@amarkie15 That laptop would run Sims 4 on medium or medium-high settings. It's a pretty good choice for $500. But if you're willing to spend a bit more, you could get a faster graphics card; how much faster depends on your budget. Let me know if you're interested.
Otherwise, for $500, you're not likely to find anything better, at least not new and from a reputable site.
If you want to give me some links, I would really appreciate it!
@amarkie15 Sure, but what's your budget? I can try to find the best options for whatever price, but there are too many to list without having at least a range in mind.
$800 or lower. Thanks!
@amarkie15 There are plenty of good options for under $800. In that range, the best graphics card you can get is an Nvidia 1650, or perhaps the slightly faster 1650 ti. The regular 1650 can run all current Sims 4 packs together on ultra graphics settings with some room to spare. It may or may not quite run all current and future packs together on ultra: we don't know how demanding thos future packs will be, but it should be a close call either way.
Among the options are several variations on essentially the same Acer gaming laptop. The cheapest is $670 with an AMD processor, a 1650, and a small 256 GB hard drive; the $700 version has the same specs except for an equivalent Intel processor.
This one ($800) is 17" but otherwise the same base, with a faster 1650 ti and 512 GB storage. While 256 GB is enough for Sims 4 and all associated content, if you want to store other data on the laptop, you may want the extra space.
If you're willing to wait for it to arrive, this Acer is the same as the second one, except with a 512 GB hard drive, and is also $700.
This MSI is $700 and has the same hardware as the second Acer, except its graphics card is slightly underclocked to make it produce less heat. That should only cost a couple percentage points in performance though.
Another "coming soon" option (beginning of July, apparently) is this Lenovo, for $700. Its processor is a bit stronger than the others listed here—it's this year's model rather than last year's, although Sims 4 doesn't need that extra power. It has a combination 256 GB solid state drive and 1 TB mechanical drive, in case you need the extra storage.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1561720-REG/lenovo_81y4001wus_l350_15_i5_10300_8gb_256gb.html
These two are $800 and are essentially the same as the $700 models, but with a 512 GB hard drive. While their graphics cards aren't any faster, I'm linking them in case you like their look better than the others, or you like the extra features of the Asus, which does at least overclock its graphics card a bit for better performance.
https://store.asus.com/us/item/202006AM250000001/A17602-ASUS-TUF-Gaming-A15-Gaming-Laptop
All of these laptops have only 8 GB memory. But you could add a matching 8 GB RAM stick for something like $40, depending on the exact model already in the laptop. (You'd want to match its specs precisely.) While 8 GB is enough for Sims 4, you might want more if you like to multitask.
I know there are a lot of links, but you have options, and room to choose one you happen to like better for whatever reason. If you have more questions, please feel free to ask.
