Does the Acer Helios 300 perform well? Also, is the hard drive you chose suitable for this laptop?
Does the Acer Helios 300 perform well? Also, is the hard drive you chose suitable for this laptop?
Acer is usually at the lowest price point for gaming laptops, but others are better in quality. Lenovo, Clevo, MSI are good. ASUS also but not the TUF line, those have had a lot of issues. As long as the laptop has a free 2.5 drive bay that drive is fine to use for storage. You can find out if the laptops have a fee drive bay from reading the specs or manual.
You're still using the laptop, right? It's good for keeping the keyboard safe from wear and damage, but it won't protect the motherboard or other components. If you plan to do this, maybe consider buying or building a full desktop instead. Also, think about getting a budget-friendly laptop for travel.
You might want to look into the new Omen 15 or the Legion (Lenovo) options. There are many budget-friendly laptops available, but I suggest reviewing each model carefully. The Thermals series is worth noting because their gaming laptops tend to reach temperatures around 85°C to 90°C under load, making them quite hot during intensive tasks. Keep in mind that laptop upgrades are mostly limited to SSDs and RAM; other parts like the battery can usually be upgraded. If you manage to acquire one, consider installing a Liquid Metal mod on your CPU to lower temperatures—some reviewers have reported success with around 20°C drops. Undervolting can also improve temps and enhance performance. My setup is a second-hand MSI GS65 Stealth Thin i7 8750H with a GTX 1070 Max-Q 8GB, still performing comparably to an RTX 2060 Max-Q/1660 Ti. Still, it might be worth considering building something like Hang-the-9 suggested. Try searching Jarrod's Tech; he’s one of the top YouTube reviewers for gaming laptops.