New Laptop needed for Sims 4

@smilelikemiles  There are always decent sales for laptops, if you know where to look; you can almost always find one that can run TS4 (and TS3) on high settings for somewhere between $800 and $900.  Sometimes there's a great model available for $750 or so.  But there's no point in picking one out now, since which models are on sale is always changing.  It's probably best that you post back when you're ready to buy so you can take advantage of the best price available at that moment.

For example, if you were buying now, this would be an excellent choice:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834155024

(Here's the ASUS version of the same computer, but with a much faster hard drive)

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834235023

MSI makes great gaming laptops, even at the entry level; ASUS products are good quality too.  But if you waited, the sales might end.  Or you might find a similar laptop with 16 GB RAM on sale for $800.  (This one has space for an upgrade, but you'd have to handle that yourself.)  Or maybe you could get a slightly better processor.  The version of the first laptop above with an i7-8750H isn't currently available from newegg, but that might change.  (If you were going to buy now, I'd look elsewhere too, but I don't have time at the moment to check a bunch of sites.)

P.S.  I forgot to mention, if you could list the state you live in, that might make a difference.  Many sites only charge sales tax in a state where they have a physical presence.

Thank you so much! If I reply to this in the future would you be able to help me? Thanks so much for the examples! I live in New York btw 🙂 a little over $700 isn’t bad and I believe after getting my laptop I have now it was probably near along the lines that expensive as I believe in Best Buy you can pay to have a warranty on it and what not. This was a helpful answer and I will definitely get back once I’m ready 🙂 

@smilelikemiles  I'll be here when you're to buy.  I believe that newegg.com doesn't charge sales tax in New York, in case that helps, although I can't see the details for myself.  But regardless, I should be able to find you a laptop at or under $800 when you come back; if you don't like what you see, you can wait a week for the sales to change again.  Just post back when you're ready.

Hi! I will be putting my money in the bank in the next few days- Monday maybe? I will be ready to buy a laptop then. Which would you recommend? Especially for one who has a lot of game packs which usually requires more RAM the more you have and use. 

@smilelikemiles  Sales can change twice a week or more, especially from the weekend to Monday.  So it's best if you post when you're ready to buy, and I'll look around for the best deals.  I take it you still have the same budget?  I should be able to find something suitable.

@smilelikemiles  I looked around just now, since you're ready to buy.  For good laptops in the $700 range, your choices are somewhat limited, especially since newegg.com just started charging sales tax in New York a couple of weeks ago.

However, I did find a few models that would allow you to play TS4 on high graphics settings.  All three have the same i5-8300H processor, which is strong enough for the game, and they all have 8 GB RAM as well.  This is more than enough for TS4, but it might be difficult to multitask while playing.

This one is the cheapest, at $700, but with an additional $80 rebate card.  It has only a slow mechanical drive (HDD), but that wouldn't affect your game performance.  It also has an Nvidia 1050 ti graphics card, which would handle the graphics load of the game just fine.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16834155024

This one has the same 1050 ti as above, but a faster hybrid (SSHD) hard drive.  Even though this wouldn't affect TS4, Windows and other programs you ran would start up faster.  It's on sale for $700 until Thursday.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16834235023

This one is on sale for $800 until Monday and comes with a $150 rebate card.  It has a 128 GB solid state drive, which is too small for much more than your operating system; you'd need to install TS4 on and redirect Documents to the 1 TB HDD.  But at least Windows would run quickly.  This model also has an Nvidia 1060 3 GB, which is a bit stronger than a 1050 ti.  If you really like custom content, especially high poly count items, you may want the extra graphics power.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16834154830

If you don't like any of these options, you can check back later, when deals may have changed.  Better hardware will be more expensive, of course, but as long as you take advantage of sales, you shouldn't have to spend more than $900 or so to get everything you want.

Thanks so much! My one question though- I’m not computer smart so I don’t know what you mean by slow drive. I won’t be multitasking or using other things while playing the game. I do enjoy custom content though! I should be able to afford by Thursday. Im putting the money in on Monday. These will actually clean me to 0 and with some of my payments for stuff automatically coming out it’s not ideal for me to clean out my account today. But I can by Thursday. My ideal computer would be to play without lagging which is my exact problem now and to play on a higher graphics setting. Are these laptops better for not overheating? I don’t have the time I used to anymore so I won’t be playing an extensive amount of hours- maybe 1-4 hours tops every few days- mostly weekends. 

Also do these come with windows 10? I’m more comfortable with them coming with that because I’m not smart with computers so I’m not sure how to go about downloading windows. I just purchased an external hard drive so I can move my games and some of my custom content over to my new computer. 

@smilelikemiles  A hard disk drive has parts that spin at 5400 or 7200 RPM, and it will have slower read and write speeds than a solid state drive of any kind.  But computers with SSDs are more expensive, of course, except perhaps for those with the small (128 GB) drives.  TS4 itself will run the same on any drive, once the game loads, and movies and music will play back the same as well.  You might notice a difference in other apps, but that would depend on how those apps are programmed.

All three laptop models I linked have good enough cooling for TS4.  These are gaming laptops, after all; they're supposed to be able to handle some stress.  They start to have issues with more hardcore games, but it doesn't sound like you're going to try to play those.

And yes, all these models come with Windows 10.  That's the only real option here, not that it sounds like you mind.

If you're into custom content, you may want to wait to see if you can find a laptop in your price range with an Nvidia 1060.  Again, the vanilla game doesn't really need it, but you might notice a difference, if not now than later.  This is of course assuming you want to play on high graphics settings.  Your budget is just below the level where I'd expect to be able to find a 1060 in a laptop, but as you can see in the third link, there are occasionally sales and rebates that would make such a purchase possible.  But there's really no way to predict when the laptop you want would be available; the only thing you can do is keep an eye out for good sales.