Acer Predator Helios 300 GTX 1660 TI Gaming Laptops are among the most powerful gaming laptops in their price range and probably the best laptop for Sims 4. Of course, you can play other graphically heavy games, like Need for Speed, with ease too. Just be aware that this will seriously drain the already small battery even faster. If you’re looking for more recommendations, read our best laptop Sims 4 review.
Why We Like It – Acer Predator Helios 300 GTX 1660 TI
The Acer Predator Helios 300 GTX 1660 TI is an absolutely stellar gaming machine for the price. The Intel Core i7 processor allows you to play anything from the Sims 4 to Titanfall 2 with ease and the 16GB of RAM let you have multiple windows open, performing multiple tasks, without any loss of speed.
- Amazing Gaming Performance
- All the Ports You’ll Ever Need
- Lightweight
- Battery Life
- 256GB
Power/Performance
The Acer Predator Helios sports an impressive array of powerful features like Intel Core i7, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics processor (Max-Q), 16GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. Combine this with a 144Hz refresh rate, 60FPS, and 1080P full HD resolution and you have a laptop capable of gaming performance from the Sims 4 to Far Cry 5. Of course, if all you’ll be playing is Sims 5, consider something less powerful and cheaper like the Lenovo IdeaPad L340 Gaming Laptop.
Related: Get another great recommendation with our Acer Predator 17 gaming laptop review
Battery
A trade-off for the incredibly high performance of this laptop is less than stellar battery life. On a streaming video test the laptop made it to just about four hours and 40 minutes before it died. This is even less than the budget MSI GF63 Thin, which clocks in at five to six hours of gaming. This is the result of the laptops lightweight design, a trend more and more laptop makers are going with.
Ports/Expandability
The Acer Predator Helios is well-equipped when it comes to ports. On the left we have two USB 3.0 ports, an Ethernet jack, and a headset jack. The right has another USB 3.0, a USB C,a mini DisplayPort connection, and a full-size HDMI out. This means that the laptop can be used for more than just gaming. You can use it to watch TV or to work on school projects or any other artsy endeavours. Using it for these reasons instead of gaming may help with the battery life too.
Related: Check out this Acer Predator Helios 300 I7 9750H review
Build Quality
The chassis feels sturdy, and a metal lid and keyboard add a touch of quality to the laptop. There are some plastic components on the underside but that’s expected with laptops at this price range, such as the Razer Blade 15 Base. It weighs only five pounds, making it very easy to carry to work or to school, but this lightness is the highest contributing factor to the low battery life.
Value
Ray tracing adds an extra bit of realism to your gaming by simulating light to give you cinematic-quality rendering. And if you need to quickly cool down the laptop a ‘Turbo” button on the top left corner turns the fans to maximum, but you can also set custom speeds in the software too. I mentioned before that the laptop has a 256GB SSD, which is nice for everyday use but is a little bit restrictive for gaming.
Acer Predator Helios 300 GTX 1660 TI Wrap Up
There just had to be some trade-offs when it came to the Acer Predator Helios 300. What the laptop excels in power and performance it lags in battery life and storage capacity. But if you’re using it to play only a few games this storage capacity won’t be an issue. Further, it’s multitude of ports make it adept at performing functions other than gaming too!
