbar support cushions that would constantly shift out of place and eventually be transformed into a sad, squished prism by me accidentally sitting on it. 

Thanks to the taut elastic straps on both cushions, the headrest and lumbar support on the Acer Predator Rift are secured tight enough that they won’t move until you want them to. This is the kind of compromise I’m willing to make — it’s not quite the highly customizable lumbar support system you’d find on a higher-end chair but it’s still a functional alternative that more than impresses me at this mid-level price point.

Assembly

The Acer Predator Rift is one of the most foolproof assembly processes I’ve ever come across. Save from buying yourself a literal beanbag, you’re not going to find a chair that is easier to build than this. The single-sheet instructions included serve a similar purpose to those “DO NOT EAT” messages found on bags of silica gel: they’re there out of obligation rather than anyone sincerely needing their guidance.

To further eliminate any boundaries to successful assembly, the bolts used to attach the armrests are already in the chair upon shipping. No need to keep track of a little baggy of screws or worry about if one’s happened to have gone missing. All the process asks of you is a little over twenty minutes of your time and half of your attention. Parts of the chair even have helpful directional stickers that will save you the brain power of figuring out left from right.

Having anticipated the assembly to be a far more significant challenge, I had called my partner to supply a second pair of hands. Said pair of hands were instead put to work breaking down and binning the thankfully rather modest amount of packaging the completed chair left in its wake. Thankfully, there is no player two needed to put together this gaming chair. 

Performance

The Acer Predator Rift is free of any objectively awful gaming chair sins like being squeaky or uncomfortable. Beyond that, things get a tad more subjective. There are as many perfect chairs in this world as there are rumps to sit in them. Like some kind of gamer Goldilocks, it’s all about finding one that works for your own seating preferences.

For example, the dense foam of the Acer Predator Rift offers a great balance of squish and structure that really works for what I want in a chair. As someone who fluctuates between slouching and hunching over my desk, my spine needs just  a little extra tough love to keep it straight during the day. Based on my experience with various gaming chair brands, Noblechairs were too hard, Boulies were too soft, but Acer was just right.

The seat portion of a chair is another point of contention for sitters the world over. In this case, the base is a tad narrower than many on the market and it comes up in a steep flare on each edge. In my experience, it prevented me from shimmying too far to one side or the other. This was not only great for regulating my seating posture but it was also oddly comforting. It's sort of like having a fence for your behind. It did make it impossible for me to sit cross-legged though but to be honest, I may be the only weirdo who enjoys doing that in the office. 

Of course, this experience will vary based on your build. I would consider myself a fairly stocky individual – I am a broad who is broad. However, according to the wisdom of statistics, I am smaller than the average American woman; which I can only infer means there are plenty of bodies that need a little more room than the Predator Rift can offer. If you’re plus-sized or just especially bottom-heavy, those lovely raised sides probably won’t make you feel secure, they’ll instead dig into your hips. In short, if you’re floating just below the Rift’s 120kg weight limit, you still might find it a tad too small for you.

Should you buy the Acer Predator Rift Gaming Chair?

 The Acer Predator Rift is an awesome choice for a gaming chair below £300. However, it's not going to be perfect for everyone. If you prefer a softer foam, need a larger chair, or want more options for color-coordinating with your set-up, the Rift is going to just miss the mark.

However, in pretty much every other area, it excels. If you want a comfortable chair that won’t break the bank but still feels oddly premium, pick yourself up the Acer Predator Rift. The best news is, once it hits your doorstep, you’ll be sitting comfortably in it in less than 30 minutes.

How we tested the Acer Predator Rift

The Acer Predator Rift served as my main desk chair day-to-day for a month. During this time, I had the opportunity to use it for eight hours a day, so it received some seriously extensive testing.

For this review I considered a number of key elements like build quality, comfort, and value to form a composite impression that informed my final review. All of these were considered relative to other gaming and office chairs I had experience using from brands like Razer, Bouiles, Noblechairs, and Secretlab.

For further insight into how we review everything from gaming accessories to furniture, check out the GamesRadar+ hardware policy. 

If you've been saving your money up for a high-end gaming PC, I have some news you should know about.

The Acer Predator Orion X, Acer's newest (and tiniest) gaming PC is still practically brand new. It only started rolling out in the UK in December of 2023, and in a big plot twist, it's already seen a £500 price cut. That brings the POX down to £3,299 at Currys, which is pretty ludicrous for a brand new RTX 4080 gaming PC that's powered by an Intel Core i9 processor. 

Now, I won't lie to you - this is still a very expensive gaming PC. If you're shopping for specs like these, you're going to need to part with a lot of coin first. Usually, I tend to recommend gaming PC deals that cater to the budget buyer, but since our Acer Predator Orion X review is still hot off the press, I'm inclined to highlight this offer. 

If you're like me, you're a fan of the best gaming PCs that don't dominate the majority of your desktop, or bulge out from underneath it like a hulking great mass of RGB. The trouble is, small form factor gaming PCs aren't always the most trusted. Their motherboards can have quirks to make up for their smaller size, and they can prove difficult to cool because their cases pack everything so closely together. 

Acer, however, crafted something truly innovative with the Orion X, and it somehow managed to sneak a water cooler into a tiny case that could already squeeze the biggest size of graphics card inside it. 

Before I tell you more about why this PC jumped straight to our UK gaming PC top spot, here are the important parts of the deal.

What makes the Orion X worth buying?

Putting its innovative design to one side, this PC is just a little behemoth. As I said in my review of this machine, there's very little you can throw an i9 and a 4080 at and be disappointed. I spent plenty of time gaming on this PC, but I also did a fair bit of content creation with it as well, editing an entire video for my YouTube channel, and the Orion X made it all as speedy and easy as possible. 

Playing games in exclusively 4K admittedly trounced the admirable frame rates of my own machine, and despite slower-than-expected SSD speeds, there wasn't much to fault here. Everything, especially its cooling, was a vast improvement over the last Acer gaming PC I tested. The Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) refreshed its motherboard for the DDR5 generation, but its BIOS was extremely prohibitive and didn't let you change timings or access XMP. Similarly, its reliance on air cooling only couldn't keep up with its new 13th generation i9 processor, which frequently reached boiling point when I benchmarked it. The noise from its fans was pretty unruly as well. 

The Orion X improved on all of those things - XMP was easily accessible in the BIOS, temperatures remained under control, and even when using the Turbo settings, the noise was kept to an absolute low. 

The price of this little PC is considerably lower than the larger Orion 7000, which is surprising in my opinion. According to our recorded benchmarks, and from my experience, the Orion X is a much, much better gaming PC. While it is still over £3,000 in this deal at Currys, I'd say it's worth buying because of that fact alone - this is already great value when you pit it against similar brands like Asus or compare it to the prices of the best Alienware gaming PCs. 

For a brand new rig like this to drop by £500 for no real occasion, it makes it very worth buying.

Looking for PC parts instead of a full machine? Check out the best graphics cards, the best CPU for gaming, and the best RAM for gaming for a range of high spec components.

When I tell people that my GPU of choice is a custom 16GB Intel Arc A770 card by Acer, they're usually a bit surprised. It's like they think "You're a hardware editor, surely you know better than to use a graphics card not made by Nvidia".

Honestly, that's exactly why I do use it. Nvidia and AMD may have a rivalry in the best graphics card scene, but Nvidia still holds a massive majority of the market in the palm of its hand. While it undoubtedly produces better software, impressive ray tracing support, and more robust architecture overall, it also has no problem with hiking up its prices to reflect all of that. 

Having such a clear frontrunner in a market like this doesn't breed value for the consumer, or the competition which brings innovation. For those reasons, I'm happy to back the Intel underdog. 

As you'll know if you check out my Acer Predator BiFrost Intel Arc A770 review, it's no slouch. In truth, I absolutely adore this graphics card. I play games pretty much exclusively at 4K, and the A770 has no problems at all producing well over 60fps in all of them. Most recently, I've been playing Alan Wake 2, and although I don't play with maxed-out settings, it very comfortably gets over 60fps despite handling all of Remedy's technically demanding visual effects. 

Its 16GB of VRAM gives it a lot of room to gallop at 4K, even if its kryptonite is turning Ray Tracing on, and it doesn't have any DLSS 3.0 frame generation to speak of. Beyond being a supporter of value, the A770 just is a brilliant graphics card for gaming. It's a real shame that it isn't found in more of the best gaming PCs.

Driver confusion

With all of that said, Intel's game-on driver updates continually make me want to jam a fork in my eye, give it a good swirl, and promptly pull it back out. Update after update, there's simultaneously better performance unlocked in the games I play, but also the most frustrating bugs imaginable.

The problems seem to stem from the fact that despite being an Intel-bred GPU, the brand has said in forums and its messaging that people with the Acer Predator BiFrost variant should download and use drivers from Acer. To me, this is utterly bizarre, and neither I nor my fellow hardware editor Phil have heard of another board partner card needing its own bespoke drivers. In simple terms, even if you get a PNY GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, you still use Nvidia GeForce drivers for it.

Phil and I have come up with a working theory, however. This may be due to the fact that custom Intel Arc cards don't natively output an HDMI 2.1 signal, as reported by PCGamer a while back. While they do officially support HDMI 2.1, they use a PCON (a protocol converter inside the board) to turn a DisplayPort signal into HDMI 2.1.

This could explain why Acer needs to supply its own drivers - each converter within partner cards will need its own firmware patched in depending on how a brand has designed things.

Frustratingly, Acer has its own download page for drivers which says "It is important to keep your graphics card drivers and software up to date", but the last driver update it offers is from late October. In honesty, Acer's own drivers haven't been the best anyway, with one in particular causing abnormal fan speeds. Anyone wanting A770 driver support for the latest games can't rely on now months-old patches, and from lurking around in A770 forums, it doesn't seem like anyone does.

Naturally, if you want the best value for money out of this graphics card, you're going to download Intel's own game-on drivers, but this seems to cause a slew of bugs for Acer buyers.

The bugs

I, myself have encountered a slew of these which continue to persist patch after patch. Going off of our HDMI conversion theory, a lot of these actually could be explained by linking back to syncing issues. In simple terms, they suggest that there's an issue with the way the on-board PCON is handling signals.

For starters, I get the most irritating HDMI flicker where occasionally on booting up my PC or launching a game, the display from the HDMI side will start strobing at me, just about giving me a migraine. Sometimes, this flicker is actually a welcome sign, because the alternative is the display just blacking out completely.

Then, there are the pesky annoyances with the driver updates themselves. For starters, there are multiple Intel pages online where you can download the latest updates. Intel Driver & Support Assistant and Intel Arc Control are two bits of companion software that are supposed to download with each update, giving you a central and official way to download each new patch. Annoyingly, they don't always install with the updates as they're supposed to, and since there's no way to separately download and install the Control app, you can be left with no way to access basic features.

Even if you do download and install drivers through the Control app, it often leaves remnants of the former patches in your PC's storage, which can seriously impact performance in-game. I've experienced faulty textures and reflections, games straight-up not running, and sometimes up to 30fps drops compared with previous updates. In fairness, it's always recommended that you remove all previous GPU driver versions when updating them, but in testing plenty of graphics cards in the last year, I've never faced issues like I have with this A770.

For updates to this card, I do a fully secure boot into safe mode, open DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) and do a full clean. This makes the whole process a total faff, but it is what Intel advises when any of these issues have been reported online.

There are more general-use issues too, because sometimes when using my Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra webcam in a Google Meet, my displays will black out for no reason, before returning about 7 seconds later. Editing video is impossible for me at the moment too, because no matter the settings I change, Adobe Premiere Pro won't preview any footage as anything more than solid green blocks. In previous driver updates my PC has even frozen and crashed when I've tried to export simple videos.

What happens next?

I honestly feel bad writing all of this up because I want Intel and its GPU partners to do well. Like I said at the beginning, I love this board, and I'm super happy with how it handles games at 4K, despite being looked down on by so many Nvidia users. Nonetheless, these consistent bugs and annoyances need to be sorted out if Intel wants to convince consumers to return next generation.

If our theory is in any way true, using DisplayPort instead of HDMI could be a big solution. It would seem as though Acer not updating drivers for its own card may be to blame here, but in fairness, it isn't and arguably shouldn't be Acer's job to make graphics card drivers. We've reached out to Acer for comment, and we're awaiting a response. Should we hear more, we'll update you.

The thing is, the constant updates Intel has shipped in the last year for Intel Arc cards are quite reassuring, and for the most part, have really improved things. The reason Intel's patches won't fix the bugs with Acer's variant is that the company uses an integrated solution for its Limited Edition GPUs. In other words, their patches don't target Acer's specific issues. 

Just last week, the Intel Arc team responded to a Gamers Nexus video and told the YouTube channel that creating driver updates for graphics cards is a "continual labor of love", saying that plenty more DirectX11 and 12 updates will come in the months ahead. If Intel's dedication to the Arc cards since launch is an indication of how the upcoming Battlemage ones will be crafted, I think we're in for something really special.

Hopefully, for Acer Predator BiFrost A770 owners, these bugs and strange firmware disparities can be sorted out somehow. I want to see this brilliant product be supported so it can get the praise I think it deserves.

Keep up with more PC components by checking out the best CPU for gaming, the best RAM for gaming, and the best PC cases.

Built to occupy the desks and backpacks of budget-conscious gamers, the Acer Nitro range of gaming laptops has always been a firm favorite for those looking to spend under $1,000. These rigs have traditionally prioritized component value in their price tags, substituting high-end build materials and displays for the chance to scoop up mid-range or higher components at a fraction of the price of some of the best gaming laptops. However, the newer Acer Nitro 16 does things a little differently. 

Yes, this is still a cheaper gaming laptop, but with a new lid redesign, a fantastic display, and a more considered form factor the latest Nitro is starting to buck its own trend. I say starting to, because this is by no means a budget gaming laptop in the chassis of a premium device - but it certainly feels like a step up from previous models. 

Design

Straight out the box, the Acer Nitro 16 feels like a fresh step in a new direction. That much is obvious from the 16:10 form factor and new colorful lid design. This new language has been spread across both the Nitro 16 and Acer Nitro 5 machines for the next generation, but those crisp blue and pink lines are more minimal here and allow for a far more refined aesthetic overall. In the centre, you'll find Acer's new Nitro logo, a chunky 'N' in what would have been glossy glass on a more premium model, but is simply light gray plastic here. 

A wedge design means the Nitro 16 doesn't feel as chunky as it initially looks in the hand. A larger grill section protrudes from the rear of the machine, angling away from the desk from the bottom to keep things looking sharp. This is a clear departure from the days of brick-shaped gaming laptops, and while it's not going to send the Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 or HP Omen Transcend 16 back to the scales those used to affordable gaming laptops are going to feel a real benefit to this new form factor.

The entire chassis is constructed of plastic, which is to be expected. There's a little flex to the main lid and a lot more in the keyboard deck itself, though not as much as you'll find on older machines. The main hinge feels sturdy and rotates smoothly, though there is a little wobble when maneuvering.

Features

The display is the Acer Nitro 16's strongest asset. The move to a 16:10 ratio is inline with current market-wide designs, and opens the Nitro line up to far more immersive gameplay. However, it's the brightness and super vivid colors that truly work the hardest here. The screen itself is a 1600p IPS panel with a 165Hz refresh rate - a step up from the 1200p / 1080p 144Hz panels you'll typically find on budget gaming laptops. That translates to a crisp QHD+ resolution and bright, punchy colors benefitting from excellent contrast. Of course, you're not going to get the same experience here as you would with a Mini LED or OLED panel, but this is still impressive considering its position in the market.

Underneath that you'll find a full sized keyboard with everything you need for everyday productivity and gameplay. Each keycap is bordered with a slick white band and extra emphasis on WASD and arrow keys. The keypress action here is nicely snappy with a crisp debounce and while that aforementioned flex is apparent it's only felt when truly trying to hammer for it. The trackpad below is a little smaller than you'll find in alternative models, but it provides smooth tracking with a responsive click. 

The Acer Nitro 16 also has a feature almost guaranteed to win me over personally - and that's rear ports. Not only that, though, but the full suite of I/O connections is also spread nicely across the sides as well. That meant I was able to easily dock and keep cables out of the way when working on a big screen while also being able to plug extra accessories in either the left or right hand side of the device. My setup is looking a little frazzled at the moment so any help with cable management is most welcome. I did, however, find the power cable's connection at the rear was a little hit and miss. I couldn't find anything physically wrong with the port or plug, but it was frequently loose during play sessions.

As is generally the way, there are a bunch of different configuration options for the Acer Nitro 16. In general, though, you're looking at an AMD processor with the vast majority of options opting for the Ryzen 7 7840HS. Having an RTX 4050 option on the table is excellent news for those looking to spend as little as possible, but you can also ramp things up with an RTX 4060 or RTX 4070 as well. RAM ranges from 8GB, which would be unadvisable to all but the most casual of players, up to 32GB DDR5. That's a solid array of options, catering for both entry level and mid-range players at a fair price point (and don't forget when those gaming laptop deals come around, these are often some of the first to drop their price tags). My test unit came with an AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS processor (which I can only see on UK shelves at the moment), RTX 4070 GPU, 32GB DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD.

Performance

Overall, the Acer Nitro 16 performs admirably. My RTX 4070 configuration was able to handle both 1080p and QHD+ gameplay in high settings at over 60fps easily. Those numbers did start to dip below the 60fps threshold when bumped up to Ultra settings in more demanding titles, but with some tweaks things should be running smoothly in the majority of gaming scenarios - especially if your configuration runs a Ryzen 7 7840HS CPU. 

I primarily benched these numbers against the RTX 4060 / Intel i7-13700HX toting HP Omen Transcend 16 and Alienware M16 laptops. These are both offering a weaker GPU spec overall, but come in only slightly more expensive than the Acer Nitro 16. Their performance across industry and in-game benchmarks is a good indicator of price / power ratio, especially pertinent considering the Nitro range has traditionally offered excellent component value. 

The Acer Nitro 16 did outperform both the HP Omen and Alienware in Time Spy and Fire Strike tests, and - notably - performed similarly to an RTX 4070 / AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS configuration of the 2024 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14. Yes the Zeph has size on its side, but for sheer component value that's a solid result. Those results aren't leaving the other two in the dust, but considering the amount you're paying they're certainly optimistic. 

The Acer Nitro 16 doesn't quite make the most of its RTX 4070 GPU in this configuration. That weaker CPU is pulling scores down slightly, and despite the additional airflow space in the main chassis slimmer gaming laptops with RTX 4060 GPUs can easily keep pace. However, these certainly aren't numbers to be sniffed at. The new generation is well placed here, providing its three figure framerates in easier tests without breaking a sweat and offering it all at a price that would have seemed impossible just a couple of years ago. 

Onto a nice and easy Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark. This is a less demanding game that plays particularly nicely with Nvidia, so scores are often high. However, the Alienware M16 took the 1080p crown here, jumping ahead of the Acer Nitro 16 in both High and Highest settings. The score was evened out a little in QHD+, though, with the Nitro posting an admirable 115fps at the top end of the settings scale. The HP Omen's 1200p display kept pace with the Nitro 16 despite its slimmer form factor, but I would have expected more from the RTX 4070 Acer with plenty of airflow room. 

Total War: Three Kingdoms often presents gaming laptops with a bit more of a challenge, with far more moving objects on screen. The Nitro 16 still couldn't outperform the RTX 4060 Alienware M16 here, with that QHD+ Ultra score falling far further behind others. It's at this top end of performance that the Nitro 16 struggles the most, though I was able to bring numbers up slightly with some graphical tweaks during everyday play. 

The Nitro managed to stay above 60fps for the majority of its Returnal benchmarks, once again dropping out of the race at QHD+ Ultra settings. The M16 was the victor overall once again here, with the RTX 4060 model pulling well ahead of the Nitro across the board. 

My Hitman 3 benchmarks bucked a trend. The Acer Nitro 16 managed to use its RTX 4070 a little better here, pulling ahead of the Alienware M16 by some margin. That's across both 1080p and QHD+ resolutions, and even with settings pumped up to max. This is another easier benchmark which often returns three figure results in high-end machines - and the components in here finally have a chance to shine. 

Should you buy the Acer Nitro 16?

The Acer Nitro 16 is a fantastic entry level gaming laptop with configuration options reaching up into the mid-range for a fair price. While it's not using those components for the same kind of performance we'd see from a more sophisticated build, it's certainly keeping up with high-end gaming laptops within its price range by squeezing more expensive GPUs into lower prices. While it can struggle with more complex QHD+ Ultra settings, particularly in demanding games, you're getting excellent value for money here considering 1080p performance generally keeps pace with pricier rigs. 

Its display, while dropping some of the more premium features available today, also offers a fantastic backdrop for all that action, with a level of quality we haven't seen from too many starter rigs in the past. Those tired of lugging cheap gaming laptops around will also benefit from the slightly thinner form factor to boot. 

How we tested the Acer Nitro 16

I used the Acer Nitro 16 as my dedicated laptop for all work and play over the course of one week, while also testing for an additional week alongside the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 and Acer Nitro 5. In that time, I played House Flipper and Assassin's Creed Odyssey while stress testing across Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Total War: Three Kingdoms, Returnal, and Hitman 3. I also used 3D Mark industry tests Fire Strike and Time Spy to benchmark the GPU and Cinebench and PCMark 10 for CPU and general performance tests. For more information on how we test gaming laptops, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

If you're after a different brand, we're also rounding up all the best Razer laptops and the best Asus gaming laptops on the market. Or, take a look at the best Alienware laptops available. 

The Acer Predator Orion X is my kind of gaming PC. These smaller rigs appeal to me because most modern-day prebuilds are so massive that they, ironically enough, can't fit on a desktop. I built an ITX (small form factor) PC last year which I now use for work, gaming, and content creation, and I couldn't imagine going back to a larger size. With that in mind, it's easy to see why the Orion X was an alluring machine for me to test out.

I was especially intrigued by Acer's take on the small form factor world because last year I reviewed the latest and greatest Predator Orion 7000. While it performed really well, its obnoxiously loud fans almost cost it the top spot on our best gaming PC list. Since the biggest issue with ITX gaming PCs is usually controlling temperatures, I wondered how Acer would take on that particular challenge - and if the fans would yet again make you pay the price.

I'm pleasantly surprised by what I've found here, and if you can afford the £3,799 (it isn't available in the US at the time of writing) price tag for the configuration I've tested, it improves upon the larger Orion 7000 in almost every way.

Specs

The Acer Predator Orion X is only just starting to roll out at the time of writing, so while this might be the only configuration that's confirmed just now, we could perhaps see different versions hitting the shelves later on. This is what we've seen since the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) was refreshed with 13th Gen architecture, as new Orion 3000 options have taken mid-range components and put them in the same case.

For now, though, the version we've tested is all there is, and it's a beefy configuration. Admittedly, that'll make it fairly unaffordable for a vast majority of shoppers, but reviewing higher-end specs in a case this size is a good test for what possible future configurations of the Orion X can do. Here are the specs:

I have to hand it to them, the folks at Acer have made it particularly difficult to dig inside this PC to look at what all of the individual components look like - not that it matters all that much. A 4080 is a 4080, and the rest of the specs speak for themselves.

The Orion X essentially packs the most amount of power possible inside this size of case. While you could technically pack an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 inside instead since it's the same size, I'd be terrified of what that would do to the price. 

Design

ITX PC cases have to get creative if they want to fit today's components inside their unique little shapes. This makes them a bit quirky at the best of times, and the Predator Orion X's case is no exception. The motherboard seems to be bang-smack in the middle of the case, allowing space on either side for components and air to reach them. This honestly hurt my head when I looked inside, but there's a method to the madness. The IO ports are still at what you would perceive as "the back" of the machine, which isn't always the case with ITX boxes. The Corsair 2000D Airflow RGB which houses my PC and the Origin Chronos V3 has IO ports out the top or bottom, which is slightly confusing.

The way Acer has gone about things is clever because it's built the outer design of the PC around the motherboard's quirks. There are three distinct "Zones" labeled on the chassis and a key on the back that tells you where each component dwells. The CPU and RAM are accessible through Zone 1 (the right-hand side as you're looking at the PC's front), the GPU is in Zone 2 (left), and extra storage slots and cooling are in Zone 3 at the top.

I can't really decide if I like this design or not. On one hand, its small footprint is excellent, taking up only 257.5 x 179 x 336 mm (H x W x D). But in terms of accessibility, it seems like an impenetrable fortress to try and break into and modify. You want long-term compatibility when spending this much money, and that means allowing people to crack open Pandora's box and swap out parts. If your particular motherboard is so quirky it doesn't match up with online guides and YouTube videos, you're making it difficult for people. 

Aesthetically, the front panel is very nice. It has strips of subtle lighting that complete the Orion X's industrial space gear look, but I do have to admit, the rest of the case is just a bit weird. 

The materials used are somewhere between plastic and a softer metal. The two side panels have grilles on them, aiding with airflow and allowing you to look in at the magic going on inside. The top panel has a really nice double-layered grille that looks a million dollars thanks to the RGB fans within shining lights through their distortive visage. 

There's no accounting for taste, and seeing as I can't decide whether I like the look of this case or not, I'll let you decide. My biggest issue with it is connectivity. It may just be me, but I've got a lot of peripherals poking their way into my PC. Part of this comes down to the motherboard IO, but I really struggled to fit all of my controllers and devices through the USB slots in the Orion X. There are 2 USB Type-C slots, 4x USB 3.2, 2 regular USB 2.0 ports, 1 HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPorts, and all the usual 3.5 mm jacks for audio.

On the face of it, that seems like enough, and you can always just grab a USB-C or USB hub if you're struggling. Regardless, if I was paying this much for a gaming PC as opposed to building myself, I'd want as much connectivity as possible on board - whether that was through the motherboard or the chassis. I think what disappointed me most was that the front USB ports weren't USB 3.2 or Thunderbolt speed - something that the Origin Chronos V3 gets right.

I'm nitpicking, probably because I'm a bit of an enthusiast when it comes to this type of PC case, but either way, this is a pretty competent ITX build, and more importantly, one that keeps its innards comfortably cool.

Performance

To begin with, I want to praise the folks at Acer, because they've rolled out some brilliant improvements to their BIOS and Predator Sense software since I last tested it. One thing that really irked me about the Acer Predator Orion 7000 was that despite a motherboard and generational refresh so it was DDR5 compatible, there was no way to control what the RAM did. 

XMP profiles are incredibly important for the best RAM for gaming, and not being able to utilize them in the Orion 7000 was a perplexing choice which kept its speed below the 5000MHz mark. Fortunately, the RAM inside the Orion X runs at a higher speed of 5600MHz out of the box, and you can enable a simple XMP switch in the PC's BIOS which cranks it up to 6000MHz. The RAM enthusiast in me would like access to more settings there, but for the majority of plug-and-play buyers, this is all that will really be required. 

In the last few weeks of using this PC, I've tested out a capture card and edited together a short documentary, I've played about 10 hours of Hunt: Showdown at 4K maxed-out settings, and I've used it for a few days' work. The PC runs like a dream for the most part. There truly isn't much you can throw at an RTX 4080 and an unlocked i9 processor and watch them fail. I did, however, get some stability issues in the first few days of use where the PC kept freezing. This actually stopped on its own, and it's probably nothing a BIOS update wouldn't fix - either way, it's worth noting. 

The only other issue I had during general use was with that aforementioned connectivity - it was a pain to have to keep switching out USB devices, and the smaller number of USB 3.2 ports specifically really did feel like a quality of life failing - especially since I test out the best external hard drives for gaming.

Then, of course, we have benchmarking. I did this through our go-to testing games and in industry-standard software, and the results are much as you'd expect. Unfortunately, the industry-standard benchmarks for the individual components did bring a bizarre weakness to light. 

The best SSDs for gaming, even the best Gen 4 interface ones, usually reach at least 6,000MB/s sequential read speeds. Unless you're testing an older model or using something that's not designed for gaming, you don't usually find SSDs that fail to reach 4,000MB/s. Inside the Orion X, we have 2x 1TB Micron NVMe SSDs, but in testing them both extensively, they failed to reach that speed. That's a tad disappointing, especially for the money this PC demands from you. While replacing would usually be a solution, the chassis doesn't exactly make that easy, and prices of SSDs are already on the rise.

Regardless, here's how the Orion X got on in our testing games.

So as you'll see, at either 4K or Quad HD you're getting brilliant frame rates that go hand in hand with the Origin Chronos V3 we tested that's made up of similar components. Besides Returnal which this rig seemed to have an off-day with across the board, these numbers are all in the same ballpark as that Chronos V3, and in some instances even beat it. 

My own PC is built into an ITX case but utilizes an Intel Core i5-13600K CPU and an Acer Predator Bifrost Intel Arc A770, and I was impressed by the Orion X's more general gaming performance in comparison. Where I have to fiddle around with settings to get Hunt: Showdown up to 80-90fps with my machine, the Orion X knocked out easy 110 framerates with every setting cranked up to maximum. Similarly, with Alan Wake 2 and Immortals of Aveum, I really have to manipulate my settings to get 4K60, but the Orion X was handling both games with relative ease. 

An outlying test I carried out is Total War: Warhammer 3's benchmarks. This is a game we usually use to make CPUs sweat, but in conjunction with an RX 4080, I was curious to see what this i9 would achieve. With 4K Ultra settings, this combination did very well indeed, producing the results on the right.

As I mentioned above, one of the main challenges with ITX gaming PCs is keeping them down to reasonable temperatures. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the Orion X stayed so calm, cool, and collected. In fairness, the water cooler will make a big difference in that respect. Even compared to ATX AIO coolers that have airflow space and size to work with, the cooling in this machine knocks it out of the park. Moreover, it does so without creating loads of noise pollution too, even when boosting to the higher levels of the Predator Sense overclocking tiers. 

During TimeSpy and FireStrike tests, I tend to see processors and the best graphics cards reach their hottest temperatures. The best CPUs for gaming especially, can reach boiling point. During both tests, the Orion X's key components sat between 40 and 70 degrees, which is exactly where you want them. The CPU peaked at only 80 degrees across both stress tests, and considering the CPU in the Orion 7000 was reaching above the 90-degree mark, that really tells you everything you need to know. It makes no sense at all, but this ITX build stays cooler than Acer's ATX one.

Should you buy the Acer Predator Orion X?

It'd be easy for me to look at the quirks the Orion X has; its slower SSDs, its slightly obscure case, and its high price, and say it isn't worth buying. On the contrary, and regardless of its size, this is a gaming PC giant that's worthy of its namesake. Admittedly, it could work out cheaper for you to put a rig of this type together yourself - depending on the parts you assemble. If this seems a little steep for you, maybe wait to see if Acer comes out with any mid-range configurations, because those would no doubt be kinder to your wallet.

This is a plug-and-play gaming PC from a brand that in a few short months since I reviewed its last machine, has improved. The holistic experience of using this PC every day has been so enjoyable for me, and I love that it harnesses all the power it has into a chassis that's not obnoxiously loud and doesn't take up all the space in the world. 

If you have plans to upgrade parts later on, you're going to struggle here. Getting inside the PC in itself is a challenge, and the motherboard is bizarrely positioned. If, on the other hand, you're looking to buy something that will last, that will make things simple, and let you play modern games with minimal fuss, the Acer Predator Orion X might be one of the very best options on the market.

How we tested the Acer Predator Orion X

I tested the Acer Predator Orion X over a number of weeks before this review, comparing my experience closely to my everyday rig built in a similar size case, and to the Predator Orion 7000 I reviewed in 2023. I captured hours of gameplay footage using this machine, edited together a video for YouTube, and used it for the recreational PC games I'm playing at the moment. 

For more formal review figures, I benchmarked the PC using our go-to testing games, as well as Cinebench, 3DMark, CrystalDiskMark, and CPU-Z. 

For more on the ways we test the latest gaming gizmos and gadgets, take a look at our hardware policy.

For more on the best gaming PCs, check out the best Alienware gaming PCs, the best PC cases, and the best computer speakers.

The idea of an Acer handheld gaming PC isn’t surprising given that all the big laptop makers are getting in on the action. However, comments made by the company suggest it might actually be on the cards, and that gives me hope for a new, cheaper Steam Deck rival. By that, I mean a portable Windows 11 rig that comes in at the same price as Valve’s machine, unlike most other alternatives with a similar agenda.

The best gaming handheld space is transforming into something special, but it arguably has a problem on its hands in terms of portable PC pricing. Sure, the Steam Deck strikes a nice balance between affordability and performance, and there are cheaper alternatives like the AYN Loki Zero for lightweight activities. Yet, I can’t help but feel the rest are allergic to the idea of matching Valve’s base price, with the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion GO both costing the same as a lower spec gaming laptop.

It’s for that very reason that I’m hyped about remarks made by Acer UK regional director Craig Booth to Tom’s Guide. According to the general manager, the renowned laptop manufacturer is “watching” the handheld PC scene “with interest,” which at least confirms the idea is on the company’s mind. In addition, Booth says that creating a portable device like the Steam Deck would be “relatively straightforward” for the firm since it has access to “the technology” required to do so. That part isn’t exact news, but again, it sounds like logistics aren’t going to be an issue.

Let's encourage cheaper Steam Deck rivals

Just so we’re clear, Acer hasn’t remotely confirmed plans for a gaming handheld, nor are Booth’s comments a sly teaser. That said, they do strongly suggest that the tech brand could whip up a Steam Deck competitor whenever it likes, but it’d rather sit back and wait for the perfect opportunity. This makes sense when you consider the infancy of the portable PC platform, not to mention future devices like the Asus ROG Ally 2 could change the goal posts before Acer can even find its feet.

I like premium hardware as much as the next PC nerd, and my Ayaneo 2S review illustrates the benefits of pricey portable tech. Nevertheless, I’d trade away the extra performance for something that balances cost and abilities in a heartbeat, as that’s what’ll ultimately help more players play incredible PC games without an expensive rig. Not to get too deep into it, but I come from a working class family, so I understand the importance of financial approachability all too well. 

And that’s what I hope Acer will consider when drawing up its gaming handheld plans. Forget about detachable controllers and high resolution screens. Instead, focus on offering up robust performance and great quality controls for a competitive price, one that’ll keep Valve and the rest of the scene on its toes. After all, the Nintendo Switch 2 may eventually come and draw potential players away with affordable console specs and change the landscape as we know it.

Looking for something with more oomph? Check out the best gaming PC builds for a desktop powerhouse. Alternatively, take a peek at the best gaming laptops for rigs you can take on the go.

Acer has a new stereoscopic 3D monitor on the way, and while I thought I’d had my fill of 3D screen shenanigans, I’m actually pretty excited. Weirdly, it’s not even down to the fact the panel uses glasses-free tech or its 4K 165Hz abilities, I’m actually just stoked about the fact I’ll be able to try out Dark Souls Remastered on it. Not that FromSoftware’s brutal RPG is the only compatible game on Steam, but the idea of rolling around Anor Londo with a popping view of its perilous landscape has me fully invested.

Stereoscopic 3D certainly isn’t something I’d normally associate with the best gaming monitor, and I’d be lying if I said the tech had crossed my mind before now. I reckon the last time I even gave it much thought was when I tried it out on the New Nintendo 3DS, and I swiftly turned it off after five seconds of novelty-induced eye strain. That may sound dismissive, but it’s worth noting that my setup included a premium Sony Bravia 3D TV and a pair of active 3D glasses back in 2010. That same display helped me complete a full playthrough of Shadow of the Colossus with visuals that likely induced a migraine. 

But hey, it’s 2024, and if Acer is to be believed, stereoscopic 3D screens are ready for a comeback. Specifically, the company hopes to reopen an immersive can of worms with its Predator SpatialLabs View 27 monitor, which offers up a fuss-free way to enjoy a bunch of 3D games at 4K 165Hz. By that, I mean you won’t have to wear a pair of glasses or worry about additional setup, as everything should just leap out from your screen. 

Naturally, you’ll need to stick with compatible releases to use the screen’s stereoscopic 3D feature, but the list is far chonkier than you’d think. Back in 2010, my only options were a small selection of 3D games with support, so you can understand why I was delighted to see a whole bunch of adventures both old and new over at the SpatialLabs website. That said, I haven’t actually sifted through the rest of the collection to see what I’d actually play, as I immediately clocked Dark Souls Remastered and started looking into its ‘Ultra 3D’ mode. 

To clarify, I have no idea if playing Dark Souls Remastered in 3D will actually be enjoyable, nor do I have any hands-on experience with Acer’s SpatialLabs tech yet. However, in principle, I reckon the extra spatial awareness and visibility could really enhance the experience. In my quest to validate my hypothesis, I happened upon an eight-year-old Reddit thread that delves into playing the original game using 3D, and user Alexsama says encroaching enemies were easier to spot. The player even apparently managed to beat Artorias without taking a single hit, something they attribute to an elevated sense of scale and distance. 

I’ll hopefully be able to put all of the above to the test soon, and our eventual Acer Predator SpatialLabs View 27 monitor review will help determine whether stereoscopic 3D is truly back. Technically, the idea has been floating around since the the days of the Sega Master System, so it’s probably about time it tried to win over immersion chasers once again.

Looking for a more conventional screen? Check out the best gaming TV and upgrade your living room setup. If you'd prefer a rig with screen attached, swing by the best gaming laptops and take a peek at the best gaming handhelds for something even more portable.

I’ve been a Steam Deck owner for over a year now, and using the handheld with an external display is a game changer. Don’t get me wrong, I love curling up on the couch with a cosy indie game, but pairing the portable with a docking station and external display effectively turns it into a full on desktop PC hybrid. Of course, some of you out there might not actually have a spare screen at your disposal, but I’ve stumbled across an excellent Acer monitor deal that could transform the way you use Valve’s portable powerhouse for less.

Over on Amazon right now, Acer’s KC242Y gaming monitor is down from $119.99 to $89.99, with a nifty 25% discount bringing it down to its lowest price. This 23.8-inch screen may sound entry level considering its 1080p, but its low spec nature is exactly what makes it a great fit for the Steam Deck. Sure, you can hook the handheld up to any screen using a Steam Deck dock, but sticking with a smaller full HD screen is going to help boost fps and keep things from looking too pixelated. 

I say the Acer KC242Y is low spec, but this monitor actually packs features you’d normally find in pricer panels. For example, it’s actually 100Hz, so you’ll be able to harness more frames than most alternatives at this price point. It also comes armed with AMD FreeSync support, which is extremely valuable when it comes to combating screen tearing issues.

The perfect for a cosy Steam Deck setup 

I’ve arguably been watching too much TikTok, but this Acer KC242Y monitor deal is giving me cosy Steam Deck setup ideas. I’m talking about using it as part of a wee cubby within your room, perched on a small surface next to a bean bag, free from the stress of your existing gaming desk or noisy living space.

This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot since testing Verbtaim’s Portable Touchscreen monitor, and while Acer’s screen is pretty much stationary, I reckon it could still be used to achieve a similar cosy Steam Deck setup. For under $100, you’ll get a display that’ll pack specs perfectly matched to the portable PC, and it’s more likely to fit into small spaces. Admittedly, my vision for this screen feels a little niche, but whether you’re looking for a minimalist desktop setup or a TikTok-inspired cosy space, I’m sure you can vibe with the concept. 

Need a screen you can pair with your Steam Deck, console, and fully fledged gaming PC? We’ve got a few extra monitor deals below that should fill the brief.

Looking for different screen specs? You’ll want to check out our best gaming monitor picks for a variety of spectacular screens. If you’re looking for an all-in-one solution, opting for the best gaming laptop instead will provide you with everything you need to play great PC games. 

It seems the latest Intel Arc driver update has caused an array of unintended issues with the Acer Predator BiFrost model of the A770 GPU. In an attempt to add more stable support for Starfield's launch last week, Intel sent out two updates to the A770 in late August/early September. While these have had mixed results for A770 cards trying to play the game, it seems to have caused inadvertent problems for the 16GB Acer version.

The list of issues includes disruption to the way the graphics card's fans operate, causing them to whir up in a pulsing rhythm every few seconds. For many, this only seems to be fixable by setting a higher manual percentage value on the fan outputs, frustrating many owners into more noise and higher power usage.

This issue seems to be caused by an inability of Acer's fans to operate at lower percentages. One Reddit poster said, "The fan curve from Predator Bifrost starts at 20% since this card doesn't have a low power mode, when the step in the fan curve is below 30%, the fan will go to 0%, for this to stop, you need to set a custom fan curve or a fixed one with a value above 30%."

Although a GitHUB ticket made by Acer A770 users suggested using DDU software to revert the driver back to an older version, some are finding the frustrating fan behavior persists after this.

From the looks of that ticket, the issue seems to be fairly widespread, with one Intel engineer in the thread saying "This issue is one of the top priorities for our dev teams, they are working on this as we speak. We understand the frustration this causes, but rest assured we share and push all your comments to our dev teams."

Folks with the Acer Predator BiFrost Intel Arc A770 (myself included) have also reported problems when trying to export or render video. In many cases, this causes an entire gaming PC to freeze, or in better cases, a much slower export process.

Although unconfirmed, it would appear these issues are the result of a new Firmware update being lumped into the driver update - something you couldn't opt out of if you were an A770 user who just wanted the latest drivers for playing Starfield. 

One user, who cited fan and video rendering issues, wrote: "I am severely pissed about the fact that I couldn't opt out of the FIRMWARE update. I only wanted a driver update. Is anyone at Intel going to buy me a new functioning card since the firmware ruined it and I can't work anymore?"

To add to the frustrations, one Intel Customer Support Technician has replied to a forum thread asking users to "Please note that, since you have an Acer Bifrost card, you should check with your manufacturer and using the driver and firmware updates provided by them to avoid potential installation incompatibilities."

Despite this customer support technician detailing the slight differences in driver software between manufacturers, one disgruntled user added that "ACER has one driver listed and that is over 6 months old. Users should be applying Intel ARC drivers as recommended."

Late last week, Bethesda also candidly stated that the flagship Intel graphics card doesn't meet Starfield's system requirements, despite being over three years younger than the minimum recommended boards for the game from both Nvidia and AMD. As it turns out, these issues may not have anything to do with your hardware choices, as some players online have discovered issues with Starfield optimization on PC.

Starfield performance woes haven't plagued the game's launch, but they do seem to be fairly widespread, with many players being unable to even launch the game on PC - no matter their hardware specs.

Both Intel and Acer are yet to put out an official statement about the A770's firmware update causing issues, although it has been spotted across multiple forums that a fix is supposedly in the works. If you're currently suffering from similar issues with your Intel Arc A770, you can add your thoughts to the forum threads linked above.

Want more PC components for playing Starfield? Check out the best CPU for gaming, the best RAM for gaming, and the best SSD for gaming.

Another Intel Arc graphics card has stealthily entered the fold, as an ASRock Phantom Gaming Arc A770 16GB GPU is apparently inbound. The new model joins its 8GB sibling, but it’s unknown whether it boasts faster memory speeds in addition to more VRAM. It’s also $30 more than the existing card, but cheaper than the recently discontinued Limited Edition variant by Intel and Acer BiFrost equivalent.

Intel Arc graphics cards are still outnumbered on the best graphics card battlefield, but more vendors are joining the tech giant’s ranks. While the Arc A700 Limited Edition GPU now isn’t a thing, brands like Acer and ASRock are seemingly committed to providing the gaming PC market with Alchemist cards, and things are actually fairly competitive on the pricing front. You only have to look at Newegg to see that both AIB partners are hoping to win you over with price points, and the newest 16GB contender could prompt further discounts.

Spotted by eagle eyed GPU enthusiasts Bionic_Squash, Newegg now lists an ASRock Phantom Gaming Arc A770 16GB card for $329.99. While the card is currently listed as out of stock, and we’re not too sure whether it wields the same 17.5Gbps memory speeds as other 16GB models, the listing says it features the same clock speeds as the 8GB version.

It’s worth noting that as of right now, the new ASRock Arc A770 model is the cheapest 16GB card on Newegg, as the Acer Bifrost version comes in at $399.99. It’s also a whopping $170 cheaper than the new Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti 16GB, but both aren’t exactly comparable in terms of class (at least on paper). 

We’ve got an Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC review in the works, so we’ll be able to share impressions and benchmarks soon. While Intel’s Alchemist doesn’t quite have the specs to face off against RTX 4000 graphics cards, the lineup is proving to be better value than some previous generation options by AMD and Nvidia, and that could set up next-gen Intel Battlemage GPUs for success. 

Even if Intel does remain firmly in third place for now, it’s well worth keeping an eye on Intel Arc graphics card deals. Alchemist cards may lack the performance oomph of other frontrunners, but in terms of value for money, there’s a case to be made for picking up a blue GPU. 

 Looking for a stylish pre-build? Check out the best Alienware gaming PCs and pick up an out of this world Aurora rig. Alternatively, take a peek at the best gaming laptops and opt for a portable powerhouse instead. 

Looking for a speedy 240Hz 1080p gaming monitor this Prime Day? Well, you can actually grab a discounted display early, as the Acer Nitro XZ270 has already dropped in price. This punchy panel packs a refresh rate that’ll satiate high frame rate competitive FPS games, but it’s also a curved champion that’ll act as a reliable PC gaming portal. 

Over at Amazon right now, the Acer Nitro XZ270 is down to $229.99 instead of $329.99 thanks to a 30% discount. While we’ll be keeping an eye out for great Prime Day monitor deals during Amazon’s big sale, the early $100 price drop might appeal to those of you who’ve just built a gaming PC for the first time. The 1080p panel will pair nicely with newer entry-level graphics cards like the Nvidia RTX 4060, and its 240Hz refresh rate is a winner if you’re a frame rate fiend. 

Valve’s June Steam survey suggests players are ditching 1080p monitors, but the resolution still dominates the gaming PC scene. 62% of users are still using ‘full HD’ monitors, and there’s a bunch of reasons why you’d want one in 2023, not least because it’ll mean you can boost fps and keep visual settings cranked up high. In addition, trading resolution for a higher refresh rate is something worth considering, as even though 4K panels pack more pixels, you’ll have to make do with 144Hz max.

Why would you choose refresh rate over resolution? Well, it all comes down to responsiveness. Playing using a 60Hz display arguably isn’t going to matter much if you’re playing adventure games with a PC controller, but it’ll feel like you’re strafing around in custard if you’re used to using quicker displays and a gaming mouse. 

If you do fancy upgrading from 1080p to 1440p, you’re in luck, as the QHD version of Acer’s Nitro XZ270 is also available for $204.50. The higher resolution option still boasts a 165Hz refresh rate, so you won’t need to slow things down completely to enjoy improved clarity. 

Of course, if the Nitro XZ270 isn’t what you’re looking for, we’ve still got you covered, as screens savings of all specs are sure to join the Prime Day gaming deals fold in a few days time. You don’t necessarily have to wait till June 11 and 12 to bag a bargain, but if you’re looking for record low prices across the board, you’ll want to come check out our hubs for plenty of offers. 

 Looking for something a bit bigger? Check out our Prime Day TV deals hub for big screen savings. If you’re needing something to plug in to your fancy new display, swing by our Prime Day PS5 deals page and invest in a new-gen console.  

The Acer Predator Orion 7000 has been one of the top dogs of the prebuilt gaming PC market for a while now. With the Orion 7000 of 2022 releasing just before the launch of new-gen CPUs, GPUs, and more widespread adoption of DDR5 RAM, Acer made the wise decision to refresh its flagship gaming PC with a new motherboard that could handle the power of these 13th Gen Intel processors. 

Now fully compatible with 13th Gen CPUs, DDR5, and wielding the Lovelace power of Nvidia's RTX 4090, Acer has managed to keep a hold of the solid reputation it's earned through the last year of Predator Orion 7000 acclaim while futureproofing its innards for the new generation. 

In doing so, they've refreshed one of the best gaming PCs on the market, making it even more powerful than before with faster, beefier components. Unfortunately, they've done so without fixing some of this rig's biggest issues, like the offensively loud fans. With even more power inside, these problems are exaggerated, presenting themselves more abruptly than before.

I tested the new Orion 7000 PO7-650 configuration that's made up of an (unlocked) Intel Core i9-13900KF, RTX 4090, 32GB of ADATA DDR5 RAM, and 1TB SSD + 2TB of HDD storage. All that comes to a rather sickening £4,499.99 in the UK, with the equivalent configuration with last-gen components costing $4,299.99 in the US.

Design and features

If you're familiar with the Predator Orion 7000 (2022) case, you'll immediately notice a striking resemblance to the 13th Gen refreshed version. This is because, despite plenty of complaints about the case's fans that resemble a 747 charging up its jets for take-off, Acer hasn't improved the airflow or radiator in the case at all. 

Obtrusive noise levels from the ARGB-infused Predator FrostBlade 2.0 fans aside, it is a beautiful ATX chassis. You've got plenty of room inside for beefy components (duh, the RTX 4090 is already in there), and you have some lovely RGB lighting that, in my opinion, is some of the classiest-looking in the pre-built market. I do genuinely love how subtle the Orion 7000's lighting is. It's like a tinted car window that, when the fans aren't on, you can't really peer through. As soon as light shines from within though, it gives a lovely burst of colour that almost fades into the dark void the components are encompassed by. There's real visual depth there.

The best part is, that depth doesn't translate to an overly bulky size. Our testing rig uses a Corsair iCUE 500T RGB case which is enormous. The 7000 is comfortably smaller than that behemoth at 485 mm x 219 mm x 504.8 mm, weighing in at 17kg, but it still has plenty of space left over when housing the BFGPU, the aforementioned 4090. If it was available as a standalone, I'd be confident this chassis would be at home on our best PC cases list.

In terms of connectivity, you have Dual-band WiFi 6E, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and Bluetooth 5.0 for the speediest of wired and wireless connections. For accessories and devices, you have 2x USB-C ports, 4x USB 3.1 bays, and another 4x USB 2.0 slots. For display, it's worth noting that the motherboard itself doesn't have an HDMI, so it depends entirely on the GPU's 1x HDMI and 3x DisplayPorts.

In terms of software, you get Windows 11 Home which comes with a 30-day trial of Microsoft Office 365, as well as DTS:X Ultra audio, and the Predator Sense monitoring software. This was useful for tracking fan speeds, accessing settings that are typically confined to the BIOS, and customizing lighting colors. It was a real benefit being able to change CPU overclocking profiles without footering about in the BIOS and going through restarts, but for the most part, I still used NZXT Cam as it gives a more conclusive view of temperatures and performance from a PC's anatomy.

Rounding out specs and features, allow me to run you through the configuration in a bit more detail. The brain of the computer is an unlocked Intel i9-13900KF, which has a stock frequency of 3000MHz, and 24 Cores (8 x P-Cores + 16 x E-Cores). It's backed by 32 threads and has a max boost clock speed of 5.4 GHz. There were three profiles to choose from when overclocking, although, in two rounds of benchmarking and playing around with them, they never made a lot of difference to in-game performance, they just meant louder fans and higher CPU temperatures. More on that in a bit. 

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 is as you'd expect, beefy, powerful, and genuinely awesome thanks to its 24GB of GDDR6X VRAM. For storage, you get 1TB of SSD from a Micron 3400 1TB NVMe gen 4 drive, and 2TB of HDD space. Additionally, one of my favorite things about the Predator Orion 7000's chassis is that there are hot-swap bays to add more SATA drives if you want even more room for games.

The biggest problem with the build, in my opinion, is the combination of the Acer Z790 motherboard, and its 32GB of Adata DDR5 RAM which has a quoted clock speed of 4800MHz, similar to the Sabrent Rocket DDR5 RAM we reviewed not so long ago. This is undoubtedly up there with the best RAM for gaming, but the catch with DDR5 is that to get the quoted speed on the box, you'll need to head into the BIOS and access things like XMP profiles. Unfortunately, Acer's BIOS menu has no XMP compatibility, and no way for you to customise RAM speed.

Gaming performance

Gaming performance from the refreshed Predator Orion 7000 is a conflict of extremes. On one hand, the fact you have pretty much the best CPU for gaming on the market alongside the best graphics card ever made means you get some stunning results no matter the title you throw at it (except any of the dodgy PC ports we've had so far in 2023, mind you).

On the other, much more frustrating side of things, you have fans that are so distracting and intrusive that they compromise a lot of experiences if you aren't wearing one of the best gaming headsets with active or passive noise canceling. I cannot express enough just how loud the fans of the Orion 7000 are. There were plenty of complaints about them in reviews this time last year, but with newer hardware that is more power-hungry across the board, you get fan speeds of over 9000RPM (must be read in Vegeta voice), and noise levels that gave my Ruark MR1 MK2 speakers a run for their money.

Not only that, but as good as the in-game performances are (we'll get to them in a second), this rig feels a bit hamstrung by the fact that you don't get a fraction of the help from the 32GB of DDR5 that you should. 

To my knowledge, it's always been the case with Acer's prebuilt gaming PCs that you can't overclock RAM or fine-tune its speeds. With previous versions of this PC being caught between generations so to speak, I could sort of understand that decision. But with a refresh to 13th Gen Intel CPUs that are known to run hot, and are designed for easy and safe XMP DDR5 overclocking, the decision to keep that unchanged is unimaginable to me. There is essentially no point in spending this much on a high-end PC if you can't boost the memory to the quoted 4800MHz or beyond. If anything, you could take some strain off the CPU and potentially help it to stay a bit cooler. The BIOS of this rig tells me it's capped at 4400MHz.

Heading back to the positive end of extremes, there's very little in the way of gaming performance that an RTX 4090 and 13th Gen Intel i9 processor can't handle. As you can see from the table below, the 4K, ray tracing, and maxed-out settings frame rates were very impressive. I may sound salty, but I can't help thinking they'd be improved further with some XMP profiles - as we've seen from a lot of our DDR5 RAM reviews of late.

Playing Control was smooth, Shadow of the Tomb Raider was just downright impressive, and in HUNT Showdown and Apex Legends, I played some incredibly tense matches, honestly feeling like I had an unfair advantage over my opponents. Of course, these beefy innards will never make you better at a game, but having every setting cranked up to full without the PC even really breaking a sweat is something else.

The outlier here is obviously Metro Exodus, as being honest I expected higher frame rates. On the other hand, even the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX didn't manage to get over 100fps in that game. Although, it did get a higher score in our testing rig that uses an Intel Core i7-12700K. For those interested, it scored 90fps.

Benchmark performance

I do want to quickly note that I had to do two different rounds of benchmarking for this PC. Despite the configuration having 32GB of RAM, the system was only quoting me 16GB out of the box. I thought I'd just been given a weaker configuration, but upon further inspection before writing up this review, I found that one of the RAM sticks hadn't been properly seated. When I reported this to Acer, they told me this was something that has been known to happen during the shipping process, and that they're working toward some kind of fix. Either way, it's something that goes against the entire ethos this type of PC stands for: simple plug-and-play gaming, with no knowledge of component surgery necessary.

This is definitely something I recommend double-checking if this is the gaming PC you buy. Having a single channel of RAM is not what you want when you spend this much on a computer. The worst part is, the RAM sticks have small stickers on them that say "warranty void if removed" - I'm not entirely sure if that's referring to the Predator liveried covers on the sticks, or indeed the RAM itself, but if it's the latter, that's the warranty of a four and half grand gaming PC voided straight out of the box. Not great. 

In any case, these are the benchmark scores I recorded after installing the RAM correctly.

One note I'd like to draw attention to is the CPU temperatures and fan speeds during these benchmarks. With minimal load, the CPU would operate at 28°C. During 3DMark's Fire Strike physics test, the i9-13900KF was at a toasty 98.86°C, and well above 80°C during Time Spy. This is despite the fans working overtime at 9246RPM while the Fire Strike test was running. Much has been said about how the latest generation of CPUs can run hot, but I'm shocked to see an i9 come this close to boiling point (literally) when the fans are kicking up as much noise as they do.

Rest assured, the CPU never got that hot during gameplay, with 4K maxed out Metro Exodus only claiming around 5% of the CPUs power. The RAM, for anyone interested, took readings of 36-36-36-70.

Encouragingly, this Fire Strike score overall is up from when we benchmarked and reviewed the previous generation configuration. That rig scored a 37 101, and housed an RTX 3090 and Intel Core i9-12900K. So, surprising nobody, there are definitely some substantial power increases from the last-gen version to this one.

Should you buy the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023)?

Should you buy one of the priciest big-name pre-built gaming PCs on the market? On paper, and when it comes to in-game performances, the answer's a pretty simple yes. When you spend over four grand on a PC, you're going to get some serious bang for your buck. There's barely any game you could throw at the refreshed Acer Predator Orion 7000 that it won't crunch up and spit out with ease. If you have the money for it, this is a cracking PC to play games on.

Having said that, if you're going to buy this monster of a gaming PC, I would strongly, strongly urge you to take a look at the best PC headset for gaming, because by golly are you going to need it. The fans in this rig seem louder than they've ever been, and in all honesty, don't do a great job of keeping the components cool. 13th Gen CPUs are known to run hot, but no one should have to suffer this much noise pollution for temperatures that are still this high. 

Finally, if you have any aspirations to upgrade or adapt this PC as time goes on, I'd suggest thinking again. For a refreshed motherboard that's been put in place to cater to 13th Gen CPU clock speeds, I'm baffled that there's no XMP compatibility or even any way for you to fine-tune your memory speeds. Overclocking the CPU is possible, and easier than ever thanks to Predator Sense, though. 

Overall, this is a titan of the pre-built gaming PC world. If you can put up with obnoxiously loud fans (and I mean obnoxiously loud), and you have the money to pay for a DDR5 system that won't really make use of true DDR5 speeds, then this is your ship to go down with.

How we tested the Acer Predator Orion 7000

I put the 13th Gen Acer Predator Orion 7000 to work over the last month or so to test its high-end capabilities. I used it for a mixture of work and play, and put it through plenty of industry-standard benchmark tests. 

While playing games, I never had to crank down the settings of what I was playing to below 4K maxed-out settings. If a title had ray tracing or DLSS I'd test out performance with and without, using CPUZ, Geekbench, 3DMark, and NZXT Cam to benchmark and record information about each component of the rig. 

In the unfortunate case that you aren't happy with how I've gone about this review, you can take a look at our Hardware Policy to see how we test the latest gaming tech. Thereafter, feel free to write me a strongly worded email or a handwritten letter.

Want to take your games on the go? Take a look at the best gaming laptops, the best Nintendo Switch accessories, and the best gaming earbuds.

Acer has unveiled its latest line of Predator gaming laptops at a global press briefing today, as well as a new desktop gaming PC called the Orion X. Unlike previous Orion models, the Predator Orion X houses the latest flagship components in a much smaller form-factor, aiming to offer the trifecta of power, efficiency, and design.

The new desktop, which is bound to be in consideration as one of the best gaming PCs on its release, has a case unlike any we've seen from the brand before, with a removable magnetic front cover, headphone hook, and metal side plates to protect the beefy innards.

The Predator Orion X will be available in North America in September, starting at $2,999.99. In Europe, also in September, an Orion X will cost 2,499 Euros. While no UK price has been confirmed, this European price translates to £2,203.

Although no word has come just yet about lower-end configurations, Acer says the new gaming desktop can house up to the special edition 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900KS processor and up to a liquid-cooled NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, custom-engineered to fit all this power in a small, portable chassis. 

This processor features 24 cores, 32 threads, 150W TDP with the latest hybrid architecture, and can hit a record-setting 6Ghz for high-powered processor performance.

In the briefing, Acer added that this will be one of the smallest chassis worldwide to fit an RTX 4090, and its custom-engineered liquid-cooling module is necessary to do so.

Despite these extremely powerful innards, the case itself only weighs in at 9kg, making it one of the most compact cases since the Corsair One. It features specific "zones" for the various PC components, which will seemingly make modifying and upgrading parts later on all the easier. The Predator Orion X already comes with up to 32 GB DDR5-5600 RAM, two M.2 SSDs (up to 1 TB each), and an illuminated, hot-swap NVMe M.2 SSD drive bay for added capacity, similar to the hot-swap storage solutions of the Predator Orion 7000.

In terms of connectivity, the Orion X will feature frontal and rear ports. On the front, you'll find A USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C, a Gen1 Type-A, Mic, and an audio jack. Meanwhile, the rear will have USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 USB-C, 3x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A1, and RJ45 ports.

The Orion X was just one of many Predator products revealed at today's briefing. Acer also announced a new 44.5-inch Ultra-wide monitor called the Acer Predator Nitro XZ452CU V.

This new display will have a 1500 curvature, a 32:9 1440p display, a 165Hz refresh rate, and supports AMD FreeSync Premium Pro. It also has a VESA DisplayHDR 400 rating, and a slew of great connectivity and features for a monitor of that stature.

The Nitro X2452CU will be available in the US in Q4 of 2023, starting at $999.99

Want to see what ultra-wide monitors you can get a hold of right now? Check out our list of the best ultra-wide monitors, the best high refresh rate monitors, and the best 4K monitors for gaming.

Acer only just dipped its toe into the OLED gaming monitor world last year in the form of the behemoth CG48 model. Now it's taking that high-contrast technology and running with it for CES 2023. Two new OLED displays are on the menu with the Acer Predator X27U and X45 officially announced, so we're diving into the specs to see what kind of threat they pose to the best gaming monitors on the market right now. 

Both screens offer a robust 1440p resolution across a 240Hz variable refresh rate and a nice DCI-P3 98.5% color gamut to go with that HDR10 as well. However, the former does so in a standard 27-inch form factor while the Predator X45 is taking aim at the big-screen curved gaming monitor market. That 800R curvature isn't going to be as all-encompassing as Samsung's Odyssey range but paired with those vibrant colors, deep blacks, and variable refresh rates there's still a lot to take in.

Everything looks good from a PC perspective, but Acer's also taking aim at the console market here. Both screens offer a full USB hub to keep all your peripherals in check, as well as a 90W USB-C port and two HDMI 2.0 slots. After all, a 45-inch screen isn't going to fit into a cozy PC setup - anyone after a PS5 monitor or Xbox Series X monitor will have plenty to feast their eyes on.

There is one caveat to this console focus, though. The drop in resolution means you're not quite getting a built-for-console experience here. Yes, both the Xbox Series X and PS5 now support native 1440p output, but they were really built to shine on a UHD display with an HDMI 2.1 cable in hand. For all the OLED glory, that's not the language this spec sheet is speaking, so there's a decision to be made here. 

With some stiff competition from the likes of LG, Asus, and Gigabyte, these screens are going to need to fight. The LG 48GQ900-B, Asus ROG Swift PG48UQ, and Gigabyte Aorus FO48U can't quite catch up with Acer's 240Hz refresh rate, but they're giving it a good run with higher 4K resolutions and the HMDI 2.1 ports to make good on them. We don't have a price list on Acer's new contenders, but it's going to make all the difference in this competition.

Whatever happens, these screens aren't going to be cheap - we'd recommend checking out the latest gaming monitor deals if you're after something a little more wallet friendly right now. Or, take a look at the best gaming TVs if you don't want to drop that big-screen experience. We're also rounding up all the best 4K monitors for gaming as well. 

Last month, Blizzard acknowledged that the unpopularity of the support role was hurting Overwatch 2's queue times, and it expressed a desire to make the role more fun going forward, but many support fans worry that the new season may have made the role more frustrating than ever.

Season 2 of Overwatch 2 is live, and it came with a big batch of hero balance changes intended to shake up the meta alongside the release of the new tank Ramattra in Overwatch 2. Doomfist is handily the biggest winner of the patch and is currently riding high on a wave of buffs that some top players argue are completely overpowered, though the jury's still out on the general community consensus. However, there's no doubt that Doomfist is going to be more of a menace going forward, and many support mains, who've received exceedingly minor buffs mixed with a few nerfs, are worried about the state of the game.

A recurring grievance with playing support in Overwatch 2 has been how easily other heroes can absolutely eat you alive, even when you stick close to your tank, or indeed your entire team, like a good little healer. The likes of Genji and Tracer (who's been buffed after a bug fix, as it happens) have become particularly infamous here, but they're far from the only ones, and Doomfist is also now primed to join the ranks of the support slayers. Even Sojourn, whose infamous railgun was toned down in Season 2, got a buff to her primary weapon fire which will make her more lethal in close quarters. 

Meanwhile, the few supports mentioned in the Season 2 patch were barely touched. Ana's sleep dart cooldown was reduced from 15 seconds to 14. Mercy's weapon swap time was reduced by 0.15 seconds and her blaster got five extra rounds in the mag. Kiriko, meanwhile, had her ultimate nerfed considerably while her other abilities received small boosts like an ammo increase and a cast time reduction for her protection. 

To sum up, the fear is that a lot of damage and tank heroes just got considerably stronger, while already struggling supports barely got anything. The response to these hero adjustments – which, to be fair, don't seem to represent the in-progress "role-wide changes" that Blizzard mentioned when it committed to improving support – has been mixed, to say the least. The meta still needs to settle, but many early impressions aren't good news for supports. This Blizzard forum post from Chubbyboy sums it up nicely: "Good luck, supports." 

"Supports are huge sitting ducks, more than ever," SnowGhost writes in one of today's hottest forum posts. 

"Now instead of the DPS focusing the supports all game, now you’ve also got [Doomfist] and [Roadhog] doing it too," says Spudicus. "The entire point of every game is for everyone to focus the supports and now there’s no [crowd control] or shields to save them." 

"Sorry about your luck, tank and DPS players," quips Azrael. "I know it gets hard when support is showered with all this attention." 

The Overwatch subreddit is similarly pessimistic. "Support is going to be rough this season," bemoans ZaytexZanshin. "Season 2 is just extremely unfun for supports if left as is," adds MasonPopcorn. 

Doomfist is a recurring pain point in these discussions, and the newly buffed Tracer is close behind. "Doomfist is stuck to your face, Tracer is stuck to your face, Sojourn is zipping around the map as fast as Tracer right-clicking everything every two seconds, but luckily you have five extra bullets," as Antici-----pation put it in one comment. 

Some support fans expect Season 2 to suffer from even longer damage and tank queues, which would be bad news for everyone. It's still early days for the new season, but all signs indicate Overwatch 2 still has a support problem. 

The good news is that, beginning with Season 2, Blizzard made new Overwatch 2 heroes slightly easier to get, though you'll still need to grind or pay up. 

Overwatch 2 Season 2 will bring long-awaited Sojourn nerfs along with Doomfist buffs and additional changes for six other heroes. 

Blizzard shared a rough outline of next season's balance changes in a recent blog post. The famously busted DPS Sojourn is at the top of the list, as lead hero designer Alec Dawson hinted at after the game's first big round of nerfs was announced. 

Blizzard reiterated that it's looking to address Sojourn's dominance while accommodating feedback that she's a high-skill hero who actually underperforms at lower competitive ranks. "We’ll be focusing on the lethality of her Railgun at distance for Season 2, encouraging players to make use of Sojourn’s high mobility to close the distance for the more devastating right-clicks," the studio says, seemingly heading off player concerns that the hero will be terrible at all ranks after being toned down. 

Doomfist, one of several weak tanks due for buffs, is also singled out. Blizzard promises "significant changes that better support his role as the team’s front line, while still maintaining the playstyle core to his Hero identity." 

Season 2 will also revisit Ana, Bastion, Junker Queen, Kiriko, Mercy, and Symmetra. Junker Queen is likely due for some buffs, though perhaps not as many as Doomfist for now. Minor buffs for Symmetra were also previously mentioned. 

It's interesting to see Kiriko on the list considering she was just nerfed, albeit only slightly, a few weeks ago. Oppositely, it's a little surprising to see Tracer miss the cut, even though the hero is apparently so weak that Blizzard was willing to overlook a massive damage bug that worked in her favor.  

Over on the Overwatch 2 subreddit, there's a fair bit of anxiety around how Ana might be changed (read: possibly nerfed), as well as plenty of players calling for Bastion's ultimate to be taken down a peg. 

Overwatch 2 players will "have to wait" a bit longer for more news on the whole PvE thing. 

Back in May, Square Enix sold Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal to the Embracer Group in a deal said to be worth $300 million. In doing so, Square Enix gave up around 50 games across its back catalog, including the rights to everything from Tomb Raider to Thief, Deus-Ex, and Legacy of Kain. The implications of that deal were, and still are, huge. And while all I really want is a Soul Reaver remaster in the middle of things, I'm far from alone – GamesRadar+ Senior Guides Coordinator Leon Hurley makes a strong case here for why a Soul Reaver Remake is the perfect way to bring the series back on PS5.  

This might be wishful thinking on our parts, granted, but it seems Embracer Group and Crystal Dynamics may now be thinking similar things. The results of the latter's interest-gauging questionnaire are in (issued last month to players interested in seeing the return of the Legacy of Kain series), having returned over 100,000 responses. "73,000 gamers completed it entirely," said Crystal Dynamics CEO Phil Rogers during an Embracer earnings call. "And if you are one of them, we thank you very much and we appreciate it was quite an effort given the survey was pretty extensive… Rest assured, we hear you loudly and clearly, and we'll continue to update you on the 'what if' possibilities ahead for Legacy of Kain in the future."

Which is pretty exciting. So exciting, in fact, that the Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver community can't believe it. "The cut content from the first Soul Reaver game alone is the stuff of legend," explains long-serving player and Soul Reaver remaster campaigner Federico Barreri, also known online as Wrongnu. "I don't exaggerate when I say many of us would have a heart attack if such a thing were made playable. This is so exciting."

Legacy matters

How Crystal Dynamics chooses to revitalize the Legacy of Kain series, assuming it even will, remains to be seen. But of all the Legacy of Kain games, surely Soul Reaver is the most intriguing? Set 1,500 years after Blood Omen, it has alternate dimensions, exploding vampires, sacrosanct clans and gods, and a son seeking vengeance on his father, all wrapped up in a solid action brawler-meets-RPG with Metroidvania elements before the term was as commonplace as it is today. In this age of video game remakes, where so many classics are being treated to a fresh lick of paint and mechanical overhauls, Soul Reaver ticks all of the boxes. Right?  

Barreri certainly thinks so. He says: "The sense of desolation, loneliness, and free exploration – Soul Reaver does what many games fail to do even today. It lets you make that world yours, it makes you learn the pattern of the enemies, and understand where all the interconnected areas lead. It's not without its flaws, but the idea of playing as the 'son' of the previous game's protagonist, hellbent on murdering his creator? That's a pretty bold narrative choice – it blew my mind back then, and it still does when I think about it now."

"The Resident Evil remakes really started a new era for games remakes too. Soul Reaver is a peculiar creature because while imperfect, anyone I've spoken to who's played it will tell you the pros far outweigh the cons. That said, there is a lot of room for improvement. For me, many things should be reimagined entirely, as I don't think a frame-by-frame remake – similar to, say, Bluepoint's Shadow of the Colossus and Demon's Souls – would work. I think reimagining a significant amount of features from scratch would help bring the essence of the original game in line with modern standards – including combat, puzzles (don't get me started on those stupid blocks), and, of course, graphics. Before Kratos, Raziel was one of PlayStation's main champions. He's a badass, both in design and backstory."

Barreri says the Legacy of Kain community is now abuzz with speculation and excitable guesswork as to where the overarching series might land next. Barreri himself says he'd more than welcome a Soul Reaver remake, incorporating the modern nips and tucks outlined above, while also using EA and Capcom's Dead Space and Resident Evil remakes as points of reference. The game's controls, physics, puzzles, combat, cutscenes, and dub, all should be reworked, reckons Barreri, while maintaining the tone and legacy of the original game. But his true desire would be to see the original 1999 action-adventure game remastered, with prettier visuals and a distinguished twist to satisfy long-standing fans. 

He adds: "I've campaigned on social media for years to see a Soul Reaver remaster (not a remake, not yet at least). With time, I came up with the idea that the best possible solution – and this is something I pointed out in the survey – would be to have the game in its original, unadulterated form, with improved graphics and a twist: after clearing the game once – in pure Yoko Taro/NieR-style – you could replay the game by unlocking an extended version of the game, containing all the never-before-seen cut content restored. That'd include The Undercity, the final brother Turel, the third Kain fight with Ariel's sacrifice to empower the Reaver, and the final onslaught of vampires at the Silenced Cathedral. And, of course, the completely different, alternate ending."

"If you were to check my social media activity, that's pretty much my gaming dream. I'd love a complete Soul Reaver remake,  but a remastered 'Director's Cut' is definitely my own first priority. And I can assure you many others within the community would love to see such a thing. Basically, I think that a series, before moving on with new products, should complete everything that was left unfinished. And, as I said, as good as it is, there's still so much of Soul Reaver that remains unfinished."

Crystal clear

Again, whether or not Crystal Dynamics chooses to "finish" Soul Reaver one way or another remains to be seen – but what is definitely clear at this stage is how celebrated Raziel's adventures still are today. In the process of announcing the conclusion of the questionnaire, Crystal Dynamics CEO Phil Rogers said that, in his experience, a census of this nature would normally return two to three thousand replies. To receive more than 33 times that number tells you everything you need to know about this fanbase. 

Speaking directly to that passion, Barreri says: "I'm biased, but, oh man, you have no idea how passionate this group is. I've seen many fandoms, but the special thing about this one is it's made up of smart, understanding and mature people, all around the world. We might be separated by all kinds of barriers, from language to timezones, but there are many, many Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver fans out there, and today I think we're more united than ever. It's an extremely dedicated but also chill fandom, all working towards the same cause: to see the return of Soul Reaver – be that a remaster or a fully-fledged remake. Today, something that once seemed so unlikely seems more possible now than ever."

If you'd like to follow Soul Reaver remaster campaigner Federico Barreri, aka Wrongnu, you can do so via his Twitter page, or via the hashtags #RestoreSoulReaverCutContent and #SoulReaverUncutRemaster2022.   

The best action games are sure to keep you on your toes 

Roughly a month after the release of Overwatch 2, the Overwatch League competitive scene is rapidly being reduced to teams of the same five heroes. 

Earlier this week, Reddit user SomeoneTookTehroo flagged the extremely skewed data from the latest round of the tournament using the Overwatch League's official stats lab. Looking at data for all teams from this week, the go-to roster consists almost exclusively of Lucio, Sojourn, Kiriko, Reaper, and Winston. 

All five of these heroes are sitting above a 90% usage rate for the week, with Lucio in literally 100% of teams, and Sojourn and Kiriko close behind at 99.8% and 98.4% respectively. Reaper is the fourth-lowest at a still-staggering 95% usage, and Winston is bringing up the rear at 92.6%. To put this into perspective, the sixth most-used hero is Brigitte at just 4.9%, followed by Tracer at 3.6% and Baptiste 1.6%. 

To be fair, this stats lab is technically in beta, and this trend does soften a fair bit if you extend the data range. The past three weeks of data still heavily favor Sojourn and Lucio, but we also see a healthy presence from Zarya and Genji, much more Baptiste, and a fair bit of Tracer and Ana. However, as of two weeks ago, the Overwatch League meta has firmly settled on the aforementioned team of five. 

You can find mirror matches of this exact lineup in many recent games featuring totally different teams from multiple regions. It's gotten to the point that basically every match archive uploaded to the Overwatch League YouTube channel is bombarded by the same, stamped-out comments lamenting 'another match featuring this team.' 

Lucio has been a staple since Overwatch 2 launched, and per our Overwatch 2 support tier list, newcomer Kiriko quickly rose through the ranks once more people got access to her. Many players reckon the rest of this meta team is the result of Sojourn being so incredibly broken that she warps everything around her. 

"Winston is meta because it's the best tank at killing Sojourn," argues Redditor wolf495, echoing the thoughts of many players. "Reaper is meta because it's the best DPS for killing Winston. Sojourn is meta because it is overpowered." 

"A weakened Zarya cannot effectively dive a team nor can it protect," damoreweed agrees. "While Zarya is trying to get a charge her team is getting distracted by a Winston who has a bubble containing DPS and heals, while the frontline is shredding. Hence the Reaper pick. Hence the Winston pick. Then it becomes a battle of Sojourn." 

Blizzard just announced the first major Overwatch 2 balance patch, which will nerf Genji, Zarya, Somba, D.Va, and Kiriko to varying degrees. Lead hero designer Alec Dawson also said that the team is taking a hard look at Sojourn to see how to readjust her without ruining her hero identity. 

Overwatch 2 is also buffing its weaker tanks starting with Doomfist, and Blizzard says helping supports is a "long-term focus." 

The Overwatch 2 DPS tier list is settling into its meta and we’ve spent significant time with each of the seventeen DPS heroes, getting a pretty good handle on what is good, and what isn’t. The Damage role is the flashiest and most popular, and with one less tank on the field, they/re empowered to make more plays and have a bigger impact than they ever had in Overwatch 2’s predecessor. Most Overwatch 2 characters and roles have changed a fair amount so there's a lot to take in. 

We’ve taken the stance of coming at this Overwatch 2 DPS tier list from the point of view of an average player, so while Top 500 and Overwatch League pros may rate heroes a little different, they play a much more coordinated, shot-called style that isn’t feasible for most players. What works at those levels isn’t going to be what you can climb through Bronze and Diamond reliably with. If do you want to ascend past those ranks, we’ve compiled a list of the Overwatch 2 damage characters we think are the easiest to do it with. To help you and your friends coordinate, we've also got the an Overwatch 2 tank tier list and an Overwatch 2 Support Tier List to help you get a feel for the other options on the playing field.

The best DPS heroes to play as in Overwatch 2

• S: Sojourn, Genji,
• A: Sombra, Ashe, Soldier 76, Tracer, Reaper
• B: Echo, Widowmaker, Hanzo, Cassidy, Pharah, Mei
• C: Bastion, Junkrat, Torbjorn
• D: Symmetra

In terms of what is generally doing great right now in the Damage role are high-mobility Overweatch 2 heroes, like with Tanks and Supports. D.VA and Winston are excellent tanks right now, and Lucio and Kiriko are moving and zooming around the battlefield. That’s why characters like Genji, Sombra, and Tracer are running rings around players.

However, that’s only one-half of it. With one less tank on the field, there's much less getting in the way of Damage dealers and their prey. Because of that, ranged heroes are excelling, as they can output enormous damage from general safety. Sojourn is running riot right now, and is one of the most powerful heroes in the game, while Ashe, Soldier, and Widowmaker are all very strong choices too. 

As ever in Overwatch 2 though, use tier lists as general suggestions, rather than gospel. If you're great with Junkrat and seeing success, you should stick to what is working for you. That said, if you’re feeling a little lost with what to play, we’re here to provide some suggestions. 

Sojourn

Sojourn is the newest DPS and she is doing exceptionally well. She can one-tap enemies after charging her railgun shot, which is very easy to do. Add her exceptionally good movement on top, and she can be the biggest force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. She’s one of the best heroes in the game right now and is even a strong candidate for a nerf or two. 

Genji

Genji is enjoying time in the spotlight currently, as he's come flying out the gates. He's benefitting massively from the reduction of crowd control abilities. Dive compositions are generally strong right now, so flanking heroes are doing great, and Genji is enjoying it the most. With no stuns, the cyborg-ninja has very little getting in the way of tearing through weaker targets.

Sombra

Sombra has seen a rework in Overwatch 2, meaning she can stay invisible while hacking and is more of a silent assassin, rather than a disabler she was previously. She's now a menace to backlines everywhere, so if you want to be the reason Zenyattas and Anas stay up at night, Sombra is for you. She's an excellent flanker right now, and her hack brings some extra utility, being able to interrupt abilities on top of everything. If she has to teleport out, she can go absent from fights, but if you know what you're doing, Sombra has a lot of potential right now. 

Ashe

As with Sojourn, Ashe is benefiting greatly from the loss of one shield. With less in the way, there is less obstructing her shots, making her a menace if she’s accurate. She can take over games if she finds the right angles, and BOB remains a great ultimate. Few heroes can do as much work as Ashe can, and while she's susceptible to dives, her coach gun and team can usually bail her out. 

Soldier 76

Soldier 76, or Legs more colloquially, is enjoying clearer sightlines along with all of the other hitscan characters in the game. His ability to run makes him excellent for getting around and as established, movement is king right now. His Ultimate generally has an easier time finding value too, though shields and D.VA can still absorb a lot. That said, Soldier feels like a strong all-around pick that can do damage and allows you be a little more self-sufficient.

Tracer

Some people out there think that because Tracer had a slight damage nerf, she isn’t that good anymore. Those people are wrong. In a fast-flowing meta like we have now, she can be a menace to supports and backlines everywhere. She functions very similarly to Sombra, but has a little more in-fight sustain, and generally more damage.

Reaper

Reaper is a bit of a sleeper pick right now and can be utilized as a battering ram for your team. While her can’t keep up with the pace of most of the best compositions, he doesn’t have to. With only one tank on the enemy team and a buff to his shotgun spread, he can shred through the enemy’s key player, with the added nicety of being able to get out of situations if you’ve committed too hard.

Echo

Echo, as ever, is a finicky character and she is a harder, more technical character to get your head around especially if you are new or returning to Overwatch. She suffers somewhat from the abundance of hitscan, though if you can utilize her exceptional time-to-kill, movement, and ultimate, you will become the carry for your game. 

Widowmaker

Widowmaker is dependent on quite a few factors, the most important being, can you click on heads? Like other hitscans, Widowmaker can take over the battlefield with one less tank on the field, however, she's a juicy dive target. If the enemy team is running heroes that can get at her like Winston, Sombra, and Genji, she can be caught out very easily with no way to defend herself. 

Hanzo

Hanzo is just generally in a decent place right now. If you need burst damage from range, he can do great, and also with one less tank around, there’s a much bigger chance of a stray arrow finding a head. That said, he’s fairly stationary, and he can’t fight at as safe a distance as someone like Widowmaker, meaning that the quick heroes that are doing great right now can usually get at him, making him have to hit very difficult shots under pressure. 

Cassidy

Cassidy is perhaps the least inspiring ranged hitscan character (excluding Bastion), but that doesn’t mean he can’t do great. He has to get in the thick of things a little more than say Ashe and can’t get away like Soldier, but he's a menace if you’re proficient at getting headshots. His new sticky grenade is also a great way to kill an enemy who you’ve headshot, meaning he can win a one-on-one very quickly.

Pharah

Pharah is often like making a bet against the enemy team. If you're feeling confident that they don’t have a great ranged hitscan player and you're right, you'll run amok as the enemy team desperately flails to counter you. However, if they do, you’re going to be sent back to the respawn room quickly. She both benefits and is hurt by the loss of a second tank, as there is much less getting in the way of her spam fire, but also, ranged characters, as established, are thriving.

Mei

Mei has lost her ability to freeze opponents with her left click, but in turn, gained a big damage buff to her spray. This makes it work almost like a flamethrower now, and if the enemy team is bunched up, you can output a monstrous amount of damage. Her ability to use icicles to the enemy heads to wipe them out remains strong and her ultimate is great for securing a couple of kills. Her biggest issue right now is a meta one, as enemies are generally more spread out and moving quickly, she’s not a great match-up against what’s very good right now.

Bastion

Bastion has seen a rework in Overwatch 2, making him a more active character than what came previously. You can now move around in his turret form on a timer and he has a fun grenade he can use to burst players or use as a movement tool. That said, Bastion’s new ultimate (now it’s fixed) is one of the worst DPS ultimates in the game, and with so much mobility, he needs an entire team to protect him if he’s going to live long enough to output the massive damage he’s capable of.

Junkrat

There's a playstyle to Junkrat that can work. If you love to use your Concussion Mines to fly through the sky and reposition constantly, he can work and be an absolute menace against the enemy team. That said, it’s a very risky play, and you can easily put yourself in too much danger. With tanks like Zarya and D.VA doing well, his damage can be eaten or worse, used against him in the form of a charged Zarya. If you’re a Junkrat one-trick who knows all the moves, go for it, but generally, he feels risky against what's currently powerful.

Torbjorn

Look, Torbjorn can do great, especially in lower levels. If the enemy team doesn’t have a tank that can mitigate his Turret damage, it will constantly be plinking away at the enemy’s health. His Ultimate is great for area denial too. That said, with fewer bodies in the way, it’s generally fairly easy for a ranged character to nullify his turret and he’s generally fairly uninspiring when he’s without it. 

Symmetra

No beating around the bush, Symmetra feels a little lost in Overwatch 2. With fewer shields around, she struggles to charge her beam as quickly, and with no Assault maps in the rotation anymore, she struggles to build the defensive setups she excels at. She can sometimes find purchase on Control maps, but she feels like probably the worst hero in the game right now - even outside of the DPS role.

The Acer Predator X38 is my kind of proposition when it comes to researching and testing the best gaming monitor: go big or go home. It's a big beautiful beast, and it is stacked with gaming specs and chops to make sure it performs beautifully too. And it does.

Now admittedly the 'big' might not be as gargantuan as the 49-inch ultrawide monitors and curved gaming monitors we know are in the market, but a 38-inch curved panel is beastly and still offers an excellent amount of gaming immersion, as well as screen real estate for work and productivity.

It isn't a budget purchase, unfortunately, and is at the other end of the spectrum compared to its Acer Nitro XV340CK cousin. But it's seriously good, and if you are looking for one big monitor to be a go-to, one-and-done solution, then the Acer Predator X38 is ready and waiting to take up that challenge. And boy, does it deliver when doing so.

As a short note, before we dive in, there are still a couple of different variants of the X38 seemingly available out in the wild - ours was the Pbmiphzx model.

Design

Coming from Acer's predator line, this beast has more of a 'gaming' aesthetic draped over it. However, that's not to be dismissive of it as I quite like the angular lines and flourishes - even though you won't see much of that once it's in place. But if you do have more of an open layout, I think it'll be right at home in many gaming-focused or gaming-first setups. It really is an Acer monitor with that famous look - but bigger.

However, with much of the angles and lines hidden, what you might see is the stand. This is pretty chunky and takes up a bit of desk space but it also offers a large amount of adjustability for the screen too - something that you might not expect from such a big screen. Where some ultrawide can remove such flexibility from the equation, the X38 had loads of movement on the stand from up and down height, to angled movement, to tilt, and so on. It's also strong and stable, and the space it takes up also means its stable as heck too.

However, personally, as with the Nitro I tested earlier this year I negated the need for the stand by mounting it onto a monitor arm (it's VESA mounting compatible at 100mm x 100mm). This is a great benefit for such a beastly screen, though still something I'd expect, and certainly at this price point.

Features

The massive screen is, of course, the main feature - when is it not in ultrawides particularly?

This X38 has a 38-inch Agile-splendor IPS panel that oozes Acer pedigree and offers strong starting specs of a 0.3ms GtG response time, and a 175Hz refresh - plenty fast enough for such a sizeable ultrawide monitor. To this, add G-Sync Ultimate to ensure you have the smoothest images, DisplayDHR 600 to offer punchy and vibrant colours and this UWQHD+ resolution, 2300R curved beauty starts to take real shape and offer a bundle of gaming goodness. The 3840x1600, 21:9 resolution is further complimented by a 98% DCI-P3 colour gamut too. 

In terms of being relentlessly sensible and objectively functional, you're well set on ports too with one HDMI 2.0, one DisplayPort 1.4 and a USB 3.0 hub consisting of four ports. USB-C connectivity would have been nice though.

Chuck in some half-decent speakers, and some useful Acer monitor presets which aren't too baffling and enable me to find my setting pretty easily, and a fulsome feature set proves to be on offer - though it should be at this price.

Performance

The first thing I noticed and grew to love when using the X38 is the gentle curve of 2300R - it's just nowhere near as harsh or aggressive as those new waves of ultrawide curved screens going for the 1000R measure. At 2300R, it's a relaxed curve, and one that softly wraps around you - however, the immersion doesn't really get impacted by this as there's just so much screen to take in; your eyes are really blessed. I think the sweet spot might just still be under the 2000R mark - 1800R or 1900R - but it then depends on desk space, setup, screen size, and so on. And preference, of course.

However, compared to those slightly smaller 34-35 inch models which might have that stronger curve, I came to really value the extra inches of screen, as well as the extra height and width. All of this makes it a great monitor for work, ensuring there's plenty of space no matter the task.

But, as I've said, the Acer Predator X38 has gaming at its forefront, and it's easily one of the best gaming monitor experiences I've had in a long while.

Any and all games are served brilliantly with the Predator X38. Teaming a massive ultrawide resolution with speedy specs really does cater for most needs and gaming approaches or preferences: on one hand, you get the immersion and incredibly expansive experiences in strategy and RPG games, but on the other, you can equally get nippy, responsive experiences in shooters and online play.

From Dawn of War III and Troy: Total War, where the X38 treats me with expansive views and ensures I can see an incredible amount of my conquests, to the open landscapes of  Red Dead 2 where I can really soak up America's Big Country, and from Apex Legends where the X38's HDR and colour performance ensures everything punches and is vividly bright, to revisiting The Witcher (yes, the first one, don't @ me) was a joy, where the X38 enhanced my enjoyment enough to make me forget about the weird controls I've had to get used to, this monitor provided me with joyous experiences across the board.

Away from gaming, it's brilliant for work. I've loved switching from two flat screen 27-inch monitors, to a single, but large, ultrawide, ensuring I don't miss out on the functionality of that dual-screen amount of space, while also tidying up my setup by the measure of a few cables.

Overall - should you buy the Acer Predator X38?

The X38 could really be a one-stop solution for a gaming and work monitor for a lot of people. It just does both excellently, providing awesome experiences in both no matter what you throw at it. It looks perfect when on a gaming desk, and has the chops to perform well in pretty much all types of games, while also being a perfect work monitor given its screen space and curve.

For those looking for more, you could always consider the similarly priced Samsung Odyssey Neo G9, and for those who might not want to go this full-on with an ultrawide, there's the AOC CU34G2X both of which offer excellent experiences for their price tags. And the price tag will be a hurdle for folks when looking at the X38: it is a big investment of course. But I would say that given its pedigree and overall competency in all fields, that four-figure price tag is largely justified - though, in autumn 2022, it might be too much for many.

Overall, for me, the Acer Predator X38 really is hard to beat; I'm going to stick with the X38 for as long as I'm allowed to use it - it's simply a truly terrific do-it-all screen for gaming and work.

How we tested the Acer Predator X38

The X38 became my main, and only, monitor for work and for PC gaming for many weeks. It was fully incorporated into my setup for both work and play: I greatly enjoyed the screen real estate, and accessing multiple windows, programs, and tasks for the former, and then immersed myself fully in Total War: Troy, Dawn of War III, Red Dead Redemption II, and The Witcher 1 for the latter. 

You can read more on how we test gaming monitors at GamesRadar+ as well as our more holistic approach to gaming tech in our full Hardware Policy.

If you're after something that is still specialist but in a different manner, then head over to our guides on the best 4K monitors for gaming and the best G-Sync monitors.

Reviewed with a Razer Blade 15 laptop supplied by Razer.

Nintendo got everyone talking with the reveal of the first Super Mario movie poster, but probably not about what it was expecting.

In case you missed it, today Nintendo announced a new Direct for this Thursday all about the Mario movie, and in doing so revealed our very first look at the adaptation. The image shows a town of Toads and mushrooms and Cheep Cheeps and all sorts of Nintendoness, and front in center is an ass so flat it looks concave. You can just make out the pouch of air in the back of Mario's jeans where a vacuum of space exists in place of his derrière.

If there's one thing that never goes unnoticed on the internet, it's an ass of disagreeable proportions. Overwatch's Tracer ushered in the original "Buttgate" back in 2016, drawing valid criticism around the sexualization of a female video game character, but the 2022 version of this caboose-centered controversy is a lot more silly, thankfully.

Behold, Buttgate '22.

As you can see, some folks are simply poking fun at the plump-less plumber, while others are arguing against Nintendo's logic here. It's true that you'd expect a far more robust ass from someone that does as much legwork as Mario, but you also have to keep in mind that he's been butt-stomping hard surfaces for like, 26 years. I can only imagine the kind of damage that's done to his ischial tuberosity.

Anyway, hopefully we'll see if Chris Pratt's take on the character is any less or more flattering when the first Mario movie trailer debuts at New York Comic Con on Thursday.

The Mario movie is set to premiere in April 2023.

In the meantime, check out the best video game movies ever made.

Blizzard has published a preview of some of the Overwatch 2 Hero changes coming at launch over its previous betas, and players are scared of the prospects of a new passive ability making DPS heroes faster.

In Overwatch 2, each role - tank, support, and DPS - gets a passive ability. In the betas, DPS players retained 30% of their ultimate power when swapping heroes. That passive now applies to all heroes, so you'll have much less of a penalty for hero swapping regardless of which role you play.

"Of course, that means the DPS role once again finds itself without a role passive," Blizzard explains in its patch notes post. "So along with this change, we're introducing a new passive to DPS that increases their movement speed and reload speed by 25% for a brief window after getting an elimination. We believe that this change is the right balance of rewarding players who perform well in the Damage role without being overpowered. However, in future seasons, we may continue to experiment with what these passives do as we look to shake up the meta regularly."

While Blizzard's indicating that this passive is open to change, players are already frightened of the possibility of speeding up DPS heroes.

"That new DPS passive does not sound healthy," Reddit user haydnc95 says. "Imagine an even faster Tracer or Genji in the backline, no thanks. We don't need faster DPS and they don't need a universal passive."

"What are they thinking with the dps passive?" sgtcuddles asks. "Can't wait for a teammate to get picked then reaper getting a free speedboost into my team."

"The only thing I dislike is the dps passive," eGG__23 says. "As someone who plays squishy supports with no mobility, having the enemy dps suddenly become faster to kill me is one of the reasons I hated the first beta. I really hope they redo the passive. It seems like they’re open to it once the game launches. And who knows? Maybe dps don’t even need a passive."

We'll see what effect the new passive has on the game soon enough, a these changes should be live in Overwatch League competition on September 22, ahead of the game's full launch on October 4.

We recently learned that lead hero designer Geoff Goodman has left the Overwatch team - he had been with the game since some of its earliest iterations.

The NBA 2K23 ratings list is here, and the usual question is being asked – just how good is Giannis Antetokounmpo? The answer, perhaps unsurprisingly, is very good, with the Greek Freak being rated slightly better than LeBron James in NBA 2K23, which pretty much tells you all you need to know. Of course, there are plenty of other considerations with this list, such as the placements for cover star Devin Booker, Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes, and the best WNBA players including Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson. They're all included here, so read on to see exactly where they place in your NBA 2K23 ratings guide. 

NBA 2K23 C ratings

• 1= Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets) – 96
• 1= Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers) – 96
• 3 Karl-Anthony Towns (Minnesota Timberwolves) – 89
• 4 Rudy Gobert (Minnesota Timberwolves) – 88
• 5 Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat) – 87
• 6= Deandre Ayton (Phoenix Suns) – 85
• 6= Kristaps Porzingis (Washington Wizards) – 85
• 6= Jarrett Allen (Cleveland Cavaliers) – 85
• 6= Robert Williams III (Boston Celtics) – 85
• 10= Clint Capela (Atlanta Hawks) – 84
• 10= Christian Wood (Dallas Mavericks) – 84

For the second year running, Serbian hotshot Jokic shares top billing with Cameroon point-machine Embiid, as Towns (Dominican Republic) rises up to third. Indeed, this is always a position with a truly international flavor. Towns’ new team-mate Gobert is French. Also represented are the Bahamas (Ayton), Latvia (Porzingis), Switzerland (Capela), and the Stars and Stripes too – thanks to Adebayo, Allen, Williams and Wood.

NBA 2K23 PG ratings

• 1 Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors) – 96
• 2 Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks) – 95
• 3 Ja Morant (Memphis Grizzlies) – 93
• 4= Chris Paul (Phoenix Suns) – 90
• 4= Trae Young (Atlanta Hawks) – 90
• 6= Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers) – 89
• 6= Kyrie Irving (Brooklyn Nets) – 89
• 8= LaMelo Ball (Charlotte Hornets) – 87
• 8= Darius Garland (Cleveland Cavaliers) – 87
• 8= Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder) – 87

Curry once more leads the point-guard pack, and is just as effective at his secondary position of shooting guard. Morant is the biggest mover on this list, receiving an eight-point OVR boost in order to catapult him to third. Also on the rise is 2021 Rookie of the Year LaMelo Ball. The Hornets superstar fell narrowly short of the top ten last year, but cements his spot this time around with a tasty fresh OVR of 87.

NBA 2K23 SG ratings

• 1 Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns) – 91
• 2 James Harden (Brooklyn Nets) – 89
• 3= Donovan Mitchell (Utah Jazz) – 88
• 3= Paul George (Los Angeles Clippers) – 88
• 3= Zach LaVine (Chicago Bulls) – 88
• 6 Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards) – 87
• 7 Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves) – 86
• 8 CJ McCollum (Portland Trail Blazers) – 85
• 9= Tyrese Haliburton (Indianapolis Pacers) – 84
• 9= Tyler Herro (Miami Heat) – 84

A new number one among the shooting guard troops, as Booker topples Harden from the peak of the mountain. Which is not all that surprising, given that the Phoenix talisman joins Michael Jordan, Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird as the NBA 2K23 cover stars. At the foot of the table, a Herro comes along with the strength to carry on: Miami super-sup Tyler, having picked up the NBA Sixth Man Of The Year award for his excellence off the bench.

NBA 2K23 SF ratings

• 1 LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers) – 96
• 2 Kawhi Leonard (Los Angeles Clippers) – 94
• 3 Jimmy Butler (Miami Heat) – 93
• 4 DeMar DeRozan (Chicago Bulls) – 89
• 5 Jaylen Brown (Boston Celtics) – 87
• 6= Brandon Ingram (New Orleans Pelicans) – 86
• 6= Khris Middleton (Milwaukee Bucks) – 86
• 8= RJ Barrett (New York Knicks) – 84
• 8= Andrew Wiggins (Golden State Warriors) – 84
• 10= Desmond Bane (Memphis Grizzlies) – 83
• 10= Mikal Bridges (Phoenix Suns) – 83

The King remains the King. Enough said. Next!

NBA 2K23 PF ratings

• 1 Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks) – 97
• 2 Kevin Durant (Brooklyn Nets) – 96
• 3 Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics) – 93
• 4 Anthony Davis (Los Angeles Lakers) – 90
• 5 Zion Williamson (New Orleans Pelicans) – 87
• 6= Domantas Sabonis (Indiana Pacers) – 86
• 6= Pascal Siakam (Toronto Raptors) – 86
• 8= Evan Mobley (Cleveland Cavaliers)) – 84
• 8= Scottie Barnes (Toronto Raptors) – 84
• 10= Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors) – 83
• 10= Jaren Jackson Jr (Memphis Grizzlies) – 83
• 10= Miles Bridges (Free Agent) – 83
• 10= John Collins (Atlanta Hawks) – 83

Last season’s Rookie of the Year voting was the closest it’s been in 20 years, as Cleveland insta-favorite Mobley and Raptors wonderkid Barnes tussled for the honor of basketball’s best newcomer. Barnes just about nabbed that prize, scoring 378 voting points compared to Mobley’s 363. But in NBA 2K23 both are winners, earning the same overall rating of 84 to coast into the top ten. Further up the list, ‘Greek Freak’ Antetokounmpo isn’t merely the top power forward – but the single best player in NBA 2K23, full stop.

NBA 2K23 WNBA ratings

• 1= Breanna Stewart (PF, Seattle Storm) – 96
• 1= A’ja Wilson (PF, Las Vegas Aces) – 96
• 3 Jonquel Jones (PF, Connecticut Sun) – 94
• 4= Candace Parker (PF, Chicago Sky) – 93
• 4= Maya Moore (SF, Free Agent) – 93
• 6= Elena Delle Donne (PF, Washington Mystics) – 91
• 6= Liz Cambage (C, Free Agent) – 91
• 8= Brittney Griner (C, Phoenix Mercury) – 90
• 8= Emma Meesseman (PF, Chicago Sky) – 90
• 10 Kelsey Plum (PG, Las Vegas Aces) – 89

Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson share top spot after falling just short in NBA 2K22. Their predecessor at the peak of these rankings, Elena Delle Donne, still performs favorably in-game – but first to sixth represents a bit of a fall from grace. Maya Moore is the highest new entry on the list. The Minnesota Lynx legend hasn’t played since 2018 after taking a series of sabbaticals then having her first child, but husband Jonathan Irons insisted last year that “she’s still got it,” and 2K’s rating gurus clearly agree. Cambage remains in NBA 2K23 with a strong rating despite her recent retirement.

The Acer Nitro XV340CK is a simple proposition: here's a gaming-focused ultrawide screen with proper gaming specs and genuine gaming screen pedigree - that can be had for less than $500. And it delivers on that proposition.

Joining the affordable ranks of the best ultrawide monitor market along with the likes of the AOC CU34G2X, the Nitro XV340CK is a particularly tempting option right now with belts tightening across the world when it comes to hobby spaces. However, with ultrawides also adding an extra for those who work at home or who are designers and so on - that wide and large screen real estate - there's going to be plenty who will find the balance the Nitro strike between specs and features and compromises approriate and, well, balanced.

And it is those compromises that are important to keep in mind as we are swimming in budget ultrawide waters here; but once you do and you settle on the Nitro XV340CK's position, it really might be the best gaming monitor for you if you're looking for a good value, one-screen solution.

Design

Being of Nitro's, how shall we say, less-premium, more-standard, entry-level gaming tier, the XV340CK has what can be summed up[ as a decent build quality but one that has its fair share of plasticky bits and finishes.

The stand is particularly boring and plain and is a microcosm of the stripped-back and ordinary design that is draped all over the XV340CK. There are no cool angular features or flourishes, or any RGB, like you might find on Acer's Predator line. However, function trumps form - this monitor isn't here to be a flashy centrepiece. Plus, I negated the plain stand by using mine with a monitor arm (it's VESA mounting compatible at 100mm x 100mm) which helped the monitor blend more seamlessly with my setup.

Features

This is a gaming monitor first and foremost, and despite those inevitable Nitro-level compromises, the specs here are strong. The screen is a 34-inch IPS panel - which is a great start - but is a little held back by a limited brightness of 250cd/m² (more on how that really looks below), though HDR10 is supposedly on the cards too. However, it claws some on-paper-cred back by offering a 3440x1440p resolution that can run with a 144Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time. Solid, if not super speed or astronomical - but, again, we're in budget territory here.

You're well serviced on ports with two HDMI 2.0s, two DisplayPorts, as well as a headphone jack, two USB ports, and one USB upstream port. Solid.

The onboard features and menus are going to be familiar to most Acer monitor users. There's a decent amount of presets to work with and customisation options with which you can tailor and tweak your pictures no matter the task. Acer knows the importance of one screen providing multiple options and I found the settings to be very useful and tweakable enough without going down rabbit holes too much too.

Performance

On the whole, the AcerNitro XV340CK is a solid, enjoyable ultrawide monitor. First, it'll have your back when it comes to office, work, and productivity use with all that glorious screen real estate that gives you plenty of room to work with and keep multiple windows and programs accessible. Simply, I really enjoyed using it as my work screen.

And when gaming - apart from taking into consideration the caveats below - it's a great screen that provides a solid ultrawide experience. Red Dead Redemption II's big country landscapes were a particular joy and the XV340CK's ultrawide resolution really shone with such open-world game landscapes and expensive vistas. The excellent screen space and general picture quality made strategy games like Total War: Troy and Red Alert remastered great fun and enjoyable too. 

On top of that, what did pleasantly surprise me though was the decent speeds and nippiness that the XV340CK can offer - the speeds may not be utterly bombastic by modern, top gaming monitor standards. This made games like Apex Legends beautifully smooth and responsive on screen, and while the colors didn't pop as more premium panels, this seemed to be the perfect spot for the XV340CK: solid gaming experiences and allowing the refresh and response time to do their thing.

However, there are compromises that just need to be noted, even though we can grant a few of them due to the value-offering the XV340CK is. Generally, these issues fall into the HDR (and colour) camp and the brightness (and screen glare) camp. First, the HDR and contrast ratio are middling at best not offering much more than the usual SDR experience, and solid-but-unspectacular colours and contrasts. Secondly, the brightness is just not quite powerful enough to work with: you can never get the monitor to be bright enough to deal with any light in the room or on the screen, and so it fails to pop, and also becomes very susceptible to screen glare. As you can see from a few of our pictures, the glare from a nearby window was always apparent. Of course, this will always be a problem with any screen to an extent, but I don't want to have to sit in near-total darkness all day every day just to be able to use a screen either. You might well be able to use those decent onboard options to calibrate and wiggle your way to an agreeable setting but it might take some work.

I haven't listed the lack of local dimming as a 'true' weakness here as I can see why such a feature might not make it into a budget-friendly ultrawide like this - but its effects can be felt, particularly in the brightness and HDR experiences.

Also remember - and maybe, obviously - ultrawide screen resolutions are not supported by the new-gen consoles (yet?) so the Nitro XV340CK does not lend itself naturally to be a PS5 monitor or Xbox Series X monitor. Having said that, when a buddy of mine came around, it functioned perfectly well with a PS5, albeit at 1080p resolution and with black sidebars, naturally.

However, despite the caveats, the Acer Nitro XV340CK is indeed a great ultrawide gaming monitor; the combination of solid panel tech, and top speeds make it very enjoyable across the board - especially so when remembering the price of it.

Overall - should you buy the Acer Nitro XV340CK?

The Acer Nitro XV340CK is easily one of the best ultrawide screens we've tested when it comes to those that don't cost a second mortgage to buy. In a market where costs can get extremely big extremely quickly, the XV340CK toes the line brilliantly, offering Acer screen pedigree, great gaming specs, and a nice panel all without the budget going mental or busting out of that 34/35-inch territory - north of which prices explode.

Personally? I would still pick a curved gaming monitor in an ultrawide form as it offers better performance, ergonomics, viewing angles, and immersion. At this size and price, it's hard to not look at the AOC CU34G2X as a direct competitor in the not-wallet-breaking territory of the gaming monitor market.

However, some folks won't care about a curve, or will have a situation where this flat screen can excel - or who might just prefer flats. And for those people, the Acer Nitro XV340CK is simply an easy ultrawide recommendation that offers great value and great performance. It'll look right at home with a gaming desk, and has the chops to perform well in pretty much all types of games. 

And when it ever receives price cuts, it's a shoo-in as an ultrawide member of the best cheap gaming monitor club too, given the value on offer.

How we tested the Acer Nitro XV340CK

As always, the Acer Nitro XV340CK was tested by myself by being fully incorporated into my setup and being used as if I owned it myself. For a period measurable in weeks, almost every day I used it for work and play, and for many hours at a time.

For work and productivity, I really enjoyed testing out ways of utilising the screen real estate by bringing up multiple windows, programs, and juggling between them all.

I used it to play games covering all the bases but particularly enjoyed strategies like Red Alert Remastered, Total War: Troy, and Dawn of War III, and getting enveloped in Red Dead Redemption II's big country landscapes; the ultrawide resolution really is a joy for such open world games with expansive lands and vistas to soak up. And I even saw it in use as a PS5 monitor when a friend visited and setup on my desk for a LAN session (yup).

You can read more on how we test gaming monitors at GamesRadar+ as well as our more holistic approach to gaming tech in our full Hardware Policy.

If you're after something specialist, then check out the best 4K monitors for gaming and the best G-Sync monitors for some more inspiration. Of course, for on-the-go gaming and productivity, we'd also recommend taking a look at the best portable gaming monitors. 

Reviewed with a Razer Blade 15 laptop supplied by Razer.

The rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit have been acquired by tech conglomerate Embracer Group as part of a number of new deals, but the purchase has been met with a sense of wary distrust from fans.

In a press release early this morning, Embracer said that it had "entered into an agreement to acquire Middle-earth Enterprises," granting it potential access to "a vast intellectual property catalogue and worldwide rights to motion pictures, video games, board games," and much more. 

The price of the deal has not been confirmed, but some terms have been outlined. Middle-earth Enterprises "will continue to operate independently under the exisiting [...] leadership team," but it's clear that Embracer is hoping to expand the franchise - specifically, it mentions "opportunities includ[ing] exploring additional movies based on iconic characters such as Gandalf, Aragorn, Gollum, Galadriel, Eowyn and other characters from the literary works of J.R.R. Tolkein."

While that sounds as though it might be exciting news for fans of Middle-earth, the announcement has been met with a wave of uncertainty on social media.  Journalist Rebekah Valentine tweeted to comment on how "a giant holding company literally owning the rights to Tolkein's books is just like so profoundly antithetical to their spirit." Elsewhere, Game Developer's Bryant Francis discussed their concerns about the sheer number of franchises Embracer now owns alongside Lord of the Rings.

Over on the Lord of the Rings subreddit, a similar sentiment arose. User munki17 suggested that the focus on individual characters could lead to an "incoming Gandalf movie, Aragorn movie, Legolas and Gimli movie," adding "I hope I'm wrong." Another user was even less confident, saying "You think Amazon was bad? Prepare for made-up spin-off movies and series. LorR is the new cow for money like [Star Wars]. They will milk it dry until nobody cares about the franchise anymore."

Even if not everyone seems to share that more pessimistic outlook, right now there's little enthusiasm for a potential glut of new games and films appearing on social media. Embracer does seem to suggest it'll continue the somewhat hands-off approach it's brought to other acquisitions in recent years, but it's unlikely that any company would look to acquire one of the world's biggest franchises and not look to capitalise on that purchase as soon as possible.

Along with Middle-earth Enterprises, Embracer also announced today that it had purchased a number of other companies. They include physical games producer Limited Run Games, Killing Floor developer Tripwire Studios and Teardown's Tuxedo Labs, and gaming and music effects company Singtrix.

Just this week, a new Lord of the Rings game was announced from the team that helped bring Middle-earth to life.

The want is strong for the Acer Predator XB323QK. A full 4K IPS 32-inch panel running at 144Hz with 1ms response, adaptive sync, HDMI 2.1, and HDR support? That’s one heck of a package. Where do we sign up?

But hang on. It’s certainly true that the Predator’s combination of features fits a certain high-end sweet spot. Arguably, 4K@120Hz on a 32-inch panel is set to replace 27-inch 1440p as the go-to monitor spec for gamers in the know. After all, not only is it a good fit for the latest 4K@120Hz-capable games consoles with HDMI 2.1 interfaces, 4K at high refresh is also just about to get a whole lot more accessible on the PC thanks to new GPUs with dramatically more performance due later this year from AMD and Nvidia.

On the other hand, great on-paper specs don’t always translate into some form of a dead-cert best gaming monitor in terms of performance, especially once you drill down into the fine details. Just as a 'for instance', the XB323Qk’s HDR support is as basic as it comes. What’s more, our expectations around gaming monitors have been somewhat recalibrated of late thanks to the stunning Alienware 34 AW3423DW and its OLED panel. So, the Acer Predator XB323QK is promising. But it still has plenty to prove.

Design & Features

The star of the Acer Predator XB323QK’s show is undoubtedly the 32-inch 4K IPS panel, all 3,840 by 2,160 pixels of it. Acer rates it at 1ms for grey-to-grey response and 0.5ms for the less demanding MPRT metric. That’s about as good as IPS tech currently gets. To that, you can add a 144Hz refresh for smooth, fluid frame rates. You can, of course, get even faster displays. But not at 4K currently, though that is set to change soon.

Anyway, the whole 4K gaming monitor running at a high refresh thing strikes what we think is a super appealing balance between visual detail and speed. Sure, you can have 360Hz-plus from a 1080p panel. Or 240Hz at 1440p. But beyond 144Hz, returns from higher refresh diminish for most gaming scenarios outside competitive esports.

What’s more, the Predator XB3 has both DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.1. So you can access the high refresh on console and PC (note that the full 144Hz is limited to the DisplayPort socket and PC gaming, a console connected via HDMI 2.1 will top out at 120Hz). That said, PC gamers in particular should bear in mind just how much GPU load a 4K monitor generates. Pumping out 8 million pixels 144 times a second demands a very high-end best graphics card contender, albeit new mid-range boards due later this year should provide more affordable 4K gaming.

If that’s the main attraction, further details involve basic HDR support in the form of VESA DisplayHDR 400 certification (hence no local dimming) and 90 percent of the DCI-P3 digital cinema color space. Neither is hugely impressive - the claimed dynamic range and color accuracy are nothing special.

There’s better news elsewhere, however. Along with DisplayPort and HDMI, you also get USB Type-C connectivity complete with power delivery. Admittedly, that’s limited to 65 watts, so you’re not going to keep a high-performance gaming laptop doing its thing fully juiced. But it does allow for single-cable connectivity for day-to-day computing.

Design-wise, the Acer Predator XB323QK is fairly gamery, with bold programmable RGB lighting on the rear which can be a bit divisive, and it’s a little dated looking despite slim bezels on three sides of the panel. But it’s very nicely put together. The metal stand in particular is very robust and offers a full range of adjustments, including rotation into portrait mode.

Performance

And so to the real action, what does the Predator XB323QK actually look like? Initial impressions are not, unfortunately, spectacular. In the default SDR mode, it’s awfully dull and dingy. A 400-nit monitor? Doesn’t look like one.

Turns out, the XB323QK needs to be in HDR mode to unleash the full pop of its 400 nit backlight and let the panel really sing. That’s true even of SDR content, for which on PC you’ll need to jump into the Windows Display menu, enable HDR and crank up the SDR brightness. That’s not exactly ideal because it limits your options for SDR calibration. But for gaming, it’s a tolerable workaround.

Anyway, duly unleashed the Predator is pretty sweet. The colors properly pop and the contrast is decent for an IPS panel with no local dimming. We particularly love the sheer scale of the 32-inch panel combined with the detail of full 4K. It really is a major step up from a 27-inch 1440p monitor, both in terms of size and visual sharpness. We really, really like it.

Elden Ring with all the details maxed out in 4K is quite the spectacle, that’s for sure. Indeed, the razor-sharp detail of 4K is where that Alienware OLED panel and its ultrawide monitor resolution (3,440 by 1,440) simply can’t compete. More HDR-centric titles like Cyberpunk 2077 don’t look half bad on the XB323QK, either, though this type of monitor will never compete with the likes of the Alienware OLED for dynamic range. It can’t hit the highs or the lows.

If you’re into shooters, there’s decent speed on offer, too. Acer has included two levels of user-configurable pixel overdrive in the OSD menu. There’s some pretty obvious and ugly overshoot in the ‘extreme’ mode. But ‘normal’ is pretty nippy with only slight visible blur. Again, it’s about as good as it gets for current IPS tech but can’t match the speed of OLED.

Of course, 4K on a 32-inch panel is pretty sweet for general computing, too. There’s loads of space for running multiple apps in parallel and everything from fonts to photos look super sharp and clean.

Overall - should you buy it?

We absolutely love the Acer Predator XB323QK’s basic proposition. The combination of 4K and 144Hz on a 32-inch IPS panel absolutely nails it for us. Add in USB-C connectivity and HDMI 2.1 support and you have a stellar all-round monitor and feature set for PC and something that could be a great PS5 monitor or Xbox Series X monitor.

In practice, the XB323QK could do with a tiny bit of a polish. Access to more of the panel’s 400 nits of brightness in SDR mode would be the most obvious improvement. There is a workaround, but it’s a tiny bit kludgy. That aside, our main concern involves pricing. We had been hoping this new class of 4K high refresh 32-inch monitor with HDMI 2.1 was going to be substantially cheaper. The pricing of so many things is painful right now, so that’s perhaps not a huge surprise. But when Alienware’s OLED killer is only slightly more expensive, that’s an uncomfortable comparison.

If you're after that 4K gaming screen experience, check out the specialist TVs for players, in our best gaming TV, best TV for PS5 and Xbox Series X, and best 120Hz 4K TV guides.

Overwatch 2 support players have it rough. As a Moira one-trick, I've never had it particularly easy in Overwatch 1, either – the support role is easily the most necessary and underappreciated component of competitive matches, and a single off round can draw the ire of five angry team members. But Overwatch 2's support players feel the pain more than ever before, thanks in large part to the new 5v5 comp that removes tanks from the equation. While Blizzard has agreed that Overwatch 2 support heroes need some love, you won't see a major change unless the company does something bold but unlikely: reinstate 6v6.

Emotional support healer

In 5v5 Overwatch 2 beta matches, the singular tank players often take on the "off-tank" role, which means they play as a shieldless tank. Orisa (who was a main tank in Overwatch 1 with a deployable shield) has moved into the off-tank role thanks to a major rework that makes her much more aggressive and dive-y. As such, she's a popular choice for tank players looking to test her new skillset out – and she's a ton of fun, so I understand the allure. The same goes for Doomfist, who has gotten a major rework that pulls him from DPS into the tank role (although he's yet another off-tank).

With just one tank slot and the two major Overwatch 2 reworks going to off-tanks, that leaves DPS and support players vulnerable to enemy flanks. And since 5v5 Overwatch is a helluva lot faster with a helluva lot more death than its predecessor, that means the supports have a seemingly insurmountable feat looming overhead at the start of every match. Quicker matches and more deaths mean the eyes of your squad rest on the support players, whose job it is to dole out healing. But without the protection of shield tanks to give them the necessary cover, slower support players like Zenyatta and Ana can easily get picked off. 

If you aren't playing a hypermobile healer, you'll spend much of your matches jumping into the fray to try and heal the DPS and single tank player, all three of whom are diving into fights with reckless abandon, just to get flattened because no one is protecting you. It's a frustrating way to play, and that's coming from someone who does play a hypermobile healer.

Supporting the supports

Blizzard isn't ignoring support players' pleas for help, but it's hard to imagine how anything aside from major reworks will fix the healing experience. Overwatch 2 healers can all passively regenerate health now, something that only Mercy could do in Overwatch 1 – but a bit of passive healing doesn't make much of a difference when you're getting hammered by Doomfist, Widow, and Tracer all at once. 

Healers were virtually ignored in the hero updates for Overwatch 2: Brigitte's shield bash was given a damage boost as it no longer stuns enemies, Baptiste's healing was increased, Ana and Lucio got baby nerfs. There were no major reworks like Doomfist's or Orisa's for any of the support characters, which only makes players feel even more left out. In a recent blog update, Blizzard admits it has "observed support heroes feeling too vulnerable to diving and flanking attacks with fewer shields and no second tank focusing on protecting them." The blog post suggests that "the most effective way to tackle this issue is to add exciting new support heroes to the game," but since that's a much longer-term outlook, Blizzard plans to ideate ways to refresh abilities for existing heroes that could come out in the next beta test.

And even after I finished writing this initial draft, Blizzard made changes to poor Zenyatta, who suffers the most in the 5v5 format. The latest Overwatch 2 patch notes don't give Zen any more shield or better mobility, but bizarrely add a passive ability to his melee kick. Now, it pushes back enemies it connects with, not unlike Lucio's boop. As this Reddit user shared, it's incredibly OP, so it will at least help Zen make some space between him and any melee-heavy enemies. 

But as long as team comps consist of a single off-tank and aggressive DPS players, many casual healer players are going to suffer in Overwatch 2. As I wrote in my Overwatch 2 beta hands-on, "the dive meta that had early Overwatch in a vice-like grip is back." And without a shield tank to protect our asses, support players are doomed.  

Want to give the game a try for yourself? Here's a guide on how to get into the Overwatch 2 beta.