Re: Laptop for The Sims 4?
@pheebay That laptop should be able to handle Sims 4 on medium settings, but probably only that unless you don't plan on installing a lot of packs. The integrated graphcis chip (listed as UMA, but it's just the Intel chip integrated into the processor) isn't capable of much more than that.
You could do a lot better for $900 though, or even less. How light do you want the computer to be? Gaming laptops tend to be heavier, but the lightest ones can be under five pounds. If that's good enough for you, let me know, and I'll link a few options.
If you'd prefer something in the 3 lb range, that's doable, although the fastest graphics cards available, at least in your price range, are slower than what you'd get in a gaming laptop. Still, you should be able to play on high settings, or perhaps even a mix of high and ultra, with an Nvidia MX350. An MX250 or MX330 should still be able to handle high or medium-high settings.
This Lenovo ($770) is listed at 3.1 lbs and has an MX350, plus other hardware that should be fine for Sims 4. It has a high quality screen and plenty of storage; 8 GB memory is enough for Sims 4, although multitasking might slow down a bit as memory gets swapped. It looks like the memory is not upgradable.
This laptop ($700) is even lighter, according to Best Buy (2.65 lbs), and it has similar specs, except for its smaller hard drive. 256 GB isn't a lot, but it's enough for Sims 4 and all your associated content.
The MX250 and MX330 are essentially the same speed, about 20% slower than the MX350, but they're also good options and much faster than the Intel integrated chip in the MSI you're considering. If you like the MSI, there are a couple options with an MX330, 512 GB storage, and 8 GB memory upgradable to 32 GB. The second one may be cheaper than the first if you get the listed discount in time; they're the same except for the version of Windows 10 included.
There are plenty of other options out there, although these were the best lightweight ones I saw in a few minutes of searching. If you'd like to see other laptops, or have more questions in general, please feel free to ask.
