Specs here!

So the main games I play on PC are The Sims franchise (obviously) but also other simulation/management games, Cities Skylines and sometimes Minecraft.
So basically, nothing super intense graphically like the latest FPS games.

I've seen on gaming sites that the GTX 1050 isn't the best GPU, but is it really that bad? Because everything else about this laptop is quite amazing honestly. The CPU especially for a mid-range laptop, wow.

I would be interested in upgrading the RAM at some point by adding another 8GB RAM chip, but I can't seem to find out if it has a spare RAM slot. Also, would it be possible at all to upgrade the graphics card in the future? I've read that it's unlikely that I'll be able to with an MSI sadly but if that's wrong, great.

TLDR: Is this MSI laptop good enough for (mainly simulation) gaming? Is the GTX 1050 powerful enough? And is it upgradable?

Many thanks

I'm actually curious about a similar machine myself, it's one of 3 possible laptops I'm considering, I posted a thread here a couple days ago!

I can sort of answer one of the questions, though. Typically, graphics cards aren't upgradeable on laptops, and are usually welded into or are otherwise part of, the entire motherboard, so replacing or upgrading them is a long, expensive and ardous process, to the point that most will just tell you you're better off getting an entirely new laptop than upgrading. A lot of times, they don't even upgrade graphics cards on refurbished laptops, that's how difficult it apparently is.

Wow that doesn't bode well.... from what I can tell though the 1050 does work with The Sims, that's my priority for gaming. I'm hardly gonna play Battlefield or Skyrim on it, I prefer console for those types of games.

@Divinitea,
which Sims iteration? All of them? do you have lots of CC, and all the packs?

same qn for cities: skylines - do you use mods and have all the DLC packs? for cities: skylines, IIRC the recommended is a GTX xx60 series card and if you use a lot of mods, at least 16GB of RAM.
Any card lower than GTX xx60 series card may have issues with cities: skylines if all DLCs are installed and you have any of the cpu-intensive mods like a traffic mod you'd need a CPU at the recommended 3.20GHz as well. The MSI laptop has 2.20GHz processor.

I have been reading MSI laptops have non-optimal heat dissipation on their laptop chassis design with any card that is GTX xx60 or higher, based on the Clevo OEM base. And to have optimal performance, the user is advise to reapply the thermal paste. I find all that extra work a hassle for an end-user.
Because of this, my local laptop assembler have switched to Tongfang. Which is the main reason why I havent pulled the plug on a laptop purchase yet, still reading reviews and complaints mainly from http://forum.notebookreview.com/.

I play all iterations of The Sims from time to time, although my main ones are 4 and sometimes 3 (halfway through typing this I just realised who you are, just have to say TYSM for the world routing fixes you did!). I have all packs for all iterations (over 15 years of collecting them all, it's like Pokemon but 10x more expensive) and I use mods and CC, usually around 1-2GB for TS3 and up to 5GB for TS4/2. As for Skylines, it's rare that I play it but when I do I don't use many mods and I currently only have the base game. Might get Disasters because I love spamming my cities in Simcity with meteors and all that, but depends how often I will play in the future which tbh isn't that likely. It sounds a bit silly when I say I'm buying a relatively expensive laptop just to play The Sims, but aside from a few other random simulation/management games (OpenRCT, Theme Hospital, Two Point Hospital) and Minecraft that's basically what I'm doing.

Skylines need CPU power once you reach a population threshold. And Two Point Hospital, for all its cartoony looking interface is also a power junky IIRC from its recommended specs list.

If you can afford it, I'd save a tad longer and go for the next tier up for CPU, RAM (especially) and GPU. Because you cannot swap out the components as easily, if at all, in laptops.