acer Predator Helios Neo 16 Gaming Laptop, Intel Core i9-14900HX, 16″ 165Hz WUXGA IPS Display, GeForce RTX 4060, Win 11 Pro, 32GB DDR5, 1TB SSD, cefesfy Accessory

Solid build and great value
This is my second Acer Aspire. I bought the last one (an AMD) in 2012 for just under $400 retail (but it only had 4GB of memory, so after upgrading to 8GB, the price was over $400). I bought this mainly for the combination of features: Core i7 (6th Gen Skylake) was a must (the 14nm microstructure is VERY efficient and produces very little heat–for comparison, a DNA double helix is about 2nm wide; only 7x smaller), faster DDR4 over the older, slower DDR3 (plus, upgradeable to a max of 32GB), FHD screen (I really wanted a UHD or 4K capacitive touchscreen, but that is a big jump in price), SSD (I’d prefer a minimum of 512GB, but the 256GB is fine–especially considering there is an open upgrade slot), and perhaps the biggest selling point: a 15″ screen with a 12 hour battery life. There are currently NO better laptops out there with these features combined, especially for the price!This computer is really awesome. Although it was higher than the price-point I was hoping for, it really has everything most people need. This laptop ships with 8GB of DDR4 2133MHz memory, which is sufficient for most users. I dropped a 32GB Crucial memory upgrade (~$115 as of this review) into this before I even booted up for the first time. No bios fiddling required, just plug in and go. Windows 10 booted quickly, and after downloading all my usual software and linking my accounts (specifically OneNote, OneDrive, and various e-mail accounts), this thing is fast, pretty, and makes me happy. As noted, it also has room for a m-SATA to drop in.The overall build seems fairly sturdy, the screen is not perfect, but it’s good. I wish it were brighter, but it works fine. The matte helps reduce glare, but it also reduces the overall image quality (but to be fair, the image quality is fairly good with the Full HD 1080p specs–images are sharp). The SSD is my first and although it is smaller in size than I’d like, it is fast. I downloaded a benchmark app from the Windows Store (free) and was impressed with the speed. It’s not a top-speed SSD drive (~330 MB/s or so compared with the Samsungs at >500 MB/s), but it is faster than the legacy HDD drives I have on my desktop computer (which are comparitively slow at ~120 MB/s).The keyboard layout is a bit wonky. Although the keys are responsive and feel nice to press, the delete key and the arrow keys are not what I’d call intuitive. And the numlock does not boot to on (though there are workarounds if you are willing to funk with regedit–Google is your friend if you are so bold). Windows 10 is not wonderful, but the kinks are being worked out, and I’ve resolved to embrace the upgrade and abandon Windows 7 (I never opted in to Windows 8 or 8.1). The trackpad is nice and responsive at the stock settings, but I’m not used to the L/R buttons being integrated into the pad itself (no discrete buttons), so that leads me to resting my fingers on the trackpad, which registers as a multi-touch. So it is taking me a while to adapt to this habit. The multitouch is interesting, but it is not fully programmable as I’d like. You can set a 3-finger tap to summon Cortana (Microsoft’s equivalent of Apple’s Siri, or Google’s “Okay Google,” or Samsung’s “Hi, Galaxy”). Four fingers swiped up or down can toggle between windows/active programs, which I’ve found is a slight time-saver. I’m still getting used to it, but I’m learning to like Windows 10.Overall, this is a great computer. I’ve timed the boot to around 27 seconds or less, so you’ll save that frustrating cold-start to full on time. At this price point, the features you get with this computer are (as yet) unbeatable, and my last Acer lasted 4 years before rough-handling abuse led to the mechanical HDD drive failure. That’s one reason I opted for this SSD over other options. The Core i7 and discrete graphics adapter are snappy, though I’ve yet to play any 3D games on them (WarThunder is my go-to). The version of Windows 10 that shipped includes the 1511 update, so no frustrating hang-on-boot issues.Overall, for the price, this combination is about the best value on the market. I got mine at a slight sale for ~$673 (retail is $699). I was strongly considering the UHD multi-touch Acer for ~$1499, but for little over $800, I have a solid mid-range laptop that can perform on-par with many high-range builds.Get this, and get a memory upgrade (most people don’t really need 32GB, so would do well to upgrade to at least 16GB, but definitely get more than the stock 8GB).