🛠️ How to open Acer Predator Helios 18 AI (PH18-I71) - disassembly and upgrade options

Hey everyone, today we are opening the Acer Predator Helios 18AI. You can find the full review, benchmarks, display tests and more on laptopmedia.com. The link is below. Let's begin. To reach the components, remove 10 screws and lift off the bottom cover. We are using a Torx T6 screwdriver. All 10 screws are the same length. Use a thin plastic tool to start releasing the clips around the cover. Keep the tool shallow so it does not slip inside and touch the components. The bottom cover is now removed. The SSD area has a thermal pad and copper plate. The two empty slots get the same treatment. This is the battery connector which should normally be unplugged first. This is the main M.2 2280 SSD. Two more slots are empty. Four SO-DIMM slots sit under this shield. The sticker shows which slots to use for best dual-channel operation. The processor sits beside the memory. The dedicated GPU is on the left, under extra cooling. This is the Killer Wi-Fi 7 BE1750X card with Bluetooth 5.4. Now unplug the battery connector. The battery is not screwed down, so do not flip the laptop with the cover removed. This review unit also uses RTX 5090 graphics, while Acer lists RTX 5080 versions too. You can check the result of our battery life test on LaptopMedia.com and don't forget to visit our top 100 laptops with the best battery life ranking page. This is a 4-cell lithium-ion battery, rated at 96.7 Wh, with a typical value near 100. Now we remove the main SSD. It is a 2TB SK Hynix NVMe SSD. This slot is PCI Express Gen 5. The two spare slots are Gen 4. Then we place it back into the Gen 5 slot. We peel back the protective sheet over the memory slots, just to give the camera a clearer view. Release the memory module, then return it to the same slot later. This SK Hynix module is 48GB of DDR5, rated at 5600 MTPS. The four slots officially support up to 256GB. We remove the second module too. Its thermal pad grips firmly, so it takes a little extra force. Acer lists 4400 MTPS with one or two modules, and 4000 with four, depending on CPU and memory. Now compare the modules with the slot guide. And here is the touchpad from below. That wraps up the inside of the Predator Helios 18AI. We saw the cooling, three storage slots, and four memory slots. Check the full review on LaptopMedia.com for thermals, display tests, and battery life. Thanks for watching, and subscribe for more laptop reviews.