Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI (2025) 16" VS MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW (2025) 18" (Ultra 9 285HX / RTX 5080 Laptop / 64GB RAM / 4TB)

Both the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI (2025) and MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW (2025) are gaming laptops, but they differ significantly in design and size. The Acer model is smaller and lighter, weighing 2700 g, while the MSI model is larger and heavier at 3600 g. The MSI laptop is also bulkier with a volume of 2976.672 cm³ compared to the Acer's 2545.4 cm³, making it physically more imposing overall. In terms of dimensions, the Acer has a width of 356 mm, a height of 275 mm, and a thickness of 26 mm, whereas the MSI is wider (404 mm), taller (307 mm), and thinner (24 mm), providing a slightly more compact design in terms of thickness.

Both laptops feature a backlit keyboard, which is typical for gaming machines, and neither uses a fanless design. Additionally, neither product is weather-sealed (splashproof) or ruggedly built, which means both models are not specifically designed to withstand harsh environments. The thickness difference between the two is relatively small, with the MSI being a couple of millimeters thinner, which may contribute to its more compact overall form factor despite its larger size.

In summary, while both products share some common features, the MSI Raider 18 HX AI is larger, heavier, and bulkier, while the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI is smaller, lighter, and has a slightly thicker profile. Both share the same gaming-focused design and include backlit keyboards, but neither has any notable rugged or weather-sealed capabilities.

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI (2025) and MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW (2025) offer different display experiences. The Acer features a 16″ screen with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 px and a pixel density of 188 ppi, while the MSI boasts a larger 18″ screen with a higher resolution of 3840 x 2400 px and a pixel density of 251 ppi. This gives the MSI a noticeably sharper and more detailed display, especially considering the increased screen size.

In terms of display technology, the Acer uses an LCD, LED-backlit, IPS panel, providing solid color and viewing angles, whereas the MSI uses a Mini-LED display, which generally offers better contrast and brightness. Both displays have a refresh rate of 240Hz for the Acer and 120Hz for the MSI, meaning the Acer offers a smoother visual experience, especially in fast-paced gaming scenarios.

Neither product has a touch screen, and both support up to 4 external displays. Additionally, neither display features an anti-reflection coating, which might affect visibility in bright environments. In summary, the Acer offers a smaller but higher-refresh-rate display with a lower pixel density, while the MSI provides a larger, higher-resolution screen with better pixel density and a Mini-LED panel for superior contrast.

Both the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI (2025) and MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW (2025) come with 64GB of RAM and use flash storage with NVMe SSDs. However, the MSI model offers significantly more internal storage, providing 4096GB compared to the Acer's 1024GB. Both laptops support multithreading and have a maximum memory capacity of 64GB, with the MSI supporting up to 96GB of RAM.

When it comes to processing power, the Acer features an 8-core CPU running at 2.7 GHz, with 16 additional threads at 2.1 GHz, while the MSI’s 8-core CPU operates at a slightly faster 2.8 GHz and also has 16 threads running at 2.1 GHz. The Acer's CPU offers a turbo clock speed of 5.4GHz, compared to the MSI’s 5.5GHz. Both models have CPUs capable of multithreading, and their floating-point performance is impressive: 17.04 TFLOPS for the Acer versus 23.04 TFLOPS for the MSI.

In terms of graphics, the Acer comes with 12GB of VRAM and a GPU clock speed of 847 MHz, while the MSI offers 16GB of VRAM and a slightly faster GPU clock speed of 975 MHz. The Acer's GPU turbo reaches 1447 MHz, while the MSI's GPU turbo hits 1500 MHz. The MSI also surpasses the Acer in texture rate (384 GTexels/s vs. 266.2 GTexels/s) and pixel rate (144 GPixel/s vs. 115.8 GPixel/s). Both laptops feature GDDR7 and PCI Express (PCIe) version 4, with a 4 nm semiconductor size and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate and 64-bit architecture.

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI (2025) and MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW (2025) show slight differences in benchmark performance. The Acer has a PassMark result of 56426, while the MSI achieves a slightly higher result of 58305. For single-threaded performance, the Acer scores 4723, while the MSI is slightly lower at 4629. These differences in results indicate a marginal performance gap between the two models, with the MSI slightly outpacing the Acer in overall multi-threaded performance, but the Acer having a better single-thread score.

Both laptops perform well in their respective benchmarks, with the Acer showing a stronger single-core performance, whereas the MSI's multi-core performance stands out. This may suggest that the MSI is better suited for workloads that benefit from parallel processing, while the Acer may have a slight edge in tasks relying on single-threaded speed.

In summary, the MSI Raider 18 HX AI leads in overall PassMark score, but the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI holds a small advantage in single-thread performance, creating a nuanced difference in how each system would perform in various tasks.

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI (2025) and MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW (2025) have distinct connectivity options. The Acer includes two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports (USB-C), two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports (USB-A), and one USB 3.2 Gen 1 port (USB-A). The MSI, on the other hand, offers three USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports (USB-A) and two USB 4 40Gbps ports, but it lacks USB 3.2 Gen 1 (USB-C) or USB 3.2 Gen 2 (USB-C) ports. Both models feature USB Type-C and have an HDMI output, but the Acer provides one HDMI port, while the MSI also includes one HDMI port.

In terms of networking, the Acer includes one RJ45 port, while the MSI does not provide any RJ45 ports. Both laptops support Wi-Fi, with the Acer supporting Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), and Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n), while the MSI supports the newer Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be), Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax), Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), and Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n), offering more advanced Wi-Fi options. Both products also support Bluetooth 5.4 and have external memory slots, as well as AirPlay support.

Neither laptop offers USB 2.0 ports, mini DisplayPort outputs, or a VGA connector. Overall, the Acer provides more variety in USB ports with its USB-C and USB-A offerings, while the MSI focuses more on high-speed USB 4 connectivity and offers a more advanced Wi-Fi version.

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI (2025) and MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW (2025) both come with sleep-and-charge USB ports, allowing you to charge devices while the laptop is in sleep mode. The battery size differs between the two models: the Acer features a 90 Wh battery, while the MSI has a slightly larger 99 Wh battery. Neither laptop includes a MagSafe power adapter, so both will rely on their respective standard power adapters for charging.

Both laptops offer the convenience of sleep-and-charge USB ports, ensuring that external devices can remain powered even when the system is not in active use. The slight difference in battery size may provide a marginal difference in battery life, with the MSI potentially offering a bit more power capacity.

In summary, the key distinction between the two is the MSI's larger 99 Wh battery compared to the Acer's 90 Wh, but both offer the same features in terms of sleep-and-charge USB ports and lack of a MagSafe adapter.

Both the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI (2025) and MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW (2025) come with stereo speakers, support ray tracing, and support DLSS, offering a strong foundation for gaming and multimedia performance. Neither laptop includes Dolby Atmos support, and neither comes with a stylus. Both laptops also feature a front camera and one microphone.

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI does not have a fingerprint scanner, 3D facial recognition, or voice command support. In contrast, the MSI Raider 18 HX AI features a fingerprint scanner and supports 3D facial recognition, but lacks voice command capabilities as well. Both models do not have an S/PDIF Out port, a gyroscope, GPS, an accelerometer, a compass, or an optical disc drive.

In summary, the Acer and MSI laptops share many core features, such as stereo speakers, ray tracing, DLSS support, and front cameras. However, the MSI adds some extra biometric features like the fingerprint scanner and 3D facial recognition, while the Acer does not offer these.

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI (2025) and MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW (2025) share several similarities in terms of technical specs, but there are also notable differences. Both laptops use the Blackwell GPU architecture and support 3D and multi-display technology. They also support ECC memory, have unlocked multipliers, and utilize Intel Resizable BAR. Both products feature a CPU socket of BGA 2114 and support a wide range of instruction sets, including MMX, AVX, SSE, and more.

The Acer's clock multiplier is set to 27, while the MSI's is slightly higher at 28. In terms of transistors, the Acer has 31,100 million, compared to the MSI’s 17,800 million. Both laptops have a similar L3 and L2 cache (36 MB and 40 MB, respectively), and both CPUs reach a maximum temperature of 105 °C. The Acer has a thermal design power (TDP) of 60W, while the MSI's TDP is higher at 80W. The MSI also has a broader memory bus width at 256-bit compared to the Acer's 192-bit, resulting in higher maximum memory bandwidth (811.5 GB/s vs 608.6 GB/s). The MSI’s GPU memory speed is also faster at 2000 MHz versus the Acer’s 1750 MHz.

Both laptops support RAM speeds up to 6400 MHz, have integrated graphics, and use big.LITTLE technology. The Acer’s render output units (ROPs) number 80, while the MSI’s are slightly higher at 96. Similarly, the MSI has more texture mapping units (TMUs) with 256 compared to the Acer’s 184, and its shading units are also higher, with 7680 units versus 5888 on the Acer.