Acer’s new Helios 700 gaming laptop has a sliding keyboard for improved airflow

At its Next@Acer event in New York, Acer unveiled the new Helios 700 gaming laptop. The laptop now features support for new Intel CPUs, Nvidia’s relatively new RTX graphics cards and, the pièce de résistance, a sliding keyboard of sorts that apparently improves airflow. The venerable Helios 300 was also updated and now supports Nvidia’s RTX 2070 Max-Q GPU. It also gets a choice of 15-inch or 17-inch 144-Hz displays. The new Helios 700 can handle Intel Core i9 CPUs, up to 64 GB of RAM and Nvidia RTX 2080 GPUs. These GPUs are the Max-Q variants and are less powerful than their desktop counterparts, but these are also the most powerful graphics cards you can get on a mobile device. These cards are already available on MSI and ASUS laptops, so Acer isn’t exactly first to the party. The rest of the specs include a 17-inch FHD 144 Hz IPS display with support for G-Sync — Nvidia’s tech for reducing visual tearing in games. I/O includes two Thunderbolt 3 ports, DisplayPort, HDMI, and several USB 3.1 Type A ports.

But this is all boring stuff. Just google RTX laptops and you’ll be flooded with options. What sets the Acer Helios 700 apart is its unique keyboard and unusual audio setup. First, the keyboard. Unlike regular laptop keyboards, you can simply slide the keyboard towards yourself, opening up more vents for the laptop. When this ‘HyperDrift’ keyboard is moved, the laptop automatically switches to a Turbo mood that boosts the fan speed as well as performance. It’s a really cool idea and we certainly hope it works well in real-world usage. Better yet, the WASD keys are analogue, they can sense multiple stages of pressure, which should make a big difference in casual games. The keycaps can also be replaced. And the goodies don’t stop there. Acer even managed to squeeze in a 5.1 “surround” sound setup into this beast. The Predator Helios 700 will go on sale at $2,699 in April and the Helios 300 at $1,199. Both devices will first go on sale in the US and there’s no word on when these are coming to India. [caption id=“attachment_6435511” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] The Helios 700 features a slide-out keybaord.[/caption]