acerPredator Helios Neo 18 PHN18-71 Gaming Laptop - Intel Core i7-14700HX, 16GB, 1TB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 8G, 18" WQXGA IPS 165Hz DCI-P3 100%, Windows 11, Black

Old Asus was showing its age then the inbuilt keyboard started dying so decided to replace it.On top of the the various Asus options in the 17" screen or bigger was this seemingly great buy with both an 18" and more importantly a 2560x1440 screen on it for similar prices to a lot of the 1080 options... and I discovered why.For Reference these were both sitting on top of a CM Uplus3+ fan stand with fans at solid but not overly strong push and lined up to match intakes of actual fan placement and zero exhaust obstruction, so not even usual fails from some people of no venting or bad airflow. Also both units were visually checked for exhaust debris etc and were dust free due to being New form Box.Pros :Nice Screenreasonably hassle free to set upCons :Cheap construction, even worse when opened up to replace memory sticks and fit secondary M2 drivePredator Sense is bloatware wihtout even a clean UX or ability to kill off half the unneeded "prompts" or the spacemen modelMobo/parts placement and design is a joke, especially with the use of daughterboards but then no retaining/ducting of flatcables ( yet seemingly they have "Experts in design and see no issue with this" )Multiple internal screws have threadlok applied including M2 retaining postFirst Unit :Rapidly increasing Watchdog Clock FailuresThermal issues well out of range even for a 4070 mobile and a 14th gen intel, also Sense and HWI had almost 20 degree discrepancy on sensor readings ( and of course Sense saying everything fine )Image 1 : that's the "flat"cable that sits directly under the M2 secondary bay, also note the other raised board component also directly under the bay close to the M2 mount that means almost guaranteed contact if it's a double sided NVME drive fittedImage 2 : note the fact the cable is in contact with the drive and causing slight deformationAcer UK "remedy" : tape it down with Conductive Tape I had to purchase myselfeffectiveness? within days the cable had managed to pull a cage ( two vertical strips about 10mm wide with two horizontal anchoring them further ) off the plate backing and was again in contact with the drive causing it to fail and corruptWhen that didn't work and Watchdog Clock issues were rapidly increasing advised return as defective and request replacement.Unit 2 :Can't fault Amazon on this, new unit arrived almost next day once return was sorted.Cons :No watchdog issues this time, but still thermal issues outside of normal ranges for the CPU/GPU including multiple instances of clipping/throttling below TjMaxImage 3 : that's the second unit, and the cable if anything is even longer than that in the first unit leading me to believe it's not even a standard part being used between batchesImage 4 : yes, that's said cable literally sitting above the height of the M2 retaining post completely blocking any chance of cleanly fitting a driveAcer UK first response :Can you not try taping it down like the previous unit?Acer UK second response when told that was not going to happen and why and also being requested to send me the cable that is in the Helios 18 ( this is the Helios Neo ) that is nice and flat :We can't do that, anyway what's the issue?Acer UK response when told that wasn't a satisfactory response :Well, you'll just have to return it then. We can't do anythingTL;DR?Amazon above and beyond in places for this sagaAcer UK however went from helpful and great at first to "wouldn't wish on my enemy"Don't touch this machine with a bargepole if you plan to change memory or fit a second drive, and even if you don't check it heavily with something like HWI for thermals if you do buy one.Honestly, just avoid it and get an MSI or ASUS that actually can do a decent internal layout.