Best laptop to play The Sims 4 with all expansion packs on ultra settings?

[xoGeorgi]

Hello, all. I am looking to buy a decent gaming laptop that will be able to handle playing The Sims 4 along with all the expansion packs smoothly and all on ultra settings. My budget is £1,000.

[puzzlezaddict]

@xoGeorgi  The single most important component in determining how well a given computer will run Sims 4 (as with most games) is the graphics card.  In your price range, the best options are an Nvidia 1650, which will run run all current Sims 4 packs together on ultra settings, and which may or may not be quite fast enough to run all future packs on ultra as well; and the faster and more expensive 1660 ti, which should always be fast enough for ultra settings by a comfortable margin.  The question is whether the faster 1660 ti is worth the extra £200 or so to you.

There are too many good options with a 1650 to list them all, but here are a few that are essentially equal: they have equivalent processors, 8 GB memory, and 512 GB storage.

https://www.box.co.uk/NH.Q87EK.002-Acer-Aspire-7-Gaming-A715-75G_2934480.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/hp-pavillion-15-ec1007na-nvidia-gtx-1650-8gb-15.6-fhd-amd-ryzen-5-460...

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/asus-tuf-fx505dt-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-co...

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/hp-pavillion-15-dk1005na-nvidia-gtx-1650-8gb-15.6-144hz-fhd-intel-i5-...

(The HP laptops are pre-order only but should be available in a few weeks.)

The 1650 ti is a bit faster than the regular 1650, and also a bit more expensive normally, but this Dell is one of a number of options eligible for a flash sale right now:

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/laptops/new-dell-g3-15/spd/g-series-15-3500-laptop/cng3024

Somewhat surprisingly, laptops with a 1660 ti are as cheap as £800 now; this is a very good laptop for its price, with otherwise the same hardware as the other ones listed:

https://www.box.co.uk/FX505DU-AL129T-ASUS-TUF-FX505DU-AL129T_2954390.html

If you're willing to wait for it to be in stock, this HP is the best laptop I saw for £1,000 or less.  Its processor is significantly stronger than the others, and it comes with 16 GB RAM rather than 8, although you could easily upgrade one of the others if you wanted.  While the stronger processor won't make any difference to Sims 4, it might help if you decide to play other CPU-heavy games later on.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/hp-pavillion-15-ec1009na-nvidia-gtx-1660-ti-16gb-15.6-fhd-amd-ryzen-7...

There are plenty of other options with a 1660 ti as well; the last one has the same stronger processor as the HP.

https://www.box.co.uk/NH.Q7PEK.001-Acer-Nitro-5_2934862.html

https://www.box.co.uk/81SX00RCUK-Lenovo-Legion-Y540-15_2834993.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lenovo-legion-5i-nvidia-gtx-1660-ti-8gb-15.6-fhd-ips-144hz-intel-i5-1...

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/asus-tuf-blue-a15-15-6-gaming-laptop-amd-ryz...

I know this is a lot of links, but the laptops in each category are mostly equivalent, so more subjective considerations come into play, as well as details like screen size, weight, and battery.  Since that involves your personal preferences, I figured it would be easier to give you an idea of your options, then you could narrow it down and ask more questions if you had them.

[xoGeorgi]

Hello! Thank you so much for all of the information. I am wanting to play other games as well as The Sims 4 (Borderlands 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, ect) smoothly and with amazing graphics quality. I also want it to be able to handle upcoming updates/expansions and future games in general. I want to stream my gaming and use the laptop for everyday use as well such as for checking emails and social media, watching movies and uusing software to make music and mix with a DJ controller. I've raised my budget and am thinking of going for one of these two...

Tracer 17 xtreme 400:

https://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/system/Tracer-IV-17-Xtreme-400

XMG core 17

https://www.xmg.gg/en/xmg-core-17-amd

[puzzlezaddict]

@xoGeorgi  Those would both work very well.  There are plenty of laptops in that price range with an Nvidia 2060 though, if you want more options.  For example:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-tuf-gaming-a15-fa506iv-nvida-rtx-2060-16gb-15.6-144hz-ryzen-r7-4...

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lenovo-legion-5i-nvidia-rtx-2060-16gb-15.6-fhd-ips-144hz-intel-i7-107...

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/hp-pavillion-17-cd1015na-nvidia-rtx-2060-16gb-17.3-144hz-fhd-intel-i7...

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-tuf-gaming-a15-fa506iv-nvida-rtx-2060-16gb-15.6-144hz-ryzen-r9-4...

(I didn't comparison shop this time, since I don't know exactly what you're looking for, but there are other available options similar to those as well.)

For Borderlands 3 and RDR 2, an Nvidia 2060 will be fine.  But just so you're aware, you probably wouldn't get the high framerates you might want.  In Borderlands 3, a 2060 mobile should be able to maintain 60 fps on ultra settings at a 1920x1080 resolution, but it doesn't get over 100 fps until you drop down to medium settings.  For RDR2, a 2060 mobile would likely have fps in the 50s on ultra settings, although the game apparently still looks incredible on high settings.  That's not to say you need a more powerful card, just that you might need to make some compromises for the newest AAA games.

[xoGeorgi]

Thanks for the response. Well I'm looking for a laptop that will be able to handle running a few different games on smoothly, with amazing graphics quality (The Sims 4 with all expansions on ultra settings, Borderlands 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, ect) and will hopefully be able to handle upcoming uodates/expansions and future games. I also want to stream my gameplay. I want to use it for everyday use as well such as for watching movies, music, making and mixing music with a dj controller, checking emails and social media, ect.

Is this any good? 

https://deals.dell.com/en-uk/productdetail/4yyb

[puzzlezaddict]

@xoGeorgi  This laptop is very nice, for sure, and it should perform up to the standards of its hardware.  The thing is, a 2070 Max-Q is not much faster than a 2060 Mobile overall, and can even be a bit slower at times; it depends to a significant extent on the game.  Max-Q means the card is set for maximum efficiency and minimum thermal output, but running cooler and more efficiently has a significant performance cost.  So you'd be paying significantly more than for a 2060 without getting a proportional gain in performance.

On the other hand, laptops with a 2070 Mobile (not Max-Q) are even more expensive: I didn't see any for under £1,600.  So if you're not interested in spending that much, and you do want the small upgrade over the 2060, then the Dell is a perfectly reasonable choice.  It's not going to run all AAA games on ultra settings, at least not smoothly at 60 fps, but playing a couple games on high settings would likely be totally fine.

And of course all these laptops you've been considering would run Sims 4 on ultra settings, probably at or close to 144 fps, without any trouble at all.

[xoGeorgi]

Awesome. I'm torn between the Dell G5 15 and the XMG core 17. So torn. The Dell is on offer atm making it £200 cheaper than the XMG

[puzzlezaddict]

@xoGeorgi  I totally understand the difficulty of making this decision.  If you want more information, in fact way too much, here are a couple of in-depth reviews that might help.  They're for the same models but not exactly the same configuration; still, you should get a good idea of how each one performs relative to the components in this particular configuration.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Schenker-XMG-Core-17-Core-i7-9750H-GeForce-GTX-1660-Ti-144-Hz-Display-...

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-G5-15-5590-Laptop-Review-15-inch-gaming-notebook-with-a-Max-Q-GPU...

If it's more info than you want to deal with, scroll down to the bottom to see a rating for each category.

Personally, I'm not convinced at all that the XMG is £200 better than the Dell, even with that glowing review.  But it's not my money or my laptop, so I'm not the one whose opinion matters.

[xoGeorgi]

I think it's the Ryzen 4800h 8 core processor and the overall look of the XMG that's trying to sway me. What would you do though? I don't want to spend more money if I don't really need to. 

[puzzlezaddict]

@xoGeorgi  The 4800H is extremely fast, and quite an impressive mobile processor.  The 10750H is just as good for gaming though.  I don't think there are any current games that either processor couldn't run on ultra, although of course the graphics card wouldn't keep up in some.  The reasons to get a 4800H are related to other tasks like 3D rendering.  If you plan on doing heavy tasks that would benefit from the two extra CPU cores, now or in the future, then the 4800H is a better bet.  Otherwise, it's not necessary to choose a laptop based on the processor.

Plus, if you're going to spend £1,600, or close to it, you'll get more benefit out of buying a 2070 (regular, not Max-Q) than getting the customized XMG.  Those laptops look great, but they're not going to make up for the 20-25% performance difference between the two graphics cards.  Among the many options with a 2070, this one is very highly rated:

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/msi-ge66-raider-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-cor...

(review of the same model with a different GPU)

https://www.notebookcheck.net/MSI-GE75-Raider-10SE-Laptop-Review-10th-Gen-Core-i7-and-GeForce-RTX-Co...

But you don't need to spend that much money.  There are some very good options in the £1,300 range, also with a 2060, where you'd expect performance to be essentially the same as with the XMG.  The Dell would also be a good option here.  The Asus Tuf A15 and the Lenovo Legion 5 both get good reviews, so you'd have your choice between processors (AMD and Intel, respectively) with those.

Really though, you should get a very good laptop no matter which one you choose.  As long as the laptop itself isn't defective, which is a rarity (and also what warranties are for), you'll be fine.