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Acer's new Predator Helios gaming notebooks will let you swap some of its keyboard switches

It's not always easy for gaming notebook manufacturers to come up with differentiating factors aside from the design and small spec differences, but Acer has an interesting feature in the newly announced Predator Helios gaming notebook lineup: . Before you get too excited (like I did), this cool function, called , is only available for the WASD keys on the and notebooks. It's a bit of a bummer, but it's still an interesting premise. Acer has two sets of switches, one called , which gives tactile mechanical feedback with a 0.3mm key travel distance, and another called , which uses the same rubber dome as the other keys on the keyboard and which Acer claims to "combine speedometer aesthetics with vibrant LED lighting." Inside, the Predator Helios notebooks have been updated with the newest , which are a refresh of last year's Raptor Lake 13th Gen mobile chips and not to be confused with the new processors for notebooks. With up to an and up to an , Acer promises "breakthrough performance and AI-enhanced graphics" thanks to and the ray tracing improvements that come with it. The notebooks can also be configured with up to and up to . The notebooks are kept cool with Acer's and on the CPU and vector heat pipes. Coming in , the displays operate at , can get up to and cover the . RGB lighting is out in full force on the notebooks as well, with the Predator logo, backside Infinity Mirror lighting bar and customisable LED backlit keyboard showing off dynamic RGB lighting effects. Both notebooks support and come with two USB Type-C Thunderbolt 4 ports and an SD card reader. The Acer Predator Helios 18 will be available in North America in March starting from , before retailing in EMEA in February from . The notebooks will be available in China in January, starting at . The Predator Helios 16 will be available in North America in January with prices starting at . EMEA availability will start in February at , and in China in January, starting at . For gaming notebooks at a more affordable price point, Acer has also refreshed the and notebooks. The two notebooks will also get a refresh with Intel's 14th Gen processors up to the , although these two devices can only be spec'ed up to an . The notebooks can be configured with up to and up to configuration. With the same cooling system and liquid metal thermal grease applied on the CPU and vector heat pipes, the thermal performance of the Helios Neo notebooks should be just as efficient as their big brothers. Instead of Mini-LED displays, the new Predator Helios Neo notebooks are running with a , and coverage. The notebooks feature NVIDIA Advanced Optimus technology, while the screens support G-Sync to prevent screen tearing and reduce latency. Both the Acer Predator Helios Neo 18 and Predator Helios Neo 16 will be available in North America from March onwards, with a starting price of and respectively. Both notebooks will start retailing in EMEA in February with recommended retail pricing of for the Predator Helios Neo 18 and for the Predator Helios Neo 16.  Only the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 will be making its way to China in February, with prices starting at  . For an even more budget-friendly option, Acer has the new . Boasting up to an processor and up to an , the notebook can also support up to and up to . The has a , a and covers for accurate colours when watching content or gaming.  The Acer Nitro 17 will be available in North America from January onwards, with prices starting at . For more CES 2024 coverage, check out our news round-up .