@sims929292 As far as Sims 4 is concerned, getting an i5-11400H rather than an i5-10300H won't make a noticeable difference. If you'd like a newer processor anyway, this Acer looks fine and is based on a design that works well, although I haven't seen reviews of this specific configuration yet. I can have a look if you really like the Acer in particular but want to be thorough, or I can look for other options if you're interested.
Windows 11 also requires that a certain security chip be active; google TPM 2.0 if you're curious. Any new-ish computer should have the chip, certainly any that also has an 8th-gen or newer Intel processor, but it may not be activated. You can do that yourself, provided the option exists within the BIOS, but some laptop BIOS configurations don't allow for many user adjustments. However, I'd expect most laptop manufacturers to release a BIOS update to make their recent products compatible with Windows 11 if they aren't already.
The short answer is, I would expect this laptop to support Windows 11 out of the box or be updated to support it, but it's not an absolute guarantee, just highly likely. You could also visit a Best Buy that has one of these on display and check whether TPM 2.0 is enabled: if it's in the display model, it would be in yours too.
@puzzlezaddict I had no idea about the TPM 2.0 chip. I saw it on the system requirements but skimmed over it since I didn't know what it meant. Thank you for your detailed response!
I went to Best Buy yesterday. I asked an employee if there was an Acer Nitro on display. There wasn't and he said that Acers are not good gaming laptops. He suggested I try a different brand.
I've decided to splurge and go over my budget and consider a more powerful gaming laptop. https://www.costco.com/msi-ge76-raider-gaming-laptop---11th-gen-intel-core-i7-11800h---geforce-rtx-3060---144hz-1080p.product.100763831.html
What are your thoughts on that one? How would TS4 run on it? Ultra settings with no problems? Is it overkill for TS4? How much better than the Acer Nitro is it?
@sims929292 The Best Buy sales rep is either misinformed or making an assumption about what you want that isn't in evidence. I wouldn't recommend a Nitro to run demanding games because its specs don't go past a certain level. But it's perfectly capable of running Sims 4 on ultra settings, and in fact the Nitro is in many cases the only good budget option for a gaming laptop. Better models can often be ~$200 more for essentially the same hardware while only giving a couple percentage points' increase in performance.
Anyway, it's a moot point if you're looking to spend more money. I think you can do better than the Raider though. Since we've been talking about Acers, this one has the same graphics card, a processor that's more than fast enough and runs cooler, and is much cheaper. You wouldn't need the extra storage for Sims 4.
This laptop isn't perfect by any definition: for example, the battery life isn't good and the screen could be better, but the point is that you don't need to spend as much to get the same performance. But the MSI's screen isn't an improvement, and in-game performance, at least for games like Sims 4, doesn't have much room to improve.
This is an example of a higher-quality laptop that's still cheaper than the MSI. It runs cooler and quieter than the others and has very good performance in gaming. It does only come with 8 GB RAM, but you could upgrade that relatively cheaply and still come out ahead.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1617923-REG/lenovo_82ju006dus_legion_5_ryz7_5800h_8_512.html
To be clear, you don't need to spend this much money on a laptop for Sims 4. A 1660 ti or 2060 would be a bit of overkill; a 3050 would still be more than fine. (As an example, here's a high-end laptop with a 3050 ti.) If you're going to splurge though, you might as well get your money's worth. And if you don't like the options available now, keep in mind that laptops with 30-series GPUs are still being released, so you might find something better in a week or two.
@puzzlezaddict Thank you for the recommendations. Now you’ve got me leaning toward the cheaper Acer Nitro again. But the more expensive one you linked to looks pretty good also. Not to mention I’ve had numerous people recommend the Legion. I’m going to do more research. I need the laptop by August so I have less than a month to make my decision.
I’ve been reading what various people have to say on Reddit about different gaming laptops that they own. Basically everyone seems to be constantly checking and monitoring the temperatures of their laptops while they game. One guy was gaming for two weeks and didn’t check his temps the whole time and apparently that was a big mistake. My question is: Do I need to be concerned with this and be checking the temps on my future laptop everyday? Is that just something that all laptop gamers need to do? I haven’t gamed on a laptop for over a decade so I never considered this before.
Also, should I be checking the temps on a desktop computer also? I play TS4 on a Mac and have never checked the temps before.
@sims929292 If your system is stable and doesn't have any overheating issues, it's not strictly necessary to monitor temperatures every time you play, but it's still a good idea. Just as an example, Origin sometimes uses almost all the CPU resources it can get, for annoying and not always obvious reasons. So a laptop that runs Sims 4 at ~50% CPU use and stays quite cool might start to overheat if Origin drives the CPU to 100%, and you wouldn't necessarily notice this happening if you didn't look.
However, that doesn't mean you need to constantly check your hardware stats. You could instead install an app that allows you to set alarms when a certain condition is met, for example the processor going over 90º C or the graphics card over 80. Then you don't have to pay attention; just run that app alongside your games and let it monitor for you. Hwinfo is one such tool, and it has the advantage of picking up pretty much everything, but there are other options too if hwinfo isn't your style.
MacOS is very good at throttling performance to protect the hardware, in fact often too aggressive for my taste. But the point is, you don't need to worry about temps when playing on your Mac: as long as the vents aren't blocked, it should be fine.
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