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puzzlezaddict's avatar
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
2 years ago

Re: 13-14" laptop recommendations for Sims 4

@emiliaiu  There are lots of gaming laptops for under £1,000, and lots of 13-14" laptops with decent hardware for under £1,000, but very vew 13-14" gaming laptops in that price range.  The best one I could find searching a dozen different sites is this one:

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/laptops-2-in-1-pcs/inspiron-14-plus-laptop/spd/inspiron-14-7430-laptop/cn74410sc

Its processor and graphics card should be able to run all current Sims 4 packs on ultra graphics settings; it has 16 GB RAM, which is convenient if not strictly necessary; it has more storage than you'll realistically need; and it has a high-resolution screen, which will make everything look more crisp and clear.  While Dell laptops don't always get the very best performance out of their hardware, they work well and get very good support.  And you don't need to get every drop of performance out of this one to run Sims 4 on ultra settings.

These two are the only other laptops I found for under £1,200 with dedicated graphics cards, and the GPU in these two is somewhat slower than the RTX 3050 in the one above.  This RTX 2050 might not even quite be capable of ultra settings—it's right on the border of what's required with all expansions installed—but a mix of high and ultra settings should be completely fine.  Not to mention, they're more expensive right now than the Dell.

https://www.ebuyer.com/1905031-msi-prestige-14evo-core-i5-16gb-512gb-rtx-9s7-14f122-430

https://www.hp.com/gb-en/shop/product.aspx?id=800N9EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB

Below that, you're looking at integrated graphics, which means a mix of medium and high graphics settings at best.  Let me know if you'd like to see some of those options, but to be honest, I wouldn't consider those when the laptops above are available in your price range.

If you have more questions, please feel free to ask.

4 Replies

  • emiliaiu's avatar
    emiliaiu
    2 years ago

    Ahh thank you so much for this - these are all great suggestions! I'm tempted to go with the Dell for the better GPU - I see it's on sale now (thank you Black Friday!) so why wait for the new year? lol

    Thanks again.

  • emiliaiu's avatar
    emiliaiu
    2 years ago
    @puzzlezaddict Hi, sorry another question! I see there's an option to upgrade the Dell laptop to an RTX 4050 GPU, with 32GB RAM. This is about £130 more, still within budget for me. Is this worth it or should I stick with the RTX 3050 & 16GB RAM? Thanks so much for your help.
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @emiliaiu  I didn't even see the other configuration on the Dell site.  Maybe I missed it, or maybe it's a new price drop.  But regardless, I'm glad you spotted it.

    The answer to your question is a strong maybe.  Sims 4 doesn't need the extra power of the 4050, strictly speaking.  However, having the 4050 would mean a higher baseline for performance, which in turn would mean that the game's inevitable framerate drops would drop from a higher level and therefore not reach quite the same lows.  The 4050 wouldn't prevent the fps drops though; that's just how Sims 4 runs these days.

    Having 32 GB RAM rather than 16 isn't going to impact how the game runs at all.  When Sims 4 is using even 10 GB all by itself, it's on its way to freezing and crashing, and having the extra system memory available just means it'll take a little longer to get there.  But in these cases, that play session is toast no matter what system is running it.

    These drops are somewhat common but brief, and whether the extra money is worth smoothing these out a bit is really a judgment call.  I can't tell you the right answer for you.  For me, I would probably go with the upgrade if it were my main gaming system and spending the extra money wasn't a burden.  But I could see going the other way too.

  • emiliaiu's avatar
    emiliaiu
    2 years ago
    @puzzlezaddict You're a star, thank you so much! I went with the 4050 in the end since it's still within budget. Can't wait for it to arrive!

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