Laptop that can play Sims 4

I am looking for a new laptop for my wife, but it has been years since I have purchased one and I am way out of the loop (I've been exclusively using work computers for awhile now). Besides doing the basics (YouTube, word, web surfing, etc.) the only thing she really plays is Sims 4 (with a few expansions). We are trying to stick to a budget of under $500. Her one major quirk is she HATES a keyboard with a number pad. She thinks it's weird when the keyboard isn't centered. Lol.

Anyways, this is basically the only option I have found (and it has come up on a lot of sites):

https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Processor-Graphics-81W0003QUS/dp/B0862269YP/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8&th=1

I think it may be a great choice, and even under budget, but I would like to find some comparable options and I am just struggling. Any advice on other options that can run Sims 4 and a few expansions?

gameplay issue

puzzlezaddict
5 years ago
@Dude36593 First, the simple part. Normally, you'd probably do a bit better waiting a few months to buy. However, given the bottlenecks in manufacturing and basic components, that's not guaranteed. Add to that the currently-in-effect tariff, which may or may not have lifted by summer, and it's not clear at all what the best option is. Waiting is taking a substantial risk, but maybe with a worthwhile payoff at the end. On the other hand, that's three or four months that your wife won't have her new computer.

Between the two processors, the Intel is clearly better than the AMD. However, the limiting factor for Sims 4 will be the graphics chip, and things are a bit more murky there. The chip in the Intel CPU does better on average, but performance varies wildly by game, and I haven't seen benchmarks for Sims 4 that would help. This is complicated by the fact that there are two Xe G7 chips, and some older G7 chips, and a different Vega 8 chip, so searching for accurate benchmarks is difficult at best. (In case you're wondering, the chip in the HP is the slower of the two G7 chips, the faster one being the option that comes in an 11th-gen i7 CPU.)

If I had to guess, I'd the HP would run Sims 4 better by a small margin, nothing spectacular, but I can't promise I'm right about that. The hardware in the Lenovo does run Sims 4 fine on medium settings, by all accounts.

As for why the price of older i7s stays high, it's probably because people think i7s are great. In reality, the newest i5 laptop CPU is usually better than a laptop i7 from two generations ago, but many people aren't looking up benchmarks. There's also the fact that i7s generally have more cores for their category, which is great if the processor is going to have a high multi-core workload. Sims 4 can only use four cores or four threads, and running Windows in the background takes up only a couple percentage points of CPU resources, so the extra power of an i7 isn't relevant here. Also, i7s are usually paired with other nicer features, e.g. more RAM or storage or a better battery or screen, although that definitely only explains part of the price discrepancy.

And why can't there be one kind of i5? They're quite different if you look at their specs closely enough. If you'd like more info on that, let me know, but it gets pretty technical pretty quickly, and you might not care.

4 Replies

puzzlezaddict
Hero+
5 years ago
@Dude36593 You're looking in the right category of laptop here, and while you might do better for $500, the improvement will be small. I did a short search and came up with several other good options, but all except for one had a number pad on the right. This was the other, and it's really not much better than the one you found, and it's also $510:

https://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-pavilion-laptop-14t-dv000-touch-optional-1s961av-1

The issue here, aside from the popularity of number pads, is that laptops the new and new-ish processors you'd be looking for haven't completely come down in price yet. So while you might in theory consider a laptop with an Intel 11th-gen i5 or i7, or a Ryzen 5 4500U, there aren't as many options for $500 or less as you might see in three to six months, when the inventory starts to outpace sales.

I think the laptop you've found should be fine, and not all that much slower than the very best option you could get for $500 if your wife didn't care about having a number pad. You could certainly keep looking for options with this processor or the ones I mentioned—avoid the 10th-gen Intel CPUs because the graphics chips in them are significantly slower—but you might not find anything better for the same price.
Dude36593
5 years ago
@puzzlezaddict oh, that is an interesting choice. She's actually only ever had HPs, so that's what she has been wanting. She might prefer it. How does the Intel Iris Xe compare to the Vega 8? If I looked up the right ones, it seems the Xe might be better? And is that i5 better than the Ryzen 5? I'm not sure how much of a difference there really is and if it matters to play Sims. I really wish this was easier to decipher. Why can't there just be one kind of i5? I try to look this stuff up and it might as well be a foreign language. Haha.
You think if I wait until summer, nicer options will drop to my price range? And will these options also drop in price? I'm just not sure how that theory holds up in practice because then why can't I buy older i7s that are theoretically better than these options? Genuine question that's always bothered me. Lol.
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
5 years ago
@Dude36593 First, the simple part. Normally, you'd probably do a bit better waiting a few months to buy. However, given the bottlenecks in manufacturing and basic components, that's not guaranteed. Add to that the currently-in-effect tariff, which may or may not have lifted by summer, and it's not clear at all what the best option is. Waiting is taking a substantial risk, but maybe with a worthwhile payoff at the end. On the other hand, that's three or four months that your wife won't have her new computer.

Between the two processors, the Intel is clearly better than the AMD. However, the limiting factor for Sims 4 will be the graphics chip, and things are a bit more murky there. The chip in the Intel CPU does better on average, but performance varies wildly by game, and I haven't seen benchmarks for Sims 4 that would help. This is complicated by the fact that there are two Xe G7 chips, and some older G7 chips, and a different Vega 8 chip, so searching for accurate benchmarks is difficult at best. (In case you're wondering, the chip in the HP is the slower of the two G7 chips, the faster one being the option that comes in an 11th-gen i7 CPU.)

If I had to guess, I'd the HP would run Sims 4 better by a small margin, nothing spectacular, but I can't promise I'm right about that. The hardware in the Lenovo does run Sims 4 fine on medium settings, by all accounts.

As for why the price of older i7s stays high, it's probably because people think i7s are great. In reality, the newest i5 laptop CPU is usually better than a laptop i7 from two generations ago, but many people aren't looking up benchmarks. There's also the fact that i7s generally have more cores for their category, which is great if the processor is going to have a high multi-core workload. Sims 4 can only use four cores or four threads, and running Windows in the background takes up only a couple percentage points of CPU resources, so the extra power of an i7 isn't relevant here. Also, i7s are usually paired with other nicer features, e.g. more RAM or storage or a better battery or screen, although that definitely only explains part of the price discrepancy.

And why can't there be one kind of i5? They're quite different if you look at their specs closely enough. If you'd like more info on that, let me know, but it gets pretty technical pretty quickly, and you might not care.
Dude36593
5 years ago
@puzzlezaddict Thanks for all the info. It was super helpful. I ended up buying the HP because the sale was about to end and I was able to stack a student discount to get it for $480. Knowing my luck, the price of the Lenovo will drop a ton (lowest price history has it at $380) and HP won't let you cancel orders. Haha.