Apple MacBook Air 13 (M2, 2022) vs Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 (PHN16-71)

Please select specific configurations for the laptops to get a more accurate comparative review
Display 2560 x 1664
CPU Apple M2
GPU Apple M2 GPU (8-core)
RAM
Storage

Review

Evaluation of Apple MacBook Air 13 (M2, 2022) and Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 (PHN16-71) important characteristics
Performance
System and application performance
Gaming
Performance in popular 3D games
Display
Viewing angle, color accuracy, brightness
Battery Life
Potential battery life in light and average use
Connectivity
Ports, webcam and other interfaces
Portability
Design, materials, durability and usability
Pick the usage scenario that best matches your needs
Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Please input up-to-date prices for the selected laptop configurations to get an accurate value-for-money index.
Currency
VS
55.9
(Average)
Value Index
32.3
(Mediocre)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between the notebooks
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Air 13 (M2, 2022)
  • Significantly easier to carry: weighs 1560 grams less (around 3.44 lbs)
  • MacBook with the Apple M2 chip maintains its performance even when running on battery power.
  • Thinner bezels and 11% higher screen-to-body ratio
  • 58% sharper screen – 225 versus 142 pixels per inch (PPI)
  • Much smaller footprint: 35% more compact case (101.4 vs 156.2 square inches)
  • Provides 25% higher max. screen brightness: 500 vs 400 nits
Advantages of the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 (PHN16-71)
  • Includes an old-school USB-A port
  • Higher screen refresh rate: 165 versus 60 Hz
  • Around 77% better multi-core CPU performance in the Cinebench 2024 test
  • Features a much bigger (~71%) battery – 90 against 52.6 watt-hours
  • User-upgradable RAM (up to 32GB) and an SSD

Tests and Specifications

Comparison table of test results and technical specs

Case

Weight 1.24 kg (2.73 lbs) 2.8 kg (6.17 lbs)
Dimensions 304.1 x 215 x 11.3 mm
11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches
360.1 x 279.9 x 26.55-28.25 mm
14.18 x 11.02 x 1.05-1.11 inches
Area 654 cm2 (101.3 inches2) 1008 cm2 (156.3 inches2)
Screen-to-body ratio ~82% ~73.6%
Side bezels 5.6 mm 7.8 mm
Colors Silver, Gold, Gray, Blue Black, Gray
Material Aluminum Plastic
Transformer No No
Opening angle 130° 175°
Size comparison
Cooling solution
Cooling system Passive Active
Vapor chamber - No
Liquid metal No Yes
Number of fans - 2
Noise level (max. load) - 62.7 dB

Display

Size 13.6 inches 16 inches
Type IPS LCD IPS LCD
Refresh rate 60 Hz 165 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No -
PPI 225 ppi 142 ppi
Aspect ratio 16:10 16:10
Resolution 2560 x 1664 pixels 1920 x 1200 pixels
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision No
Sync technology No G-Sync
Touchscreen No No
Coating Glossy (Antireflective) Matte
Ambient light sensor Yes No
Screen space comparison
Predator Helios Neo 16 (PHN16-71)
16″ (16:10 ratio) = 115.1 in2
MacBook Air 13 (M2, 2022)
13.6″ (16:10 ratio) = 83.1 in2
~38% more screen space
Display tests
Contrast 1384:1 1025:1
sRGB color space 99.9% 100%
Adobe RGB profile 87.6% 71.3%
DCI-P3 color gamut 98.4% 79.5%
Response time 29 ms 4 ms
Max. brightness

Battery

Capacity
Full charging time 2:30 hr 2:00 hr
Battery type Li-Po Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Fast charging Yes Yes
Charging via USB (Power Delivery) Yes, 65 W Yes
Charging port position Left Bottom
Charge power 30 / 35 / 67 W 330 W
Cable length 2 meters -
Weight of AC adapter 174 / 189 / 250 grams 1042 grams

CPU

CPU name
Base frequency 3.5 GHz 2.5 GHz
Turbo frequency - 4.7 GHz
Cores 8 (4P + 4E) 14 (6P + 8E)
Threads 8 20
L3 Cache - 24 MB
Integrated GPU Apple M2 GPU Intel UHD Graphics (16EU)
Fabrication process 5 nm 10 nm

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)

Graphics Card

GPU name
TGP 15 W 140 W
Nvidia Optimus - MUX
Type Integrated Dedicated
Fabrication process 5 nm 5 nm
GPU base clock 500 MHz 2070 MHz
GPU boost clock 1398 MHz 2370 MHz
FLOPS 2.9 TFLOPS 13.4 TFLOPS
Memory size System Shared 6 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 GDDR6
Memory bus 128 bit 96 bit
Memory speed 6.4 Gbps ~16 Gbps
Shading units (cores) 1024 2560
Texture mapping units (TMUs) 64 80
Raster operations pipelines (ROPs) 32 32
GPU performance 2.9 TFLOPS 13.4 TFLOPS

GPU Benchmarks

Blender GPU 270 2839
Solar Bay 6237 39967
Expected FPS based on average performance across 9 popular games. Details

RAM

RAM size
Channels 2x4 GB 1x8 GB
Clock 6400 MHz 4800 MHz
Type LPDDR5 DDR5
Upgradable No Yes
Total slots - 2
Max. ram size - 32 GB

Storage

Storage size
Bus Custom PCI-E Gen 4.0 (4x)
Storage type SSD (M2) SSD (M2)
Channels 1x256 GB 1x512 GB
Upgradable No Yes
Total slots - 2
NVMe Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers 2.2 (2 tweeters and 2 woofers) 2.0
Dolby Atmos Yes No
Loudness ~82.7 dB ~78.5 dB
Microphones 3 2

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard v6 v6
Bluetooth v5.3 v5.2
Fingerprint Yes No
Infrared sensor No No
Optical drive No No
Webcam Above the display Above the display
Webcam resolution 1920 x 1080 1920 x 1080
Ports
USB-A No 3x USB 3.2
USB Type-C 2x USB 4.0 2x USB 3.2
Thunderbolt Thunderbolt 3 Thunderbolt 4
HDMI No 1x HDMI 2.1
DisplayPort No No
VGA No No
Audio jack (3.5 mm) Yes Yes
Ethernet (RJ45) No Yes
SD card reader No Yes
Proprietary charging port Yes Yes

Input

Keyboard
Keyboard type Island Island
Numpad No Yes
Backlight Yes Yes
Key travel 1 mm 1.8 mm
Touchpad
Size - 12.6 x 8.3 cm
Surface Glass Plastic
Windows Precision No Yes
*Disclaimer! Ports, speakers, display, and other specifications can vary depending on the laptop's specific configuration or region.

Cast your vote

So, which laptop would you choose?
0 (0%)
8 (100%)
Total votes: 8

Comments

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