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Emma_Islay's avatar
Emma_Islay
Seasoned Newcomer
10 days ago

Laptop Suggestions

Hi all,

I am looking for a new laptop to play sims 4 on and wondering if anyone has any suggestions. I have a few expansion packs and would like more but my laptop is really struggling even with the base game. 

I would like to stay around £500 but would go up to £650ish. 

These are what I'm looking at already- any of these any good? Happy with either normal or gaming laptop. 

Asus Zenbook 14

https://amzn.eu/d/gwN988D

Asus Vivobook 15

https://amzn.eu/d/cdWD8gL 

Dell Inspiron 15

https://amzn.eu/d/c52XnAn 

MSI Prestige 14 AI Evo

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/msi-prestige-14-ai-evo-14-laptop-intel-core-ultra-5-512-gb-ssd-grey-10267022.html?istCompanyId=bec25c7e-cbcd-460d-81d5-a25372d2e3d7&istFeedId=2f489429-2329-4fcd-941a-a6a497a10e1d&istItemId=mqpramxqt&istBid=t&sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=331615&awc=1599_1738568380_b6fcd7e84ced4d1961eab21d82162598&srcid=369&xtor=AL-1&cmpid=aff~https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eguenstiger%2Ede~Comparison%20Engine~331615~guenstiger.de+GmbH&sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=331615 

Thank you! 

5 Replies

  • Emma_Islay  From a performance standpoint, the last one is much better than the other three, which are all on the same level.  The limiting factor is the graphics chip, and the first three have the same chip, so the only differences would be minor manufacturer-applied adjustments in tuning.

    The graphics chip in the last one is more than twice as fast, on average, in gaming.  That's the difference between medium-high to high graphics settings and high-ultra to ultra.  It's obviously more expensive too, but if you're willing to pay the premium, you're looking at a significant upgrade.  It's also almost as as good as you could do, performance-wise, in the non-gaming laptop market, and the better options are not all that much better while usually being somewhat more expensive.

    I will say the OLED screens of the first two are very pretty, so it's worth considering that as well.  The MSI's screen is very good for a laptop in this price range, just not OLED-good.  If you want the best of both worlds, here are two other options with the same processor and graphics chip as the MSI and OLED screens that should be very similar (but higher-resolution) to the ones in the Asus models:

    https://www.currys.co.uk/products/acer-swift-go-14-laptop-intel-core-ultra-5-512-gb-ssd-silver-10258235.html
    https://www.currys.co.uk/products/lenovo-ideapad-slim-5-14-laptop-intel-core-ultra-5-512-gb-ssd-silver-10259859.html

  • Emma_Islay's avatar
    Emma_Islay
    Seasoned Newcomer
    8 days ago

    This has been so helpful to guiding me on a decision! If I wanted a bigger screen, would this laptop been on par but just without the OLED screen? 

    https://www.currys.co.uk/products/lg-gram-15-15z90sg.aa55a1-15.6-laptop-intel-core-ultra-5-512-gb-ssd-black-10264149.html

  • Emma_Islay  That is on par with the last laptop you linked and the two I linked, but I don't know enough about the particular model to tell you whether it's good.  This one is the same price though:

    https://www.currys.co.uk/products/asus-vivobook-15-oled-s5506ma-15.6-laptop-intel-core-ultra-5-1-tb-ssd-blue-10265759.html

    I do want to mention that at this price point, you could get a proper gaming laptop.  The screen wouldn't be as pretty but would still be fine, and you'd get better performance.  Let me know if you'd like to go in that direction, and I can make some suggestions.  It's just a question of what your priorities are, and at this level, you'd still get very good performance out of the non-gaming laptops we've discussed.

  • Emma_Islay's avatar
    Emma_Islay
    Seasoned Newcomer
    8 days ago

    puzzlezaddict amazing thank you! If you do have any suggestions for a proper gaming laptop that would be amazing! It will only really be used for gaming and shopping online as I have a work laptop and don't use it to watch films ect. I do like the look of the vivobook though. Thanks for all your help so far- you've been great! 

  • Emma_Islay  Staying around £700, the price of the last laptop you linked, these are the two best options I'm seeing in terms of hardware and build quality:

    https://www.argos.co.uk/product/3268753?clickPR=plp:2:29
    https://www.argos.co.uk/product/3267369?clickPR=plp:3:29

    The screen in the second one has better reviews, although the first one is not terrible, and probably fine if you're playing in a darker room.  Neither comes anywhere near to an OLED screen though.  And you wouldn't see that feature in a gaming laptop, or a screen of the same quality, unless you were interested in paying a significant premium.

    For reference, the RTX 3050 in these laptops is about 80% faster in gaming, on average, than the Arc graphics chip in the laptops we've been talking about.  The slightly cheaper RTX 2050, which you might see if you're browsing, is only about 25% faster than the Arc chip, and not even that at lower resolutions.  Given that the 3050 isn't much more expensive and is a lot better, I would say the 2050 isn't a worthwhile choice here: either go for more performance or the better screen rather than getting neither one.

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