Sims 4 Laptop?Hello Simmers! First off I would just like to say I am not a gamer, so please don't recommend me expensive gaming laptops that are way above my budget. I only play the sims and every laptop I have ever had has just been basic and has played the sims fine, so I don't need anything fancy.I have searched and searched but I am really struggling to find laptops that will work okay with the game. I've checked the sims requirements and here are two examples I have found, if you guys could please tell me if any of these laptops would be okay for Sims or have any other suggestions for me please let me know. I know they are Windows 10 S Mode but I can easily take it out of S Mode and have it as standard windows 10. My budget is £400 - £410 MAX and preferably a screen no smaller than 15". I want them new and not refurbished too. So if anybody has any laptops for me please let me know as I would be honestly so grateful. I have been searching for about a month now and I am tired of all the confusing computer speak and headaches.The two I have found are: Acer Aspire 3 (A315-23) ORHP 15s-eq1054na Thank You 🙂

@binkababy The second laptop you listed isn't a good choice: its processor, graphics chip, memory, and storage are all below what you'd want. The Acer might be better, but that would depend on which configuration you were considering. Feel free to link the product page so I can take a look. I did my own search just now, and the best option I saw was this one: https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/asus-vivobook-f515ja-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i3-256-gb-ssd-grey-10212843-pdt.html It has enough memory and storage, its processor is okay, and so is the integrated graphics chip. It's not an ideal option, but it should certainly run Sims 4 on low-medium or medium settings. And it sounds like you already know how to deal with Windows 10 S. There are a few options with 14" screens, including a few that only have 4 GB RAM but that could be upgraded if you wanted. If you're interested in seeing those, let me know. For comparison, this laptop is £430 and significantly faster than the one above, no upgrades necessary. It does only have a 14" screen though. https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1959318 If you have more questions, please feel free to ask.

Thank you so much for the reply, I really appreciate it. I don't use a laptop for much more than to watch netflix and play sims that is why I didn't want to pay a lot of money for a gaming laptop. The first laptop you linked me: The Asus Vivobook looks perfect for what I'm after. However when you say it is not an ideal option, do you mean it won't play sims in Maximum performance or is there something bad about it that could hinder my gaming? Like I mentioned before, I have never had a really fancy laptop just a Lenovo (that I can't find anymore as it's discontinued I think?) and a Asus R465JA https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/asus-r465ja-core-i3-1005g1-4gb-128gb-14-inch-full-hd-windows-10-home-laptop-r465ja-ek058t/version.aspThe Asus R465JA is the one I currently want to get rid off as I brought it trying to avoid having Windows 10 S and it ended up being in S Mode anyway as it was advertised wrong. But like I said I can easily take it out of S Mode. The company I brought it from has agreed to take it back as I would prefer to have a bigger screen than 14". I haven't found too many problems with it apart from it being smaller than I would like, and whenever I launch Sims a warning comes up telling me I don't have enough storage and it recommends me playing in lower graphics. I just ignore it and the game seems to play fine however for some reason the game keeps freezing whenever the laptop is unplugged and will only work well when it's charging, so that's why I would like to get rid of it. I have never had these problems before on my previous Lenovo laptop and it lasted me about 6-7 years so I was sad to see it go. It was nothing fancy, just one I got on contract with a mobile phone and it played all of Sims 2, Sims 3 and Sims 4 just fine without any problems. I do have a lot of expansion packs though, so if that could cause a problem let me know.I have never had a warning on sims before my current laptop, but I'm pretty sure my Lenovo was nothing amazing so I doubt it played the Sims on it's Maximum requirements. Medium settings is probably what I have always used so I should be happy with that. I'm just worried that I get rid of my current Asus for something worse. Do you know if the Asus you recommended me (Asus Vivobook F515JA) is better than my current laptop? (Asus R465JA)Also here is the link to the Acer I was looking at for you to look through the details: https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/acer-aspire-3-core-i5-7200u-8gb-1tb-15.6-inch-windows-10-laptop-nx.gnpek.014/version.aspThank you so much for taking the time to help me and I look forward to your reply 🙂

@binkababy When I said the Asus isn't ideal, I meant that you couldn't expect excellent performance on higher graphics settings. It's not a bad laptop, just not particularly powerful. If you don't mind playing on the lower settings you're currently using, it should be fine: the processor and graphics chip are the same as the Asus you have now, and the graphics chip in particular will be the limiting factor. The Asus you currently have comes with only 4 GB RAM installed, which, while technically enough, can cause problems. So can such a small (128 GB) hard drive, depending on what else you've installed on the computer. The Asus I linked should be fine on both fronts unless you have a bunch of other apps open while you play. However, you're still going to need to plug the laptop in while you play. Almost all laptops are designed to conserve energy when running on battery, throttling performance in the process, since higher workloads require more juice to run. It's usually not possible to completely override this behavior in settings, and it wouldn't help much if you did—you'd just drain the battery that much faster and have to plug in the laptop soon enough anyway. This is true for basic laptops, high-end gaming laptops, and everything in between. So if your goal is to play while on battery, that's unfortunately not realistic. The Acer you linked is not really a good option either. While it has more RAM and storage than your current one, its processor and graphics chip are slower, and you'd probably notice a drop in performance.

Wow thank you so much! I didn't realise about having laptops unplugged while playing Sims, but this won't be a problem for me because I'm usually around a charging point anyway. I don't normally have anything else running in the background when I'm playing either so this laptop should be the perfect fit for me. Thank you so much for helping me with my research as I was so confused and overwhelmed by all the computer speak haha. However I am struggling to find it on any other website and Curry's near me is out of stock. If you know of any other UK websites that sell this laptop could you please link them to me as it would be much appreciated.Thank you for all your help, you have been amazingly informative.

@binkababy I checked about 15 different sites and didn't see that laptop for anywhere close to the same price. But that's not a surprise—Vivobooks are usually a bit more expensive, and the one I linked is on sale. (That's probably why it isn't available for delivery: it's close to being sold out.) If this one is in stock at your local Currys, it would also work: https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-aspire-3-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i3-1-tb-hdd-black-10208112-pdt.html It has the same processor and graphics chip, 8 GB RAM, and a 1 TB hard drive. It's a mechanical drive, so Windows and many apps will load slower, but Sims 4 should play the same once it's loaded. Other than that, your best option would be to get a laptop with 4 GB RAM and add more yourself. Another 4 GB might cost less than £20, and you could add it later if you wanted. This laptop is the same model as the Acer above, except with 4 GB RAM and a 256 GB solid state drive (much faster), and it's £400: https://ao.com/product/nxht8ek003-acer-laptop-black-76700-251.aspx The model does have an empty slot for another RAM module, in addition to the 4 GB soldered in. This one is £380 and has a comparable processor and graphics chip, but it does have a 14" screen. It also has one soldered RAM module and one free slot. There are certainly a lot of options with smaller hard drives, but it sounds like 128 GB isn't enough for your purposes. Unfortunately, that cuts your options down significantly, especially right now as stores haven't finished restocking from their holiday sales.

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puzzlezaddict
Hero+
5 years ago
@binkababy There still isn't a lot of documentation about that model, but at least Asus has a specs page:

https://www.asus.com/uk/Laptops/ASUS-Laptop-14-X415JA/specifications/

According to the info, there's a DIMM socket, as in, a slot to add a memory module. I think what the specs page is saying is that the laptop comes with 4 GB RAM soldered in and an empty slot, based on the usual setup for this kind of laptop and how the vocab is normally used. But it's also possible it has one slot currently occupied by a 4 GB module.

You could check by opening the laptop and having a look, or by booting into BIOS and looking at the RAM section: it should list either one slot with a 4 GB module, or the 4 GB module plus a slot that reads as empty. Your user manual should describe how to boot into BIOS. If you go that route, don't change any settings, just have a look around.
binkababy
New Rookie
5 years ago
Okay thank you so much! I will give it a go and let you know what I find 🙂
binkababy
New Rookie
5 years ago
Okay so I went into BIOS but I couldn't find anything in there to do with RAM. So after some googling I found a way to check RAM slots by going into Task Manager. If this is correct it states that only one of two slots is currently being used, so I'm assuming that means it has a free space for me to add some more RAM. Just wanted to double check with you because you know what you're talking about unlike me haha. Here is a screenshot of what I looked at so you know what my laptop is saying 🙂
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
5 years ago
@binkababy That should be accurate, yes. The nice thing (that I totally forgot about) is that the Task Manager is also letting you know the speed of your RAM, so you can get something that matches. I'd still double-check your manual and match the timings too, or better yet get whatever memory is recommended.

By the way, you'll notice in that screenshot that Chrome is eating a lot of your RAM. While it's fine for regular use, you'd probably see better performance in Sims 4 if you didn't have Chrome open while you played, or else opened it when necessary and closed if afterwards. Firefox is a little better at memory management, but any modern browser will use more memory than is strictly necessary.

Or you could just get an 8 GB module (for a total of 12 GB installed) and not have to worry about it.

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