Laptop recommendations for Sims 3 and Sims 4

[FrancescaFrancoe]

Dear Sims community,
 
I would like to purchase a laptop to play both the Sims 3 (World Adventures, Ambitions, Generations, Pets, Late Night, Seasons, University, High End Loft Stuff) and the Sims 4 (Laundry Day, Parenthood, Seasons). I might also get a few more Sims 4 expansion packs, game packs or stuff packs. If I am seeking help, it's because I'm at a loss trying to find the right computer...
 
Ideally, the laptop would be around 300-600$ CAD, but my real limit would be 800$ CAD. The laptop doesn't have to be a gaming beast, but I do want to be able to play both games smoothly with medium to ultra graphic settings. I'm buying this computer solely to play the Sims, download and stream TV shows and movies and perform demanding tasks. I think it would be best if it had a least 256 GB of storage space, but I think 128 GB could work too. I would love to have a white laptop, but what's most important to me is that the laptop works well for the aforementioned tasks I will be performing.
 
Initially, I was going to wait and buy the next M1X MacBook Pro 14" that will most likely be released this year and use this new computer for all my needs. But, since I wish to prolong its lifespan as much as I can, I think it's best that I keep this upcoming MacBook for my college work and less demanding everyday tasks such as emails and web browsing. But, then again, I might be wrong and maybe there is no need to buy a second computer.
 
I know that I could probably save money by buying only one high-performing desktop computer instead of buying two laptops (a MacBook and a non-Apple laptop), but I cannot bear to write essays with anything else than a MacBook and I don't have the space to have a desktop computer in my current living arrangements.
 
Thanking you in advance for you recommendations,
Francesca

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@FrancescaFrancoe  Sims 3 is a bit more complicated than Sims 4, to be honest.  On the one hand, there are a couple of small issues running it on an M1 Mac, including a purple border around the sim portrait on the UI that doesn't go away.  And there are many issues with the 64-bit version of Sims 3 that are independent of hardware; we still don't know whether these will ever be fixed.  The game itself runs well though, much better than you'd have seen on your older Macs.

On the other hand, Windows laptops without a dedicated graphics card have traditionally struggled with the most demanding packs, Pets in particular.  I have one confirmed report of someone being able to play most packs, I believe everything through University, on a Windows laptop with an Xe (96 EUs) graphics chip.  This is just one report though, on one specific laptop with its own particular built-in settings, not enough for me to feel confident saying you'd get the performance you'd want out of a similar model.

Furthermore, I checked half a dozen sites and didn't find any laptops with an i7-1165G7, the processor with that same graphics chip, for under $800.  I did find plenty of i5-1135G7 options: those have a similar Xe chip but with 80 EUs, as in, 5/6 the graphics cores.  For example:

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/hp-15-6-laptop-natural-silver-intel-core-i5-1135g7-512gb-ssd-8g...

https://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=710_1925_1912_1911&item_id=183641

This AMD processor's graphics chip is equivalent overall to the one above, but not necessarily equal in every game.  I haven't heard from anyone who's run Sims 3 on one.

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/acer-aspire-5-15-6-laptop-silver-amd-ryzen-5-5500u-512gb-ssd-8g...

https://www.hp.com/ca-en/shop/product.aspx?id=2L7Q7UA&opt=ABL&sel=NTB

https://www.dell.com/en-ca/shop/dell-laptops/new-inspiron-15-laptop/spd/inspiron-15-5515-laptop/ni15...

The next-lower tier of laptops is the one with the older AMD 3500U, which I do know is not always capable of running Sims 3 Pets or Seasons.  (I once had someone who was determined to make it work and tried everything possible, but the game kept crashing no matter what we tried, that is until they uninstalled Seasons, and Pets is worse.)  So even though you can find those laptops for $600 or less, I wouldn't buy one for Sims 3.

If you don't need a sleek white or silver laptop, you can actually find old cheap-ish gaming laptops if you know where to look.  This is the best of the bunch I saw:

https://www.thesource.ca/en-ca/computers-tablets/laptops/all-laptops/asus-tuf-fx504gd-rs51-15-6%e2%8...

I wouldn't count on ultra graphics settings in either game, but mostly high settings with a couple on ultra should be fine.  On the more expensive end, if you can find this one in a local Walmart (it's not available to ship), it should handle ultra settings in both games, at least with the way Sims 4 currently runs:

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/acer-nitro-5-156-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-9300h-with-nvidia-gtx-1650...

Or if you're willing to shop open-box, this one is basically the same except with a solid state drive:

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/acer-nitro-5-15-6-gaming-laptop-black-intel-core-i5-9300h-512gb...

On a more personal note, I had a 2010 15" MacBook Pro for seven years before replacing it.  sFor 6.5 of those years, it ran Sims 3 quite well, although I didn't have most of the packs; it was only in the spring of 2017 that I started to notice some performance issues.  And I played Sims 3 a lot, and I wasn't always careful about cooling.  Had I not wanted a new Mac for the better hardware, I'd have paid for a thorough cleaning and a new battery, and perhaps some new thermal paste, and continued with that one.

Quality laptops, not just Macs but most of the good ones, are designed to hold together for many years even when consistently handling high workloads.  The components themselves only lose minimal performance off the top with time, maybe a few percentage points but nothing alarming, again unless they consistently overheat.  And if you're not running demanding tasks, you wouldn't ever see peak performance and wouldn't notice it dropping a bit anyway.  These laptops usually need replacing because they've become obsolete, not because they stop working.  And if they do stop working, it's usually because they ship slightly defective and you find out within the warranty period, or in Macs' case, within AppleCare's window.

All this is to say, I don't think there's a good argument to avoid running Sims games on a MacBook Pro just to squeeze a bit of extra life out of it at the end.  If you want a Windows laptop so you don't need to worry, and the money is worth it to you, then it's a reasonable decision.  But it really is only going to be about peace of mind, not about running down your shiny new Mac before its time.

[puzzlezaddict]

@FrancescaFrancoe  I can list some options for you, but to be honest, you'd probably get at least the same performance, perhaps better, out of an M2 (or whatever) Mac than you would out of a $600 CAD Windows laptop.  There are a couple current issues with M1 Macs and Sims 4, but they're solved without much trouble, for example enabling vertical sync in the graphics settings.

With the newer Apple chips still running the same emulator as the current ones do, it's entirely possible that Sims 4 will run just as smoothly, and it should perform significantly better overall if the rumors about chips with 16 GPU cores are true.  And these chips might even perform better than an entry-level Windows gaming laptop, the kind you'd see for $850-1200 CAD.  That's still completely up in the air, of course, but you could wait to see how the new chips perform before making a decision.

In terms of longevity, the only reason Sims 4 might pose any risk is if the laptop can't cool itself properly.  But macOS is very good at throttling performance to protect the hardware, so as long as you're not playing with the laptop swaddled in blankets or the like, you should be fine.

Having said all that, I'm still happy to search for a ~$600 laptop.  The models in that category wouldn't run Sims 4 on ultra graphics settings, at least not if you installed all or most of the expansions, but the best ones should certainly handle medium-high or high settings.  And many of them come in silver, although not usually white.

[FrancescaFrancoe]

Dear @puzzlezaddict,

Thank you so much for your thorough and fast response.

So, I will most likely be fine buying only the next MacBook Pro to play the Sims 4, but what about the Sims 3 ? To be honest, I think I'm fearful to play the Sims on a Mac because I've had bad experiences with the Sims 3 in the past (the fans where incredibly loud and my Macs would get insanely hot when I played). However, I didn't have the best MacBooks to play, namely a white MacBook Mid 2009 and a white refurbished MacBook mid 2010, the latter being the laptop that I still use to this day for everything. I do want to keep the new MacBook that I will buy for at least 7 to 10 years (just as my previous Macs), so that's why I thought I would try to preserve it as much as possible by not putting it through high demanding tasks such as the Sims.

As you suggested, I could probably wait to see how the new MacBooks Pros will perform and make a more informed decision then. In the meantime though, I sadly don't have any computer that can handle the Sims... I've been waiting for a while now to buy a new Mac and to play the Sims on a computer capable of handling them smoothly and I think I would be quite disheartened if, in the end, I ended up having to buy two computers anyway in a few months. That being said, if I could spare some money by not having to buy a Windows laptop all the while having a Macbook that lasts me many years and can play both the Sims 3 and the Sims 4, I would be more than happy! I'm already planning on spending 2000$ on the new Mac and might even upgrade some specs like RAM and storage and be willing to spend 2500$ just to make sure that it will last longer.

Nevertheless, if you could, as you so kindly offered, search for a laptop around 600$-800$ CAD, I would be highly grateful.

Many thanks,

Francesca

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@FrancescaFrancoe  Sims 3 is a bit more complicated than Sims 4, to be honest.  On the one hand, there are a couple of small issues running it on an M1 Mac, including a purple border around the sim portrait on the UI that doesn't go away.  And there are many issues with the 64-bit version of Sims 3 that are independent of hardware; we still don't know whether these will ever be fixed.  The game itself runs well though, much better than you'd have seen on your older Macs.

On the other hand, Windows laptops without a dedicated graphics card have traditionally struggled with the most demanding packs, Pets in particular.  I have one confirmed report of someone being able to play most packs, I believe everything through University, on a Windows laptop with an Xe (96 EUs) graphics chip.  This is just one report though, on one specific laptop with its own particular built-in settings, not enough for me to feel confident saying you'd get the performance you'd want out of a similar model.

Furthermore, I checked half a dozen sites and didn't find any laptops with an i7-1165G7, the processor with that same graphics chip, for under $800.  I did find plenty of i5-1135G7 options: those have a similar Xe chip but with 80 EUs, as in, 5/6 the graphics cores.  For example:

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/hp-15-6-laptop-natural-silver-intel-core-i5-1135g7-512gb-ssd-8g...

https://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=710_1925_1912_1911&item_id=183641

This AMD processor's graphics chip is equivalent overall to the one above, but not necessarily equal in every game.  I haven't heard from anyone who's run Sims 3 on one.

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/acer-aspire-5-15-6-laptop-silver-amd-ryzen-5-5500u-512gb-ssd-8g...

https://www.hp.com/ca-en/shop/product.aspx?id=2L7Q7UA&opt=ABL&sel=NTB

https://www.dell.com/en-ca/shop/dell-laptops/new-inspiron-15-laptop/spd/inspiron-15-5515-laptop/ni15...

The next-lower tier of laptops is the one with the older AMD 3500U, which I do know is not always capable of running Sims 3 Pets or Seasons.  (I once had someone who was determined to make it work and tried everything possible, but the game kept crashing no matter what we tried, that is until they uninstalled Seasons, and Pets is worse.)  So even though you can find those laptops for $600 or less, I wouldn't buy one for Sims 3.

If you don't need a sleek white or silver laptop, you can actually find old cheap-ish gaming laptops if you know where to look.  This is the best of the bunch I saw:

https://www.thesource.ca/en-ca/computers-tablets/laptops/all-laptops/asus-tuf-fx504gd-rs51-15-6%e2%8...

I wouldn't count on ultra graphics settings in either game, but mostly high settings with a couple on ultra should be fine.  On the more expensive end, if you can find this one in a local Walmart (it's not available to ship), it should handle ultra settings in both games, at least with the way Sims 4 currently runs:

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/acer-nitro-5-156-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-9300h-with-nvidia-gtx-1650...

Or if you're willing to shop open-box, this one is basically the same except with a solid state drive:

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/acer-nitro-5-15-6-gaming-laptop-black-intel-core-i5-9300h-512gb...

On a more personal note, I had a 2010 15" MacBook Pro for seven years before replacing it.  sFor 6.5 of those years, it ran Sims 3 quite well, although I didn't have most of the packs; it was only in the spring of 2017 that I started to notice some performance issues.  And I played Sims 3 a lot, and I wasn't always careful about cooling.  Had I not wanted a new Mac for the better hardware, I'd have paid for a thorough cleaning and a new battery, and perhaps some new thermal paste, and continued with that one.

Quality laptops, not just Macs but most of the good ones, are designed to hold together for many years even when consistently handling high workloads.  The components themselves only lose minimal performance off the top with time, maybe a few percentage points but nothing alarming, again unless they consistently overheat.  And if you're not running demanding tasks, you wouldn't ever see peak performance and wouldn't notice it dropping a bit anyway.  These laptops usually need replacing because they've become obsolete, not because they stop working.  And if they do stop working, it's usually because they ship slightly defective and you find out within the warranty period, or in Macs' case, within AppleCare's window.

All this is to say, I don't think there's a good argument to avoid running Sims games on a MacBook Pro just to squeeze a bit of extra life out of it at the end.  If you want a Windows laptop so you don't need to worry, and the money is worth it to you, then it's a reasonable decision.  But it really is only going to be about peace of mind, not about running down your shiny new Mac before its time.

[FrancescaFrancoe]

Dear @puzzlezaddict,

Thank you so much for everything! I think I'm most likely going to wait for the new MacBook thanks to your advice.

Warmest regards,

Francesca