Laptop recommendation Sims 4

[PixieSDimples]

Hi, 

I bought a laptop for my child a few years ago and we’ve had nothing but problems with it. 

I am looking for some guidance on which laptop to buy with a budget of around £700 to £800.

She is currently playing Sims 4 and needs the laptop to be able to cope with custom content, mods, expansion packs etc. 

Hoping to find one which doesn’t run like a snail and with a reasonably quiet fan.

I would really appreciate any help you can send my way!

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@PixieSDimples  A laptop with an Nvidia 1650 or higher should run Sims 4 on ultra graphics settings.  The game itself has some slowdowns, that's inevitable on any system and not the fault of the hardware.  But unless you get a defective laptop, the other 95% of playtime should be smooth and without any issues.  And if you do get a defective laptop, that's why it comes with a warranty.

If you want a faster graphics card to create a bit of a buffer in case the game gets more demanding—or in case your child decides to install some high-resolution custom content—you can get a newer Nvidia 3050 for £800 or less.  This Dell is on sale for £690:

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/gaming-and-games/dell-g15-gaming-amd/spd/g-series-15-5515-laptop/cn5...

Its only downside is its storage, but 256 GB is still more than enough for all Sims 4 packs, a sizeable pile of custom content, plenty of small apps like browsers, and of course schoolwork.  If you want more storage, the 512 GB model is £750:

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/gaming-and-games/dell-g15-gaming-amd/spd/g-series-15-5515-laptop/cn5...

The 3050 is still not all that common, with only a few options under £800 and in stock.  This is the next best one I found:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-tuf-dash-a15-fx506hc-nvidia-rtx-3050-8gb-15.6-144hz-intel-i5-114...

If you're not interested in those, quality options with a 1650 or 1650 ti are around £700.  The Lenovo Legion is one of the few in this class of laptop that runs relatively quiet:

https://ao.com/product/82b50042uk-lenovo-laptop-black-76931-251.aspx

This one only has a 256 GB SSD, and I don't see one with 512 GB.

These two are also quality options, with more storage, and cheaper as well:

https://www.box.co.uk/39P48EAABU-HP-Pavilion-15-ec1002na-AMD-Ryzen-5-8GB-_3561212.html

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-FX506LI-i5-10300H-GeForce-GTX-1650-Ti-Windows/dp/B08BZNMCQY

There are plenty of other options, but these are the best ones I saw in terms of hardware and build quality.

[puzzlezaddict]

@PixieSDimples  Are you looking for a gaming laptop, or do you want something thinner and lighter?  There are certainly entry-level gaming laptops in your price range, ones that should run all Sims 4 packs together on ultra graphics settings.  These all have fans that are audible under load: the hardware is powerful enough that it needs powerful cooling to match, and the quieter fans come in models that start at a slightly higher price.

There are also thin and light options that should be able to handle high settings, although probably not ultra.  Some of these have loud fans too—their hardware needs to stay cool as well—but there's definitely a range.  I'm not as familiar with fan noise in non-gaming laptops, so I'd need to look up the individual models.

Here's an example of the latter:

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-14s-dq2514na-14-laptop-intel-core-i7-512-...

And this is a decent quality gaming laptop, a bit noisy but not excessively so for its class:

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/gaming/pc-gaming/gaming-laptops/acer-nitro-5-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-...

There are plenty of options in each category, too many to list, so please let me know which one you'd prefer.  And if there are any other details that matter to you, please list them too.

[PixieSDimples]

Thank you so much for getting back to me. We have decided to buy noise cancelling headphones to deal with fan noise so that shouldn’t be too much of an issue now. 

The laptop will mostly be used at home so weight isn’t really an issue. I think a gaming laptop would probably make most sense as that will be its main use. I have seen the Acer recommended by a few people!

I won’t be buying from PC World as that’s where we got the first one. 

I am just really nervous over spending so much money on something that could turn out to not cope well with the game. There are so many different recommendations around. I really appreciate your help. 

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@PixieSDimples  A laptop with an Nvidia 1650 or higher should run Sims 4 on ultra graphics settings.  The game itself has some slowdowns, that's inevitable on any system and not the fault of the hardware.  But unless you get a defective laptop, the other 95% of playtime should be smooth and without any issues.  And if you do get a defective laptop, that's why it comes with a warranty.

If you want a faster graphics card to create a bit of a buffer in case the game gets more demanding—or in case your child decides to install some high-resolution custom content—you can get a newer Nvidia 3050 for £800 or less.  This Dell is on sale for £690:

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/gaming-and-games/dell-g15-gaming-amd/spd/g-series-15-5515-laptop/cn5...

Its only downside is its storage, but 256 GB is still more than enough for all Sims 4 packs, a sizeable pile of custom content, plenty of small apps like browsers, and of course schoolwork.  If you want more storage, the 512 GB model is £750:

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/gaming-and-games/dell-g15-gaming-amd/spd/g-series-15-5515-laptop/cn5...

The 3050 is still not all that common, with only a few options under £800 and in stock.  This is the next best one I found:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-tuf-dash-a15-fx506hc-nvidia-rtx-3050-8gb-15.6-144hz-intel-i5-114...

If you're not interested in those, quality options with a 1650 or 1650 ti are around £700.  The Lenovo Legion is one of the few in this class of laptop that runs relatively quiet:

https://ao.com/product/82b50042uk-lenovo-laptop-black-76931-251.aspx

This one only has a 256 GB SSD, and I don't see one with 512 GB.

These two are also quality options, with more storage, and cheaper as well:

https://www.box.co.uk/39P48EAABU-HP-Pavilion-15-ec1002na-AMD-Ryzen-5-8GB-_3561212.html

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-FX506LI-i5-10300H-GeForce-GTX-1650-Ti-Windows/dp/B08BZNMCQY

There are plenty of other options, but these are the best ones I saw in terms of hardware and build quality.

[PixieSDimples]

Thank you! This is unbelievably helpful. 

If you were choosing between the Nvidia 3050 and the 1650ti, which would you say is best? 

[puzzlezaddict]

@PixieSDimples  All else being equal, I would definitely choose the 3050.  It's faster and newer, and it's reasonably priced.  But Sims 4 doesn't need the extra power, so if you don't like the options with a 3050, the models with a 1650 would still be good choices.

[PixieSDimples]

Thank you so so much!

[PixieSDimples]

Hi, I’m not sure if you only help folk with Sims issues but I am looking for help in choosing a laptop for my dad’s birthday. 

He used to play Formula 2002 with a steering wheel and pedals. 

I’d like to get him a laptop that would allow him to play that game, with the wheel/pedals, plus the new 2021 version.

He also uses it for browsing the internet, watching YouTube, social media and writing. I’d like it to run smoothly and quickly for him. 

Do you think a budget up to 500 would do the job? 

[puzzlezaddict]

@PixieSDimples  For F1 2021, which I think is the game you're referencing, the best $500 laptops would be cutting things close.  Specifically, I'm talking about a laptop with an Intel i5-1135G7: this is the fastest graphics processing you can find in a laptop under about $700, although if you happened to see a model with an i7-1165G7 on sale, that would be even better.  Either of these is below the minimum requirement for the game, which of course doesn't mean the game won't run, just that you can't expect good results.

For the i5, it runs F1 2021 fine on low settings most of the time, from what I can see; medium settings is pushing things and may be too choppy depending on your dad's taste.  Another option that comes out at almost the same place as the i5, at least with respect to F1, is a laptop with an AMD Ryzen 5 5500U.  It's slightly slower overall but not in this particular game, at least from what I can see.

As far as the 2002 game goes, it looks like even installing it in Windows 10 could be difficult if not impossible.  Your best bet there would be to find a forum that discusses that game, or old games in general, and ask for help.  This being Windows, there are probably workarounds, but I wouldn't know what they are.

If you'd like suggestions for a laptop for F1 2021 at least, I can list some.  But if you're thinking about great graphics and high settings, or using Raytracing at all, you'll want to hold off until you can pay a little more for something with a dedicated graphics card: at least in the $800 range for high settings, a little more for Raytracing.

[PixieSDimples]

Hi, I’m really sorry I thought I’d put a pound sign next to the 500. It would be £500 rather than dollars. I think £600 may be manageable and £700 if had to but wouldn’t want to go that high unless it was needed to play a decent game. I want it to run smoothly for him with decent graphics but it doesn’t have to be the best, fanciest graphics! 

That’s a good idea about looking for a forum for older games, I will try that for the older game and see if anyone has found a way to make the earlier version work.