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hefffy8's avatar
hefffy8
Seasoned Newcomer
7 months ago

Never played the sims4 - need cheap laptop to make my dreams come true!

Hi!

I was hoping for some advice if possible. I have never played the sims 4 as yet. I played all the original sims games on my family PC about 20 years ago and I was obsessed. I’d really like to play the sims 4, it looks amazing. I don’t currently have anything to play it on as I only use a ipad and a nintendo switch.

I need the best, cheapest budget option for playing this game only - I don’t need it for anything else! Refurbished etc is fine,i’m just not sure where to start looking.

Thank you so much

6 Replies

  • hefffy8's avatar
    hefffy8
    Seasoned Newcomer
    7 months ago

    Oh and I’m in the Uk and laptop is preferred due to space!

  • @hefffy8  Do you have any kind of budget in mind?  I understand you'd like to keep the price down, but there are barely-okay options and reasonably-good options, and the price difference isn't all that much.  Even a range would be helpful so I know what I'm looking for.

  • hefffy8's avatar
    hefffy8
    Seasoned Newcomer
    7 months ago
    @puzzlezaddict Thanks for your reply! I mean ideally under £100... As I literally just want to play the Sims on it.
  • @hefffy8  You're not going to find a new laptop for £100 that would run Sims 4 with any success at all, and not even a refurbished laptop from a traditional store.  At that price, your best bet is Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, finding someone local who would be happy to receive £100 in cash, in person, for their used laptop.  That makes finding the right model more complicated, since what's available is always changing.

    In terms of specs, the simple details are RAM and storage: at least 8 GB and 256 GB, respectively, if you can.  The processor is more complicated since there are so many models.  But if possible, look for a laptop with one of these CPUs:

    i5-1135G7

    Ryzen 5 4500U or higher (second digit)

    Ryzen 5 5500U or higher (second digit)

    If that's not possible, an i3-1115G4 or a Ryzen 3 4000-series or higher would be less than ideal but still run Sims 4 okay.  An Intel i5-12xxx could be equal to, or worse, than the ones above, depending on the ones above, and definitely better than the i3 and probably better than the Ryzen 3.  A Ryzen 5 2500U or 3500U wouldn't be a bad choice if nothing else I mentioned is available.

    Beyond that, there's a significant drop-off as you get to older or lower-end models, and I would avoid those entirely if at all possible.  Feel free to list the specs of anything you're considering for me to take a look.

  • @hefffy8  These laptops have exactly the kind of hardware I was describing, not the first choice but good enough to play the base game alone on... probably medium-high graphics settings.  If you add some of the more demanding expansions, you may need to go down to low-medium settings, but it's fine to experiment a bit to get the combination of look and performance that works for you.

    If you do find a laptop with an i5-1135G7 processor, it would be better, of course, but it may not be possible in your price range.  So these are likely the best alternative.