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Could I get some opinions on a lap top?
PHOEBESMOM601
Posts: 14,595 Member
This is one of the lap tops I've been looking at to play TS3 on high graphic settings.....and if it is would it also play TS4 on high? (I might like it more if it looked better.) Will this do the job? It's sold out right now but will be in stock again later this month. I'm looking at Lenovo because I have one of their tablets and the thing is a workhorse.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-legion-y520-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i7-8gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-1tb-hard-drive-black/5799101.p?skuId=5799101
If anyone spies something better I could wait a bit longer. current budget is around $1200 I'd prefer to buy locally so I can go there for service if needed but it's not set in stone for a really great deal.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-legion-y520-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i7-8gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-1tb-hard-drive-black/5799101.p?skuId=5799101
If anyone spies something better I could wait a bit longer. current budget is around $1200 I'd prefer to buy locally so I can go there for service if needed but it's not set in stone for a really great deal.
"People really love to explore 'failure states. In fact, the failure states are really much more interesting than the success states." ~ Will Wright
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Comments
@phoebebebe13
Thanks for the info, I want to hear all sides. I'm just going on how much I like my tablet. When this was listed on the site before they sold out it did have a 5 star rating but I think this might have some newer components than it did before.
I would not recommend lenovo for gaming. If buying off the shelf Asus ROG or MSI would be better. Custom is best
This is $1010 no tax outside CA, This is Custom. Gives you a lot more computer for your money than the Lenovo. This custom has two hard drives. This has a 500 gb SSD on c drive plus a 1tb hard drive. It has 16 gb of ram. It's also certified hardware you won't get off the shelf. Link is good for 7 days http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1JPKPR
PS if your playing the sims 3 ( which I believe you are) that 500 gb SSD will load that game so much quicker. You will never want to play TS3 on an hdd hard drive again
I'm not against the Lenovo as it is a gaming laptop, However you can do much better with your budget.
Lenovo is not known for their gaming laptop's so i would Go with something that is, Asus Rog/MSI or The cyberpowerpc that was posted above.
16GB hyper X fury
MSI GTX 1080
MSI gaming M5 mobo
Evga 750 supernova
Corsair hydro h110i GT
Corsair obsidian 750D
500GB SSD
6TB Seagate Barracuda Pro
LG 34" ultra wide
@phoebebebe13 I was looking for that yesterday and the way they they have changed the forums around I didn't spot it. I think this new configuration is horrible.
@PHOEBESMOM601
Which configuration? Duh. You meant the forum. I hate the new forum set up. Cant find anything. If you added 16gb ram instead of 8gb ram the total comes to $1070 and no tax outside CA. http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1JPLD2
With these specs this is the best your going to get for your money. I own two cyberpower custom computers. This has 16 gb ram, 500 gb ssd plus a 1 tb hard drive. Nvidia GTX 1050 ti video card. Newest i7 quad core processor. 5 free games .The hardware is certified unlike the lenovo and offers way more computer for the price. the lenovo does not offer two hard drives and lenovo is not offering ssd hard drive.. I recommend a laptop with two hard drives. You can move all your saves, screen shots , cc on the second hard drive in case your C drive ever goes bad should you have to ever wipe your main hard drive etc. Anything saves on the second hard drive will be safe.
I want to be able to run TS3 (and maybe 4) on highest graphics. There are a few other games I'd like to try like the Fallout series. I'd like at least 3 HDMI ports. A white back lit keyboard, I don't need a camera or VR ready, enough memory that I don't have to worry about it in the near future.....maybe I should just call the phone number on the site?
The Nvidia GTX 1050 ti should run TS3 or 4 on ultra. The custom I did has the same video card as the Lenovo. The 500 gb ssd on the custom will help benefit loading times on TS3. You could always install fall out and TS4 on your second hard drive. I would use that ssd for the sims 3. It is a 17" laptop. I could go with a higher video card if you want but you may only get a 15" laptop. I was trying to stay within the same price as the Lenovo you posted. If your willing to go higher I can help you add whatever you like to a laptop.
The custom has 4 USB ports . You meant USB. It should come with one HDMI port should you choose to hook the laptop up to a TV or bigger monitor.
This is just an example. This has a slightly better video card however it's only 15" . My eyes need a 17". By going with a slightly better video card and a smaller screen you now upped the price to $1210 http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1JPLGT
If it were me, I would go for the 17" . The 1050 ti is good enough to run the whole sims 3 and 4 along with fallout and the price is $1070. If your ok with a 15" and only a slightly better video card than the one I posted at $1210 would be fine.
See what I mean? I only know enough about components and specs to be dangerous.
The only thing you truly need is GPU (to run everything) while a good i5 CPU with 8GB of RAM would be more than enough for gaming PC. Would recommend 16GB with i7 CPU only if you need to do the work as well.
I added this while you were quoting me
This is just an example. This has a slightly better video card however it's only 15" . My eyes need a 17". By going with a slightly better video card and a smaller screen you now upped the price to $1210 http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1JPLGT
If it were me, I would go for the 17" . The 1050 ti is good enough to run the whole sims 3 and 4 along with fallout and the price is $1070. If your ok with a 15" and only a slightly better video card than the one I posted at $1210 would be fine.
I've considered it but I really don't have a place to put a PC. Tell me what you would suggest though.
I agree on the desktop however some people need to have a laptop.
I also disagree on the laptop specs. Yes they only need 8gb ram however I believe in future proofing. There maybe a game op wants to play down the line that may require more ram. Modern games are requiring more ram. if the laptop is under warranty OP will not be able to add more ram if needed.
The sims 4 is cpu heavy and requires an i5 on desktop. I7 quad core is needed on laptop since laptop hardware is weaker .
If you want a custom desktop, that is the best way to go. Talk to @chesterbigbird . She is our forum build desktop expert. She can configure you a desktop like I did laptop. Send her a pm. She sill be on the forum later. Than you can weigh your options with custom desktop or laptop . I don't do custom desktops , there is too much hardware to choose from .
I was just asking to see if it would be worth a major redo of rooms and furniture. As things are now I really don't have room for a PC.
I have a tower. Im in a camper at the moment. I have no room LOL. I put my tower on a CPU cart. I don't have a desk or room for a monitor. I hook the tower up to the TV with an HDMI cord . I use the TV as my monitor. I use a wireless keyboard and mouse for the sims since it's only point and click. You may need a wired keyboard if playing fallout or you can use a gaming controller. Chester plays fallout so she can tell you. A cyberpower custom desktop will come with a wired mouse and keyboard. If you wanted wireless you would have to buy that separately. The HDMI cord and a CPU cart is cheap
I wish we were back in our RV. We were traveling around the country when my husband's father died. His mom asked us to come and live with her so she wouldn't have to sell her house and go into a senior's community. So here we are and I don't have a lot of control over what goes where.
> This is one of the lap tops I've been looking at to play TS3 on high graphic settings.....and if it is would it also play TS4 on high? (I might like it more if it looked better.) Will this do the job? It's sold out right now but will be in stock again later this month. I'm looking at Lenovo because I have one of their tablets and the thing is a workhorse.
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> http://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-legion-y520-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i7-8gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-1tb-hard-drive-black/5799101.p?skuId=5799101
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> If anyone spies something better I could wait a bit longer. current budget is around $1200 I'd prefer to buy locally so I can go there for service if needed but it's not set in stone for a really great deal.
i got a hp 840p 8 gig ram tera bit hd runs all great, over stock.com under $300.00
Thomas Jefferson (3rd US President)
> @PHOEBESMOM601 I just noticed that cyberpower was giving 16 gb ram, it's now only 8. You only need 8gb for the sims game. It would be an extra $60 if you wanted 16gb ram. If you could go for 16gb ram I would for future proofing. It also gives you 5 free games (unknown) . You may not know Chester. She is our forum computer build expert. Usually we suggest asking hardware and laptop advice in the tech section. The tech helpers don't frequent off topic
careful updating ram your os limits the amount u can run win 7 tops at 8 gig (tech infro site i used when shopping 4 my new lap top) not sure about win 10
Thomas Jefferson (3rd US President)
Thomas Jefferson (3rd US President)
Been there. I was lucky in the sense my mother was able to take care of herself. She fell, was in the hospital for two months total before she passed. My father passed quickly too so I was not put in a position to have to deal with nursing home or moving in with them. They lived in a retirement community and that's the last place I would want to live. They had a nice community. I knew everyone in their building but they are all gone now.
My camper is small and I have lots of stuff.
See if you can do desktop. Weigh your options. Desktop is better but that laptop for $1070 will suit all your needs . You will love playing the sims 3 on ssd no matter what computer you choose
I also forgot to mention with that laptop you can get free shipping beck and forth should it need to be serviced . They will charge you $10 one time only fee extra. I can add that if you want it. Yes they do have to service it while it is under warranty. After the warranty bestbuy can service your laptop.
They don't make the 800 series Nvidia cards anymore. The 840m is under requirements for the sims 3 and 4. If your talking the sims 4 the game is not complete. You need a GTX 960m or higher on laptop to meet requirements if going for a 900 series card on laptop or a 1050 ti or higher. To survive the sims 4 as it adds more and more. The sims 3 is complete and OP is playing that whole game. The 840m or 940m will not run the whole sims 3 well. GT cards are ddr3 varam are not meant for gaming. GTX cards that have ddr5 vram are designed for gaming.
Laptops can not be upgraded you are stuck with video card and processor. There is no telling if your 840m will survive the sims 4 as the game adds more and more. The game requires a GTX 650 or better on desktop to survive the sims 4. laptop video cards and other hardware are weaker than desktop
Well, I think it would be worth it finding some space, after all you want to get a good rig to play games which means you going to spend a lot of time (if I were you I'd definitely find some space, wasn't easy for me either to find space, especially for my screen and speakers). Do you have keyboards, mouse, case for PC, speakers and monitor? What about HDD or possibly SSD? Or you need to build from the start?
Also, the best thing about PC is that you don't have to re-buy everything again (something what can't be easily done with laptop). Building PC for the first time might be difficult, but then you'll just need to buy new specific parts which wouldn't cost you too much (though with modern GPU prices you can't be sure). You may think that this is requires a lot of work, but don't worry, it doesn't, don't give up, you will be satisfied with the result and you'll gain a lot of useful knowledge.
Anyway, prepare for the huge wall of text.
Let's start with CPU. Personally I use i5 4460k which has pretty good price and is powerful enough to handle any game, even terrible console ports (you can also overclock it, but I don't expect gaming industry to learn how to use full potential of CPUs so I'm not thinking about overclocking yet). I'm also using my PC for work and haven't experienced issues with it yet (haven't even overclocked). I'd get this one if I were you, but better try to find some information yourself, there is a lot of good info about benchmarks and prices. Believe me, it will help you greatly to become competent person when it comes to choosing computer parts.
Could also get AMD CPU which would be cheaper and many claim that they're better for gaming than Intel CPUs, but it's a matter of preference I think, though of course there is a difference aside of price (in short, Intel CPUs cores are faster while AMD CPUs have a lot of cores), however the biggest downside of AMD products in general is overheating, so if you going to buy one I'd recommend you to search information about how to deal with overheating (don't worry, you'll just need additional coolers), the people who work in your local store might help you too (sorry, but I barely have an experience with AMDs CPUs).
Of course you also can get cheaper Intel CPU and just overclock it, a lot of people were smart enough to overclock their CPUs and that indeed can help you to save a lot of money in the future (that's why modern CPUs have "k" letter which means that these CPUs can be overclocked, Intel is quite greedy company and many people compare them to Apple now with the rate how they release their CPUs). There is a lot of useful information about this and even benchmark tests for overclocked CPUs, but you have to be careful when it comes to overclocking since this is quite sensitive procedure and you can screw things if you do something wrong.
Now, the most important part is GPU. The most powerful nVidia GPU right now is probably GTX 1080 Ti (though I think there is finally AMD GPU which beats it and cost less). However, personally I think the price isn't worth it and well, I wouldn't waste more than $500 on one single GPU. Maybe GTX 1060 or even GTX 1070 is worth getting, depends from what you plan to play I guess (the later can handle FO4 in 4K according to benchmarks, but you don't really need 4K, it's quite niche right now). There is also GTX 1050 Ti which is good enough for modern games and has good price as well. I wanted to get 1070 and since the beginning of this year I'm more and more thinking about getting AMD GPU this time (I'm just waiting for them and for AMD to announce new cards, prices might also drop). Personally, I want to get powerful modern GPU because my current one is old and can't handle many modern releases, plus I plan not to upgrade my GPU further for many years too (I honestly don't think that even 1070 price is good enough, it's like 450 bucks, but since I don't want to upgrade that often I may as well waste some more money).
In case of RAM, again, 8GB (DDR3) is more than enough for gaming and just ask recommendation in your store, they should help you without any problem.
As for motherboard, in your store they'll help you as well when you tell them what GPU and CPU you want (motherboard choice mostly depends from CPU which you'll since motherboards have various sockets, i.e. for i5 4460 you'll need 1150 socket).
Pick any hard drive which you want. I'd recommend SSD with some memory for OS (more than 100 GB have to be enough) and HDD with more memory for the rest of your files, SSD is good if you don't want to wait for your OS to load, plus Sims 3 doesn't take years to load on SSD as well which is a big plus if you love Sims 3, but is it worth it or not is up to you I guess. If you want to use DVD and CD 🐸🐸🐸🐸, get CD/DVD ROM Drive as well.
Then you have to get Power Supply. They will recommend it in store too.
After that you'll need case. Don't waste too much money on it, get something you like, but not too expensive, expensive are not worth money at all since you know, cases need you to contain your parts and that's all.
Oh, don't forget about monitor (you could use your TV too if you don't want to waste money, just make sure what resolution it has). And even in this case the brand doesn't matter much, almost all of them are good and almost all of them support HDMI. Don't forget about speakers too unless you prefer headset if not even both. Headset can help you to save some space, by the way (but still, I wanted to have both, so I was able to find some space for speakers). Don't get headset with microphone, they tend to have bad quality ones, if you need microphone too, get it separate. If you for some reason don't have extension cord, get that one too, any will be good.
About mouse and keyboard: the only worthwhile gaming keyboard is mechanical keyboard and that I would recommend you ONLY if you're playing fighting games. Simple keyboard should be enough otherwise, same thing about mouse (gaming mouse are good for automatic clicks honestly, I see no other reason why to get one). So, don't bother with gaming ones and especially don't buy Razor devices since these are expensive because of brand alone. But of course, don't buy the cheapest too, something in the middle is fine, you need quality for reasonable price after all. In additional, you can get gamepad (some console ports on PC tend to have terrible KB+M control) and arcade stick (for fighting games) too if necessary. I'm playing on KB and arcade stick (I like fighting games) and have no issues with control in many games (and I was a console gamer for many years since my childhood).
Now, let's talk about OS. I highly recommend you to get Windows 7, at least for the sake of more freedom (compared to Windows 10). It shouldn't be a problem to get one. People are afraid that MS will pull support for it, but it means nothing, really. The real and most important problem which can happen is if hardware manufactures stop supporting it or even software developers (which means gaming companies too), however, Windows 7 is still used by the most people and seeing how nobody is using DX12 and more games are using Vulkan API, you shouldn't worry about that. The only people who plan not to support WIndows 7 is Intel with their newest and expensive CPUs which you're not going to get anyway, likely for many many years. At worst you can always install Linux which is very good OS (that's what basically dual booting means, you can work on Linux and play games on Windows 7 just how other people do, you can also use WINE to play Windows games on Linux). For example, Ubuntu is nice for newbies and it has a lot of documentation about how to work with it, but again, this would be important for the work.
Now I think that have to be all, hopefully I didn't miss anything.
By the way, keep in mind that sometimes not even monster rigs can save you from terrible performance in games, mainly because some developers tend to produce bad quality ports (actually, this is why FO4 is so demanding, to the point that not even consoles can handle it).