@pippyg44 Whether a gaming laptop is the best option is entirely your call. The best non-gaming laptops available in your price range, of which this Acer is one, should be able to run Sims 4, all packs included, on high graphics settings at best. A gaming laptop should easily handle ultra settings, usually with room to add high poly custom content, Reshade, or anything else that would increase the game's demands. Sims 3 should run on a mix of high and ultra graphics settings on the non-gaming laptops I'm linking and easily on ultra on the gaming laptop.
At the moment, decent gaming laptops are also closer to £700 as well, with prices occasionally coming down a bit, but £600 is the absolute floor I've seen even during sale events. If you'd prefer Currys or John Lewis, this is the one I'd recommend:
https://www.currys.co.uk/products/msi-cyborg-15-15.6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-rtx-3050-512-gb-ssd-10251897.html
with this being a bit faster (not actually necessary for Sims 4, even if nice to have) but with only half the memory:
https://www.currys.co.uk/products/lenovo-ideapad-gaming-3-15.6-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-rtx-4050-512-gb-ssd-10249561.html
Whether the upgrade in performance is worth the price is subjective, so go with whatever is the right answer for you.
For non-gaming laptops, I would absolutely go with 16 GB RAM, which, while not strictly necessary for Sims 4, is very convenient and will help with multitasking now and even more in the future. You don't need more than 500 GB storage for the two games even if you manage to amass significant custom content collections for both. That narrows down the choices significantly, given your budget and preferred retailers, but I did want to mention two other options.
This one is a little slower than the Acer you linked, in terms of game performance, but it's also £100 cheaper:
https://www.johnlewis.com/lenovo-ideapad-3i-laptop-intel-core-i5-processor-16gb-ram-512gb-ssd-15-6-inch-full-hd-abyss-blue/p110894636
This one is a bit more expensive and has the same slower graphics chip but a much nicer screen. If you haven't looked at an OLED screen before, and there's a Currys near you with one on display, it's worth a trip to see how much of a difference it makes to you. Some people wouldn't care; others wouldn't go back to non-OLED monitors. On the other hand, the games will all run fine on any screen, so you might not want to bother.
https://www.currys.co.uk/products/asus-vivobook-15-oled-x1505za-15.6-laptop-intel-core-i5-512-gb-ssd-silver-10251638.html
If you have more questions about these or in general, please feel free to ask.
