Hi! I am a social media manager and graphic designer, looking to work and game on a new PC. I have The Sims 4 and all it's expansion packs. However, I'm not sure what PC or laptop can handle it all. I've researched two that I am interested in, but I'm not sure if they'll be a good fit. If anyone can tell me or suggest something that'll be great!
@KaayiBee The desktop is much better than the laptop for Sims 4, in that the laptop would barely run the game at all. The processor is weak for the game, its integrated graphics chip is even weaker, and 4 GB memory isn't nearly enough to run all or most expansions together. Besides, for that price, you could probably do significantly better.
The desktop would be a very good option if it had a dedicated graphics card, which it doesn't. In theory, you could add one, but it looks like you'd need a new power supply unless you got a very low-end card: the 200W power supply (according to the Dell manual) wouldn't be sufficient for most GPUs. As is, the integrated card would handle medium settings, but that's about it.
How much are you willing to spend, and would you prefer a laptop or a desktop? If you want, I can look for better options for you. Aside from playing Sims 4, your graphic design work might benefit greatly from a dedicated card, depending on how much graphics processing power your work needs. Just let me know what you're looking for.
@KaayiBee The Dell you've just listed is six years old, or at least the processor is, which means so is the motherboard, and probably other components as well. It also only has an integrated graphics card, one that would probably only run Sims 4 on low-medium settings. I don't know what price you're seeing, but you could do a lot better for your budget.
For laptops, the best option in your price range is an Nvidia 1650, a graphics card that would run Sims 4 and all packs together on ultra settings with some room to spare. That might not quite be true by the time the game is out of development—the 1650 is right on the border of what we'd guess would be required to run all current and future packs on ultra, although of course we can't know what those future packs will look like.
A desktop will give you better performance for what look like the same components, plus it's upgradable later if you decide it's necessary. If your main goal is performance, either for Sims 4 or for your work projects, a desktop is the better choice. Of course, the major tradeoff is that it's not portable.
I looked for laptops in the $700 range for someone else yesterday, and these prices haven't changed since then. So I'll just copy and paste what I wrote, and you can get a sense of what's out there. If you don't like the options for whatever reason, let me know why, and I can look for others.
I looked around and found several good options between $700 and $800; the best one for you would depend in part on how much storage you wanted and whether you had any other uses in mind for the laptop. This one is the cheapest one I saw, at $700. It has only a 256 GB solid state drive, which is enough storage for Sims 4 and all your user data, plus however many small apps like browsers you'd want. If you're thinking of installing other large games though, that wouldn't be enough.
This one is also $700 and has much more storage: a 128 GB SSD and a 1 TB HDD. With such a small primary drive, you'd probably need to install Sims 4 on the HDD, as well as store any other games or large data collections there. Most apps will load slower on an HDD, although games will generally run the same once they're loaded.
This Asus ($750) has a much stronger processor than the others; it wouldn't matter to Sims 4, but if you're thinking about doing heavy photo or video editing, that would help speed up the process. It has a 512 GB SSD, which is plenty of storage for most people: it would hold several large games, all your user data, and anything else you'd need for daily use.
If you really need more storage though, this is also a good option, at $800. It has a combination 256 GB SSD/1 TB HDD, so you could leave Sims 4 on the solid state drive if you wanted. Its processor is a bit stronger than the one in the first two but not nearly as strong as the other Asus.
All of these laptops have only 8 GB memory, but they're all upgradable to 16 GB (or even 32 GB) as well. Memory is not that expensive, and a computer store can install a second 8 GB RAM stick in a few minutes.
As for desktops, I had a look around and found a wider range of good enough options. All of the graphics cards listed would run Sims 4, all current packs included, on ultra settings, and they'd almost certainly run all future packs together on ultra as well. The question is how much of a premium you want to spend for better components above what's strictly necessary.
This is the lowest I'd go, at $550. It has a good processor and graphics card; its major drawback is its mechanical hard drive, which will load everything from Windows to Sims 4 to your work projects slower than a solid state drive. Once loaded, most apps run just the same, although I don't know what you use for work. Still, if you'd like to save money, this computer would be perfectly suitable.
This one is $680 and has an essentially equal graphics card. Its processor is a bit faster in most non-gaming tasks (everything from Adobe and Blender to zipping files), although it's a bit slower in gaming, not that you'd notice a difference in Sims 4. It has a 500 GB solid state drive, which is quite fast but might not be enough storage for you. Check how much you're using now and see if you could manage.
This one is $750 and has a much faster processor, an equal graphics card to the others, and a combination 240 GB SSD/2 TB HDD, which should be more than enough storage for anyone.
This one is $800 has the same processor as above, a graphics card that's equal for gaming but better for non-gaming design tasks, and a combination 240 GB SSD/1 TB HDD, which is still enough for most people. It also comes with 16 GB memory, unlike the others.
I saw other options for $800, but they came with 8 GB RAM. Considering the work you're planning to do on your computer, it's a good idea to have at least 16 GB memory no matter what system you end up getting. Desktop RAM is even easier to install than the laptop version: you open the case, click the RAM stick into the correct slot (consult the manual if the motherboard has four slots), and close it up again. Memory is relatively cheap: it might cost you $40 or so to get a matching stick to whatever a given computer already has installed. (You would need to match it exactly, by the product number, but that's what Amazon is for.)
If you have more questions, please feel free to ask.
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