Trying to decide between the MSI Vector 16 HX 5070ti ($1750usd) and the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16s 5070ti Oled ($2089us)

wanted to get an Oled this time but wasn't sure if its worth the extra 300. didnt want to go above 2000 but the acer is close enough

If yall know of anything similar itd help too

Budget: 2000~
Country: USA
Preferred Specs: Oled, 12+gb Vram GPU
Use Case: drawing, animating and modeling in blender, along with gaming as well (Ark Ascended, Monster hunter Wilds etc)

Been looking for a thin and light gaming laptop as of late, and I’ve narrowed my choices down to the two of these. The Legion is so new I couldn’t find a single review on it which is why I’m making this post. (It’s the 12 gig 5070)

Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Budget: $2,700
Country: USA (getting it shipped from the US)

Hi, I’ve never owned any sort of pc, laptop, or whatever before, and wanted to know if there’s any basic tips or knowledge I should know?

Should I purchase a cooling stand/pad? Or just a stand. Is there anything else relevant I should know for these? It got really hot earlier just on my desk, so I want to make sure nothing bad will happen to it. I also purchased one of those things that gives me more USB ports so I can connect my keyboard as well. (Being delivered)

One more mention, the outer casing (right below the screen but above the keyboard) feels very hot. Is this normal? And is it normal for the fans to be super loud even when idling a game such as Roblox?

I found someone selling this Alienware laptop used for $500 and I’m trying to figure out if it’s a good deal.

Specs:

• Intel Core i7-10870H
• RTX 3070 Laptop GPU
• 16GB RAM
• 1TB SSD
• Windows 11

It looks to be in pretty good condition from the pictures. What do y’all think, worth $500 in 2026?

>Asus tuf f15 (GTX 1650/i5-10300H) | Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI (RTX 5070 TI/Ultra 9 275HX)

Some backstory: around 2021, iirc? I basically needed a laptop for school with some gaming in mind- unfortunately besides phones, I had no prior tech knowledge whatsoever. Ended up waddling to an Asus store with my mom, and to me all the TUF laptops LOOKED the same so I ended up picking the one with the GTX 1650/i5-10300H. Which in hindsight was a terrible deal even at the time. As the 1650 variant of the TUF F15 was about 47k PHP (~850 USD during that time) while the 3050 variant was around 54k PHP (~980 USD).

Fortunately for awhile, I was blissfully unaware early on, since I wasn't really playing intensive games in the first place- until I wanted to play more demanding games, only then did I start to run into issues to say the least. Bought RDR2 and WELL to be expected It ran pretty badly, but it did lead me to discovering lossless scaling which did genuinely allow me to play and enjoy a lot more games. Overall I did ENJOY the laptop for what it's worth. Was planning to use it for atleast a bit more, but well the fans, and speakers decided to go to shit lol (oh btw forgot to mention, but it had 16 GBS of DDR4 ram)

My dad decided to just buy me a new one since I was going to college soon anyways, and after discussing it with him. We ended up going for the RTX 5070Ti/Ultra 9 275HX variant of the Acer Predator Helios neo 16 AI. It came with 32 GBS of 6400MHZ DDR5 ram. It cost around 168k PHP (~around 2700 USD... Uh yeah tech products are expensive here). And well, the difference was DEFINITELY night and day... unfortunately haven't really had the time to actually use it's power to actually play games since college, but the 1600p/240 hz screen makes doing work a bit more enjoyable atleast.

>Full specs:

>Asus Tuf F15 (FX506LH-HN110T):

(GTX 1650 4GDDR6 / 15" FHD / 144Hz / i5-10300H / 512GB PCIE3 SSD / 8GB)

>Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI (PHN16-73-93Y5):

(CORE ULTRA 9 275HX/32GB DDR5 6400MHZ/1TB NVME PCIE GEN4 SSD/NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX5070TI 12GB GDDR7/16" WQXGA 240HZ)

Finally upgraded after 5 years — Legion 5 GTX 1650 → Legion Pro 7 RTX 5080

A very late review, but I finally decided to share my experience after using this laptop for about 3 months.

I bought the Lenovo Legion Pro 7 around 3 months ago for approximately $3,700.

Before this, I had a Lenovo Legion 5 with a GTX 1650, which served me for 5 years. It was still working perfectly fine, but I felt that it was finally time for a serious upgrade.

And honestly, going from a GTX 1650 to an RTX 5080 feels absolutely insane.

My new setup:

Ryzen 9 9955HX3D

RTX 5080 16GB

64GB RAM

1TB SSD + 2TB SSD I additionally added

16" WQXGA OLED 240Hz

The biggest difference is obviously gaming performance. With my old Legion, I often had to compromise on graphics settings and resolution. Now I can comfortably play modern AAA games at 1440p with Max settings and RTX.

The OLED 240Hz display was another huge upgrade. The contrast, blacks and overall image quality are on another level compared to my old laptop. Games like Resident Evil look absolutely amazing on this screen.

I've mostly been playing demanding AAA games, and this laptop has handled them extremely well.

Cooling & performance

One thing I really like about the Legion Pro 7 is the cooling system. For a laptop with this level of hardware, the cooling performance is genuinely impressive.

However, I've found that for long and demanding gaming sessions, it's better to use the Legion Space software to fine-tune the CPU/GPU power limits and fan speeds rather than simply running everything at maximum.

By adjusting the CPU and GPU power, temperature and creating a more appropriate fan curve, I can find a much better balance between performance, temperatures and noise.

The laptop can get quite warm when pushed hard, especially with high FPS and RTX, but with a properly tuned profile, the temperatures and overall behavior are much more comfortable during extended gaming sessions.

After 3 months — what I like

+ Huge performance upgrade

+ Excellent OLED display

+ 240Hz is incredibly smooth

+ Ryzen 9 9955HX3D + RTX 5080 is a beastly combination

+ Very capable cooling system

+ Excellent performance for a portable machine

One of the main reasons I went with a laptop instead of building a desktop is portability.I'm away from home quite often, so having a machine that I can take with me while still getting desktop-class gaming performance is much more practical for me. I don't want to be tied to one place just to have access to my gaming PC.

A desktop would probably give me better performance for the same money, but for my situation, being able to take the whole setup with me is worth the premium.

Overall, after 3 months, I'm still very happy with the purchase.

My old Legion 5 was with me for 5 years, and it never really let me down. It was time for an upgrade, and I decided to go all-in this time.

Hopefully, this Legion will be just as reliable and stay with me for many years to come.

Would you spend $3,700 on a laptop like this, or would you build a desktop instead?

I bought this 5 months ago it’s Msi katana 15hx 2026 model. I just found out about this and this was purchased brand new? Could this be faulty? Or just dirty? I haven’t been able to open it since i don’t have the tools. Some parts are like prism just like when water is mixed with oil and theres a light reflection so it kinda look like rainbow and some are just patch marks like dirt or rust?

Saw this pop up about an hour from me and immediately hopped on it. Seller ended up requesting to meet somewhere even closer.

Took it home, ran it through an OCCT Gold stability test overnight, and we're good to go!

Specs:

i9-14900HX

RTX 4070

32GB 5600 DDR5

2x1TB SSDs

1600p 165Hz VRR IPS panel (they didn't start doing OLED on the Legion Pro until the 10th Gen iirc)

I'm happy with my GIGABYTE G5 KF strong in raw performance, equipped with rtx 4060 8gb vram 144hz gaming laptop and built in Al capabilities, its a sweet spot ^_^

(Not talking about LOQ essential)

Today I bought this miracle, in great anticipation, as I bought it for a good price.

ROG G16 (G614PP)

Specs:

CPU: Ryzen 9-8940HX

RAM: 16 (planning to upgrade soon)

GPU: RTX5070

SSD: 2 TB

Display Fhd

I bought it for 1380$

Since I'm in 3rd world country I think it's a decent price

Yeah so last Christmas, I had my first "gaming" laptop, because when we were around the store we found an Acer nitro V15 with some pretty promos, and so we paid it for 600€ (reconditioned I’m but not entirely sure). Anyway since I had it I try to put as much care on him as I can, frequently watching termals, cleaning it often because its a dust magnet, did a bit of tunning and all. But like a few weeks ago, while cleaning the fans, I noticed something pretty intriguing : it was missing a screw from the heatsink over the CPU. I mean my ryzen 7 7735HS was always a bit hotter than the RTX4050 but I wouldn’t have suspected a missing screw with the temps alone. Looking back on my first picture of the motherboard I took the day I had it, the screw wasn’t here so I guess it never was since I buyed it.
Just to say, always open your gaming computer you get with promos on Christmas, might as well get a surprise ☠️

I had both machines here at the same time and tested them directly next to each other: Blade 16 (5090, 32 GB, 386H) vs. Zephyrus G16 (5090, 64 GB, 386H). I'll go through it category by category and give each one a rating from 1–10: performance/noise, display, keyboard/touchpad, chassis/everyday use, and speakers.

EDIT: Needed to post again, my thread image couldn't be displayed.

Short version: the Blade is the performance-per-dB king, the Zephyrus the better all-rounder. Full verdict at the bottom.

TL;DR ratings:

Category	Blade 16	Zephyrus G16
Performance & noise	10	8
Display	8,5 (9 with AR film)	10
Keyboard & touchpad	8.5	8.5
Chassis & everyday use	9	9.5
Speakers	8	10

Test setup first, so you can put the numbers into context:

• Noise measured at the top edge of the display, 40 cm distance, with a phone app. So no lab-grade numbers. However, both machines were measured identically, which is what matters for the comparison between the two.
• Both laptops slightly elevated at the back
• Ambient ~26 °C
• Benchmark: 3DMark Time Spy
• Important: I didn't measure dB at the start of the run, but towards the end, when the fans reach their loudest point. That's also the level both machines hold during longer gaming sessions. If you only measure in the beginning, you're measuring the wrong thing IMO.

1. Performance & Noise

Blade 16

Mode	GPU score	CPU score	Noise
Balanced	21,012	14,606	49–50 dB
Performance	23,663	15,373	55–56 dB
Max Fans + Custom¹	24,192	15,665	60–61 dB

¹ GPU High, CPU Medium, fans maxed out

Zephyrus G16

Mode	GPU score	CPU score	Noise
Performance	19,175	14,612	50–51 dB
Turbo	21,083	14,781	55–56 dB
Manual (tuned)²	21,871	14,699	58–59 dB
Max Fans³	22,187	14,753	62 dB

² My own tuning: 160 W TGP, GPU stays at max 83/84 °C while gaming, no OC, no max fans. The goal was to stay just under 60 dB.

³ Without the pre-applied GPU OC. A lot of people leave it on, I removed it for a fair comparison.

Efficiency: points per dB

Since a higher score means nothing if the thing sounds like a hair dryer, I divided the combined Time Spy score (GPU + CPU) by the noise level (midpoint of the measured dB range) for every mode. Not a scientific metric, since dB is a logarithmic scale, but as a comparison number between two machines in an identical setup, it does the job. I'm aware you can do more objecive testing and add ore variables, but this is a simple user review tailored to my use case in the end.

Mode	Machine	Combined points per dB
Balanced	Blade 16	~720
Performance	Blade 16	~703
Max Fans + Custom	Blade 16	~659
Performance	Zephyrus	~669
Turbo	Zephyrus	~646
Manual	Zephyrus	~625
Max Fans	Zephyrus	~596

The Blade delivers ~8–11% more combined points per dB across every single mode. It gets even clearer in a head-to-head at matched noise levels:

• ~50 dB: Blade 35,618 vs. Zephyrus 33,787 → +5.4% for the Blade (GPU-only: +9.6%)
• ~55–56 dB: Blade 39,036 vs. Zephyrus 35,864 → +8.8% for the Blade (GPU-only: +12.2%)
• Everything maxed out: Blade 39,857 at 60–61 dB vs. Zephyrus 36,940 at 62 dB → +7.9% for the Blade, while being slightly quieter (GPU-only: +9.0%)

Subjective impressions

The raw dB numbers don't tell the whole story. The Blade's fan noise is noticeably more pleasant, more of a deep whoosh. The Zephyrus is higher pitched and therefore sounds louder than the numbers suggest. At identical dB on paper, the Zephyrus is the more annoying one. Most likely and based on my experience, this can vary per unit.

On temperatures: at the same performance level, the Blade consistently had about 4–5 °C more GPU headroom, even more once you normalize for noise. The CPU sometimes ran hotter, but it was also pulling more watts. The better cooling system is clearly in the Blade, the vapor chamber is bigger. The price for that: roughly 150–200 g of extra weight, and you notice it the moment you pick it up.

One more thing worth flagging: my ambient temps are quite high right now (hot European summer, ~26 °C, as mentioned in the setup). Since the Zephyrus GPU potentially runs pretty close to its thermal limit depending on the wattage and fan rpm, my suspicion is that it ends up louder in my testing than in reviews done at ~21 °C ambient. The Blade has more thermal headroom and is therefore less sensitive to ambient temperature. Keep that in mind when comparing my numbers to other tests.

Update: retest at cooler ambient (~23 °C)

Room temps dropped by about 3 °C here, so I retested. Result: the Zephyrus gains, the Blade doesn't move. The G16 now scores 22,495 GPU in Manual with max fans, its fans also spin up less while just browsing, and retesting the Blade didn't change anything. This basically confirms the ambient suspicion above: high room temps hit the G16 harder. (The points-per-dB table above stays based on the 26 °C runs for consistency.)

The retest also revealed WHY the Blade leads in GPU score. It's not just the wattage, which is only a few watts apart. It's also the clocks:

Time Spy Graphics	Zephyrus G16 (Manual, max fans), no OC	Blade 16 (Max Fans, High GPU, no OC)
GPU score	22,495	24,112
Wattage	~145–155 W	~150–161 W
Max clock	2167 MHz	2190 MHz
Average clock	1883 MHz	2040 MHz
Average memory clock	1296 MHz	1456 MHz
Average GPU temp	71 °C	66 °C

So the Blade pulls a few watts more, sustains higher core and memory clocks, and still runs 5 °C cooler on average. That's the GPU cooling advantage in one table.

On the flip side, CPU cooling MIGHT be more effective on the G16 (5 °C cooler on max fans in the same TS run, but a few watts less), there's just less performance to gain at that level: average CPU clocks are pretty much the same.

CPU score in this run: 15,330 for Blade 16 and 15,095 for Zephyrus.

There's just a small score gain in favor of the Blade 16 because of its slightly higher combined TDP, thus a few watts more again, resulting in around 200–500 points more, but the G16 is reaching 15k now as well.

My speculation (feel free to correct me): ASUS seems to tune the G16 more conservatively, with boost and memory clocks backing off earlier as temperatures rise, presumably as a safety margin for the thin chassis. The lower average memory clock points in the same direction. Razer lets the GPU boost harder because the cooling keeps temps in check anyway. That would explain both the clock gap and why ambient temperature affects the G16 more.

One more G16 finding, software this time: the preinstalled IntelliGo audio software (AI noise canceling; shows up as "Audio SW Server" / "API Library" in Task Manager) is always eating around 10% CPU, and RAM usage goes up all the time (I closed it at 10 GB just now, it started at 2 GB), which is a clear memory leak and can also affect heat output (and thus more fan activity during low loads). After killing everything related to it, my CPU scores went up a little. If you own a G16, check your Task Manager.

Performance & noise rating (5090 versions)

• Blade 16: 10/10 – the thin & light gaming reference for me right now
• Zephyrus G16: 8/10

2. Display

I'll keep this one short, because on paper they're basically identical: same Samsung OLED panel as far as I can tell, 16" 2560×1600, 240 Hz, up to 1,100 nits peak, both VESA DisplayHDR True Black 1000 certified.

BUT: you can instantly see that ASUS spent extra money on the glass. The G16 uses Corning Gorilla Glass DXC, where the anti-reflective treatment is part of the glass itself instead of a film on top. Nice side effect: the panel is edge-to-edge glass, without that plastic bezel lip the Blade has. Looks better!

I personally hate it when a screen reflects heavily even indoors in daylight (especially in dark scenes in games or movies), and the Blade is a pure mirror in that regard.

There is one thing that gets you closer to the Zephyrus though: I bought the official Lenovo Legion AR 16" gaming screen protector. It's semi-glossy and comes really close, slightly more AR even, while still preserving contrast very well. The Zephyrus stays minimally sharper, simply because there's no film on it. (If you want to know how to apply it properly, ask me in the comments; it's not trivial the first time.). It still feels better though not being forced to put a film on it...

https://preview.redd.it/141oamu2kqjh1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eadee9a8b9f8e4818bf12ee60cc5754aa2879cdc

Both panels come factory calibrated (Razer's is Calman Verified), but I like that ASUS additionally ships a proper HDR calibration out of the box.

Display rating

• Zephyrus G16: 10/10 – the thin & light gaming reference
• Blade 16: 8,5/10 stock (yes, because I don't like its reflectivity), 9/10 with the AR protector (yes, that one's SUBJECTIVE!)

3. Keyboard & Touchpad

Keyboards: Both are good, and after an adjustment period I genuinely enjoy typing on both. The Zephyrus has more key travel, but also needs a bit more force to actuate. On the Blade I type a bit more relaxed and faster; on the Zephyrus I maybe have more fun? Hard to say. For me it's a tie. One thing I do appreciate: the Blade has an additional Ctrl key on the right side.

Two nice Blade extras: the function layer can be visually highlighted on the keyboard, and it has per-key RGB, so it looks a bit fancier overall. Personally irrelevant to me though, since I end up using a single color anyway.

But now to the actual problem: On the Blade, the special keys sit to the right of the keyboard, which shifts the main typing area to the left. The touchpad, however, is centered relative to the chassis. Unlike Just Josh, I don't have an issue with the typing itself, but palm rejection becomes more error-prone, because the right palm rests more on the touchpad. And that can be genuinely infuriating and leads to misclicks! It annoyed me a good few times while working.

I've attached photos of both machines: the red line marks the right edge of the touchpad, the dashed part projects it up into the keyboard. On the Zephyrus, the projected edge runs through the Ö key. On the Blade, it runs through Ä/Ü, about one full key further right relative to the letter field, right where your right palm sits while typing.

https://preview.redd.it/ikk5h18ovqjh1.jpg?width=1928&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0b30550622103da7faa45ab2518d210f646c544e

Touchpad feel: The Blade's touchpad feels more premium. The clicks are crispier without being louder (a very satisfying feel) and it stays clickable further up towards the top. The Zephyrus needs more force per click, which can get tiring over time. The Blade is also slightly more stable. But honestly: Both are fine and Zephyrus is quite good for a mechanical touchpad as well.
On the plus side for ASUS: my Zephyrus unit no longer has the rattly touchpad issue from earlier units. They seem to have fixed that, though possibly at the expense of click feel.

Keyboard & touchpad rating

• Blade 16: 8.5/10. The nicer touchpad hardware, but the offset layout and the palm-rejection misclicks pull it back down
• Zephyrus G16: 8.5/10. Still a good touchpad overall, just stiffer and less satisfying to click

It's a tie for me. And honestly: both would have been better off with a haptic touchpad.

4. Chassis & Everyday Use

https://preview.redd.it/jy9188m1wqjh1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8e255fe31c221151b76c2c8598d5ed587be06a26

Both are top notch here. The Zephyrus has caught up with the 2026 version, and all factors considered, I'd now call it a tie in build quality! It's more rigid than before, and the bottom panel feels better. I also find the gray genuinely stylish. It attracts fewer fingerprints than the Blade, and unlike on the silver/white Zephyrus variant, the keyboard lighting looks better on it. The Slash on the lid is a cool signature element too, even when it's turned off. On the Blade, it annoys me that you can't optionally set the snake logo to a different color. And honestly, the design is starting to bore me, though to be fair, I've owned a few Blades at this point.

The Blade is also a bit heavier, which maybe makes it feel minimally sturdier, but the Zephyrus is the one I'd rather grab one-handed and walk around with. Its bottom panel feels nicer to me, and I like the more rounded corners. Overall the more modern design in my eyes.

https://preview.redd.it/vlk6xsg9wqjh1.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f8d0073542345c73aa7aa904ca5a3ff6f32b620b

https://preview.redd.it/sdx35sg9wqjh1.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7d8895e4f195812309faef2c3e94465e4998321

Ports: Advantage Blade. It has Thunderbolt 5 and one more USB-A port. At least the Zephyrus now comes with a full-size SD card slot.

Surface temps and fans in daily use: During light tasks or on battery, the Zephyrus chassis warms up more. The Blade stays cooler. Out of the box, its fans also stay off more often at idle and during easy tasks than on the Zephyrus (keep in mind you can tweak and improve that easily via G-helper, for example). Else, Zephyrus temps in its standard "quiet" setting are slightly higher than the Blade's in the equivalent mode. Under load, the surfaces are close between the two; over longer sessions both develop some warm spots and hot hotspots above the keyboard, but it stays tolerable.

Software: Synapse has gotten better. There's some freedom in the fan settings now, and with the latest firmware/BIOS updates I've had no more issues on the Blade. That said, with G-Helper you can tune the Zephyrus more, and more easily. If that matters to you: advantage Zephyrus.

Battery: Runtimes are nearly identical between the two for me and my use cases at this point (after I've applied ALL updates, Bios etc. up until today; Blade had bigger battery drain with older versions). The Zephyrus is more performant on battery, though.

Chassis & everyday use rating

• Zephyrus G16: 9.5/10
• Blade 16: 9/10

5. Speakers

The Blade has caught up and is above average for gaming laptops now, but the Zephyrus still wins this one. The bass is simply better. Clarity is maybe a very slight edge for the Blade, but if you genuinely enjoy movies, games and music over the speakers and it matters to you, the Zephyrus is clearly the better and more enjoyable choice. The Blade is perfectly sufficient for videos, calls, and the occasional music or movie session.

Speaker rating

• Zephyrus G16: 10/10
• Blade 16: 8/10

Verdict

Not an easy one, right? At the same price, it would genuinely come down to personal preferences... but since the Zephyrus is significantly more expensive here, it gets really tough. As a rule of thumb: if you want maximum performance, more gaming, and a somewhat quieter machine in a thin & light, you should probably grab the Blade, unless there's a dealbreaker for you like the reflections. The better all-round everyday laptop, I think, is the Zephyrus.

One more thing on the 5090 specifically: if noise and chassis temps matter to you and you live in a warmer climate, buying the Zephyrus in the 5090 config makes even less sense. The 5070 Ti is the real sweet spot in that chassis, and performance should be close anyway.

Happy to answer questions in the comments.

I had a steam deck before this which definitely got the job done most of the time but had its limits. This Lenovo Legion 7i is glorious!!

I bought this hp omen hyper x for 850$. I bought it as soon as it appeared on the second hand marketplace. It still has 3 years warranty and it has only been charged 6 times so its basically brand new. I heard some things about these hp models, did I get a good deal?
Country:Romania
Price/budget:850$
Use: university and gaming
Gpu 5060

Predator Helios 16"

5090

275HX

32GB; 6,400MHz

2TB

OLED 240Hz

Gen 6 fans with liquid metal grease.

$2,945.05

No sales tax.

This might be the best store buy deal of the year.

After all, I finally got this beauty 🥹

It's a Gigabyte Gaming A16

It has:

- Ryzen 7 260

- RTX 5050 8GB

- 16GB RAM DDR5 5600

- 512GB SSD