Re: Re: Can I play Sims 4 on a Surface Laptop 3?

@JasonD716  From my last post, the Asus Zephyrus G14 and the Asus Zenbook both have an Nvidia 1650 and should therefore both be able to run Sims 4 on ultra graphics settings.  (This is just about this particular Zenbook; many models come with much slower graphics cards or chips.)  The MSI with the MX450 should be able to handle high settings, possibly ultra if you don't install some of the expansion packs, but it's impossible to give you an exact prediction.

This is the start of a new cycle for graphics cards, meaning that new releases are full price and older ones are occasionally cheaper.  So you could watch for sales of the laptops you like, knowing you might save $200-300 if you get lucky, but you also might not see a sale for months.  Or you could wait to see what lightweight options come out with an Nvidia 3050, which is the 1650 of this generation, i.e. much faster and eventually the same price.  But the lightweight options could be six months away, and you won't know what they cost until they're released.

@JasonD716  Either version of that laptop should run Sims 4 on ultra settings.  The Nvidia 1650 is the same card as the one in the other laptops we've been talking about, and the more expensive version is the same as this one that I linked a couple days ago:

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/lenovo-ideapad-slim-7-15-6-laptop-grey-intel-i7-10750h-512gb-ssd-16gb-ram-gtx-1650-en-open-box/15204818

except for the difference in storage.

You don't need the stronger processor in the more expensive configuration; the other processor is more than fine for Sims 4 on whatever settings you want to use.

@JasonD716  No.  Again, its graphics card, an MX350, may be able to handle high settings, but ultra would likely be out of the question with all or most expansions installed.

@JasonD716  There are no foldable laptops in your price range that also have gaming hardware.  The foldable options start out as little more than tablets and don't get strong components until around the $1,600-1800 U.S. price range; I don't know what the cost is in the Canadian market, but it's certainly not going to be lower.

Look, I've done a number of searches for you and explained your options.  Those options are not going to change: the market is what it is, and computer hardware only comes in a limited variety of configurations.  The particular models available at any given time might shift a bit, but they'll all be variations on the same themes.

If you haven't seen exactly what you're looking for up until now, then you're going to need to make a compromise somewhere.  I can't tell you what that should be, since this is your computer.  But your perfect laptop is probably not out there, and you'll need to decide what to do about that.

@JasonD716  I haven't looked today.  I'm sorry, but it's difficult to keep doing searches for someone who wants something I can't seem to find.

@JasonD716  That laptop should run all Sims 4 packs on ultra graphics settings.  It's a nice machine too: I hadn't seen the Vostro line with dedicated graphics cards, at least not at that price.

@JasonD716  The 24" iMacs?  (And just to clarify, the Mac announced today is an iMac, not a laptop.)  While that officially remains to be seen, the M1 chip in the iMac announced today is identical to the M1 chips in the late 2020 MacBook Airs and 13" MacBook Pros, so we already have a pretty good idea of how the chip performs.  The overall answer is, mostly reasonably well, with one serious error that can usually be worked around.

You can post in the Sims 4 Mac section if you're curious on the details.  However, the overall performance of an M1 Mac (of any kind) will not be as good as that of a Windows PC with an Nvidia 1650.  The Mac hardware just isn't as fast for the particular tasks Sims 4 requires, and that's before the cost of translating the application for the ARM platform.  I'm not saying the game would run badly, just that there's a significant performance gap there.

@JasonD716  Are you building a PC now?  Or is this to add to an existing computer?  Because if it's the latter, there are additional considerations, for example the power supply and whether it has a supplemental connector, as well as the room in the case.

To answer your question, yes, these cards are all fine for Sims 4.  The desktop 1650 is about 10% faster than the laptop 1650, and these cards should all perform about the same as each other.  They're all out of stock though, and may not be back for a long time.  Graphics cards are impossible to find in the U.S. right now unless you want to pay between 60 and 100% over MSRP to a scalper.  I imagine it's not a whole lot better in Canada.

@JasonD716  The desktop version of a given graphics card is always faster than the laptop version, for various reasons.   How much faster depends on the card, the laptop's basic settings, and which versions are in the laptop and desktop, but you can expect about 10% better performance for a desktop 1650 than a laptop 1650.  The gap can end up being larger, but it's probably not going to be smaller unless there's something wrong with the desktop.