Laptop Recommendation

[bednobs]

hi, i want to get a laptop for my daughter's birthday (8)
She needs to be able to do homework on it, plus access the websites recommended by school (tt rockstars, dojo and so on) and also, it must be able to run sims 4. She has a visual impairment
but i assume all laptops have accessibility settings. I don't want to spend a huge amount. I am not against second hand/refurbished but new i also ok. ideally it will last a few years
can anyone make a recommendation of what sort of spec i should be looking for to do that plus where i might get it from

[Hymie]

If I was in the market for a new laptop, I would give this one serious consideration.

Its main plus points are that it has a 128GB SSD, a DVD writer and generally good reviews from buyers.

https://www.ebuyer.com/874333-lenovo-v145-amd-a9-4gb-128gb-ssd-15-6-win10-home-laptop-81mt000suk

[Buenchico]

For anyone who might wish to contribute to this thread, here are the system requirements for Sims 4:
https://www.ea.com/en-gb/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/pc/system-requirements

It's the graphics card requirement there which might well rule out many cheaper laptops but trying to make sense of the relative performance figures for different graphics cards is an absolute nightmare. I suggest emailing that link to these people (whom I've got total faith in, having bought loads of stuff from there myself) and asking them what they've got that meets your requirements:
https://accomputerwarehouse.com/
(Use the contact form here: https://accomputerwarehouse.com/contact/ )

However if you've got £400 available, then go straight for this:
https://accomputerwarehouse.com/product/hp-zbook-cad-design-laptop/
That's an incredible bargain. (You'd have had to pay the better part of three grand for one when they first came onto the market in 2014). It would have no problem running SIMS 4.

If buying any refurbished laptop though (from any source) remember that the batteries in them are classed as 'consumables' by retailers, so they might not hold a charge for very long. Obviously that doesn't matter if the laptop will always be powered through a mains charger but otherwise you should budget for another thirty or forty quid to buy a new battery online.

[Buenchico]

The laptop in Hymie's link might be good for 'general' use but (like all cheap laptops) it uses 'onboard' graphics. (That means that the graphics handling part of its work are carried out by the main processor uni)t. SIMS 4 requires a laptop to have a dedicated 'standalone' graphics card.

[bednobs]

thanks guys

[bednobs]

hey chris i called that [place today and they were very helpful. He finished by aying "why dont you come to the hop and we'll go through it" ha! i live in hampshire!

[Buenchico]

I hope you get something sorted out anyway, Bednobs. (The people at that firm really do know their stuff. I've phoned them for help several times and they're always spot on with their advice).

[bednobs]

hi chris, if you are looking in, thanks, got it and it's working well