Is this a good laptop for Ultra settings?

Also feel free to give other recommendations, if im buying another laptop I want to get something that'll give me a good bang for my buck and last for the rest of the sims 4 and into 5.

It can definitely run TS4 decently, but I'm not sure about Ultra settings. The GPU is a 1650 Ti, which I think is in the mid-high tier range of its generation?

Usually, your best bet is to look for TS4 benchmarks on the internet using comparable hardware. According to this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prrF-eRB7oo

TS4 seems to run fine on Ultra with the 1650 (the weaker variant of 1650 Ti), so it seems like you're good. Every other part checks out too. Maybe add another 8 GB stick of RAM just to be safe.

I guess another thing to consider is that the video doesn't seem to have any DLC installed, so you might want to look for other benchmarks too

Here's another one with expansions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV_V74I2DG0

Hmm... OK, not sure if this has to do with it, but it's only 8GB of memory? You can do better than that in 2020.

Pro: Your drive is a solid state drive (SSD) which should make your experience very fast. (Con: it's only 512GB)
Pro?: Your processor speed is 2.6 GHz .... I think that's alright?? (Con: you could do better than this in 2019/2020)
Pro: Your graphics card is probably OK? ? (Con?: @icmnfrsh says it's mid-high tier ... if that's right, then you can probably do better.)

Your laptop also looks very thin.... That can't be good for air flow. Your laptop might overheat, and slow down because of that. Computers need great air flow. Be sure to use it on a laptop pad and/or keep it off blankets/fabric. I'm no expert, and that might not be your cause, but I did a rudimentary Google search about thin laptops: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/9kmkve/thinner-and-lighter-laptops-have-screwed-us-all

I'm not an expert, but I do exclusively play my games on laptops... TS4 runs fine on high settings on my MSI laptop from 2015.

Again, I'm no expert, but I would advise you have your laptop looked at by a local computer shop, and see what you can upgrade. Or — if your laptop is under warranty — maybe tell ASUS support that your laptop is not running like it should? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That's my 2¢.

"sketches;c-17594078" wrote:
Hmm... OK, not sure if this has to do with it, but it's only 8GB of memory? You can do better than that in 2020.

Pro: Your drive is a solid state drive (SSD) which should make your experience very fast. (Con: it's only 512GB)
Pro?: Your processor speed is 2.6 GHz .... I think that's alright?? (Con: you could do better than this in 2019/2020)
Pro: Your graphics card is probably OK? ?

Your laptop also looks very thin.... That can't be good for air flow. Your laptop might overheat, and slow down because of that. Computers need great air flow. Be sure to use it on a laptop pad and/or keep it off blankets/fabric. I'm no expert, and that might not be your cause, but I did a rudimentary Google search about thin laptops: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/9kmkve/thinner-and-lighter-laptops-have-screwed-us-all

I'm not an expert, but I do exclusively play my games on laptops... TS4 runs fine on high settings on my MSI laptop from 2015.

Again, I'm no expert, but I would advise you have your laptop looked at by a local computer shop, and see what you can upgrade. Or — if your laptop is under warranty — maybe tell ASUS support that your laptop is not running like it should? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That's my 2¢.

Would you say invest in a cooling pad first maybe to see if it’s an overheating issue?

@fatbat21 I would, yes. Some people say that it doesn't make a significant difference, but they also usually use their laptops on a table. I use my laptops on a cooling pad, just to be safe to keep it from suffocating. If you use your laptop on a table or desk, then you should be fine.

"sketches;c-17594090" wrote:
@fatbat21 I would, yes. Some people say that it doesn't make a significant difference, but they also usually use their laptops on a table. I use my laptops on a cooling pad, just to be safe to keep it from suffocating. If you use your laptop on a table or desk, then you should be fine.

"sketches;c-17594090" wrote:
@fatbat21 I would, yes. Some people say that it doesn't make a significant difference, but they also usually use their laptops on a table. I use my laptops on a cooling pad, just to be safe to keep it from suffocating. If you use your laptop on a table or desk, then you should be fine.

Yeah I use mine on my desk, and it never sounds crazy fanny but I can always hear it but thats normal

I'd somewhat agree with others - I use my comp on a cooling rack in order to help it run better :-)

Any other thoughts on different laptops to buy ?

The thing with laptops is you cannot change the hardware.
So even if the processor is good enough in my opinion (it has low clock speed but 6 cores) and the graphics card can achieve high settings on 1080p with fps around 60 or ultra settings on the same resolution but definitely lower fps than 60, still the hard drive space is a little low. Even though it is enough for all Sims 4 packs you cannot install another hard drive 'cause you can't modify the hardware in a laptop.
So if in 1-2 years you want to install more programs or the Sims 5 comes out you may have to start deleting stuff and that's troublesome.
Same with the RAM. 8 Gbs of RAM is enough for The Sims 4, though it could bottleneck with the processor. Still in 2020 8GBs of RAM is pretty outdated and isn't worth investing in.

If you want to play the Sims 4 in high settings then this laptop is fine but if you want to spend that much money and really invest in a good system for the future then I would recommend looking around a bit more.
Alternative options are: getting a PC because they are usually cheaper and have higher specs. I currently own a PC I got for 699$ and it has higher specs than this laptop
Or you can invest 100-200$ more and get a more powerful machine so you don't have to worry about new releases being too demanding for your system.