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    A Present For My Favorite Sister

    xiaoisxiaois Posts: 141 Member
    in The Sims 3 Help & Technical Discussion
    My sister, the second youngest and my favorite, is turning 16 in three weeks and is an avid sims player like myself and the rest of my siblings and I’ve saved up $1700 for a laptop & external monitor for her. (That’s my setup along with a desktop column and she prefers the laptop route.) Since the people here provided so much insight when I was buying my systems, I figured it would be good to come back and ask.

    I was thinking of getting her this one:
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076D95JW7/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_nF9jBbFJP7B0V

    I have my cousins older Asus that he replaced with an MSI and they don’t sell that one anymore and I’ll look at my monitor and try to add the info about that here, but is that a good laptop?

    I’m in the United States by the way.

    Comments

    • Options
      igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
      What a nice thing to do. Looks fantastic to me, over the top in fact for what sims games need. But perhaps they have or will play other games as well. For another opinion, let's ask @chesterbigbird.

      The only thing I see is that the SSD is 256 GB. Your sister will have to decide whether to install TS3 in particular on the SSD and keep their Documents folder on it or use the second, much larger HDD. It will work either way and SSDs give a benefit to TS3 (not really TS4) as you have I believe seen yourself, but they will need to be very aware of hard drive space and take care to allow enough free space to be left for Windows and the game to maneuver. How much of a pain that becomes depends on how much content they store on it, saved games not actually being played regularly, etc. that could be shifted over the the second drive while not being used.
      o550pjoa47rpxo63g.jpg
      NRaas has moved!
      Our new site is at http://nraas.net
    • Options
      phoebebebe13phoebebebe13 Posts: 19,400 Member
      It's a good laptop but for that price you could go custom which is better. You could probably also get an even larger SSD with custom. This way your sister won't have to manage game files on a 256 gb ssd which can get used up quickly. With custom you won't have to pay tax if you live outside of California . I can do a custom configuration for you. Do you want a 15.6 or 17.3 inch laptop? The 17 will be more bulky and heavy. Especially if you are intending to transfer the laptop to a larger screen, a smaller laptop might be better for her?
    • Options
      igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
      @phoebebebe13 - Oh, you're here today! I defer to our expert shopper/laptop configurator then. ;)
      o550pjoa47rpxo63g.jpg
      NRaas has moved!
      Our new site is at http://nraas.net
    • Options
      xiaoisxiaois Posts: 141 Member
      phoebebebe13 wrote: »
      It's a good laptop but for that price you could go custom which is better. You could probably also get an even larger SSD with custom. This way your sister won't have to manage game files on a 256 gb ssd which can get used up quickly. With custom you won't have to pay tax if you live outside of California . I can do a custom configuration for you. Do you want a 15.6 or 17.3 inch laptop? The 17 will be more bulky and heavy. Especially if you are intending to transfer the laptop to a larger screen, a smaller laptop might be better for her?

      I was looking at custom and I wasn’t sure which places were refutable to buy from and then I had also heard that sometimes building laptops wouldn’t turn out well because you could put incompatible parts together? I don’t know if that’s true or not but the idea of that has always scared me a bit.

      As far as screen a 15 inch would be good I think. I didn’t want to go 13 because she wears glasses as it is and I don’t want to hurt her eyes. ( @phoebebebe13 )



      igazor wrote: »
      What a nice thing to do. Looks fantastic to me, over the top in fact for what sims games need. But perhaps they have or will play other games as well. For another opinion, let's ask @chesterbigbird.

      The only thing I see is that the SSD is 256 GB. Your sister will have to decide whether to install TS3 in particular on the SSD and keep their Documents folder on it or use the second, much larger HDD. It will work either way and SSDs give a benefit to TS3 (not really TS4) as you have I believe seen yourself, but they will need to be very aware of hard drive space and take care to allow enough free space to be left for Windows and the game to maneuver. How much of a pain that becomes depends on how much content they store on it, saved games not actually being played regularly, etc. that could be shifted over the the second drive while not being used.

      I just recently increased my SSD because I have ts3 and photoshop on it and, the SSD is such a help for ts3 and my cornerback 20+ minute wait time. Going the custom route might be better.
    • Options
      phoebebebe13phoebebebe13 Posts: 19,400 Member
      edited June 2018
      As far as incompatible parts on custom laptops, that is not true. I have two custom cyberpower desktops.

      They are having a sale. It won't last long. $1200 . It's already customized, you just need to put it in your cart. I added the freebee offers too. This has a GTX 1060, i7 quad core, 16 gb gskill raam, 500 gb samsung evo ssd plus a 1tb hdd http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1KN4Y2

      If you scroll down you can add a monitor. Ben Q makes a good monitor but you may find Asus or Dell cheaper on amazon. You need a 1080p 60 hz monitor. You can also hook the laptop up to a TV with and HDMI if the TV is 1080p 60 hz
    • Options
      xiaoisxiaois Posts: 141 Member
      That’s perfect @phoebebebe13 ! I saved the link and I’m going to order it tomorrow morning just in case the shipping takes a while. Thank you so much for this and all of your help. You are amazing ❤️
    • Options
      SemaviLadySemaviLady Posts: 526 Member
      @IllyDior - With assistance from Phoebe (after a prompt from Igazor to contact her) I chose a CyberPowerPC Laptop to replace my older failing MSI Ghost. I decided on the Tracer II 15 VR, with same basic specifications as given in Phoebe's link. How much time did it take? I ordered back in mid March (the 14th) and I got it 14 days later by UPS.

      Time may vary because after it ordered, it has to be put together, then has to pass quality control. They will notify you when order is received, when it goes to the warehouse to be assembled, and when it passes quality control. They send a complete copy of the invoice when the machine is shipped (this was my experience); two days later, signed for it from UPS delivery.

      While I did buy it primarily for TS3, I also play other newer/older games on it. I installed TS3 game files on the SSD and other games on the 1T HDD. As of this writing, I still have 279 G left on the OS SSD.

      It is a wonderful machine. It has an internal fan control. I found that it ran a bit warm (70+C) on the default fan (automatic) settings, but you can control the speed of the fans manually with a control center application that comes installed on the laptop. So now TS3 stays under well under 60C. I'm not using an under the laptop cooling pad although I have one. (The external cooling pads do not decrease the heat near as well - speaking from years of experience.)

      Windows 10 is installed, and it can do annoying things from time to time. The drivers for the laptop are included, but I did have to contact their support to get better versions of a couple different drivers. Overall I highly recommend the purchase. The prebuilt, on-the-shelf models sold elsewhere get comparatively very spendy otherwise. (thanks again @phoebebebe13 and @igazor )

      What a sweet thing to do for your sister. I hope she has a wonderful time with her new machine. :smiley:
      All the best!




      Cheerleader_by_CookiemagiK.gifI've owned the TS3 Store since Feb 2015-thanks to the help of many other simmers
      ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ ☆★☆ My Page ☆★☆ ᴼ -♞- ᴼ Ⅰ ❤ TS3❣
    • Options
      phoebebebe13phoebebebe13 Posts: 19,400 Member
      Your very welcome. You don't need t save, it's already saved When your ready to buy just click on the link and add to cart. If you get any type of notice that things have changed while ordering, let me know. When they run sales they run out of things quickly during sales.
    • Options
      xiaoisxiaois Posts: 141 Member
      phoebebebe13 wrote: »
      Your very welcome. You don't need t save, it's already saved When your ready to buy just click on the link and add to cart. If you get any type of notice that things have changed while ordering, let me know. When they run sales they run out of things quickly during sales.

      Will definitely do.
      @phoebebebe13


      SemaviLady wrote: »
      @IllyDior - With assistance from Phoebe (after a prompt from Igazor to contact her) I chose a CyberPowerPC Laptop to replace my older failing MSI Ghost. I decided on the Tracer II 15 VR, with same basic specifications as given in Phoebe's link. How much time did it take? I ordered back in mid March (the 14th) and I got it 14 days later by UPS.

      Time may vary because after it ordered, it has to be put together, then has to pass quality control. They will notify you when order is received, when it goes to the warehouse to be assembled, and when it passes quality control. They send a complete copy of the invoice when the machine is shipped (this was my experience); two days later, signed for it from UPS delivery.

      While I did buy it primarily for TS3, I also play other newer/older games on it. I installed TS3 game files on the SSD and other games on the 1T HDD. As of this writing, I still have 279 G left on the OS SSD.

      It is a wonderful machine. It has an internal fan control. I found that it ran a bit warm (70+C) on the default fan (automatic) settings, but you can control the speed of the fans manually with a control center application that comes installed on the laptop. So now TS3 stays under well under 60C. I'm not using an under the laptop cooling pad although I have one. (The external cooling pads do not decrease the heat near as well - speaking from years of experience.)

      Windows 10 is installed, and it can do annoying things from time to time. The drivers for the laptop are included, but I did have to contact their support to get better versions of a couple different drivers. Overall I highly recommend the purchase. The prebuilt, on-the-shelf models sold elsewhere get comparatively very spendy otherwise. (thanks again @phoebebebe13 and @igazor )

      What a sweet thing to do for your sister. I hope she has a wonderful time with her new machine. :smiley:
      All the best!




      This was so insightful @SemaviLady shipping is what I was concerned about which is why I was going to order tomorrow.

      When looking at shipping cost I saw a rush option to build the laptop/desktop (I think) did you use that or just regular shipping? I was thinking about doing it but didn’t know if it would be worth it.
    • Options
      SemaviLadySemaviLady Posts: 526 Member
      Shipping is free. I include a snippet below. HTH.
      I live in California so had to pay tax and a Waste fee.
      I bought a 3rd party extended warranty (3 years) for accidental damage (I use mine from a wheelchair) and it cost about $250.
      Don't hesitate to PM me if you have questions.

      Subtotal          X,XXX.XX
Shipping             49.00
Shipping Discount   -49.00
E-WASTE Fee           6.00
Tax 9.5%            XXX.XX
      Cheerleader_by_CookiemagiK.gifI've owned the TS3 Store since Feb 2015-thanks to the help of many other simmers
      ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ ☆★☆ My Page ☆★☆ ᴼ -♞- ᴼ Ⅰ ❤ TS3❣
    • Options
      phoebebebe13phoebebebe13 Posts: 19,400 Member
      @IllyDior Don't rush shipping. Let them take their time building the laptop. If you rush the build , more chance for mistake if their backed up from sales. Mistakes even happen when buying off the shelf .
    • Options
      xiaoisxiaois Posts: 141 Member
      edited June 2018
      SemaviLady wrote: »
      Shipping is free. I include a snippet below. HTH.
      I live in California so had to pay tax and a Waste fee.
      I bought a 3rd party extended warranty (3 years) for accidental damage (I use mine from a wheelchair) and it cost about $250.
      Don't hesitate to PM me if you have questions.

      Subtotal          X,XXX.XX
Shipping             49.00
Shipping Discount   -49.00
E-WASTE Fee           6.00
Tax 9.5%            XXX.XX

      Okay thanks I’ll definitely pm if I have any questions.
      @SemaviLady
      phoebebebe13 wrote: »
      @IllyDior Don't rush shipping. Let them take their time building the laptop. If you rush the build , more chance for mistake if their backed up from sales. Mistakes even happen when buying off the shelf .

      That makes sense. I’m in Florida and don’t want anything to happen to it that would cause us to have to send it back because sometimes the postal service can be stressful.

      @phoebebebe13
    • Options
      xiaoisxiaois Posts: 141 Member
      edited June 2018
      @phoebebebe13 I went online this morning to order the laptop and it said that it can’t load my item because of price difference or item availability and to review my configuration

      Edit: Nvm it was only something about a $50 rebate which raised the price by $50 which isn’t much of a problem.
    • Options
      phoebebebe13phoebebebe13 Posts: 19,400 Member
      @IllyDior Hope all went well with your laptop! I'm sure you will enjoy it. With the shipping, I had added a premium warranty in there so should you have to ship the laptop back for any reason, cyberpower will pay for all the shipping there and back
    • Options
      xiaoisxiaois Posts: 141 Member
      phoebebebe13 wrote: »
      @IllyDior Hope all went well with your laptop! I'm sure you will enjoy it. With the shipping, I had added a premium warranty in there so should you have to ship the laptop back for any reason, cyberpower will pay for all the shipping there and back

      Sorry for the late response, I got home from work later than I anticipated. But I saw that and I did indeed order the laptop yesterday. Thank you for everything @phoebebebe13 ❤️
    • Options
      phoebebebe13phoebebebe13 Posts: 19,400 Member
      @IllyDior Your very welcome and enjoy your new laptop. . If you need any help setting it up, feel free to ask. You need to get the game to use the Nvidia card and not intel. You will also need to cap the fps.
    • Options
      xiaoisxiaois Posts: 141 Member
      Ofcourse! I’m probably going to need help with both just so I don’t ruin the computer haha. @phoebebebe13
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