Question about a good laptop that will handle the sims 3

[rustygirl87]

Hello!  I really want to buy the sims 3 and am looking to buy a new laptop since the one I own is ancient. Since I am putting money out to buy a new laptop, I really, really want to make sure I purchase one that is highly capable of handling the sims 3 (and possible EP) and can run very fast! Back in the day when I owned the sims 2, it ran extremely slow on my computer! I don't want to repeat that experience! I've been trying to research possible laptops and came across this lenovo laptop. Here are the specs,

Lenovo IdeaPad Y580

3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3630QM Processor( 2.40GHz 6MB)

Windows 8 64

NVIDIA GeForce GTX660M 2GB

Memory 8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHz

Hard Drive 1TB 5400RPM+16G SSD

I'm not very tech savvy, so if someone could let me know if this would be a good choice, I would really appreciate it! If not, I'll take any suggestions of another laptop that may be a better option.  My budget is about $1000.00 or less.  I really want a laptop that will run the sims 3 on high settings without lagging or freezing! If anyone has any comments or advice I would really appreciate it! Thanks!!

[bubbles]

You could try this link to see if your laptop will be up to standard. From what I can tell, your laptop will be fine, if a bit slow.

[Pam]

Welcome to our Forum, rustygirl.

Would you please edit your subject line to something more specific?  "Help needed" doesn't tell our readers anything about the topic and you're likely to get far fewer responses.  Plus, it helps keep our Forum tidy and organized.  Just click on "modify" on the first post, change the subject line, then click "save".

[Seabody]

I've heard whispers that Windows 8 isn't very gamer friendly, but as I only have Windows 7 I can't verify them.

By the looks of it, you would have a 64 bit system, which can allocate twice the RAM to programs (that is, more Memory) to my understanding - so the game will run better than a 32 bit variant. Of course, Memory isn't everything and I'm no expert on graphics cards. If Flynn Arrowstarr pops by, he could answer your question - he knows a lot about hardware.

I'll also say that if you check the System Requirements for any Sims game to date, I don't think any of them mention Windows 8. Sims wasn't really designed for it, and sometimes it's a push getting my Windows 7 computer to recognize my older games. If you do choose to go with Windows 8, you may need to run Sims in Compatibility Mode for Windows 7 or earlier.

[rustygirl87]

Thank you for the responses! I've checked the system requirements on the sims website, and the specs on the lenovo laptop seem to exceed them, but like I said in my first post, I really am not tech savvy, so I don't really understand any of it. Haha. So any advice or suggestions about this laptop or any other you know of that will allow me to play the sims 3 (and EP's) on high settings without a lag, would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Sarabi]

The specs you posted makes that rig sound like a beast compared to what a lot of other people are using to play this game.

That said - I would encourage you to try to avoid setting expectations the machine will not meet.  Being disappointed with an expensive purchase is never fun.

For what it's worth, I purchased a new gaming laptop about 6 months ago, and have had mixed results, at least where TS3 is concerned.  My rig has 12G of i7 RAM, a GTX670M 3G video card, and SSD.  It is true that the graphics on high settings are really gorgeous.  It is also true that the game lags, freezes, and sometimes crashes, even on this machine.

The Sim routing (pathing) engine is quite a complex animal, and sometimes Sims get stuck.  Over time, more and more Sims get stuck, and I believe that is one of the causes of game lag that develops in a game you've been playing over several Sim weeks.  If you're not using Twallan's Overwatch, I have found that an occasional resetsim * is also very effective in resolving lag from that particular source.  A more powerful machine can run software more smoothly, but it can't fix problems that are inherent in the software itself.

Best of luck with the choices before you, and happy Simming!

[Flynn Arrowstarr]

Hi, rustygirl.

The specs should be well above what the game requires, but like Sarabi said, the game has problems at the highest settings - especially when there are a lot of items installed or when there are a lot of items on the lot. For example, my desktop is well above the specs for the game, and on highest settings there are long pauses on my gardening family every Sim morning around 5 am as the game calculates the new plant growth. Of course, I have a big garden (8 of each type of plant and tree), so there are a ton of plants. But my other gardening family with 4 of each plant also has freezes at the same time of day.

So, I sometimes set the game to medium settings for most things and high for Sims and Objects and that runs pretty well. My system is not a "gaming" system, so that's part of the issue.

As for Windows 8, I run it on a couple of systems. One is a netbook and I have a small installation on my desktop. I find most things work in it pretty well, including The Sims 3. Install the base game first, then make sure to patch it to the latest version before installing any expansions. I find using the super patch the easiest to use. You can download the current 1.48.5 patch  from EA. It includes all the patches for the game, so you don't need to install any other patches after installing any of the expansions/stuff packs.

Hope this helps.

Flynn

[rustygirl87]

Thank you so much for your responses. I feel much more confident in purchasing this laptop now. I really wanted to make sure this laptop was capable before I spent money on a new one! Knowing that some freezing and lagging is normal makes me feel better. I just mainly want to know that I will be able to play the game and actually enjoy it!

Thanks again for your help! 

[kamilaparmova]

hey ! i just want to ask you if you decide to buy this notebook  and if you have it,how does it work? Becouse i want this NB too and im looking for advice !

[PlanetMyHero]

Thank you so much for your responses. I feel much more confident in purchasing this laptop now. I really wanted to make sure this laptop was capable before I spent money on a new one! Knowing that some freezing and lagging is normal makes me feel better. I just mainly want to know that I will be able to play the game and actually enjoy it!

Thanks again for your help!

Any suggestion and review about your laptop, did it work great with Sims?