Size matters: Alienware, Razer, and Acer reveal new 18-inch laptops with RTX 40-series GPUs

Something to look forward to: What do you look for in a gaming laptop? If it’s huge amounts of power, gorgeous displays, and massive screens, take a look at what’s happening in the run-up to CES. Acer, Razer, and Alienware are all preparing new laptops that reach a massive 18 inches and pack the just-announced RTX 4000 mobile GPUs.

Starting with Acer, the company has just unveiled new Predator Helios models that come in 16-inch and 18-inch sizes. They feature 16:10 displays, super-thin bezels, and an assortment of screen options, including a mini-LED version that can hit 250Hz.

The smaller Helios model comes with a 2560 x 1600 display and a refresh rate of either 165Hz or 240Hz, while choosing the mini-LED panel bumps that to 250Hz. The 18-inch laptop has the extra option of 1920 x 1200 at 165Hz.

Acer says the mini-LED screen has three times more ambient contrast ratio than conventional displays, 1,000 local dimming zones, and can reach over 1,000 nits at peak brightness. It also has 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut.

Making the most of those displays are a 13th-gen Intel Core i7-13700HX or Core i9-13900HX CPU combined with an RTX 40-series mobile GPU Nvidia just announced, reaching the RTX 4080 GPU (165W). They also feature up to 32GB of DDR5 4,800MHz RAM and 2TB of PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs.

Prices start at $1,649.99 for the Helios 16 and $1,699.99 for the Helios 18. It’s expected that the Mini-LED models will come in at $2,799 and $2,999, respectively.

Like Acer, Razer is introducing new 16- and 18-inch laptops: the Blade 16 and Blade 18. Razer says the latter is its most powerful laptop ever, while the smaller model has “more graphics per inch than any other 16-inch laptop on the market.” The laptops also use the new 13th-gen Intel Core i9 HX processors, with GPU options that go up to the RTX 4090. Razer will reveal more specs once CES officially begins tomorrow.

Finally, there’s Alienware. The Dell subsidiary teased the return of its 18-inch gaming laptop, which was last seen in 2015, a month ago. The company has now confirmed the M18, another massive laptop that can be specced with Intel’s 13th-gen HX CPUs and Nvidia’s RTX 4090, though it can also be configured with an AMD Ryzen processor and the latest Radeon GPUs.

The M18 has plenty of other optional flagship features: a Cherry MX mechanical keyboard, a 165Hz QHD or 480Hz 1080p screen, and up to 9TB of storage. Keeping all that hardware cool is a vapor chamber covering the GPU and CPU, seven heat pipes, and four fans. It also has a total system power of 250 watts. Entry-level models start at $2,099, while opting for higher-end specs pushes that starting price to $2,899. The company is also releasing x14 and x16 laptops with similar hardware options.