I actually just got the new MacBook Pro 13" with out the new touch bar, but it is totally worth it. I was surprised on how flawlessly my sims game runs. I have the original game, get to work, dine out, city living and the holiday pack installed, and my game is running perfectly. The graphics are automatically set to low/medium, but with the retina screen it looks great and I can't even tell. The only downside is that when the game is running the Mac gets rather hot on the bottom and the one small fan is extremely loud. Overall, it's a huge improvement of my Windows 10 laptop from before.
Honestly that's probably a big enough reason for me to not download Sims4. I had to get a new computer because my last macbook 15" died and it was going to cost around $1000 to fix it, so I got a new one, the same one you did. I would've preferred a 15" but it's not in the budget saying as I'm currently in the process of finding a job. I think the reasons my last one quit working was because when I played Sims4 it got really hot, and also I used my macbook frequently. Since I need my macbooks mostly for school and my upcoming career, I'm very cautious about that. So I'm only playing Sims2 Super collection because it's easier on my computer, doesn't need as much power. I miss playing Sims4, but need to wait until I get a desktop, whether that's an iMac or a PC... something I'll have to decide in a few months.
EDIT: I should probably say that my 15" was a late 2011.. so it was getting old. I still feel I could have gotten a few more years out of it if I didn't play sims on it. Who knows.
You can game on a MacBook Pro (preferably 15" with dedicated GPU) happily for years so long as you look after it, plenty of us do. It absolutely MUST be elevated so air can circulate and just don't over stretch what it is capable of. Playing with all settings on high on a 13", even the Touch Bar one which has dual fans, probably isn't a good idea if you value the life of your Mac. It still only has integrated Intel graphics which are limited in their power.
You can game on a MacBook Pro (preferably 15" with dedicated GPU) happily for years so long as you look after it, plenty of us do. It absolutely MUST be elevated so air can circulate and just don't over stretch what it is capable of. Playing with all settings on high on a 13", even the Touch Bar one which has dual fans, probably isn't a good idea if you value the life of your Mac. It still only has integrated Intel graphics which are limited in their power.
So if I had the base game, with a couple packs and on low settings I should be ok to play it and still get a long happy life out of my macbook? Also would it slow it down at all? I love how fast it loads right now!
You can game on a MacBook Pro (preferably 15" with dedicated GPU) happily for years so long as you look after it, plenty of us do. It absolutely MUST be elevated so air can circulate and just don't over stretch what it is capable of. Playing with all settings on high on a 13", even the Touch Bar one which has dual fans, probably isn't a good idea if you value the life of your Mac. It still only has integrated Intel graphics which are limited in their power.
So if I had the base game, with a couple packs and on low settings I should be ok to play it and still get a long happy life out of my macbook? Also would it slow it down at all? I love how fast it loads right now!
I can only speak from experience but I still play on a 2012 15" MBP. It has a 1Gb NVIDIA GPU and I play on all high settings. Yes it gets hot and the fans kick in (that's what they're meant to do) but I play on either an iLap or a USB powered cooling pad. I make my Mac work for it's money
Plenty of people post on here who play on older Macs too.
It seems the 2017 MacBook Pro was released although it doesn't seem to have addressed the criticisms of the 2016 model such as needing adapters for common ports like USB and HDMI nor had they lowered the price (see the original post for the 2015 vs 2016/17 prices) although Apple had released one costing $1299 with 128GB instead of 256GB.
Another side note, the $1299/$1499 iMac with a 3.0GHz/3.4GHz processor added the dedicated graphics back on the 21.5 inch model as they now have AMD Radeon Pro 555/560. The 2012 iMacs had dedicated graphics until Apple decided to replace the NVIDIA Graphics with Intel Iris Pro with the 2013 iMac although only the 2.7 GHz model was affected since the 2.9 GHz model costing $1499 retained the dedicated graphics. The 2015 model took away the dedicated graphics on all 21.5 inch iMacs placing it with Intel graphics but it was added back in the 2017 model. The 3.0 GHz model at $1299 could be a good gaming Mac although the negative is that you can't upgrade the RAM and you'll need new video adapters since your old Mini DisplayPort adapters won't work (only an issue if you use other monitors or an HDTV with the iMac) but it does retain the USB 3.0 ports and SD card slot.
I am in the market for a new iMac and would like to transition Sims 4 to that machine from my MacBook Pro. Is the 21.5 inch $1299 iMac a good option? Thanks!
@elram76 I'd say it's worth having since the AMD GPU is good and better than the Intel Iris Plus that the 13" MacBook Pro and the $1099 iMac come with plus it also comes with a 3.0 GHz Intel Core i5 which is fine for most people. 8GB of RAM is decent for today but I'll need advice from @BluebellFlora and @Tremayne4260 on if it's worth adding $200 for the 16GB RAM upgrade since the RAM can't be upgraded.
The Sims 4 should play with no problems but The Sims 3 will probably not work on macOS due to the GPU being too new.
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Honestly that's probably a big enough reason for me to not download Sims4. I had to get a new computer because my last macbook 15" died and it was going to cost around $1000 to fix it, so I got a new one, the same one you did. I would've preferred a 15" but it's not in the budget saying as I'm currently in the process of finding a job. I think the reasons my last one quit working was because when I played Sims4 it got really hot, and also I used my macbook frequently. Since I need my macbooks mostly for school and my upcoming career, I'm very cautious about that. So I'm only playing Sims2 Super collection because it's easier on my computer, doesn't need as much power. I miss playing Sims4, but need to wait until I get a desktop, whether that's an iMac or a PC... something I'll have to decide in a few months.
EDIT: I should probably say that my 15" was a late 2011.. so it was getting old. I still feel I could have gotten a few more years out of it if I didn't play sims on it. Who knows.
You can game on a MacBook Pro (preferably 15" with dedicated GPU) happily for years so long as you look after it, plenty of us do. It absolutely MUST be elevated so air can circulate and just don't over stretch what it is capable of. Playing with all settings on high on a 13", even the Touch Bar one which has dual fans, probably isn't a good idea if you value the life of your Mac. It still only has integrated Intel graphics which are limited in their power.
So if I had the base game, with a couple packs and on low settings I should be ok to play it and still get a long happy life out of my macbook? Also would it slow it down at all? I love how fast it loads right now!
I can only speak from experience but I still play on a 2012 15" MBP. It has a 1Gb NVIDIA GPU and I play on all high settings. Yes it gets hot and the fans kick in (that's what they're meant to do) but I play on either an iLap or a USB powered cooling pad. I make my Mac work for it's money
Plenty of people post on here who play on older Macs too.
Another side note, the $1299/$1499 iMac with a 3.0GHz/3.4GHz processor added the dedicated graphics back on the 21.5 inch model as they now have AMD Radeon Pro 555/560. The 2012 iMacs had dedicated graphics until Apple decided to replace the NVIDIA Graphics with Intel Iris Pro with the 2013 iMac although only the 2.7 GHz model was affected since the 2.9 GHz model costing $1499 retained the dedicated graphics. The 2015 model took away the dedicated graphics on all 21.5 inch iMacs placing it with Intel graphics but it was added back in the 2017 model. The 3.0 GHz model at $1299 could be a good gaming Mac although the negative is that you can't upgrade the RAM and you'll need new video adapters since your old Mini DisplayPort adapters won't work (only an issue if you use other monitors or an HDTV with the iMac) but it does retain the USB 3.0 ports and SD card slot.
The Sims 4 should play with no problems but The Sims 3 will probably not work on macOS due to the GPU being too new.