Forum Discussion

Re: Laptop Recommendations?

@puzzlezaddict Hi, thanks so much that’s all really helpful information, I’m in the UK and budget wise I was thinking around £1500 (would be happy going over a few hundred if absolutely necessary) but like you mentioned, it feels wasteful getting something super powerful like for example the MSI summit E14 14” because I feel like it’ll be wasted on sims. I’m not very good with spec talk especially graphic cards and chips as I’ve never delved into that world and play on a 2010 Lenovo all rounder (intel i3) however I’ve always wanted to experience the sims in HD so if you say I can safely run it on Ultra settings with a certain laptop I will just 100% rely on your expertise and get it.

From my research I’ve compiled a list of ones that pop up frequently however the price range varies MASSIVELY and the specs seem quite similar. Anytime I’ve thought I come to a conclusion I see someone on a forum warning off it like “make sure you have lots of hard drive as it’s a big game” or “I had this laptop and it overheated massively just get a desktop” or “it’s better to get this one as you can upgrade the parts otherwise it’ll be useless in a year or two” but is all of that really something that will affect me if I’m not playing any COD or fortnite etc?

I don’t want to get a budget option if it means I have to lower the settings and I’m happy to pay more for ultra and no lag but also don’t wanna get a super powerful machine that will easily run it and then some, just looking for a happy middle.

sorry I hope it all makes sense and isn’t too much waffle here’s the ones I mentioned pop up a lot.

MSI GF65 (£1000) Intel® Core™ i7-10750H Processor, RAM: 16 GB / Storage: 512 GB SSD, Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 6 GB, 208 FPS when playing Fortnite at 1080p, Full HD screen / 144 Hz, Battery life: Up to 6 hours
HP Pavilion Gaming 16 (£800) Intel® Core™ i5-10300H Processor, RAM: 8 GB / Storage: 512 GB SSD, Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti 4 GB, 147 FPS when playing Fortnite at 1080p, Full HD screen / 60 Hz
Lenovo Legion 5 (£999) AMD Ryzen 7 5800H Processor, RAM: 8 GB / Storage: 512 GB SSD, Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 6 GB, Full HD screen / 120 Hz, Battery life: Up to 7 hours
Acer ntiro 5 (£750) Intel® Core™ i5-11300H Processor, RAM: 8 GB / Storage: 512 GB SSD, Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 4 GB, Full HD screen / 144 Hz, Battery life: Up to 8 hours
Acer predator helios 300 (£1500) Intel® Core™ i7-10750H Processor, RAM: 16 GB / Storage: 1 TB SSD, Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 6 GB, Full HD screen / 144 Hz, Battery life: Up to 6 hours
Acer TUF Dash F15 (£750) Intel® Core™ i5-10300H Processor, RAM: 8 GB / Storage: 512 GB SSD, Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 4 GB, Full HD screen / 144 Hz, Battery life: Up to 4 hours

2 Replies

puzzlezaddict
Hero+
5 years ago
@Coco2loco56 You can fit all your Sims games on a 256 GB drive if you don't download a massive amount of custom content, so 512 GB would be fine as long as you're not downloading several other large games too. I believe all these laptops would take a second hard drive, so you're not locked into that choice either.

The graphics card will be the limiting factor in determining how well Sims games run on all these laptops. Since you have the budget to do a lot better, I'd cross off the options with a 1650. The MSI GFxx laptops run somewhat loud and hot, nothing alarming but also not ideal, and there again you can afford better. Between the Legion and the Predator, the reviews are quite similar, but the Legion should win just because it's so much cheaper. Its processor also uses less power, which means it both runs cooler and doesn't use as much battery.

I understand the temptation to get a high-end model because you can afford it. But since you don't need anything faster than a 3060, the higher price isn't justified until you get into the premium tier: Razer, the better Gigabyte models (not the K5), the high-end Asus Zephyrus line, a few custom builders, that sort of thing. And even then, you'd likely only see a few percentage points of performance increase, which you wouldn't need with a 3060 anyway.

Plus, that's $500 you'll have saved for the next computer you want, whenever you want it. And that $500 won't put off that next upgrade either, at least not if you're looking at a 3060 either way. Besides, graphics cards are improving so quickly these days, there's not much point in trying to futureproof beyond three or four years.
Coco2loco56
5 years ago
@puzzlezaddict Thanks so much! All this is really super helpful and I think I will go for the legion, like you said it’s £500 cheaper and whilst I could at a push afford to go for the more expensive ones, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to. Plus my current Lenovo lasted long enough so I trust the brand. You should get paid for this cause you’ve done a much better job than any customer service I’ve been to :D