Gaming Laptop for The Sims 4 - Help

@simkreator  The single most important component in determing how well a given computer will run most games, Sims 4 included, is the graphics card.  An Nvidia 1650 (mobile version, as in what you'd see in a laptop) will run all current Sims 4 packs together on ultra graphics settings, with some room to spare.  It may or may not be quite fast enough to run all current and future packs together on ultra settings—we don't know how demanding those future packs will be.  An Nvidia 1660 ti is significantly faster and should always handle ultra settings without any trouble.  The very new AMD RX 5500M seems to be a bit faster overall than the 1650, but results vary significantly from game to game, and I haven't seen any benchmarks for Sims 4 yet.

Custom content doesn't necessarily raise the demands of the game, other than increasing the loading time, which can't be avoided.  High-poly cc (high resolution content) is more demanding though, and if you like to use it, you may want a 1660 ti to give the laptop more room to accommodate those items.

The processor, memory, and storage matter too, but as a practical matter, any laptop with one of these graphics cards will have good enough other specs for Sims 4.  The processor will be more than strong enough; the computer will have at least 8 GB RAM, which is plenty for Sims 4; and aside from a few rare examples, storage should be fine too.  If you want to store other data besides Sims 4 and your massive cc collection on the computer, you may want more than a single 256 GB solid state drive: either a 512 GB SSD or a combination 256 GB SSD/1 TB HDD.  But it's easier to search by graphics card first and then narrow things down from there.

In terms of price, in the U.S., laptops with a 1650 usually start around $700-750, and those with a 1660 ti start around $900-950.  Prices are comparatively higher in other countries.  If you let me know what kind of hardware you want, or alternately how much you'd like to spend (and in what currency), I can look for some good options.  Or, if you'd prefer to search on your own, feel free to link the model(s) you're considering for a second opinion.

I live in Portugal, so my currency is Euro. I don't really know about hardware I just know I'd like it to be laptop so I can carry it around. If you could please help me find some suitable option and possibly find something thinking about the future packs and updates and that it lasts more than a couple years! Thank you!

About storage, most of these have 512GB of SSD, do you think that's enough for playing with a lot of CC? Also, when I was first exploring looking for some options I found info about SSD and HDD and that left me with some questions as apparently SSD doesn't have as long a life-span as HDD. Since all the options you gave me had SDD I was wondering if it's because that's the best one for gaming and specifically for playing The Sims 4.

@simkreator  A 512 GB SSD is more than enough for Sims 4 and all the custom content you could ever use.  A 256 GB is enough, although maybe not by a wide margin, depending on your other uses.  If you install all current packs together, the game's program files take up about 40 GB.  Given the sizes of current packs and the recent patterns, that will probably rise into the low 50s by the time the game is out of development, maybe 60 GB at most.  If you add another 50 GB of custom content, 10 GB of saves, screenshots, and random files you don't feel like cleaning up, plus Windows itself, a 256 GB drive would still be barely half full.

It's true that solid state drives don't last as long as mechanical drives.  But the lifespan of SSDs is still more than long enough for normal use.  How much data can be written to an SSD before it wears out depends on its size and type, as well as the manufacturer.  To give you an idea though, if you were planning on downloading and deleting a couple of large games every week, or a comparable amount of data, the SSD might wear out in a few years.  For normal use, i.e. downloading a couple games and playing them, the SSD should still be fine long after the rest of the laptop is obsolete.

Solid state drives are better for gaming because everything loads so much faster on an SSD.  Sims 4 runs just fine on a mechanical drive, but it takes longer to load, so it's more convenient to have it installed on the SSD.  Most gaming laptops have an empty 2.5" drive bay as well, so you could add a second hard drive (SSD or HDD, any 2.5" model should fit) later if you wanted.  But you might not ever find it necessary.

Thank you so much for everything, I'm gonna take everything you explained into consideration when choosing my laptop!

I'm sorry to keep bothering you but I was wondering if the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 that is in one of the options you sent me superior to the NVIDIA 1660 ti you mentioned in the previous replies?

@simkreator  You're not bothering me at all.  Yes, an Nvidia 2060 is faster than a 1660 ti, maybe 5% overall in gaming.  It won't make any difference to Sims 4 though: the game doesn't come close to maxing out a 1660 ti and probably never will.  I just mentioned the 2060 in case you had other games in mind, and because the price isn't so much higher for a 2060 than a 1660 ti.

No, I understand that, but because the price point is the best considering all the other requirements (16gb ram and 512gb storage) and I could end up playing other games that laptop seems the best! 
Again, thank you so much!! 

Hi, again sorry to bother. I've been searching and comparing the options you've given me and I'm almost sure I'm buying this one, the only question I have is about the processor, isn't this one considered a not so strong one compared to others available, do you think it would be enough to play? I guess I don't really know what difference a stronger processor would make, I'm just trying to cover all my bases.

Thanks.