Help Deciding What to Do.

@candiecoatediv  I love Macs, I love my MacBook Pro, and for everyday use, I much prefer macOS to Windows.  But it's true, Macs aren't gaming computers by any stretch of the imagination.  The only laptops with dedicated graphics cards are the 15" MacBook Pros, which start at $2,400 U.S. and absolutely don't justify the high price tag if your primary goal is to play games.  (They are wonderful though.)

The iMacs are more reasonably priced—you could get an entry-level dedicated card in a $1,300 21" model.  That's still more expensive than a Windows PC with equivalent hardware though, and the card isn't as strong as you'd like for even a moderately demanding game like TS4.  Stronger cards come in increasingly expensive models.

On the other hand, you could get a Windows gaming laptop for $1000, or even less when there's a convenient sale.  I looked only briefly, so I could give you an idea of what's out there, and I found these two models, for $900 and $1,050 (plus a $50 rebate).  They both have an Nvidia 1660 ti for a graphics card, which should absolutely run all TS4 packs, now and in the future, on ultra settings.  They also both have a 512 GB SSD.  The second one has a much stronger processor than the first, although the first one is still fine for TS4.  They do only have 8 GB memory, but you could easily add a second RAM stick for maybe $40.

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16834235244?Item=N82E16834235244

https://www.newegg.com/black-msi-gl-series-gl73-8sd-297-gaming-entertainment/p/N82E16834155231?Item=N82E16834155231

You could save even more money if you wanted to cut corners a bit, although $700 is pretty much the floor for decent gaming laptop these days, even with sales.

Windows can be jarring to someone who's used to macOS; it certainly was for me when I Bootcamped my laptop last year.  (I partitioned the hard drive and installed Windows 10 on one side.)  But the long startup times are mostly a thing of the past—mine boots in about 30 seconds, since it's running off an SSD.  You can also disable apps on startup, as well as the notorious Windows data sharing.

I'm not trying to make Windows sound amazing or anything, but for playing games, it's a much better choice any time money is a significant factor.  If you do decide to go that direction, I'd be happy to look for other options for you as well—just let me know what other features you'd like, and anything else you'd want to do besides play TS4.

So as reluctant as I might be to recommend a Windows PC to a Mac person, it may be the best option for you.  In your position, I'd likely keep my Mac for everyday use and mostly just use the PC for games, and maybe a few other apps that are on the demanding side or don't run in macOS.  If you have more questions, please feel free to ask.

@puzzlezaddict 

Thank you so much for the information. It's greatly appreciated. I am definitely steering more towards a PC for a few reasons. 1) I want a gaming laptop that I don't want to have to worry about whether it can handle another pack since they are releasing packs like makeup. 2) I will be able to play an older version of the game that is no longer supported on MAC. Based on your recommendations and links, I have not heard of the site the laptops were listed on but this is what I found online with a store I am more familiar with. 

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-rog-strix-17-17-3-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i7-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1650-1tb-solid-state-drive-black/6354252.p?skuId=6354252

What do you think? 

Also, based on what I currently have on specs for my Mac, how long before I start running into issues again in regards to slow game play? 

Currently 16gb RAM and 500SSD Intel iCore 5  (I have attached my current specs). 

I am specifically looking for a laptop as I mentioned so I can travel, at least 500gb SSD and 16gb RAM with an amazing graphics card. 

@candiecoatediv  How long you have before the game becomes unplayable on your current laptop will depend on your tolerance for lag and low graphics settings; everyone is different.  You also might find that if you play a bit on your boyfriend's laptop, it will be harder to go back to yours.  I happily played Sims 3 for years on an older MacBook Pro than yours (although it had a dedicated graphics card), but I couldn't deal with that now that I've seen what it's like to have smooth play on ultra settings.

The site I linked is a good place to buy, as long as your computer comes from Newegg itself and not one of the third parties that also sell through the company.  (I excluded those options.)  Depending on what you're looking for, you might save a lot of money there, although Amazon is usually not too much more expensive.

As to the laptop you linked, it's better in every way than the first one I linked, except for the graphics card.  But the card is the single biggest determining factor in how Sims 4 will run on your computer.  A 1660 ti is a bit of overkill for TS4, but a 1650 may not be quite enough if your goal is to run all future packs on ultra settings.  It will handle ultra settings just fine now; this is more about futureproofing and giving yourself a bit of margin to work with.

If the other specs are what caught your attention, you may be better off getting this $1,200 laptop from CyberpowerPC with the same processor and RAM and a 1660 ti, and paying an extra $50 to upgrade the SSD to the 1 TB version.

https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Tracer-III-15V-VR-300

Or, for example, you could get this Acer Predator Helios ($1000) with an Nvidia 1060 6 GB, 16 GB RAM, and last year's version of the same processor.  It only has a small 256 GB SSD, but its second hard drive slot is user-accessible, and a 1 TB SSD might cost you $90.

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predator-Overclockable-Aeroblade-PH315-51-78NP/dp/B07CTHLX8C

Anyway, there are a lot of good options in your price range, and the best one will depend on what features are most important to you.  If and when you're ready to buy, I'd be happy to find you a few models that have what you want.

@puzzlezaddict 

Thank you for all your help and patience in answering my questions. I think I agree in that it’s hard for me to play now that I’ve seen what his can do. I went and looked at this laptop 

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-rog-gu502gv-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i7-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-2060-1tb-ssd-optane-brushed-metallic-black/6338248.p?skuId=6338248

Because i was dead set on making sure it had enough RAM and a good graphics card. Best Buy was limited with what they have in stock so I asked them to hold it until tomorrow. What do you think? 

@candiecoatediv  Honestly, I think that's very much overpriced.  It's also overkill for Sims 4; there's no way the game would ever need an Nvidia 2060.  If you did want that strong a card, you could save yourself a lot of money elsewhere.  As an example, I saw this one when I was browsing Amazon earlier:

https://www.amazon.com/AORUS-15-W9-RT4BD-i7-8750H-GeForce-2666MHz/dp/B07MW6DT1F

Its processor is the previous generation's equivalent, but the benchmarks are pretty close—getting the newer 9750H is certainly not worth hundreds of dollars more.  And a 500 GB SSD will hold everything that you'd want to run off a solid state drive; the 2 TB HDD will hold everything you could possibly want on your computer and then some.

If you let me know what you want, and how much you want to spend, I can find other options as well.  I don't think Best Buy is necessarily the best option though.  Its current selection is limited and mostly overpriced, and though it will match the price of competitors, I'm not seeing that exact model available on the usual other sites, at least if I exclude third-party sellers.

@puzzlezaddictThats interesting. When I looked on amazon yesterday only two gaming laptops came up. 

Is the laptop too much? I want to make sure I can run both TS4 and TS3. 

I picked up up the laptop but now I’m thinking I shouldn’t have. I get really nervous about purchasing anything without being able to see it in person. 

Luckily i I can still return this and get something else if it’s not that good. 

@candiecoatediv  Definitely return it, get something else, and save $600 or more.  It's not that this laptop is bad, exactly, it's that it's far overpriced for what it does.  You shouldn't have to pay almost $2,000 just to play Sims games.

Amazon's search function for computer is... well, it's bad.  I don't like using it, and I have to wade through piles of unhelpful links just to find what I'm looking for.  But the good options are there, if you know how to find them.  Again, I'm happy to do that for you, to list a few links so you can choose what you want.  The Aorus I linked a few minutes ago just happened to be discounted to the point where it landed in the price range I picked, making it the best option for around $1,200, but there were a handful of others as well.

And yes, every laptop I've mentioned, and all the specs listed, would run Sims 3 on ultra settings as well.  Even the Nvidia 1650 would be more than good enough.

@puzzlezaddict  Okay makes sense.

This is the other model they had in stock

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/acer-nitro-5-17-3-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1650-512gb-solid-state-drive-black/6345056.p?skuId=6345056

I was was thinking about this and upgrading the RAM. They said either 16gb or 32gb were my options. 

The other her one was this MSI which I know you linked one yesterday. 

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/msi-gs-series-stealth-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i7-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1660ti-512gb-ssd-matte-black-with-gold-diamond-cut/6343295.p?skuId=6343295

They had others but nothing on hand. I would have to wait 5-7 business days for shipping. 

I want to spend no more than $1200 if possible but when I’m looking what I’m finding is the right amount of RAM but then the graphics card is 1050 or less than the 1660ti you mentioned or the hardware is an HDD or 256 SSD. It’s like one extreme or the other. If that makes sense. 

@candiecoatediv  Do you need to buy from Best Buy?  Because then your options will be limited.  I can still find a couple though.

I know you want your computer as soon as possible, but does it matter so much to you that you'd settle for something less than ideal, or pay a lot more, just to get it this weekend?  Amazon will ship for free within a few days, and so will Cyberpower.

Don't worry about the RAM.  If a model is otherwise perfect but only has 8 GB, just buy a matching RAM stick for $40-$50 and install it yourself.  All of these computers have user-accessible slots for memory, and then make installation extremely easy.  Or, if you really don't want to do it yourself, buy the RAM at a store and ask them to install it for you.  If a store tries to charge you extra for the "service," tell them they're being unreasonable and go somewhere else.  (Also, in case you're wondering, in almost all cases, adding more memory does not void the warranty.)

@puzzlezaddict 

No. I don’t have to buy specifically from Best Buy but I do like to try stuff out and see it in person before I buy. I still try on clothes when I go shopping. It’s just what I do. As I mentioned I get really nervous about purchasing online then having to deal with returning stuff especially electronics bc I have been burned in the past and have had to pay for stuff that conveniently returned “damaged” even though I was packaged expertly. 

Yes for convenience I would like to go into the store purchase and walk right out. But you’re right, I don’t want to pay double. 

Side question-what is with the fan? My MacBook fan rarely came on. Is this normal? I’m probably going to be returning this before they close this evening but if the fan is something that is normal I’m not sure I can do Windows.