Help new laptop The Sims 4 w/ cc

[killua072]

Hi, I'm looking for a new laptop to play The Sims 4 with a few expansions and a lot of mods/cc on medium/high settings plus a couple other games. I can't spend over 1000 euros so I'd like to know which ones would be the best. The ones I found are:

- Lenovo Legion Y530-15ICH, RAM 8GB, Intel Processor I5-8300H, processor speed 2.3Ghz, Storage 1T HDD + 128GB SSD, Nvidia GTX1050, 2G ddr5

- HP Pavilion Gaming 15-cx0013nl Notebook, RAM 16GB, Intel Core i5-8300H, processor speed 2.3Ghz,128GB SSD, SATA 1TB, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050, 4096mb ddr5

Would one of them be okay and if yes which one? If anybody has other suggestions or knows about better laptops for the same price they would be very very appreciated. Thank you. 

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@killua072  A mechanical hard drive (HDD) is slow compared to a hybrid drive (SSHD), which is still slower than a solid state drive (SSD).  By "slow," I mean that data will be read from and written to the drive more slowly, as in, it will take longer to install content, or to access it.  But this doesn't make a difference to Sims 4—aside from the initial loading time, the game runs the same on a slow HDD as on an SSD.

I was saying that if you had a choice, a larger SSD would be more convenient, since you could put other programs on it that would be noticeably faster.  But those programs will run okay on an HDD as well.  And if you're only interested in playing Sims 4, browsing the web, playing your music and movies, etc., your experience will be the same either way, aside from the longer time it takes to transfer the data to the HDD in the first place.  Since Windows itself will be on the small SSD, you'll still get some benefits.

I checked about ten different Italian sites last night, and I couldn't find any computer with an Nvidia 1660 ti for under €1500, aside from the one at eprice.  That's not surprising though, since it's so new.  And while it's better than the 1060, Sims 4 won't be able to use that extra power.  With a 1060 (6 GB variant), you should always be able to run the game on ultra settings.

I couldn't find any other laptop with a 1060 6 GB for as low as €1300 either, which is the price of the Asus on Amazon I linked earlier.  It's probably as good a price as you're going to see, unless you wait a while and get lucky with a sale.  Asus makes great gaming laptops, and this particular model will handle Sims 4 very nicely.  Plus, if you do ever decide you want a faster secondary hard drive, it's easy to swap the HDD out for an SSD.  (I checked the manual.)  But you may decide it's not even necessary.

P.S.  It looks like the unieuro model is available again, just at a much higher price now.  But sales can end quickly, especially with a good model like that one.

[puzzlezaddict]

@killua072  The specs on those laptops are fine for TS4 right now, but the graphics cards won't be able to keep up as newer packs are released.  (Also, neither HP nor Lenovo makes particularly good gaming systems, although some models are fine.)  Not knowing the prices you're seeing on those models—different stores will vary greatly—it's hard to say what exactly you can get for the same money.

On the other hand, I can definitely recommend this Asus laptop, at £850.  It has an Intel i7-8750H, a much better processor than the 8300H; and an Nvidia 1060 6 GB, which will run all TS4 packs on the highest settings for the duration of the game.  It also has a 17.3" IPS screen, which is the higest quality.  It does only have 8 GB RAM, but you can add more if you want; the RAM slots are easily accessible.

https://www.box.co.uk/FX705GM-EW019T-ASUS-TUF-FX705GM-EW019T_2400047.html

If this isn't precisely what you want, let me know what you're looking for, and I'll try to find it.  Variations on the same laptop are available on other sites, for around £900, give or take.

[killua072]

@puzzlezaddict Thank you! Sorry I forgot to mention the prices. I live in Italy so I was looking on Amazon.it and the Lenovo one is 954€ (about 849£) while the HP one is 849€ (about 755£) but I won't buy these since they don't seem to be worth it. I just don't really wanna spend over 1000€ though. The one you linked me seems very good and not even that expensive, but sadly I can't seem to find any italian store that sells it; this is what came up when I looked it up https://www.amazon.it/FX705GE-EW104T-Notebook-i7-8750H-Firecuda-GTX1050Ti/dp/B07N6M86S7/ref=sr_1_fkm... which I presume would be good but it's a a little more expensive, so if you can suggest me other similar good laptops I'd be very happy! 

Also, I read somewhere that a 128GB SSD isn't really enough but I don't know much about these things so I was wondering if it's true or not. 

[puzzlezaddict]

@killua072  Sorry about the mixup with the currency; there were two other people from the U.K. asking yesterday, and I guess I thought you were one of them when I posted.

The computers you linked both have an Nvidia 1050 without the ti boost, a card that's a half-step down from the 1050 ti.  The only good option I found with the ti variant for under €1000 is this Asus.  Amazon.it has it priced at €1176, but there are other sellers offering it for less.

https://www.amazon.it/FX505GE-BQ151T-i7-8750H-Firecuda-GTX1050Ti-Retroilluminata/dp/B07N8YSZVX

This is actually a pretty great computer, with 16 GB RAM and a strong processor.  It also has the advantage of a small solid state drive plus a larger hybrid drive, which will be faster than the usual mechanical hard drive.  Plus, its screen is IPS, the highest quality.

The companies listed under "other vendors" have very good reviews.  Normally I wouldn't recommend buying from a third party, but if the computer hasn't been upgraded, which this model hasn't, it should still be covered by the Asus warranty.

If there are other stores you trust, I can browse there too, but I don't really know who to trust in Italy.

[killua072]

No worries, thank you for looking through the italian store! I also found this one on discount https://www.unieuro.it/online/Notebook/FX505GE-BQ321T-pidASUFX505GEBQ321T on a store that I know is reliable but I'm not sure if it only has an SSD or not or if it's better than the one you linked. Another store is https://www.eprice.it/s/informatica/portatili-notebook-tablet which I think I can trust.

Also, is it important how many cores the processor has or does it not make a difference? 

[puzzlezaddict]

@killua072  The one you found only has a single hard drive, the 256 GB SSD.  If you only ever played Sims 4 on it, and maybe downloaded a browser or two, it would be fine.  But if you had movies, music, photos, or whatever that you wanted to store on it, you'd run out of space very quickly.  That's why having the 1 TB HDD in addition is usually a much better option.  Other than that though, it's the same computer as the one I linked.

Sims 4 can use up to 4 cores at once, so a strong 4 core processor is fine.  Most of the 4 core U-series processors (anything with a U on the end)  are not good for gaming though.  So an i5-8300H is good enough, but an i5-8250U is going to struggle.  Where it helps to have six cores is if you like to multitask, like if you want to edit your screenshots while you play.  Then the game can have four cores to itself while a second task runs on the other two.  It's very nice, but not necessary.

I looked at the two sites you listed, and the cheapest good models were the 15" and 17" versions of the same computer, with the additional 1 TB HDD.

https://www.eprice.it/Portatili-ASUS-FX505GE-BQ151T-I7-8750H-16GB-1TB-256GB-15-6IN-NOODD-W10-IN-90NR...

https://www.eprice.it/Portatili-ASUS-FX705GE-17-3-I7-16GB-1T-256SSD-W10-90NR00Z1-M04850/d-12891120

(Interestingly, you can get an Nvidia 1060 6 GB for less money on eprice than on Amazon, but it's still over €1200.)

I'm sorry I'm not coming up with better options, but the only cheaper ones have a weaker graphics card, or not enough storage, or poor cooling.  I'm happy to check any site you want, but I think the prices are going to be very similar to what you've already seen.

[killua072]

I see, I was asking because I noticed the one you linked, the Asus TUF FX505GE-BQ151T, seems to have 1 core and I read before that it would be much better to have more than 1 for playing The Sims 4, but as I said I don't know much about this stuff so is it true? I'm just worried about spending a lot of money, so I prefer to be 100% sure before buying.
I tried browsing other stores but as you said they don't have many options and they're always pretty much the same, but you've been a really great help!

[puzzlezaddict]

@killua072  Sometimes a website will list specs in a weird way, mangling the "processor: 1, cores: 6" count.  But an 8750H definitely has six cores.  Intel makes them, and they're all the same.

Any modern 4 core processor that isn't U-series will have enough power to run Sims 4, Windows, and maybe a browser and your music while you play.  Six cores are better for heavy multitasking, but that's a bonus, not a requirement.  Four cores can be fine too, depending on how heavy the multitasking is, or your game might slow down just a bit while you work.  I wouldn't recommend a processor that couldn't run Sims 4, and the current set of high-end laptop models are all good or great for the game.

And I totally understand why you'd worry and ask lots of questions.  It is a lot of money, so you need to make absolutely sure you're getting what you need.

[killua072]

Thank you for the clarification! I think I'll get the ASUS TUF FX505GE-BQ151T, but just to ask, the only difference between that one and the ASUS TUF FX705GE-EW104T ( https://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B07N6M86S7/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A3MXY491ZGOR83&psc=1 ) would be the monitor right?

[puzzlezaddict]

@killua072  The model on Amazon has a large hybrid drive (SSHD) instead of a traditional HDD.  The model on eprice is listed as having an HDD, but there's not enough information to be sure it's a mechanical drive and not an SSHD.  Hybrid drives read and write data faster than HDDs, although this won't make a difference to Sims 4.  So it will take longer to copy movies, music, photos, or whatever else you're downloading onto the HDD, but once the information is there, it will play back just the same either way.

Windows will be on the small SSD on either computer, so it will start up very quickly either way.