Which laptop is the best for playing the sims 3 and 4?

victoriae350

With time flying by and my savings jar slowly filling with saved money, I need to look into a laptop that will play my sims games at the highest settings WITHOUT freaking out or causing the display driver to crash...but not cost over $1500. I was going to save for a Mac Notebook, but I didn't see the point in saving for a notebook and then a new gaming laptop. SO I've gone right to the gaming laptop.
Recommendations?

4u4ever

If you want a laptop that can play TS3 + all expansions with the highest settings, it's going to cost you, a lot. I can't tell you exactly what to buy/not to buy, but I've played TS3 on 2 gaming desktops and 2 gaming laptops, and only one of the desktops can handle the game on full specs. My best laptop is 3 yrs old so it's not state of the art anymore, but it crashed after I tried playing TS3 + 3 EPs on it.

That being said, here are some general things you should pay attention to when choosing a computer for gaming: you'll need at least 8 GB of RAM, 500 GB hard drive, and SSD with at least 64 GB. For CPU I'd suggest Intel Core i7 running at 2.80 GHz. You can see which graphics cards can run TS3 here: modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:TS3_System_Requirements. You should also check out System Requirements Lab and take a look at TS3 minimum requirements (but keep in mind those are indeed minimum and won't be enough to run the game on max settings).

I doubt you'll be able to get a reliable laptop for playing TS3 under $2,000, unless you find one on sale, but I wish you luck! Don't settle for anything that doesn't meet the requirements of the game, because it will be toast in less than a year, and you'll be left with nothing but an expensive paperweight (trust me, I've been there). Alienware makes the best (but most expensive) gaming computers, so I'd start there.

EDIT: Actually, you should probably ignore what I said about the price because I based my estimations off of local prices and I have no idea how much those laptops would cost somewhere else. Also, if you use a cooling system or play only a few times a week for 2-3 hrs at a time, your computer will last considerably longer.

Darleymikey

Why a laptop?

Rock'nLlama

I have a toshiba satellite laptop, it cost me about $500 (though it was on sale)

I have the Sims 3 and have my settings set at average, except for my sims, they're set to high. I have supernatural, university, pets, worlds bundle, generations, seasons, and the monte vista world. The game runs pretty well for me! Occasionally it'll get a bit laggy, but nothing that really interferes with gameplay (and I feel like its always more of a result of a bad CC i downloaded)

victoriae350

@4u4ever - Thank you for your help! Things are expensive here in Canada so i doubt laptops will be cheap...

@Darleymikey - I use the laptop for school


@Rock'nLlama - I currently have a Toshiba and it has been giving me numerous issues

Karritz

I had a laptop built for me by Clevo. I'm not sure if you have access to them wherever you live. I have everything on high in both games although I don't play Sims 4 any more at the moment.

I have 16 MG RAM plus i7 processor and GeForce GTX 860M graphics card. The processor is the strongest one available in my price range at the time as there are various types of i7 processors.

dreamerz13

I'm in Canada too (just noticing your one response that it's expensive here in Canada XD). My laptop was 1,000 dollars 2 years ago (though it was on weekly sale and grand reopening sale so it had some pretty hefty savings), and I play with settings maxed and TS3 base and like I think 6 EP's (I can't be bothered to figure it out lol). I only played TS4's trial but I played that on ultra perfectly. I imagine if you look around that price now you'll find something great that can handle TS3 and TS4 fairly well, it's not like TS4 requires much. You do want it to be decent enough to handle TS4 expansions, but I'm sure you can find something.

I'd suggest checking out Memory Express if you have one nearby (Last I saw they only have a few locations across Canada, so I dunno if they have one anywhere near you but it might be worth it to look them up and see). They generally beat places like best buy. So you might be able to get a great deal on something. Of course still check out places like best buy too, you never know, they get some awesome deals too but it's just something to look into if you can.

I got a Lenovo something which I love

Some kind of i7 core. i7 is best if you can get it, i5 can be okay though, I think i3 is probably not worth it not for being able to play sims.

8gb ram I wouldn't go less than that.

750gb HDD, 100something SSD (apparently sims runs smoother with SSD. IDK, this laptop's just better overall so of course it's running smoother than my previous ones don't know if SSD has anything to do with it... I believe it might though)

and Nvidia geforce gtx 660m. Which isn't the best graphics card but it's pretty good, I do manage to play maxed out for graphics though, but I like to drop the some of the less important settings so it runs a bit better, not that it runs bad or anything. Right now I'm playing everything maxed though, and it's doing okay. I'd go for a bit better, but I'd also advise googling graphics cards, you can find sites that benchmark them on games and you can see where it's benchmarked at for sims and how well it may perform. Do keep in mind that other system specs can cause a difference in the performance from what the benchmark says, but it gives you an idea, and as long as the rest of your specs are good it should be just fine.

Karritz

With NVIDIA cards, when picking a graphics card, the middle number is the one to look at for more power. The 660 card and the 860 card are not as good as the 680 card or the 880 card (if they exist) but I hope you can see what I'm talking about here. The first number indicates how recently the card was made. So the 660 card was made before the 860 card and now I think you'll find 960 cards out there.

dreamerz13

I still rely a lot on the benchmarks and pay little attention to that. My old laptop has a 330m and that card is way more powerful than you would ever believe being ranked at only a 3. I played maxed out on it too, had even more EP's on that laptop, I dunno if it had to do with that laptop's eventual inability to play the game but it held up real good for a while... I'd possibly compare it to my 660m honestly. So I just rely on the benchmarks way more to get an idea of a cards power. Some cards are stronger or weaker than you would think based on that rating. I hardly pay attention to that rating I always just look the card up. I say always like I do this a lot. XD I don't, but anyway.

Karritz

This thread may shed some light on why you can often run the game on a weaker machine. This is a perfectly ok thing to do provided you don't want that particular computer to last very long before it gives up totally.

http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Your_Computer_is_Like_a_Car


This is a thread with lots of analysis on laptops in it. A lot of people have found it very useful.

http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/635124/laptop-graphics-card-information-zone-calling-laptop-simmers-for-a-survey-laptop-help-here

Piperbird

Rock'nLlama wrote: »

I have a toshiba satellite laptop, it cost me about $500 (though it was on sale)

I have the Sims 3 and have my settings set at average, except for my sims, they're set to high. I have supernatural, university, pets, worlds bundle, generations, seasons, and the monte vista world. The game runs pretty well for me! Occasionally it'll get a bit laggy, but nothing that really interferes with gameplay (and I feel like its always more of a result of a bad CC i downloaded)

I also have the Satellite (P75-A7100) and I adore it (except for Windows 8, but that is an entirely different discussion!) It was around $900 about a year ago, and I run TS3 with almost all of the expansions and a ridiculous amount of store content with very little problems. If I have the collection helper on at 5AM game time the game will freeze for a minute or so, so I have to remember to turn that off. I had the previous generation of Satellite before this one, and it ran TS3 fairly well with the setting set to average.

It also runs DA and other games like that with no problems at all.

I actually repair laptops and tablets for a living, and if you do get an actual gaming laptop I STRONGLY recommend a cooling pad. The also usually have more than one fan and I recommend you keep them clean. (Well, you should keep your fans clean in ANY laptop...) Gaming laptops have a tendency to overheat, simply because a laptop offers very little air flow.

victoriae350

Thank you everyone for your answers! I've decided to purchase a desktop for my room because they are more reliable and cheaper (thank goodness!) So if anyone has recommendations for desktops, please go ahead! XD

WaterHornet

victoriae350 wrote: »

Thank you everyone for your answers! I've decided to purchase a desktop for my room because they are more reliable and cheaper (thank goodness!) So if anyone has recommendations for desktops, please go ahead! XD

Couldn't help but to say great job choosing the desktop. They certainly are cheaper to fix and insanely upgrade-able if you got one made with off the shelf parts. Computers made by the major manufacturers are notoriously known for using cheap parts that break down easily and proprietary parts that you can only get from them alone, usually also requiring you to send them out for repairs which costs an arm and a leg. What did you wind up getting?

victoriae350

Saving up for a desktop is going to take longer. My mother made me use the money I had saved for the desktop for the laptop I had to purchase for school...which was a Mac >.< I can't use the Sims on it since all my copies are PC, plus i need to save almost all the memory for school stuff. I was really ticked when that happened. Back to saving up.

igazor

TS3 for Mac presents it's own nice little collection of issues. But just wanted to point out that if you own and have registered the Windows version, you also have the rights to download and install the Mac version through Origin for Mac. Not necessarily recommending that and some of the lighter Macbooks just can't handle it, just wanted to clarify.

victoriae350

I don't know if I registered the windows version I received. It is up on Origin last time I checked (when I downloaded it). Even if I could, downloading it is a bad idea. My laptop is still recovering from all the large pictures from the photography courses last semester, and i'm heading into a storm of large files with video courses this semester.

thereesespiece

I have a Mac ran the game at max settings and I actually didn't have any issues until I started downloading CC then the game just started to crawl. I was working on a 10-gen historical legacy and downloaded a ton of CC now but now I have to get rid of almost all of it.

GITTE2001

This are my specifications:

And this my view (on highest settings, what my graphics card program recommended)









I have all the expansion packs, 5 stuff packs, some store items and 'a bit' of cc.

06Bon06

^almost same specs and that can handle the game insanely well on all higs and just about any other game on med-ultra.

hipityxhop

WOW that quality is amazing...I don't know a lot about laptops, the one I'm playing on now is a dell latitude from 2005. Long story short my sims look like blobs on a screen and it's ALWAYS lagging and crashing (but granted I do have a bunch of CC) I'm looking to buy a new laptop that can handle sims 3 and all the expansions, but im not very tech savy and don't even know where to start! I looked up geforce and what came up was all graphic cards, so if need be I'm guessing I could get a laptop and then buy a separate graphics card that can improve the quality of the game?

phoebebebe13

hipityxhop wrote: »

WOW that quality is amazing...I don't know a lot about laptops, the one I'm playing on now is a dell latitude from 2005. Long story short my sims look like blobs on a screen and it's ALWAYS lagging and crashing (but granted I do have a bunch of CC) I'm looking to buy a new laptop that can handle sims 3 and all the expansions, but im not very tech savy and don't even know where to start! I looked up geforce and what came up was all graphic cards, so if need be I'm guessing I could get a laptop and then buy a separate graphics card that can improve the quality of the game?

Once you buy a laptop you are stuck with the specs you have. You can not change graphics card or processor. On average laptops to run the whole TS3 $1000 (depending on sales) Desktop $600-700 and up. Desktops are stronger, some can be upgraded unlike a laptop and laptops are more expensive than desktop to run TS3

casseyshazera

I have roughly the same budget as you, and have spent a very long time looking for a gaming/primary laptop and selected a few which i will be ordering from Xotic PC (only 1, not a few), you can choose the specs that you want, and mix and match to match your budget.
my choices are:
Alienware 15, Geforce 970 with ips screen (though may have to pay a little more for the extra ram), or the slightly less powerful Geforce 965 graphics,
Or then theres the Sager/Clevo Laptops, the Sager NP8657 looks pretty good leaving a little bit of money to upgrade the ram, though you do loose out of the IPS screen.
or my third choice's -
One of the MSI laptops.

Im from the UK and with the budget i have i would only be able to get a laptop with the Geforce in the 800 series and a maximum of 8GB ram, which is why im ordering one from the U.S :)

It's worth taking a look, the specs of the laptops given are maybe a little too much for the sims 3, but if your like me and want something that will last and be able to play other games too, these are the ones to look at, but as i said too, there are some slightly lower powered ones, it's worth taking a look on Xotic PC.

Hope this helps :)