Sims 4 Lagging After Update

@Hrrng327  You're right, your current laptop wouldn't handle any more expansion packs very well.  But for £700, you can get a laptop that would handle all current packs on ultra graphics settings with room to spare.

The best model for you will depend in part on how much storage you want on your laptop.  A single 256 GB hard drive will comfortably fit all Sims 4 packs plus all your saves, but it might not also fit other games (depending on their size), or large collections of music, photos, etc.  If you have an external hard drive for these, it's not a big deal, but some people prefer to store everything internally.  So I'm listing options both with small, fast solid state drives (SSDs) and with larger, slower mechanical drives (HDDs).

The lowest I'd go is this setup, for £600.  The Asus has a 256 GB SSD, and the HP has a 1 TB HDD with Intel Optane memory to accelerate it, so it will be faster than a traditional HDD.  Otherwise, these two laptops have the same hardware: a processor that's more than strong enough for Sims 4, and a graphics card that can handle all current packs on ultra settings.  The Nvidia 1050 may not be able to maintain ultra settings as new expansions are released, but high settings should always be fine.

https://www.box.co.uk/FX504GD-E41275T-ASUS-TUF-FX504GD-E41275T_2458989.html

https://www.box.co.uk/HP-Pavilion-15-cx0999na_2485084.html

This HP, for £650, has an Nvidia 1050 ti, which is a bit stronger than the regular 1050.  Its processor is slightly faster than the one in the two laptops above, and it has a 512 GB SSD, which is plenty of storage for most people.  Unfortunately, it's back-ordered, and I don't know how soon you want the laptop to arrive.  But if you can wait, it would certainly be a good choice.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-Pavilion-15-bc508na-Gaming-Laptop/dp/B07V38SGNR

For a bit more, you could get an Nvidia 1650, which is an even stronger card than the 1050 ti.  It may or may not run all future Sims 4 packs on ultra settings, depending on how the game develops (we don't know for sure, of course).  This laptop's processor is a bit weaker than the others, but it's still good enough for the game.  This model comes with a 256 GB SSD for £680, or a 512 GB SSD for £730.

https://www.box.co.uk/FX505DT-AL086T-ASUS-TUF-Gaming-FX505DT-AL086T_2550154.html

https://www.box.co.uk/FX705DT-AU042T-ASUS-TUF-Gaming-FX705DT-AU042T_2561592.html

If you don't want to shop at that particular website, the 256 GB model is £700 on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-Gaming-R5-3550H-GeForce-Windows/dp/B07S2ZLNS2

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

@Hrrng327  The Argos websites you linked doesn't have a great selection.  The laptop you linked isn't bad; it's the equivalent of the £630 HP laptop from box.  In fact, a similar model is also £630 on Argos.  The thing about this laptop is it doesn't have a solid state drive, so Windows would run slower, and most apps would load more slowly.  Still, once an app like Sims 4 was loaded, it would run fine.  Having the small SSD in the Acer you linked would be nicer, but it might not be worth the extra £70 to you.

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1690000

But to get better hardware than these laptops on Argos, you'd need to spend over £800, which your mom probably doesn't want to do.  On the other hand, if she's willing to consider Amazon, there are a couple of good options now available there.  This HP is back-ordered a bit, but it's £625 and has a large solid state drive, so you'd get the benefits of the extra storage and the faster speed.  Its processor and graphics card are essentially equivalent to the ones in the Acer you found and the HP above.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-Pavilion-15-bc508na-Gaming-Laptop/dp/B07V38SGNR

This Asus is £700 and has a much faster graphics card.  Its processor is a bit weaker than the ones above, but still more than strong enough for Sims 4.  Its solid state drive is smaller, but still large enough for all your Sims 4 content.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-Gaming-R5-3550H-GeForce-Windows/dp/B07S2ZLNS2

@Hrrng327  Yeah, the one you found is probably the best you're going to do on Argos, unless you go to £800 (for only a slightly better graphics card) or even £850.  The laptop you're considering isn't bad at all, and it's certainly a massive upgrade over your current one.  Just make sure to keep it elevated while you play, so it can cool itself properly.  As long as it stays cool, it should at least be able to handle a mix of high and ultra graphics settings, even with all packs installed.

@Hrrng327  The £630 laptop I linked has most of the same specs as the one you were considering.  The main difference is that it doesn't have a fast solid state drive, only a slow mechanical drive.  All of your apps would still run just fine, only they'd load more slowly, and the same goes for Windows.  It's not a big deal, more like an inconvenience.

You could upgrade in theory, as in, you could add an SSD to the laptop.  But in practice, that might be more work than you want to do.  At the very least, you'd need to physically install the new drive and reinstall Windows onto it to get the benefits.  And if the laptop only has one slot for a hard drive, you'd need to remove the existing one first, and so you'd need to have a way to transfer your data from the old drive to the new one.  This isn't difficult by any means, but it is work, and you'd also need to redownload any apps (like Sims 4) you wanted to install.

If you really like the laptop that's out of stock, this one has the same specs, including the small fast SSD, and it's also £700:

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/3039061

@Hrrng327  I would absolutely get the one with the SSD.  Windows will start up much faster, apps will load faster, and it would be a better experience overall.  But since the upgrade costs £70, I figured it was worth considering whether the faster hard drive is worth it to you.  And just to reiterate, once you start playing Sims 4, meaning the game is loaded and you're looking around the world, you won't notice any difference, except perhaps when your sims travel and you see a loading screen.

here is the pic