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00:00Hey, how's it going? Dave2D here. This is the 2018 Helios 300. The previous version, the 2017 Helios 300, was one of the best, if not the best, valued gaming laptop from last year.
00:16It had a bunch of great features for a really good price point, and they've updated a bunch of things, particularly the things that I had issues with last year, and they've made a significantly revamped product.
00:26So the big three changes are the screen, the CPU, as well as the thermal design. So the exterior casing hasn't changed at all. It's still running this black and red color scheme.
00:34It looks almost a little dated to me, like a lot of the newer generation laptops are going with a more muted look, as well as a less angular design.
00:42This has that whole Predator DNA going on. It looks pretty aggressive, and it looks really gamer, kind of over-the-top gamer, but it still looks decent if you're into this look.
00:51I personally don't love it, but that's just a personal preference. One thing that this doesn't have is a Thunderbolt 3 port.
00:57It has a USB-C support, just like the previous generation, but once again, it doesn't support Thunderbolt 3.
01:02The rest of the port selection is good, and they're well-positioned, just no Thunderbolt 3. So if you want to connect up an external GPU, you can't do it.
01:09The internals are just as difficult to get into this year as it was last year. You have to be careful not to snap the tabs when you're opening it up, especially on the back part.
01:17Once you're in, though, you have access to the Wi-Fi card, but they really give you a great one, your two RAM slots, and the two drive bays.
01:23You also have access to the fans. Now, the fans have been upgraded this year. These are actually running metal fins, which is actually something I don't see very often in gaming laptops.
01:31It's these thin metal blades that actually help quite a bit with the airflow.
01:34The battery and the speakers weren't great in the 2017 model. I don't think they've changed them this year.
01:39It's a 48-watt-hour battery. You're getting around four hours of battery life, not a very long time.
01:43You will have to bring a charger with you, and the speakers also remain quite mediocre.
01:47They get pretty loud, not a lot of bass, but they sound kind of flat.
01:51Now, in 2017, I didn't care too much about these speakers, but in 2018, a lot of the mid- and even entry-level gaming laptops have really decent speakers, and these ones fall a little bit short.
02:01Inside, they have a brand-new screen, and I think it's actually the most surprising and best feature of this laptop.
02:07It's a 144-hertz screen on a reasonably-priced gaming laptop.
02:10It's fast, it's bright, it's reasonably color-accurate.
02:13It's actually really cool that they're able to use a screen like this at this price point,
02:16and I actually think that this particular gaming laptop is going to have an effect on the entire industry,
02:22because almost every other gaming laptop at this price point is sticking a 60-hertz screen onto those devices,
02:28and this product just sticks out as being the most visually enticing and visually attractive gaming experience.
02:34For the people that are unfamiliar with gaming refresh rates, the difference between a 60-hertz screen and a 144- or even a 120-hertz screen is massive.
02:42Everything looks just so much more fluid on a high-refresh screen,
02:45and I'm not going to say that if you purchase one of these screens, you're going to instantly become a better gamer.
02:50It's not that. It's just the gaming experience is a lot better, and I think it'll help you achieve better results.
02:55You're essentially seeing double the number of frames versus a 60-hertz screen, so it's just a better experience.
03:00The keyboard and the trackpad haven't changed from the previous generation.
03:03I didn't love either of them. The keyboard's decent. It's got relatively soft stroke, but the layout's good.
03:09The only thing that's a little bit weird of the layout is the shift key. Again, they haven't changed that.
03:13It's just right beside the up arrow, and depending on how you type, you might hit that accidentally, but decent keyboard overall.
03:19The trackpad, the buttons are a little bit stiff, but it's using Windows Precision drivers, so it's got good gestures and tracking.
03:25Performance on this device is great.
03:27Now, this model's running a GTX 1060, and it's comboed with a 6-core i7, and it delivers really respectable frame rates for most gaming titles out there.
03:35If you're playing something heavier, you obviously have to drop your visual quality to keep up the frame rates, but it's a good combination.
03:41You won't be able to max out the 140-hertz screen on most games at ultra, but you can for a lot of games, especially competitive games on high.
03:48Now, the thermal performance on this laptop is improved this year. Not that it was terrible last year or anything, but it is better.
03:54There's no throttling, and the temperatures are a little bit lower. Fan noise is also very respectable.
03:58Nothing too loud, even on max, and you also get fan control through Predator Sense.
04:02One last thing to note, there's a special edition of the Helios 300 that's going to be available later.
04:07It comes in white and gold. No changes internally, it's just an aesthetic change.
04:11So overall, the Helios 300 is once again a fantastic value for gaming laptops.
04:17It's amazing that they're able to stick a 144-hertz screen into this kind of price point.
04:21It's a really good screen.
04:23Now, if you're fixated on that screen, like if you're interested in this device exclusively because of that screen,
04:29understand that there are ways to stick high refresh screens onto other devices.
04:33It's a more do-it-yourself route. It costs like $100, maybe $150, but if you want something out of the factory,
04:39you want just that, you know, the whole experience right out of the box,
04:42you don't want to mess around with installing high refresh screens into cheaper devices,
04:46I seriously think this is the best value for this kind of device.
04:50Okay, hope you guys enjoyed this video. Thumbs if you liked it, subs if you loved it. See you guys next time.