Best Laptop for Sims 3

Rouensims · July 2019

I'm considering buying a laptop for playing Sims 3. I'm considering either new or used. Do you have any recommendations? Thanks!

igazor · July 2019

Sorry for the somewhat recycled response, but this is a pretty commonly asked question on the TS3 Tech board. This is for desktops, we used to recommend at least an i7 and a slightly stronger graphics card for laptops but those higher reaching suggestions are not as crucial as they once were.

I would never purchase a used or refurbed laptop even if I was the prior owner myself. Those are always a gamble and the risk is you might get one that was used roughly, had a manufacturing flaw from the beginning, never performs well, or has to keep being taken in for service for whatever reasons.

igazor wrote: »

Processor: For a desktop, an i5 quad core or higher, or the AMD equivalent, 2.4 GHz, the newer H-series processors that run at just under that are fine as they can turbo slightly to make up the difference and are designed to take the stress but a higher base speed will always be preferable. Avoid the U- and Y-series processors at all costs as they are meant for ultra-low power consumption, not continuous high speed processing.

RAM: At least 8 GB, if you want to be able to run other applications alongside of or while the game is paused then 12 or 16 GB. The game itself can only use just under 4 GB but Windows and other processes are going to claim a large amount for themselves.

Graphics Card: Nvidia GTX 1050/1050Ti or higher within that series, or the 1660 (I can't seem to keep up with the numbering system on the new 1600s), or the AMD equivalents. The also pretty new GT 1030s and MX 130s and 150s should be avoided, they are not strong enough within the range.

Hard Drive: At least 512 GB to work with comfortably, of course the game doesn't need all of that space but one assumes other uses for the computer and TS4 has already been mentioned. Solid Stated Drives (SSDs) are great, but ones large enough to carry Windows, the game, and other things (so over 256 GB) will drive the price up considerably. Very small SSDs (128 GB or less) are meant to carry Windows and system processes only, and will typically come with a second standard HDD that provides more space to work with -- in this case the games would need to be installed on the second drive and the Documents library shifted over at the Windows level.

Rouensims · July 2019

Thank you very much @igazor! I apologize for asking a question that's been asked lots of times before. Would there be any problem running it on a modern operating system?

igazor · July 2019

There should be no issues with TS3, but perhaps an adjustment here and there to help things along, on the current release of Windows 10. The game also runs on Win 7/8.1, but Win 7 is going out of extended support in a few months and they don't really sell new computers with the older operating systems pre-installed anymore.

Rouensims · July 2019

Thanks again, @igazor!

luvlee215 · July 2019

I would like to know what desktop could I purchase to run the sims 3, store content, and cc smoothly? I had an old HPm but it just stopped working. Any advice would help!

AliceAngelis · July 2019

The Sims 3 was released in 2009 and last updated in 2014. Any midline laptop from 2019 should be perfectly capable of handling it. Igazor's specs given in the quote up top are still valid (it's only been three days, computers don't go obsolete *that* fast :P), so use those as a guideline if you've got a specific machine you're looking at.

If you're new to the Sims 3, be warned in advance that the initial loading screen is going to take a few minutes, like, literal, actual minutes, on pretty much any hardware, as the game loads an entire neighborhood at once. This is totally normal on any hardware, so don't be concerned that the loading screen is taking a while, the game will still run fine once loaded.

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Best Laptop for Sims 3

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