Hello,
Any recommendations for what laptops will run Sims 4 smoothly - on a budget?
I am not looking for anything flash or to play lots of other game on so don't need lots of memory to run but do want it to run smoothly.
I'm not technical so I don't understand requirements that are listed. Any help/links to websites much appreciated.
Many thanks!
@abc1631824435 Without knowing what your budget is, it's difficult to know what the best suggestions might be. But there are some pretty clear tiers of performance. Gaming laptops, starting around £650, have dedicated graphics cards (for example, anything that says Nvidia GTX [number] or RTX [number]) that can run Sims 4 on ultra settings even with all packs installed. The next level down contains laptops with high-end integrated graphics chips, and these start around £450.
In the latter category, the details can look a bit messy, but it's actually pretty simple. You're looking for a laptop with one of these processors: Intel i5-1135G7 or i7-1165G7, or AMD Ryzen 5 5500U or Ryzen 7 4700U or 5700U, or (slightly less good) Ryzen 5 4500U. Any laptop with one of these will be roughly on par with any other in terms of performance; you might see a few percentage points' difference, but nothing worth worrying about. The other details matter too—at least 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage—but almost all laptops with one of these processors meets both cutoffs.
If you're not comfortable spending £450 or so, I'd rather you tell me how much you're interested in spending and whether you'd be willing to buy a used laptop. There are too many variables and far too many bad options for me to feel comfortable recommending anything in general, and how much performance you can reasonably expect can vary drastically with even a £50 change in budget.
If you'd like to do the shopping yourself and link me a a model or two you're considering, feel free. If you'd prefer I find a few good options, just let me know your budget and any other details that matter to you.
Hi there thanks so much for your reply. That's really helpful! I am not looking for a super dooper laptop was thinking the £450 mark but if it is worth it to go the extra £150 I would happily do so as I will pay monthly. I am also very happy with second hand laptops too so any recommendations would be really useful!
thanks again!!
@abc1631824435 I'm happy to do a more thorough search as well, but since I have you here now and the first website I checked has some good options on sale, I figured I'd mention them and see what you thought. All of these are in the second category I listed: they have a high-end integrated graphics chip capable of running all Sims 4 content on medium-high or high graphics settings, and they're all under £450. (It looks like Currys is clearing out inventory.) Among them, there should be very little performance difference, if any.
This one is in the same category as well but has twice the storage, if that matters to you:
I can go more in-depth about these or look for other options (or both); I just figured why not give you an idea of what's out there right now.
Actually, it turns out gaming laptops are on sale too:
https://www.box.co.uk/FA506IHR-HN019W-ASUS-TUF-Gaming-A15-AMD-Ryzen-5-8GB-RAM-_4110691.html
https://www.box.co.uk/82B50042UK-Lenovo-Legion-5-15-AMD-Ryzen-5-8GB-RAM-2_2938438.html
https://www.box.co.uk/FA506IC-HN042W-ASUS-TUF-GAMING-A15-AMD-Ryzen-5-8GB-RAM-_4110260.html
If you're interested, the first and third have twice the storage of the second; the second runs cooler and quieter than the other two; the third has a faster graphics card by a significant margin, although the cards in the first are still capable of ultra settings. There are actually plenty of options for under £650 on just that one site, so if you do want a gaming laptop, the question is at what point are improvements to the hardware or build quality no longer worth the higher price.
How amazing are you?!?
This is incredible - thank you so much.
I shall look through all of these now!
Community Manager
