The Sims franchise is probably one of the most popular in the world, with the latest iteration, The Sims 4, being even more popular, spawning dozens of DLCs and mods that you can load into it. That said, running the Sims 4 isn’t always easy, especially since it tends to get more and more resource-hungry the longer it loads. To that end, we’ve collected some laptops that we think are excellent for playing The Sims 4; from something budget-oriented to a large-screen option, you’ll likely find something.
This is especially relevant since The Sims 4 went free to play last year, so if you’re just thinking of getting into the game, then grabbing one of these laptops will give you a much smoother experience.
The Acer Nitro 5 is an excellent entry-level gaming laptop that should easily run The Sims 4. It has an RTX 3050 under the hood, which is a budget-gaming GPU that might start struggling to play the Sims 4 after a few hours, especially if you have the graphics ramped up. Speaking of which, the 15.6-inch screen has an FHD resolution while running a 144Hz refresh rate, which is nice if you want a bit of a smoother experience in exchange for graphical fidelity. Luckily, there is a bit of versatility when it comes to what you want to prioritize, although, for the most part, we wouldn’t push the GPU too much.
One of the other things that will weigh heavily on the quality of the game is the Intel Core i5-12500H processor, a mid-range CPU that will handle The Sims 4 without a problem and is actually at the recommended specs for the game. As such, you should be able to play for a fairly long time before you start to see any issues, and most of those should be cleared with a restart of the game. That said, the Acer Nitro 5 only has 8GB of RAM, and while that is also at the recommended specs, it’s slightly on the lower end, especially given how RAM-hungry Windows is, and it will also potentially require a restart of the game or laptop if you play for too long.
As for storage, you get a very respectable 512GB, which should easily fit The Sims 4 and all the DLC and mods you want without issue. It also means you have room for other games to play, especially the free-to-play ones that tend to be better optimized for budget-friendly gaming gear. Overall though, this is an excellent pick if you want something that’s not too expensive.
If you want something that’s a little bit more capable when it comes to running the Sims 4, then the Dell G16 is an excellent option, especially since it’s a laptop that comes highly recommended as a solid budget-to-mid-range gaming laptop, depending on the configuration. For this one, you get an RTX 4070, a much more capable GPU that’s excellent for 1440p gaming, which is good since the 16-inch screen on the Dell G16 runs a 2560 x 1600 resolution. That’s going to be a much more enjoyable resolution to play the game at, although you can also take advantage of the 165Hz refresh rate to give you a smoother overall experience, which will require a bit of playing around with the graphical settings.
As for processor, we’re somewhat surprised to see the Intel Core i9-13900HX, one of the most powerful CPUs on the market that will easily handle the Sims 4’s simulation processes. It should also have enough headroom to let you do some streaming to Twitch or YouTube if you’ve ever considered doing that. You also get 16GB of RAM, which we prefer, and it’s even DDR5, which is more efficient and powerful than DDR4 RAM and will help a lot with running the game over longer periods.
We will point out that it’s a bit bulky due to the 16-inch screen and the overall construction, although it does feel solidly built, and the keyboard is nice to use. Another thing worth mentioning is that, while gaming laptops don’t have good battery life to begin with, the Dell G16 is about average, if not slightly under, so don’t expect to get more than 2-3 hours of gaming without some form of charging, especially if you plan to run it on very high settings.
If you plan to do more than just play The Sims 4, then the ASUS ROG Strix G16 is an excellent option. While it has the same RTX 4070 GPU and similar Intel Core i9-13980HX, both very powerful, it has a much more impressive 240Hz refresh rate. That will certainly be great for The Sims 4 as well, with some graphical compromises, but if you want to do something more action-packed like CS:GO or Fortnite, then having the higher refresh rate is excellent. Granted, you won’t likely hit both the QHD and 240Hz refresh rate on the RTX 4070, but at least it does give you a bit of choice with which you want to prioritize.
Besides that, you get a very impressive 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and we’ll be honest, that’s likely the biggest upgrade that will help when it comes to running The Sims 4 since it tends to eat up RAM like it’s nobody’s business. Luckily, it will help with a few other things as well, such as a better day-to-day experience, programming, and CAD work as well, so having a lot of RAM makes the whole thing a lot more versatile. The 1TB of storage also means you have more space to work with to add other games.
Probably the most obvious upgrade, though, is the RGB lighting everywhere, including around the frame of the Asus ROG Strix G16. Now, some people may like that, and some may not, but if you’re looking for a laptop that screams “gaming”, then we can’t really suggest something better than this.
For a lot of folks, gaming on a larger screen is a more enjoyable experience, and while there aren’t a lot of gaming laptops out there with screens bigger than 16 inches, the Alienware m18 certainly has one. Sitting at 18 inches of glory, that’s more than enough real estate to satisfy most people, and with a 2560 x 1600 resolution, the pixels are still dense enough that you won’t notice any screen-door effect or anything. Even better, you can still get a 165Hz refresh rate, so you’ll have a very smooth gaming experience.
In terms of GPU, you get an RTX 4080 with this configuration, a very powerful GPU that should easily handle the better resolution and 165Hz refresh rate, even at higher graphical settings. While you can certainly downgrade to an RTX 4070, the RTX 4080 is the ideal pick for you to enjoy the larger screen and to have an overall better gaming experience. The same goes for the Intel Core i9-13900HX processor, which you can easily downgrade to the Intel Core i7-13700HX to save a bit of cash, but having the better CPU will help, especially if you plan to do other things like streaming or music production.
RAM is also sitting quite high at 32GBs of DDR5, and the 1TB of storage should be more than enough. The only thing to keep in mind is that it’s a pricey laptop, especially if you’re only planning to play The Sims 4 on it; although you could potentially downgrade the RAM and CPU without too large of an impact if it’s a bit too pricey.
When buying a laptop that’s aimed at a specific game, the good news is that it’s relatively easy to get a sense of what works and what doesn’t work. A lot of that is because the game developer will tell us what the minimum and recommended specs are, so we absolutely have something to aim for. Also, since The Sims 4 is relatively old now, most modern laptops won’t struggle when running it, which is good since that means you can find a lot of excellent budget-friendly deals.
Even so, The Sims 4 can get resource-hungry, especially if you’re running it for several hours, so aiming for the minimum or even the recommended specs isn’t always ideal. To that end, we’ve picked one budget-friendly option that fits the recommended settings and should play The Sims 4 without issue, although it may need a restart from time to time. In addition to that, we’ve picked something that has a lot more power under the hood and that will let you run the game at higher graphical settings for longer or potentially just have a bigger screen to game with.
This article is managed and created separately from the Digital Trends Editorial team.
Albert’s been a tech and gaming writer for over a decade, writing for websites such as CNET, PopSci, and How-To-Geek, and has been with Digital Trends for around three years. His main focus is computer tech, such as desktops and laptops, and he probably has no more room to fit all the tech gear he hoards. However, he still enjoys writing about TVs, headphones, smartphones, tablets, 3D printers, and even small appliances and has been doing so throughout his career. Albert is also a bit of a gaming nerd, so he has a bookcase with over 50 board games, several TTRPGs, and a hard drive full of hundreds of video games -- he sometimes writes about those, too.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.