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.
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.