Need a laptop for Sims4 and packs
@jessahmewren This laptop and its Nvidia GTX 1650 would run all current Sims 4 content on ultra graphics settings, but you can do a lot better for your budget. That may make a difference as to whether you can keep playing on ultra settings as more packs are released. None of us has any idea what Sims 5 will be like, but more power isn't going to hurt there either. On the other hand, since that game is at least three years away, you may want to save some money now and put that money towards upgrading to your next laptop a little sooner. Either approach is reasonable.
And just to be clear, the limiting factor here will be the graphics card, at least as far as gaming is concerned. All of the processors in these laptops are more than powerful enough to keep up with the graphics cards, which is typical because GPUs are more expensive than CPUs, and no one wants to spend a lot of money on a fast graphics card only to have it held back by the other hardware.
Anyway, you can get a laptop with the newer and faster RTX 3050 for not much more money. The 3050 ti is maybe 8-10% faster in gaming than the non-ti variant, and a little more expensive. I'm going to list a bunch of examples so you can see what's out there and also so you can cross off laptops for whatever reasons matter to you and still have good options. All of these should perform about the same, other than the difference between ti and non-ti models. They would all support a RAM upgrade as well; 16 GB would be nice to have, and is going to be necessary at some point in the future, but 8 GB is enough for Sims 4 for now.
These HP laptops are all similar, built on the same chassis, but the last two have 16 GB RAM. The last one has a stronger processor in addition to the 3050 ti, but that won't make a lot of difference to Sims 4.
https://www.amazon.com/HP-i5-12500H-Keyboard-Enhanced-15-fa0025nr/dp/B09X8KFRB4
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1707358-REG/hp_63u66ua_aba_core_i5_12500h_8gb_512tb.html
https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/victus-by-hp-laptop-16-e1747nr
https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/victus-by-hp-laptop-16-e1797nr
These are good alternatives with a 3050:
https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-IPS-Type-i5-11400H-Processor-FX706HCB-ES51/dp/B09SVQY3PF
These Acers have a 3050 ti and 16 GB RAM; the Walmart version has a slightly older processor (which shouldn't matter much, if at all) and is $50 cheaper.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/607988022
Here are two more options with a 3050 ti:
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16834233548?Item=N82E16834233548
Among all these I've listed, the Lenovo Legion immediately above is the highest quality by a small margin over the HP and Gigabyte laptops. (It's also the most expensive, although there's a third-party seller offering it for $800. As always with third-party sellers, do your homework.) But all of these are good options.
If you're willing to go to $900, the Legion is also available with a much faster RTX 3060. This GPU is faster than Sims 4 can currently use, and that may always be true, but since you mentioned futureproofing, it's worth considering.
https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-GeForce-Graphics-Windows-Phantom/dp/B09S6MTMD8
The next two cheapest laptops I found with a 3060 are $1,000 before tax, and there's another high-quality option for $1,050:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1702433-REG/asus_fx507zm_bs74_tuf_i7_12700h_16gb_1tb.html
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16834233511?Item=N82E16834233511
Like I said, I know this is a lot, but with your budget, you can afford to be picky. And you can choose based on just about anything, including appearance or whether the keyboard has a number pad or whatever smaller details matter to you.
If you have more questions, please feel free to ask.
