Acer Predator (Vega 56+Ryzen 2) Helios 500

Well, if I go with the P53, the only time it would be on battery is say during a meeting or seminar where all I am doing is taking notes, or doing some quick sketching in Autodesk Form-It for a client. Will keep it on a dock most other time.

Wish Lenovo had a real dock like my old M6700. Not real impressed with the whole USB-C dock that is the "standard" now. Much prefer a true docking station for using a system at the office as a workstation if need be.

 

The other reason I like the Helios 500 is simply because it is AMD-based.

May wait till later in January after CES to see if Acer or even another manufacturer brings out a 3000 series based laptop as an update for the H500. Pair that with a Radeon Pro class chip, and that would be a true beast of a workststion.

 

I'd like Zen 2 3700x along with the 12 core option... plus Navi of course (preferably in MXM format, but that's unlikely - at least well binned like the Vega 56) and of course sensible placement of RAM slots.
If they go with 4 RAM slots, we need them all in an easily accessible place (not the back end where its impossible to reach without full disassembly) and of course preferably unlocked BIOS that hadn't been castrated.

 

I haven't seen 4 sodimm slots on the same side in umm, never now that I think about it.

 

Alienware 51m does. Although it would be even better if it only had two slots, focusing on supporting faster RAM. On the PH500AMD the best slots to use are actually one on each side of the motherboard!

 

How irritating.

Though I would likely be opening it up anyways since I am used to that kind of thing, anecdotal though.

 

It's why I said I'd prefer Acer either put all 4 RAM slots on the same (easily accessible) side of the mobo for the Zen2 version, or just scrap 4 dimm slots and focus on putting just 2 on the same side.
What is also irritating that the factory pre-installed RAM on Helios 500 was on the hard to access side.
Great cooling, but extremely poor judgement in regards to RAM slots.

Plus, OEM's like Acer aren't well known for putting high speed RAM with low latencies into laptops, and Zen 2 requires about 3000-3200 MhZ with low latencies to achieve full performance - plus we know so-dimms aren't very big on being designed with low latencies.
It is possible that Acer will 'learn from its mistakes' but to be honest, they had ample time by now to release fully updated BIOS which supports Zen 2 among other things, so I'm not exactly sure what to expect of the revision if they do make it (plus the fact it was a limited production model - sigh).
Despite the questionable RAM choices, Acer did design an overall great machine with amazing cooling.

 

It would be mental for MSI, Alienware and Clevo to continue using Intel desktop CPU at this point in their machines.
If they do not release a single laptop next year with desktop AMD CPU then we know who pays their pockets not to do so.
Also RX 5700M is coming out next year so that will definitely make its way into at least a few machines.

Sent fra min SM-G970F via Tapatalk

 

Why can't Acer, MSI, and the other big names do like Clevo does with their keyboards, and just have a couple magnets, or even just a screw or two from the backside holding the keyboards in place? Then having components (memory, hard drives) under the keyboards would be an non-issue.

The whole 3 dozen plastic clips that will snap the second time they are flexed is why the current keyboard constructions rather suck.

I know it is "cheaper", but for what they charge for these systems, a dollar or two added cost is a pittance.

 

They do it to discourage taking the machines apart also its a good way to tell if the machine has been tampered with when its under warranty.
Sadly its a practise that has been going on for decades in the computer industry.

Sent fra min SM-G970F via Tapatalk