Not everyone wants a hulking gaming laptop. Some prefer something stealthier. Acer’s Predator Helios Neo 16S AI aims for portability but still packs a Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor and Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti graphics into a sub-five-pound package. It also includes plenty of ports and a beautiful 240 Hz OLED display. That hardware gives it plenty to work with, but the question remains whether the Helios Neo 16S AI can still deliver solid gaming performance while being portable.

Acer’s obsidian black chassis maintains the look of the Predator series – angular, dark, and visible in the dark with its illuminated lid logo. At 14.05 x 10.85 x 0.74 inches and 4.85 pounds, it’s respectably trim for a gaming laptop, though the Gigabyte Aero X16 (14 x 9.9 x 0.78 inches, 4.2 pounds) and the HyperX Omen 15 (13.5 x 9.96 x 0.93 inches, 4.89 pounds) both have about an inch less depth since neither use a rear thermal shelf like Acer.

The build quality is decent – both the chassis and lid show little flex. The stamped aluminum panels on the lid bottom and chassis lid aren’t ultra-premium but still beat plastic. One downside is that the metal shows fingerprints easily, which are difficult to clean off.

Acer provides an impressive port variety across three sides: Thunderbolt 4, three USB-A 3.2, USB-C 3.2, HDMI 2.1, 2.5 Gbps Ethernet, a MicroSD card reader, and an audio jack. The rear ports conveniently leave cables out of sight.

Inside, the laptop offers Wi-Fi 6E, which isn’t as modern as it could be, though the Killer AX1675i card and accompanying Killer Ethernet jack offer simultaneous network connections via Killer Doubleshot Pro for gamers that want to ensure network priority for the games over one connection and all other apps over the other.

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