Re: Laptop for 3 & 4

@Wixomrie  Sims 3 doesn't require more than an Nvidia 1050 ti (mobile) or regular 1050 (desktop) to run on ultra settings.  Even with a lot of high poly custom content, the game will still run on ultra on a 1650, or perhaps a 1060 mobile.  Sims 4 is still in developement, and of course future packs might be significantly more demanding than the current ones.  But a 1050 will run all current packs together on ultra settings.  The way the game has developed so far, it certainly seems like even an Nvidia 1660 ti would be overkill for Sims 4, not that it's a bad thing.

There are plenty of computers with dual hard drives, but there are a lot more with an empty slot for a second hard drive of your choice.  Are you willing to get one of those and add that second drive yourself, or have a store do it?  If not, that's fine; it just narrows things down somewhat.  There are far fewer options with a 2 TB HDD, if you really want that specifically, but I'm sure I can find a few.  And in your price range, you really can get almost whatever you want.

All these laptops have reasonably pretty displays.  IPS is the highest quality screen, and almost any gaming laptop other than the very cheapest options will have one.  Of course, not all manufacturers' products are created equal.  If not for the current situation, I'd suggest you go to a physical store (Best Buy is always a good bet) and have a look at the monitors, especially if you can find a few gaming laptops.  You might find that you like the look of, say, MSI and Asus screens, but not Dell or Acer screens.  That's somewhat subjective though.

If you're not sure what you like, try to think of screens you've thought looked good, or any you didn't enjoy staring at, and list them.  I'll try to find valid comparisons to current laptops and sort them that way.  Or, if you really have no idea, I'll just find the ones with well-reviewed screens and go from there.

@Wixomrie  Sorry for the small delay.  I poked around a bit more, then kind of got lost in a couple custom build sites, and it took me a while to wander back.

All of the computers I'm linking you would run Sims 4 on ultra.  Any of them with at least an Nvidia 2060 should be able to run the game at or near 144 fps on ultra, at least at the 1920x1080 resolution of the laptop screens.  So that's not a concern at all.

An i9 CPU won't do anything except heat up your laptop more quickly.  All that power is completely lost on Sims 4; the game doesn't even come close to maxing out a 9750H.

Personally, I'd prefer a single large SSD to the dual setup, but everyone has their own preferences.  The combination 500 GB SSD/2 TB HDD does narrow things down considerably though.  I think your best bet would be to get a custom laptop, either from Lenovo (the only mainstream manufacturer that offers the options you want), or from a third party site that will add the components of your choice.

This Lenovo is the cheapest among the many options I could find.  Configured with a 9750H, an Nvidia 2060, 16 GB RAM, a 512 GB SSD and a 2 TB HDD, plus the high-end 144 Hz screen, it's $1,415.  It would take a while to ship, but that's not a surprise given it has to be assembled.

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/legion-laptops/legion-y-series/Lenovo-Legion-Y540-15/p/81SXCTO1WWENUS0/customize?

The same configuration but with a 17" screen would cost $1,455:

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/legion-laptops/legion-y-series/Lenovo-Legion-Y540-17IRH/p/81Q4CTO1WWENUS0/customize?

I checked a few custom build sites, and XoticPC was the only one I saw that has what you want and isn't overly expensive.  For comparison, this is the same laptop you originally linked; with a 500 GB SSD/2 TB SSHD and otherwise the same specs, it's $1,453:

https://xoticpc.com/collections/advanced-series-gaming-laptops/products/msi-ge63-raider-rgb-1050

(An SSHD is a hybrid drive: faster than a conventional HDD but not much more expensive for the same storage.  XoticPC doesn't offer HDDs.)

This MSI Leopard would be $1,560 with an i7-10750H (a bit faster than a 9750H), an Nvidia 2070, 16 GB RAM, and a combo 512 GB SSD/2 TB SSHD.  It is a pre-order though.

https://xoticpc.com/collections/extreme-series-gaming-laptops/products/msi-gp65-leopard-10sfk-047

There are also a number of configurations of Sager laptops available.  For example, this one has an Intel i7-10875H (somewhat faster than a 10750H), an Nvidia 2060, a 15" 144 Hz screen, plus 16 GB RAM by default; customizing it with the dual drives you want and adding Windows 10 puts the price at $1,371.

https://xoticpc.com/collections/advanced-series-gaming-laptops/products/sager-np7858dw-clevo-nh58ddw

The 17" version is $1,420:

https://xoticpc.com/collections/advanced-series-gaming-laptops/products/sager-np7877dw-clevo-nh77ddw

The version with a 15" screen and an Nvidia 2070 is $1,662:

https://xoticpc.com/collections/extreme-series-gaming-laptops/products/sager-np8358f2-clevo-pb51df2

I know these are a lot of links, but they're really only the same few options over and over, with slightly different configurations.  Once you decide what hardware you want, things get a lot simpler.

@Wixomrie  XoticPC has a reputation for good quality for lower prices than you'd pay elsewhere.  The Sager/Clevo brand is from a company that provides barebones laptops to custom build sites, which then outfit the laptop with the parts requested.  XoticPC also orders some laptops from mainstream manufacturers (e.g. MSI, Asus) and upgrades them for you.  So you're getting the same build quality in the basic laptop that you would if you bought it from Best Buy or Amazon, and then you get the extra components installed and backed up by Xotic.

XoticPC gets good reviews overall, with the usual complaints you'd see of any laptop seller.  I'm not saying they're perfect, just that I don't see any red flags, or any reason to think that you wouldn't get help if your laptop had an issue.  Of course, no matter what you buy, you should test it right away, in case something comes up.  But there's no indication I can find that Xotic's products are more likely to have issues than the products from any other company.