Hey all,
I am currently looking for a new laptop to play sims 4. I have been an avid Mac user for years and have finally decided to make the switch.
I own quite a few expansion packs and would like the ability to add mods and non-Maxis match custom content to my game without having issues for a change.
Ideally I would like to stay below £500 and want to understand what sort of technical specifications I am looking for.
Thank you in advance for all your help!
@GabrielleSilva26 In the £500 and under category, you're only going to see laptops with integrated graphics chips, and not the very highest-end iGPUs either. That, in turn, will limit you to medium-high to high graphics settings, at least with all expansions installed; you might get away with higher settings if you're not installing everything. Custom content can be equally demanding as Maxis items or more so, depending on the level of detail; high poly items are more difficult to render and may therefore require lowering the settings a bit.
In terms of the specs you want to look for, the most important detail is the processor, more specifically the iGPU that comes with it. A given CPU will always have the same iGPU, other than in very specific situations that you'll be avoiding here. For Intel, ideal would be Xe Graphics with 96 EUs, which means an i7 CPU 11th-gen or newer: i7-1165G7, i7-1355U, etc. For AMD, the equivalent is Vega 8 graphics, which mostly means a Ryzen 7 5000- or 7000-series. The next step down is Xe Graphics with 80 EUs, found in most i5 CPUs of the same generations; or Vega 7 graphics, found in many but not all Ryzen 5 CPUs from the 4000 series or newer.
Since both Intel and AMD make things unnecessarily complicated at times, it's always best to search the specs of the particular processor, or ask someone to double-check that you're getting what you think you are. I could list counter-examples to all of the above, but it would be easier to just check any given laptop.
The good thing is, the processors themselves are all more than capable of handling Sims 4, with the graphics chips being the limiting factor. So you don't need to worry about whether the exact CPU is good enough, only what iGPU is has.
The other detail that will help here is getting 16 GB RAM, and in fact it's more important than the jump between an i5 or R5 and an i7 or R7. 12 GB would be fine too, but not many models have that; 8 GB would be manageable if you were on a tight budget but will affect performance some or all of the time.
Here are a few examples that fit the bill, with Intel i5 processors, but then it's not common to see an i7 and 16 GB RAM for under £600.
These have the slightly faster Vega 8 graphics chip:
https://www.hp.com/gb-en/shop/product.aspx?id=8B3U1EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB
These two are £550 but have a significantly faster graphics chip, one that's something like 80% faster in gaming, if it's worth the higher price to you:
Here are two examples that show why it's important to double-check the specs. This Ryzen 5 CPU comes with a different graphics chip (the Radeon 610M), one that's significantly slower than those I described, but you wouldn't know it was slower from the specs listed on the product page. The Intel processor comes with fewer execution units than most i5 models and is therefore a lot slower.
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/3088782
https://ao.com/product/9s715h411004-msi-modern-15-h-b13m004uk-laptop-black-99551-251.aspx
Beyond processor, graphics chip, and RAM, the details are more subjective, for example screen size and keyboard layout. Having at least 512 GB storage is nice, if not absolutely required, but more than that is unlikely to matter if Sims 4 is the only data hog—it's pretty difficult to load 300 GB of custom content at all, and it would still fit on a 500 GB drive.
If you have more questions, in general or about the laptops I listed, please feel free to ask.
