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Saraahnicoleee1's avatar
6 years ago
Solved

Any suggestions for a cheap laptop?

I don’t know much of anything about computers, I just know how to use one. I’ve been playing sims 4 for a couple of years now on my macs. It works pretty good but I can’t download any mods which is my biggest concern. Could any of you suggest affordable laptops that will run the game well, but also supports mods and cc. Really don’t want to spend a thousand dollars. Lower hundreds would be best since this is the only computer game I play. I read something about the Acer Aspire E being good for sims 4, but I want to make sure 🙂 any help is super appreciated!!!

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    6 years ago

    @Saraahnicoleee10  You definitely don't need a $1,200 laptop to play Sims 4, even with all packs on ultra settings and as many mods and cc files as your hard drive can hold.  If you're fine with a mix of high and ultra settings, the HP I linked is a good option.

    For $650-700, you could get a faster graphics card, an Nvidia 1650, which will run all current packs together on ultra graphics settings with some room to spare.  It's not clear whether this will always be true—future packs might raise the demands of the game to the point where a 1650 can't quite handle all ultra settings.  (We don't really know for sure this point.)  But a mix of high and ultra, even with lots of mods and cc, would always be fine.

    Here are two examples of laptops with a 1650.  The first laptop is a bit cheaper, and its processor is a bit weaker but still good enough for Sims 4.  The first also has a small 256 GB hard drive, which is more than enough for TS4; it would only be an issue if you wanted to store a lot of data (music, photos, movies, etc.), or perhaps another large game or two, on the drive as well.  Still, more storage is always nice to have, so if you did get the sale price plus the $100 off code, the second laptop would be the better choice.  Without the discount, the question is whether the extra storage and the slightly stronger processor are worth the higher cost to you.

    https://www.amazon.com/R5-3550H-Processor-Graphics-FX505DT-AH51-Keyboard/dp/B07VBK4SYS/

    https://www.newegg.com/black-msi-gf-series-gf63-thin-9sc-614-gaming-entertainment/p/1TS-0016-00N92?Item=1TS-0016-00N92

    If you want a graphics card that's overkill for Sims 4, options with an Nvidia 1660 ti start at $800.  This MSI has a very strong processor (also overkill for Sims 4), and a small 256 GB hard drive.

    https://www.newegg.com/black-msi-gl-series-gl73-9sd-409-gaming-entertainment/p/N82E16834155241?Item=N82E16834155241

    This Asus has a processor that's about the same as the two laptops with the 1650, but it has a 512 GB hard drive.

    https://www.newegg.com/stealth-black-asus-tuf-gaming-fx505du-mb53-gaming-entertainment/p/N82E16834235244?Item=N82E16834235244

    If you want to see other options, please let me know what specific features you'd like: storage, graphics card, maybe screen size if you have a preference for 15" or 17", which are really the only two choices in gaming laptops.

6 Replies

  • @Saraahnicoleee10  What country are you in?  At least in the U.S., the price point for an entry-level gaming laptop is about $600, with the occasional sale bringing it down a bit more.  These laptops can run the game on ultra or a combination of high/ultra settings, depending on how many (and which) packs you install, whether you use high-poly custom content, and how high you want your in-game framerates to be.  As an example that someone else linked a few days ago:

    https://www.walmart.com/ip/Acid-FHD-NVIDIA-GDDR5-HP-Shadow-GTX-3-Intel-GeForce-Pavilion-Black-8GB-GB-Core-1050-i5-9300H-SSD-15-dk0068wm-Laptop-Green-256GB-SDRAM-15-6-Gaming/578241214

    (When I looked myself, I didn't find any new laptops with equal or better specs for the same or lower price.)

    If you really want to cut corners, this one's processor is a bit weaker, its graphics card is a bit slower, and its hard drive is significantly slower, but it should still easily handle Sims 4 on high settings, with maybe some ultra settings again depending on what you install.

    https://www.walmart.com/ip/Acer-Nitro-5-15-Gaming-Laptop-AMD-Ryzen-5-2500U-Processor-AMD-Radeon-RX-560X-Graphics-8GB-RAM-1TB-Hard-Drive-AN515-42-R5ED/820048669

    Below this level, performance tends to drop off dramatically while the price isn't much lower.  If you really don't even want to spend the $480 of the second laptop, I can look for something a bit cheaper, likely capable of running the game on medium settings.  But that kind of laptop usually still costs around $400, maybe a bit less with a good sale.

    If these aren't what you're looking for, let me know what you'd like to see, and I'll try to find some good options.

  • thanks so much for getting back to me! I do live in the US! I would be willing to spend around 600 to 800 maybe at the most if it was really worth it. I just get so confused looking at specifications of computers and don’t really know what any of it means haha. All of the articles I look at for sims 4 list like 1,200$ laptops that are honestly way too much for just using it for the one game. But those are good suggestions thank you! Do you think the first suggestion would be worth getting? My Mac runs the game pretty good with the occasional slowness. But I don’t have any cc’s or mods. Just all the add ons to the base game. I would love to start using mods though so I guess that’s my main concern! 

  • @puzzlezaddictI would be willing to take suggestions on laptops that are up to 1000$ though if they’re really really worth it for only one game haha maybe I’d get into some more. And sorry that precious reply posted twice for some reason

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    6 years ago

    @Saraahnicoleee10  You definitely don't need a $1,200 laptop to play Sims 4, even with all packs on ultra settings and as many mods and cc files as your hard drive can hold.  If you're fine with a mix of high and ultra settings, the HP I linked is a good option.

    For $650-700, you could get a faster graphics card, an Nvidia 1650, which will run all current packs together on ultra graphics settings with some room to spare.  It's not clear whether this will always be true—future packs might raise the demands of the game to the point where a 1650 can't quite handle all ultra settings.  (We don't really know for sure this point.)  But a mix of high and ultra, even with lots of mods and cc, would always be fine.

    Here are two examples of laptops with a 1650.  The first laptop is a bit cheaper, and its processor is a bit weaker but still good enough for Sims 4.  The first also has a small 256 GB hard drive, which is more than enough for TS4; it would only be an issue if you wanted to store a lot of data (music, photos, movies, etc.), or perhaps another large game or two, on the drive as well.  Still, more storage is always nice to have, so if you did get the sale price plus the $100 off code, the second laptop would be the better choice.  Without the discount, the question is whether the extra storage and the slightly stronger processor are worth the higher cost to you.

    https://www.amazon.com/R5-3550H-Processor-Graphics-FX505DT-AH51-Keyboard/dp/B07VBK4SYS/

    https://www.newegg.com/black-msi-gf-series-gf63-thin-9sc-614-gaming-entertainment/p/1TS-0016-00N92?Item=1TS-0016-00N92

    If you want a graphics card that's overkill for Sims 4, options with an Nvidia 1660 ti start at $800.  This MSI has a very strong processor (also overkill for Sims 4), and a small 256 GB hard drive.

    https://www.newegg.com/black-msi-gl-series-gl73-9sd-409-gaming-entertainment/p/N82E16834155241?Item=N82E16834155241

    This Asus has a processor that's about the same as the two laptops with the 1650, but it has a 512 GB hard drive.

    https://www.newegg.com/stealth-black-asus-tuf-gaming-fx505du-mb53-gaming-entertainment/p/N82E16834235244?Item=N82E16834235244

    If you want to see other options, please let me know what specific features you'd like: storage, graphics card, maybe screen size if you have a preference for 15" or 17", which are really the only two choices in gaming laptops.

  • @puzzlezaddict You’re awesome! Thanks for all the help! I might go for the second option you linked me in this most recent reply. More storage might be useful if I’m spending money on a computer incase I do decide to get into other games. This has made me so much less confused! If I have any more questions I’ll be sure to ask you! Haha
  • Hi can you help me find a cheap laptop in Canada for sims 4 with almost all expansion packs, I like to use cc and mods as well. Looking for $600 and under thank you