Forum Discussion

ItzVM's avatar
6 years ago

Good laptop for sims 4?

Hi,

I am looking to buy a laptop but I want to make sure that I can find one that can run the Sims 4, plus expansion packs and CC. I live in Spain, and my budget is of 650-700€.

I have been looking at the Asus Vivobook ones, because they seem slim and appropriate to take them to class as well, but I keep reading everywhere that you can't play because they don't meet the requirements, which is a dissapointment. Anyway, if anyone could give me a few recommendations for laptops to buy, it will be great.

Thanx!

17 Replies

  • roberta591's avatar
    roberta591
    Hero (Retired)
    6 years ago

    @PepperJohnny  The GTX 1650 is a mid range video chip and will probably play this game acceptable. The I5 cpu is clocked at 2.4 Ghz which is accepted but not great. On the whole this machine should give acceptable performance at mid to high resolutions. That being said I have had a running battle with HP about their laptop cooling technology. IMO HP can not design a laptop with acceptable cooling technology. Maybe if HP were to give and honor a decent warranty to cover poor design I would change my mind. IMO a laptop should last more then 18 months without burning the motherboard out and then refusing to fix the laptop (1 year warranty). The cost to repair usually exceeded the worth of the machine. I have had several Dell laptops that still worked when I gave them away. This laptop is good for today's games but only for today. As 3D games keep putting more and more demand on performance, I feel this laptop may not perform well in the near future. With technology in question and hardware on the edge of falling behind this laptop is over priced with a poor warranty for 3D gaming.

  • roberta591's avatar
    roberta591
    Hero (Retired)
    6 years ago

    @ItzVM   Asus has been known to provide solid mother boards. In the last few years I have seen several Asus boards with the bulging capacitor problem. While these boards were in service for a long time I was surprised to see this. I have been using only Gigabyte boards exclusively for the last few years now. The dedicated video chip is entry level and my guess it may have trouble running the more demanding expansion packs like Seasons with a lot of graphic changes. IMO this laptop is over priced due the the low performance of the dedicated video chip.

  • roberta591's avatar
    roberta591
    Hero (Retired)
    6 years ago

    @PepperJohnny   Both the laptops have a dedicated Nvidia GTX1050 graphics chip. This video chip should give acceptable performance at 1080 resolution. The Asus does NOT come with the Windows operating system. You will need to obtain Windows 10 and install it. The Acer comes with Windows 10 Home. Both come with 512Gb of ssd storage. This would be my minimum capacity for a gaming computer. I don't have any direct knowledge of an AMD R7 in a laptop but should be powerful enough for good performance for this game. IMO they are about the same in performance with the only big difference is the cpus. The Asus will cost more because you will need to purchase the Windows operating system. You should research this company and how they handle warranty issues.  hth

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    6 years ago

    @ItzVM  If you’re really into the Vivobook, the one you linked with the MX230 would work decently well.  I would expect it to handle medium/high settings, and of course it will be great to take to class.  It doesn’t have the same cooling as a gaming laptop, so you’d need to elevate it (use a laptop tray or put books under the corners) or use a cooling pad while you played.  But this isn’t usually an issue as long as you make sure it’s cooling well.

    If you’d like me to look at other sites, I can, but the best you could do with a Vivobook, other than the most expensive models, is an MX230 or MX250.

    @PepperJohnny  The first laptop you listed, with the MX250, is okay but not great for Sims 4, and as you’ve seen, you could do better for the same price, or a lot better for a bit more money.

    The HP is a good choice for Sims 4, capable of running the game with all packs installed on ultra settings.  An Nvidia 1650 may or may not quite be able to handle ultra setting with all future packs installed too—it’s right on the border of what we guess will be necessary.  But the next card up, a 1660 ti, is significantly more expensive, and also overkill for Sims 4.

    A 1650 is significantly faster than a 1050, so if you can fit it in your budget, a model with a 1650 is definitely a better choice.  It's certainly a great investment for 50€ extra.  HPs are fine these days, about the same as other manufacturers’ laptops in the same price range. But if you’d like me to look at other options, just let me know your preferred budget.

  • holger1405's avatar
    holger1405
    Hero+
    6 years ago

    Hi@PepperJohnny 🙂

    The Acer Aspire 5 has a dedicated GPU, a MX250. That is already clearly visible in the link you provided.

    But I agree with @puzzlezaddict, you can do much better for the same or only slightly more money.

    From the options you provided the HP Pavilion laptop is the by far best one.
    The GTX 1650 is a way more powerful GPU than the GTX 1050 in the other laptops let alone the MX250, and the Intel Core i5 9300H CPU is also more powerful than the AMD Ryzen 7 3750H.

    I have the same HP model with an i7 CPU and a GTX1660 GPU and the cooling is more than sufficient, even at much more demanding games. 

    I build and repair PC and repair Laptops for 30 years now, and there is no such thing as a "good" or "bad" vendor. 

    You can get unlucky with all of them, but the chance is very small, no matter what you buy.
    All this machines come from top vendors and have high quality components.