Good laptops for Sims 4?
Hi, I am looking into getting a new laptop to use for both light work from home tasks that mainly use the internet and microsoft office but I also want to be able to play Sims 4 on it. Sims would be...
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@beesmart3 Just to be clear, among the components in a given system, the single most important one in determining how well a computer runs Sims 4 is the graphics card. (This is true for most games.) Extra hard drive space is nice to have, but if you're only going to use this laptop for Sims 4 and maybe some small apps (browsers, Spotify, etc.), 256 GB is more than enough.
In your price range, there are two good graphics cards that are commonly available and would run Sims 4 on ultra graphics settings. The cheaper and slower Nvidia 1050 would only barely handle ultra settings, and that might not be true as future packs are released. The newer and faster Nvidia 1650 would handle ultra settings with some room to spare, meaning you'd have an extra margin to account for some demanding expansion that hasn't been released yet. While we don't know what the game will look like by the time it's out of development, the 1650 is right on the border of what we'd guess would be necessary for ultra settings.
There are plenty of options for each graphics card, depending on how much you want to spend for extra features. This Acer and this HP both have exactly the same core components, including a 1050. They're both $630, or you could get the same HP (except with a smaller screen) for $650 at Target, plus a $50 gift card.
https://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-pavilion-gaming-laptop-17t-5xx64av-1
Laptops with an Nvidia 1650 start at $700. This MSI has the same specs as the Acer and HP, other than the faster GPU.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1542057-REG/msi_gf63_thin_9scx_005_gf63_i5_9300h_8gb.html
An HP with the same specs, except a 512 GB solid state drive, costs $750 at Target, again with a $50 gift card included.
Other than those, the laptops I saw with a 1650 and more storage were $800 and up. This MSI is the same as the other MSI except for storage:
https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GF63-9SC-614-Gaming-i5-9300H/dp/B07TR7WRK9/
This Asus has a slightly stronger processor than the others mentioned, although it wouldn't matter to Sims 4; and a combination 256 GB SSD/1 TB HDD:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1554418-REG/asus_tuf505dt_rb73_15_6_amd_ryzen_7.html
This Asus has a much stronger processor than the others and a 512 GB SSD:
For comparison, since you were considering a Dell, these are the two best options with a 1050 and a 1650 in the Dell store:
So you'd pay significantly more for the same hardware, even before the extended protection plan. Dell does make good laptops, even good gaming laptops, but so do Asus and MSI, and for a lower price. HP is fine too, pretty much the same as other brands in its price range. There's a chance you'd get a lemon with any brand, even the very high-end ones, but that's what warranties are for.
@puzzlezaddict Wow, thank you for providing all the links! That first HP 17t was actually the one I was trying to link before so that helps lol. I'm not super worried about running it on ultra graphics, as long as I can get medium-high since I'm don't play it often anyway and only very casually if that makes sense.
As for that second Acer that I found, it has a NVIDIA GeForce MX250 graphics card. What would be the difference between that and the 1050? The other thing is that its not a gaming laptop so I'm not sure if that would cause significant issues or not.
Here's the link again just in case: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TJ21K7T/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=laptops4study-20&linkId=ff0c73a2c66da84ebc4514037c10854e&language=en_US&th=1
Thanks for the help!
As for that second Acer that I found, it has a NVIDIA GeForce MX250 graphics card. What would be the difference between that and the 1050? The other thing is that its not a gaming laptop so I'm not sure if that would cause significant issues or not.
Here's the link again just in case: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TJ21K7T/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=laptops4study-20&linkId=ff0c73a2c66da84ebc4514037c10854e&language=en_US&th=1
Thanks for the help!
@beesmart3 An MX250 is a good card for its intended purpose—supporting business apps that require some graphics processing power—but it's not a gaming GPU. In terms of game performance, a 1050 is maybe 200-250% faster, depending on which exact model card is used and who's running the benchmarks. Results are closer in synthetic tests, but there's still a sizeable gap.
The other consideration is that laptops with an MX250 are not usually built with gaming in mind, meaning they likely don't have strong cooling systems compared to proper gaming laptops. This can be managed if necessary, but excess heat will cause the system to throttle performance to protect the hardware. So in practical terms, you might not be able to play at the high settings the card is theoretically capable of handling.
It does make sense that you wouldn't worry about graphics quality, but the difference between medium and high settings can be startling. Even if you never post a screenshot of your game, you'll still probably enjoy playing on higher settings. But I'm sure there are videos that show the difference if you want to poke around youtube and get a sense of what to expect.
The other benefit of a faster graphics card is higher framerates. Some people don't really care, but for others, playing at 30-40 fps feels a bit rough or choppy. Having a card that can maintain higher fps could therefore make the game "feel" better even at the same graphics settings.
However, it's not like you won't be able to play on the Acer with the MX250. If that's the laptop you want for other reasons, it will still handle the game well enough.
- @puzzlezaddict That's great info to know! I'm glad you brought up the potential for overheating with a typical notebook because I hadn't really thought about it. The frame rate also makes sense in terms of actual gameplay. I will look more into what the impact looks like from low-high-ultra graphics and go from there as it seems there are many options.
Thank you, the help has been much appreciated!I hope you didnt purchase one yet!!! The HP pavilion gaming laptop youte looking at. Walmart has them for 650 but on thr hp website has them for 680 but with a 17 inch screen. With the i5 9300H (H means high performance) the graphic card 1050 is far best. Did i mention the cooling is AMAZING on these. I just ordered my wife one along with mine. I went all out and got the i7 with the gtx 1660 ti max Q. Apparently.... the guy who said buy a dell is either working for them or is still stuck in 1998. Dells suck. Too many limitations.
Now... make sure you get rid of all the bloatware (pre installed b.s) 😉 grab a cooling pad (stand thjng with fans to cool your laptop) you dont need this but people tend to sit them directly on their lap. Well for men we burn our.... well you know.. LoL but definitely buy the HP with the i5 and gtx1050. You wont be disappointed. If you have any further questions let me know. I will direct you with all of my knowledge and not be judgy like the dell guy
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