@Nadia756 All the more expensive laptops besides this Asus have Nvidia cards. Most of them have an Intel processor (usually i5, sometimes i7). But those categories aren't totally useful. Nvidia cards are great, but what matters more is how fast the card is. Among the cards in the more high-end laptops you're considering, the ranking goes like this:
1050 < 1050 ti < 1650 < 1060 < 1660 ti
The AMD RX 560 is a tiny bit slower than the 1050, but the performance is close. All of these cards are much faster than an integrated graphics chip like the ones in the £350 laptops. At that price point, there are a lot of integrated chips, but your best bet is the AMD R8, which is faster than the Intel 620 in comparable models. (There are a number of different chips you might see, depending on the processor, but this is the simple answer.)
Intel makes some great laptop processors: the i5-8300H and 9300H are good, and great for Sims 4; the i7-8750H and 9750H are quite strong, overkill for the game. But Intel also makes lower-end processors that have the i5 or i7 label as well. Some of these are dual-core, meaning the CPU only has two cores instead of four or six, which will make a huge difference in performance.
Again, there are too many models to give a complete list. But if you're looking at laptops that only have integrated graphics, your best bet for performance is getting the processor with the fastest integrated graphics chip. In this case, the AMD Ryzen 5 2500U and 3500U have an R8, and the (many) available Intel processors in similar laptops have an Intel 620. While the Intel processors might be a bit faster than their AMD counterparts, depending on the exact model, the limiting factor as far as Sims 4 is concerned will be the graphics chip, so getting a faster graphics chip is worth a small tradeoff on processor strength.
All the laptops I linked are by good manufacturers, but given the price point, all have relative weaknesses as well. Some have better cooling than others, which is nice but not as crucial for Sims 4 as it would be if you were going to try to play a more demanding game. Some have terrible battery life, but the battery in a gaming laptop is always going to be bad, and you should never play on battery anyway. (The performance will drop significantly no matter what laptop you have.)
If you're having trouble deciding, think about how much storage you want and narrow it down from there. You can save money with a 256 GB SSD, but that might only hold Sims 4 and one other game of comparable size. On the other hand, you can always store data like music or photos on an external drive if you want, and it won't make a difference for viewing or listening. You can also google the model number for any given laptop and read reviews, although check the listed processor and graphics card to make sure you're not reading about a significantly different model.
A used laptop is fine, especially if it comes with some sort of guarantee. The one you linked is roughly equivalent to this HP I linked earlier. The used one has a slightly stronger processor and a very slightly slower (as in, you might not even notice a difference) graphics card. The used one also has a single 1 TB mechanical drive accelerated by Intel Optane memory, so it would be much faster than having no Optane but still much slower than a solid state drive. Of course, SSDs are more expensive as well.
I can't make the choice for you, because I don't know what you like, or what else you might want to do with the laptop in a year or two. All the models from quality manufacturers will perform similarly, with small differences based on proprietary software and what you use the laptop for. But they're not going to be widely divergent unless you happen to get the rare defective model, and that's what warranties are for. So you don't have to worry too much about benchmarks or stress tests; just choose one that meets your needs and doesn't cost more than you want to spend.
P.S. Only the 15" and now 16" MacBook Pros are good for games, and they're not a cost-efficient choice. I love my Mac, but I would never recommend it for Sims games to someone who cares about price at all. You can get equal performance from a £700 Windows laptop and probably do a couple of upgrades as well, if you decide you want to later. Macs are wonderful for what they are, but they're not the right choice if your primary goal is to play games.
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I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.
