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puzzlezaddict's avatar
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
6 years ago

Re: Best laptop for max settings, moderate $ (Canada)

@RenegadeKittyOG  Unfortunately, it's very difficult, if not impossible, to find a gaming laptop in your price range.  And to play Sims 4 with all or most packs on max settings, you really would need a gaming laptop with a dedicated graphics card; even the fastest integrated chips aren't going to keep up, unless you don't plan on adding any of the newer expansions (starting with Cats & Dogs).

Sims 3 is as demanding, at least when it comes to graphics, and less forgiving on lower settings.  While Sims 4 will run okay on many integrated chips on medium settings, the most demanding Sims 3 packs (Pets and Seasons in particular) almost require a dedicated card.  Some people manage to play with most packs enabled on lower-end systems, but they put up with lag, delays in rendering, and other inconveniences, and they certainly don't play on the highest settings.

Furthermore, you're not going to find a lightweight gaming laptop, at least not until you get into a much higher price range (over $1,000 U.S., and usually more like $1,500).  Battery life is going to be mediocre at best, partly because the stronger hardware necessary for gaming draws more power even when basically idling; and partly because you should never play on battery, so why would the manufacturers bother to spend extra on the battery?  Most gaming laptops do have good enough cooling, certainly for running Sims 4 at least.

Generally speaking, you can't really expect a laptop to compete with a desktop in terms of performance or range of capabilities.  Laptop components are weaker than their desktop equivalents, and of course they're much harder to upgrade, when it's even possible.  Cramming all that power into such a small chassis means compromises must be made.

I had a quick look at prices and came across this Acer, for $900, which is already cheaper than I've typically seen in Canadian stores.  It's just an example, so you know what the market looks like.

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/acer-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-ci5-9300h-256gb-ssd-8gb-ram-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1650-windows-10-black/14475167

Its graphics card is high enough to run both games on ultra settings with some room to spare, and it happens to have good battery life by the standards of gaming laptops.  It doesn't have a lot of storage though, and it's not lightweight.  Its cooling is okay, not exceptional, but it shouldn't melt or anything.

I can look for other options for you if you want, but I doubt I'll see anything decent for $800 CAD after taxes.  On the Best Buy site, the next cheapest gaming laptop is $1,150 for an open-box model, although it has a faster graphics card and more storage.  The cheapest gaming laptops sold by Amazon are $1,000; this one would be a great option were it not temporarily out of stock:

https://www.amazon.ca/Gaming-i5-9300H-GeForce-Windows-FX505GT-DS51-CA/dp/B088ZVFPPY/

Other stores might be cheaper, but I'm guessing not by a whole lot.  So if you really want to play Sims 4 on max settings, you're likely going to need to pay more, or get a used laptop and hope for the best.

As for your other question, yes, you could download all your content onto your laptop, for free.  Any games you own in Origin are owned by your account, not a computer, and you have the right to download them onto as many systems as you want.

8 Replies

  • RenegadeKittyOG's avatar
    RenegadeKittyOG
    6 years ago

    @puzzlezaddictThank you so much for the very detailed reply. What is considered decent battery life for a gaming laptop?

    We can try to stretch to $1100 after taxes if that helps?


    I can also do without it being very lightweight or extra-long battery-life, and I can even forget playing Sims 3 on it. My biggest priority is just playing all my Sims 4 packs smoothly on Ultra. I am sure at this point pretty much any laptop can run an old version of photoshop and operate the MS office suite.

    The Best Buy one you linked to does look good. I know nothing about laptop-based graphics cards. Someone had linked me to this one, but it seems like the specs are less than the one you found?: https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/hp-15-6-gaming-laptop-black-amd-ryzen-5-4600h-256gb-ssd-8gb-ram-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-win-10/14583603

    I greatly appreciate your offer to look for laptops but I don't want to put you out, either. If it's not too much trouble, I would be extremely grateful but please do not rush or anything.

    If it is worth spending a little more for something that is going to work and let me play the game the way I'd like, and of course doing work, it might be worth it. I'm almost due to give birth and don't see myself being able to use my computer much once she's here.

  • RenegadeKittyOG's avatar
    RenegadeKittyOG
    6 years ago

    @puzzlezaddictThank you so much for the very detailed reply. What is considered decent battery life for a gaming laptop?

    We can try to stretch to $1100 after taxes if that helps?


    I can also do without it being very lightweight or extra-long battery-life, and I can even forget playing Sims 3 on it. My biggest priority is just playing all my Sims 4 packs smoothly on Ultra. I am sure at this point pretty much any laptop can run an old version of photoshop and operate the MS office suite.

    The Best Buy one you linked to does look good - what is the one with better storage? I imagine that would be better? As for graphics, I know nothing about laptop-based graphics cards. Someone had linked me to this one, but it seems like the specs are less than the one you found?: https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/hp-15-6-gaming-laptop-black-amd-ryzen-5-4600h-256gb-ssd-8gb-ram-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-win-10/14583603


    I greatly appreciate your offer to look for laptops but I don't want to put you out, either. If it's not too much trouble, I would be extremely grateful but please do not rush or anything. I really don't know what is "good" anymore with processors, laptop graphics, etc. 

    If it is worth spending a little more for something that is going to work and let me play the game the way I'd like, and of course doing work, it might be worth it. I'm almost due to give birth and don't see myself being able to use my computer much once she's here.

  • RenegadeKittyOG's avatar
    RenegadeKittyOG
    6 years ago

    @puzzlezaddictThank you so much for the very detailed reply. What is considered decent battery life for a gaming laptop?

    We can try to stretch to $1100 after taxes if that helps?


    I can also do without it being very lightweight or extra-long battery-life, and I can even forget playing Sims 3 on it. My biggest priority is just playing all my Sims 4 packs smoothly on Ultra. I am sure at this point pretty much any laptop can run an old version of photoshop and operate the MS office suite.

    The Best Buy one you linked to does look good. What is the one with better storage? I am clueless when it comes to modern processors, laptop graphics, etc. Someone had told me to look for "ryzen" CPUs, but would an i5/i7 be fine? Also, they said a GTX 1050 would "easily" play the Sims 4, but from some posts here I've seen that's not the case?


    I greatly appreciate your offer to look for laptops but I don't want to put you out, either. If it's not too much trouble, I would be extremely grateful but please do not rush or anything.

    If it is worth spending a little more for something that is going to work and let me play the game the way I'd like, and of course doing work, it might be worth it. I'm almost due to give birth and don't see myself being able to use my computer much once she's here.

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    6 years ago

    @RenegadeKittyOG  I'm sorry I didn't get back to you sooner; things were crazy here with the patch, and the second patch, and the new pack.  But I did finally look around, and the laptop you found is not only an excellent option, it's an excellent price too.  That particular model is normally $800 U.S., so that's a significant discount.  Plus, its processor is somewhat stronger than the 9300H in the one I found, which won't matter to Sims 4 but will help with photo and video editing.

    You should be able to play both Sims 3 and Sims 4 on ultra graphics settings.  At some point, you might want to add another 8 GB memory.  Neither game needs it, but it would make multitasking easier, as well as the heavier CPU-intensive tasks you're thinking of doing.  Installing more memory is simple and cheap (should be under $60 CAD) to do, and it's easy to find a a matching 8 GB stick to what's already in the laptop.  It shouldn't void the warranty either.

    If you have more questions, feel free to ask.  But I think that's about as good an option you're going to see in your preferred budget range.

    Congratulations, by the way.

  • RenegadeKittyOG's avatar
    RenegadeKittyOG
    6 years ago
    @puzzlezaddict No worries at all, I figured it would be hectic because of the patches and pack! I really appreciate you taking the time to look into this and I am shocked (and happy) that I found something you think will be excellent! I normally hesitate a LOT with buying stuff like this but if you think it's a good call then I'm not going to second-guess you or myself!

    I will also be sure to look into adding RAM to it!

    One last question if you don't mind - when you say "that's about as good an option as you're going to see in the price range" - what would be better at a higher price point - processor, hard drive, and ram? I don't want to go down a rabbit hole of "what ifs" because I'd like to order this ASAP, but I am curious if spending more (like $1000-$1100 before tax as opposed to this computer's $900 tag) would get anything *significantly* better or just slightly. Especially if I do add another 8GB stick of RAM.

    Again, please no rush in replying, I know it's a crazy time!

    Thank you and thank you for the congratulations as well! :D
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    6 years ago

    @RenegadeKittyOG  While you might find a nominally upgraded laptop in your price range, I don't think the improvements are worth it given what you'd get for your money.  In terms of what you'd see:

    Processor:  The only better laptop CPU for your purposes would be a 4800H, and that almost always comes in significantly more expensive (at least $200) models.  The extra power will be lost on Sims 4—the 4600H is already more than the game could ever use.  Video editing would be faster, but the 4600H will still be great.

    Graphics card:  The next faster card is a 1660 ti, but that's $1,100 and up before taxes even without any other improvements in hardware.  The 1650 will run everything on ultra settings now, and it might handle ultra for the entire run of the game; at worst, you'd always be able to play on a mix of high and ultra.

    Memory:  Most laptops in this price range come with 8 GB RAM, and the few that have 16 GB tend to charge at least twice the value of the RAM for the privilege, again without any other upgrades.  More importantly though, there aren't many configurations with 16 GB available, so your options would be limited.

    Storage:  While some gaming laptops come with a 256 GB solid state drive and a 1 TB mechanical drive, offering more storage overall, I don't think you'd benefit from that.  Sims 4 will load much faster on an SSD, although it runs the same on any drive once it's loaded.  Your other programs will run a lot faster on an SSD though.  256 GB would be a tight fit for Sims 4 and all the photo editing you might want to do, so you'd end up spending time juggling the two drives, transferring stuff you wanted to work on to the SSD or living with the longer wait of the HDD.  A single 500 GB SSD is more convenient, and it's plenty of space.  Plus, if you need an external drive in a year or two, you could probably find one for $50.  There are gaming laptops that come with a 1 TB SSD, but at least in the U.S., they're usually over $1,000 and only come in the higher-end models.

    So no, I don't think it would be worth spending more on a nominally upgraded laptop.  The only real improvement you'll see is from adding RAM, and much better to do it yourself.

    It's crazy now, but it's also Saturday, and I just refreshed the tech section main page to find no new posts since I looked 20 minutes ago.  It's such a relief.  Besides, talking tech specs is a nice change of pace from trying to figure out what's broken with the game this time.

    P.S.  I should have known I was going to jinx it.  Six minutes after I posted, there were three new replies.

  • RenegadeKittyOG's avatar
    RenegadeKittyOG
    6 years ago
    @puzzlezaddict Thank you SO VERY much for the input, for helping me look, for the detailed information regarding specs and how they'd affect the game and how they impact pricing. That was a huge help to someone like me who has never purchased a laptop and wants to ensure smooth, quality gameplay specifically with the Sims.

    Other laptop forums just seem to look at the "recommended" specs and say "sure, this can run it!" but not knowing about all the add-ons that can impact.

    Your extremely generous replies and help allowed me to make a spreadsheet of some laptops in a similar range and I was able to find something on sale that fit the advice you gave. I should have it by next week and am so excited!

    Thank you immensely <3

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