An unannounced Acer Predator gaming laptop has appeared in Geekbench listings, suggesting the system uses Intel's rumored Arrow Lake-HX Refresh mobile processor. The benchmark entry shows a 24-core chip identified as a 'Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus,' a potential flagship successor to the current Core Ultra 9 285HX. This discovery confirms that manufacturers are actively testing next-generation hardware for high-performance notebooks.

Intel's refresh family was largely absent from CES 2026, with the company focusing instead on the Panther Lake mobile series. Finding the 'Plus' variant in an Acer test platform gives the first concrete look at what a mid-cycle update might offer. The designation likely mirrors Intel's desktop strategy, signaling improved performance over the original launch silicon without a full architectural change.

Benchmark scores appear incomplete, likely cut short during evaluation, but the hardware details paint a clear picture. The system paired the processor with 64 GB of RAM on an LGA 1851 reference board, though mobile chips typically use BGA packaging. This leak suggests the refreshed Helios 18 AI laptop is coming, aiming to keep Acer competitive in the premium gaming market against AMD's upcoming mobile silicon.