Netflix is holding its first “Geeked” virtual event starting on June 7th, an entire week dedicated to genre stories across film and TV. That means sci-fi and fantasy, and shows based on comic books and video games.
The company says that more than 50 projects will be featured, including big names like The Witcher, Sandman, Lucifer, Cowboy Bebop, Arcane (the League of Legends animated series), The Cuphead Show, and more. In addition to big announcements and trailers, the event will also include “first looks, behind-the-scenes footage, cast interviews, celebrity games, script table reads, live performances, and much more,” according to Netflix.
It’s a lot to spread across five days. Here’s how you can keep up with everything.
What time is Netflix’s Geeked Week?
The event takes place from June 7th to the 11th, and Netflix says that things will kick off at 9AM PT / 12PM ET. The company will also be posting daily recaps at 10AM PT / 1PM ET, suggesting that things will last around an hour each day. There isn’t an exact schedule, but Netflix says that “each day will be broadly themed to different genres: film, comic books, fantasy, anime / animation, and gaming.”
Where can I watch the event?
If you want to watch everything, it seems like it’ll be hard to miss, as Netflix will be utilizing just about every video platform imaginable. That means you can watch and follow the daily events on YouTube, Twitter, Twitch, Facebook, and TikTok. And be sure to stay tuned to The Verge for coverage of the biggest announcements.
Looks like Google TV could soon support different user profiles on the home screen. 9to5Google has dug into the source code of the latest version of the operating system and found mention of personalised home screens, which would offer a much more tailored experience for anyone watching.
Google TV already lets you sign in with multiple Google Accounts, and offers Kids Profiles, which only offer age-appropriate content. But with adult profiles, no matter who’s watching, the homepage will only be personalised to the main account. That means anyone watching will only see recommendations for the main account holder.
But it looks like that could soon change. Source code for the latest update to the Google TV Home app – version 1.0.370 – contains mentions for individual profiles on the home screen.
The mentions include: “Add another account to this device to have their own personalized Google TV experience”. Which seems pretty clear cut.
However, just because this text appears in the code that doesn’t mean the feature will definitely make an appearance. Google might just be considering adding it for now, though given how it would enhance the user experience – and bring it in line with lots of other streaming services – we reckon it’s close to a dead cert.
The code also reveals a new tutorial video that would show parents how to hide certain content from kids’ profiles.
Google TV features on the stellar Google Chromecast with Google TV – a dongle that earned five stars in our review. The operating system recently added support for Amazon Music, bolstering its offering even further.
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Read all about Google TV: apps, features, compatible TVs and more
Check out our guide to the best video streamers
Or go in-depth with one of the best, with our Amazon Fire TV 4K review
This week, Apple brought its Apple TV app to many new Android TV devices — not just the Nvidia Shield. And Apple was smart to widen that support — the expiration date for free trials of Apple TV Plus is swiftly approaching, with many customers about to see their subscriptions end July 1st. That gives Apple a month to win over Android TV users by letting them watch flagship shows like the earnest and delightful Ted Lasso on the big screen, a show whose second season will premiere near the end of July.
The rollout of the Apple TV app to Android TV OS devices started Monday at 8AM PT, a Google spokesperson confirmed to The Verge. As a caveat, the Google spokesperson clarified that support does not extend to third-party operator set-top boxes, so, for example, devices like AT&T’s Android TV set-top box probably won’t get Apple TV anytime soon.
That Apple’s finally made its streaming app available across Android TV devices isn’t much of a shocker. The app was previously made available on non-Apple devices like the Chromecast with Google TV and the PlayStation 5, and it’s been on Roku and Fire TV devices since 2019. Some Sony TVs running Android TV and other Vizio models running SmartCast OS additionally received support for the app last year.
But it’s also not entirely shocking for a company banking heavily on its services offerings. Apple seems to have figured out somewhere along the way that it needed to play nice with other device makers if it wanted to grow Apple TV Plus subscriptions in any meaningful way. With some 660 million paid subscriptions across its services as of April, Apple TV Plus’ estimated 40 million U.S. subscribers is a small but certainly not insignificant slice of that pie — but that figure could quickly change come July when those users will have to decide whether Apple’s shows are worth paying for.
Apple launched its service back in 2019 with an astonishingly meager lineup of originals. Sure, they were high-caliber productions with big-name talent and directors at the helm. And sure, some of them were even good! (M. Night Shyamalan’s bizarre psychological thriller Servant is one such example.) But Apple has extended its lengthy free trials of the service that it offered to users who purchased its devices, and that trial period is very nearly about to end for some of the earliest users to hop on the freebie train.
Ted Lasso — which Tim Cook has cited as being a critical success for the platform — will, again, release its second season toward the end of next month. But for some Apple users, their free trials to Apple TV Plus end July 1st.
In other words, Apple’s dangling a content carrot in front of its most loyal users in hopes that they’ll stick around and hand over their money. But with so many other services available at present, it’s unclear whether that’ll be enough to make them stay. In fact, research MoffettNathanson estimated earlier this year that nearly 30 percent of Apple TV Plus subscribers did not plan to resubscribe following their trial periods. While $5 per month isn’t too much for a premium service comparatively speaking, it does start to add up when people are counting all the subscriptions they fork out money for each month.
Because Apple’s entire plan for the service is to be a hub for either its own in-house productions — or exclusively attained feature films like Tom Hanks’ Greyhound — that means the company has some catching up to do to reach anything close to the library scale of most of its peers, particularly considering it’s about to start making people pay for the service. Making it available across Android TV devices hooked up in users’ homes is a good way to prepare for this change. Plus, especially accounting for the pandemic, who on earth wants to watch an entire feature film on a palm-sized iPhone when they can watch it on the biggest screen in their home instead?
It’s almost as if Apple realized that doing things the Apple way wasn’t going to be a successful model for competing in the streaming wars. And while the service is late to the party in terms of accessibility across platforms — it has taken far too long for this app to arrive on more Android TV devices, in my opinion — it was a necessary move for Apple TV Plus’s success in the long run. As long-trialed subscribers discover they’ll suddenly need to pay for Apple’s content, the churn is going to burn.
(Image credit: Future / The Boy From Medellin, Amazon Prime)
Sony is giving away a £50/€50 PlayStation Store voucher with select Bravia XR TVs.
The promotion is already up and running in seven European countries: UK, France, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. All you need to do is pick out a Bravia XR TV (LED or OLED) at a participating retailer between June 1st and July 31st 2021.
According to the official announcement on Sony’s website, you can redeem the £50/€50 gift card for, “anything on PlayStation Store: games, add-ons, subscriptions and more”.
Not familiar with Bravia XR? The range boasts some of the best TVs in the Sony 2021 TV line-up and featues the Japanese giant’s “cognitive intelligence” tech, which aims to optimise every pixel, frame and scene to produce the most lifelike picture possible.
As you’d expect the Bravia XR range is a decent match for a next-gen console such as the PS5. The presence of HDMI 2.1 with support for 4K@120Hz and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) should help you max out the PS5’s capabilities.
The XR line-up covers Sony’s top-tier models. The 55-inch A80J starts at £1999/€2299 (around $2800, AU$3600) while the A90J Master Series, the firm’s top 4K OLED for 2021 costs from £2699 ($2800, around AU$3700). Not cheap, but recently we called the 55-inch XR-55A90J “simply one of the best TVs we’ve tested”.
The Bravia XR models also come with free access to Bravia CORE, Sony’s high-bitrate video streaming service, which promises lossless Blu-ray-quality “streaming up to 80Mbps.”
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Your guide to the Sony 2021 TV line-up
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After adding Apple TV to its Chromecast with Google TV earlier this year, Google is now rolling out the app to all Android TV devices.
Previously, Google’s ecosystem only supported Apple’s streaming service on Sony Bravia TVs as well as Chromecast with Google TV. The app is currently available in the Play Store for any Android TV device running 8.0 Oreo or higher that’s not an operator-tier device.
The update means that owners of TVs from the likes of Phillips, TCL and Hisense can now access exclusive content on Apple TV Plus (so long as they’ve subscribed) and Apple’s full library of pay-as-you-go movies and TV shows.
Apple’s catalogue of films to rent and buy is second-to-none, particularly when it comes to HDR, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. And while original programming on Apple TV+ has lagged behind other services in terms of quantity, the app’s release onto Android coincides with a huge drop of new content, including anticipated second seasons of Home Before Dark, Central Park and Ted Lasoo.
MORE
Read our Chromecast with Google TV review
Here’s our round-up of the very best video streamers
Huawei has announced that its HarmonyOS operating system is coming to its smartphones via a forthcoming update. Huawei’s consumer business CEO Richard Yu says the company is updating around 100 of its devices globally to the new operating system, which also includes tablets like the MatePad Pro. In theory, it’s a big change from its previous phones, which have run the open-source version of Android with Huawei’s own services replacing the Google software it’s been unable to include on new devices as a result of US sanctions.
HarmonyOS will initially come to recent flagships like the Mate 40, P40, and Mate 30 series, before releasing on more devices later in the year. Older phones like the Mate 9, Mate 10, P20, and P10 will receive the update in the first half of next year, the company says.
The company advertises that HarmonyOS allows its phones to offer more seamless connectivity across different devices, including easier pairing with compatible headphones and speakers via a drag-and-drop interface. There’s also improved support for homescreen widgets, Huawei says, which have a similar look to what we saw with Apple’s iOS 14 last year. The operating system is also said to be better at returning to previously opened apps without losing your place.
The Chinese tech giant first announced HarmonyOS in 2019, and the first device announced with the operating system was the Vision TV from its then-sub brand Honor (it later sold off the brand due to the pressures created by ongoing US sanctions). However, at last year’s Huawei developer conference, its consumer business CEO Richard Yu hinted that the operating system could appear on smartphones in 2021.
Despite being marketed as a brand-new operating system, reports have suggested that HarmonyOS shares a lot of code with the open-source version of Android that it’s replacing. Earlier this year, Ars Technica did a deep dive into HarmonyOS, and reported that it “is essentially an Android fork.” Huawei did not respond to our requests for comment on the report.
As well as phones, Huawei has also announced new MatePad tablets running HarmonyOS, as well as the new HarmonyOS-powered Huawei Watch 3 smartwatch.
Nintendo is holding an E3 event on June 15th, and the company promises it will be “focused exclusively on Nintendo Switch games mainly releasing in 2021.” The Nintendo Direct presentation will begin at 9AM PT / 12PM ET on June 15th, and Nintendo will hold three hours of gameplay deep dives once the event has concluded.
Nintendo’s wording suggests we won’t be seeing any hardware announcements at the company’s E3 show. A “Switch Pro” has been rumored for months, with recent reports suggesting it may be announced ahead of E3.
Bloomberg has previously reported that this new Switch model will use more powerful silicon from Nvidia that supports DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling). The updated Switch is also said to support 4K output when connected to a TV and reportedly includes a seven-inch OLED display.
If a new Switch is imminent, Nintendo’s E3 show would be the perfect opportunity to show how games run at 4K and to demonstrate the power of Nvidia’s latest chip and DLSS support. As E3 kicks off in virtual form on June 12th, there are only 10 days left to see if Nintendo is ready to announce an updated Switch ahead of E3.
Apple’s streaming TV app is coming to another platform today: Nvidia’s Shield. Shield owners will now be able to access Apple TV Plus, rent movies through Apple’s store, and access subscriptions to premium channels like Showtime and Starz that were set up through Apple.
The biggest hook is finally getting access to Apple TV Plus. Apple needs the streaming service to be accessible in as many places as possible in order to expand viewership. And viewers need to be able to access the service on whatever device is hooked up to their TV, if Apple wants to make sure people use it and stay signed up.
Apple TV Plus is already available through many of the most popular streaming devices. It’s offered through Roku and Fire TV streaming devices, available on recent PlayStations and Xboxes, and supported on many Vizio, Sony, Samsung, and LG TVs. The app came to Google’s latest Chromecast in February, and it was supposed to expand to other Android TV devices — like the Shield — sometime after that. The service will support Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos on Shield devices.
The timing is good for Apple. Free trials for Apple TV are about to lapse for the service’s earliest users. And the second season of the service’s biggest (and pretty much only) hit, Ted Lasso, debuts July 23rd. The more places Apple TV Plus can be accessed, the better odds Apple has of getting some actual paying subscribers.
Samsung could enable HDR10+ for gaming, according to a German blog post spotted by HDTVtest. The article claims Samsung executives are working with ‘various unnamed studios’ to set up a steady supply of HDR10+ titles.
The HDR10+ format was created by Samsung and is a competitor to Dolby Vision. Like Dolby Vision, HDR10+ is all about adding dynamic metadata to the HDR signal to deliver more detail. Unlike Dolby Vision, companies don’t need to pay a fee to license HDR10+.
The report doesn’t reveal whether Samsung is planning to bring the technology to games consoles or reserve it for mobile devices such as the HDR10+- supporting Samsung Galaxy S21.
However, it’s interesting to note that Dolby Vision is supposed to be exclusive for the Xbox Series X and S for the next two years. Could Samsung be working with Sony to bring HDR10+ gaming to the PS5? It’s certainly a possibility.
The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S systems have supported Dolby Atmos since launch, with Dolby Vision support expected later this year. Microsoft recently announced a Dolby Vision HDR test program for Alpha Ring members ahead of ‘general availability’.
Only a handful of titles make use of Dolby Vision HDR (Gears 5, Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Borderlands 3 are the biggies) but last month Microsoft revealed plans for a major push into Dolby Vision gaming.
If the rumours are true, HDR10+ for gaming could bring better contrast and more vibrant colours to your favourite titles, although you’ll still need a compatible 4K TV.
Apple is expected to adopt OLED displays in “some” iPads starting next year, according to Korea’s ETNews.
“Apple decided to apply OLED instead of Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) from some iPad models in 2022,” says the publication. “It is reported that Apple and display companies have agreed on production and delivery.”
Samsung and LG already supply the OLED displays used in the current generation of Apple iPhones. If the latest rumours are to be believed, the Korean tech titans are primed to manufacture the OLED displays for the next wave of iPads, too.
The report – spotted by 9to5Mac – ties in with previous rumours that have tipped Apple to transition to OLED displays in 2022. It doesn’t specify which models will make the leap, but in March, noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo tipped the mid-range iPad Air for an OLED display by 2022.
Last month, Apple launched the M1-powered 12.9-inch iPad Pro complete with cutting-edge Liquid Retina XDR (Mini LED) display. Mini LED technology delivers deeper blacks and richer colours, but it doesn’t have the pixel-level contrast control of OLED.
Many analysts believe Mini LED is a one-year ‘stop-gap’ solution due to its high price in comparison to OLED. According to ETNews, all iPads released in 2023 could have OLED screens.
The iPad is the world’s best-selling tablet with sales of around 50 million per year, so keeping up with demand could be quite the challenge. Especially with Samsung reported to be flat-out making 120Hz OLED displays for the upcoming iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro (via PhoneArena).
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New Apple TV 4K uses iPhone sensors to boost picture quality
Apple’s second-generation AirPods Pro will launch next year, following the release of an updated pair of standard AirPods this year, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The new AirPods Pro will reportedly feature upgraded motion sensors to allow for fitness tracking, while the entry-level AirPods will have an updated design similar to the Pro models along with a shorter stem.
In a previous report from last year Bloomberg said that the upcoming AirPods Pro could ditch the stem entirely in favor of a more compact design similar to Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Plus or Google’s Pixel Buds. However, at the time Bloomberg noted that design challenges meant these plans could change. Its latest report says Apple has “tested” this design, which sounds like it’s not guaranteed to appear in the final model.
Alongside the two new AirPods models, Apple is reported to be developing a HomePod equipped with a screen, as well as a separate Apple TV-like device that could include a speaker and camera for video calls.
The new AirPods would be the first updates to Apple’s true wireless lineup in over a year. Apple first release its AirPods Pro in late 2019, while its entry-level AirPods haven’t been updated since March 2019. It released its first AirPods-branded over-ear headphones, the AirPods Max, in December.
It seems the new Apple TV 4K box could have few gremlins in its system. Some users have reported that the 2021 device is incorrectly labelling their favourite 4K movies and TV shows as ‘HD’, according to 9to5Mac.
The glitch seems to affect third-party apps such as Netflix, Disney Plus, and HBO Max, but it’s also been spotted in the standalone iTunes Movies and TV Shows apps. Apple TV+ seems to be unaffected.
The initial thought was that the glitch could be the result of faulty HDMI cables but several users have switched out Apple’s supplied HDMI cable and the issue has remained.
If you’re experiencing the bug, you might be wondering whether the content on your screen is appearing in HD or 4K. There’s some confusion around this point, but it seems that this is simply a labelling bug within Apple’s user interface.
According to Reddit users, the glitch is present in both in the public tvOS 14.6 release and in the tvOS 14.7 beta which was released on 19th May. Apple has yet to comment but 9to5Mac claims the tech giant is “aware of the issue”.
In the interests of fairness, we fired up our Apple TV 4K (2020) unit (keep your eyes peeled for our upcoming review) and found that the 4K content was correctly labelled.
The latest Apple TV 4K (2nd Gen) supports 4K at up to 60fps, meaning it should offer the highest video quality of any Apple TV box. It has plenty of other tricks up its sleeve, mind, including the ability to stream audio from your TV to your HomePod.
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Merle Dandridge, an actor who’s had a long career in television and theater, will be reprising her role of Marlene in HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation, according to VarietyandDeadline. Dandridge’s casting is particularly notable because actors in video games are rarely presented with the opportunity to play their characters in live action outside of the motion capture stage.
Marlene is integral to how lead characters Joel and Ellie join together and head off on their zombie road trip in the first place. It’s unknown how much of the game’s story will carry over to the television adaptation, but Dandridge’s situation is unique. Both Troy Baker’s Joel and Ashley Johnson’s Ellie were recast for executive producer and writer Craig Mazin’s take on the critically acclaimed video game. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey were announced to be filling both roles, respectively, in February.
Just look at the recent history of adapting video games for film and TV and you can see the trend. Any time a game is brought to the big screen, a Hollywood actor seems to be slotted into the lead role. It happened with casting Jake Gyllenhal in Prince of Persia, Tom Holland in Uncharted, and Alicia Vikander in Tomb Raider. But for the reverse, the only recent example I could find was Jen Taylor joining the cast of ViacomCBS’ Halo series. Taylor’s played Cortana since 2001 in the games, but Natascha McElhone was originally cast as the character in the show. Due to the pandemic interrupting production, McElhone had to step down, and Taylor was brought back in to play the character she helped create.
Besides her talent, Dandridge’s success in securing the part could be credited to the increasingly common use of motion capture in games. If there’s an actor who’s physically played a video game character in cut scenes and voiced them in every other scenario, they might as well be considered for a live-action take on the material — they’ve clearly done the work. For now Dandridge and Taylor are outliers, but with more video game adaptions on the way, it could be the start of a positive trend for actors who might normally be overlooked.
Marvel has confirmed that Oscar Isaac will star in the Disney Plus Moon Knight series, bringing the Star Wars star to another highly lucrative side of the Disney empire. Moon Knight is one of several Marvel characters who seem to be inspired by DC Comics’ Batman, and is certainly more of an obscure character to adapt, but as the company pivots into the next phase of movies and now shows, weirdness is on the menu.
Moon Knight, or Marc Spector, is a mercenary possessed by an ancient Egyptian moon god named Khonshu. That possession is what gives him his superpowers but also multiple conflicting personalities, including a taxi driver, wealthy playboy, and masked vigilante. Marvel and Isaac’s announcement — “WE ARE MOONKNIGHT” — seems to directly reference the character’s complex psychology.
Disney first announced the Moon Knight series in 2019, and Oscar Isaac has been rumored to be in the running for the lead role since October 2020, when Variety reported he was in talks to join the Disney Plus project. The show’s head writer is Jeremy Slater, who co-created the The Umbrella Academy Netflix show and also created and executive produced the extremely underrated The Exorcist TV adaptation.
Moon Knight doesn’t have an announced release date, but there are several other Marvel shows on their way soon to Disney Plus. Loki is set to premiere on June 9th and both Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye are still planned for the back half of 2021.
It’s been a couple of years now since Acer overhauled its big-screen Helios 500 desktop replacement rig. But the laptop is back in a 17-inch shell that’s a bit of a departure from
the 2018 model
. As expected, it brings current top-end 11th Gen Intel/Nvidia components, plus perhaps more RGB than I’ve ever seen on a portable PC. Aside from the per-key RGB keyboard, there are light bars that run along all four edges of the laptop (yes, even the back). And the light show can be set to dynamically react to sound playing from the system’s speakers, or even what’s on the screen.
Acer sent us a pre-production sample in the days before its announcement to get some hands-on time with the new gaming flagship. Sadly, one of the most intriguing options of the new laptop wasn’t included in the sample they shipped. There will be an optional Mini LED 4K panel with a 120 Hz refresh rate and full-array local dimming, which Acer says is “comparable to VESA Display HDR 1000.” If you’re a top-end competitive gamer, the crazy-fast 360 Hz 1080p screen that came with our unit is undoubtedly the better option. But my slow reflexes and HDR-happy eyeballs would love to see what a bright, pixel-dense display with 512 backlight zones looks like on a laptop.
Design of the Acer Predator Helios 500 (2021)
First off, Acer would probably like me to reiterate that what it sent us was a pre-production unit, and some things will change. For instance, the Predator logo on the lid will be RGB-lit, rather than the basic blue seen here. And while the light bar at the back will remain, there are lights in the rear exhaust that will go away (which is good because they’re very bright). Also, as this was a pre-production unit, we were not allowed to test performance or battery life. The laptop is expected to arrive in August, with a starting price of $2,499.
Also note that, as this is a configuration with both a Core i9-11980HK and an Nvidia RTX 3080, the laptop does ship with two large power bricks. You’ll want to keep both plugged in for long gaming sessions, but with the system asleep or while doing basic productivity, one brick was more than enough to keep the laptop charged.
If you’re expecting something approaching a thin-and-light gaming experience, you should look elsewhere (and expect less performance). At 8.59 pounds and approximately 12.6 x 15.75 x 1.75 inches, the Helios 500 is unapologetically a high-end desktop replacement.
And the black metal shell with silver and blue accents back up the ‘gaming’ looks–accented nicely by the blue-metal heatsinks that can be seen from the rear sides and back of the laptop.
As noted earlier, the stand-out visual element here is the sheer abundance of RGB, in the form of diffused light bars that run along most of the front, about two-thirds of both sides, and nearly the entire back edge. The Helios 500 is a light show in a box, if ever there was one.
And if you’re into light shows, the laptop makes good use of all the RGB here. Aside from being able to choose from the usual number of presets or individually select the color of each key, the company’s PredatorSense software’s Pulsar Lighting tab has an Interactive section, which lets you set the keyboard and bars to react to audio being piped through the laptop. You can choose between four presets for this, and there’s also a Screen Sync feature that tends to mimic what’s on the lower portion of the screen.
The Screen Sync option is a bit crude. For instance, when I went to YouTube and an ad for YouTube Premium popped up in the bottom-left corner, the keys below it turned red and a purplish-white, mirroring the ad. But when watching trailers (and ads) for action movies, the flashing keys echoing gunshots did add something to the effect–I’m just not sure it’s something I like.
Having the lights and keyboard echoing what’s on the screen is distracting when you’re trying to watch a TV show or movie, but it could add to the level of immersion when gaming in the dark. And for music, the light show that the Helios 500 kicks out is almost like a party in and of itself. That said, I was not impressed with the sound output of the laptop, at least for music.
Acer bills the Helios 500 as having “True 5.1 channel surround sound” with a subwoofer, and licensed DTS X software is included for audio tweaking. But out of the box, highs and mids sounded harsh, while lows were minimized and there was little in the way of bass, especially for a laptop that literally says Subwoofer on the bottom. To be fair, this audio may be pre-tweaked for gaming, bringing key strategic elements up in the mix, but it certainly doesn’t make music sound good.
It’s possible that audio will improve with final units, but a few minutes playing with the various DTS presets, first choosing the music preset and then fiddling with the manual EQ, didn’t yield the kind of pleasing sound output I’d like from a laptop this big and expensive.
Unlike the version of the Helios 500 we looked at back in 2018, there are no ports on the back, save for the power connections. The left edge has a pair of tightly packed Thunderbolt/USB-C ports, as well as a USB 3 Type-A, a full-size HDMI port, and an anachronistic Mini Displayport.
The right edge houses separate headphone and mic jacks, two more USB 3 Type-A ports, and a Killer Ethernet E3100G jack. Wi-Fi 6 is also included. Note that Acer has yet to provide us with full specs, so we are unsure of the exact port speeds/specs.
Display on the Acer Predator Helios 500 (2021)
We weren’t able to test the 1080p 360 Hz display (or any other aspect) of our pre-production sample. But elite gamers will no-doubt appreciate the speed. And in casual use and gaming, we didn’t find it to be particularly dull or dim. Acer says it will also offer a 2560 x 1440 display option with a 165 Hz refresh rate.
But the most interesting screen option will be the 3840 x 2160 (4K) IPS screen that supports 120 Hz refresh and has a Mini LED matrix, giving it 512 backlight zones, plus what should be high-brightness HDR support. In short, that should be one dynamic display, with bright lights and dark blacks, which should be great for both AAA gaming and movies. But we’ll have to await a final review unit to say for sure. And we’re very curious to hear how much that panel adds to the laptop’s cost.
Keyboard and Touchpad of the Acer Predator Helios 500 (2021)
The input devices on the Acer Predator Helios 500 are nothing if not colorful and roomy. With nearly 16 inches of width to play with, the keys are reasonably large, with lots of separation between them. And aside from the per-key backlighting, there’s also an RGB ring that runs around the touchpad, which is about 4.8 inches on the diagonal.
There’s also plenty of travel, in both the keys and touchpad buttons, likely thanks in part to the fact that Acer clearly wasn’t aiming for slimness here. And the WASD keys, apart from being visually offset in translucent blue, also have a stiffer feel than the surrounding keys, helping your fingers find them in the event that you were grabbing a snack and suddenly find yourself in the heat of battle.
All that said, personally I’ve never been a huge fan of these kind of flat keycaps on a gaming keyboard, and the white edges of the keys, while they help the RGB lighting shine through, look a bit garish in the daylight, against the darkness of the rest of the laptop’s design. I really hope more laptop makers shift back to offering mechanical switch options,
like Alienware has recently
.
Gaming on the Acer Predator Helios 500 (2021)
With the limited time I had with the new Acer Predator Helios 500, I didn’t have the luxury of long nights lost in raids and quests. But I did take the laptop through a few rounds of Doom Eternal and the decidedly less-demanding strategy title, Becastled. At the high frame rates that come with an RTX 3080 and an Intel Core i9 on a 1080p display, the 360 Hz screen was buttery smooth, and I found the roomy keyboard a bit more enjoyable for executing the games sometimes complicated jumps that I did for typing.
And while the cartoonish graphics of Becastled weren’t quite as colorful on the Helios’ display as they are on the Sony HDR TV that I use as my primary monitor, things didn’t exactly look dull eiter. Again, I’d love to see what these games (and frankly everything else) would look like on the 4K, 120 Hz HDR display option with localized dimming. And I’m curious to hear how much that screen will add to the price of the laptop.
As far as cooling goes, the Acer Predator Helios 500 was far from silent under load, but we wouldn’t expect that given its pairing of top-end components. But it also didn’t get overtly loud either. And the fans didn’t often fluctuate up and down, which can be more noticeable than a higher-decibel, but more constant whir. We’d need more time with the laptop (and the ability to test temps) to pass final judgement on the cooling system here, but nothing stood out as problematic or bad on that front, not that the laptop was quieter than we’d expect, either.
Final Thoughts
Given that every gaming laptop maker is using the same current core high-end components (though there is more more variety these days, with AMD’s CPUs more in the mix), and those parts have the same thermal requirements, there are only so many ways for a high-end gaming laptop to stand out.
Acer makes an attempt here by tossing in extra RGBs so that the Predator Helios 500 is as much a light show as it is a gaming powerhouse. It also doesn’t look or feel cheap or flimsy, as we’ve seem from some gaming portables in the past, when the aim was to keep costs as low as possible, or keep the chassis as slim as can be.
But really this Predator’s most striking trick might just be its Mini LED 4K display with full-array local dimming and 120 Hz refresh. Sadly, we’ll have to wait for a final version to get our eyes on that impressive-sounding display. The 360 Hz 1080p panel in our sample is certainly impressive in its own right, but its wow factor isn’t apparent unless you spend your time with highly competitive esports titles.
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