By the way, is it safe to do this, http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=523905 by selecting the dedicated graphics first in the BIOS?
It
is and
isn't considered safe. I mean that by that it works, and if you know exactly what you're doing it would be completely safe, but if you aren't really sure or the directions are fuzzy it can be pretty dangerous to your computer, which is probably what EA was warning you about.
Also, a subject you didn't mention I caught in there - Alt-Tabbing is extremely stressful for the Sims. Most games can handle it better, but the way the Sims was built (based off of numerical values to objects) it can cause the game to get a lot of errors built up which will lead to corruption and crashing. An old game that had a similar system of the Sims was Vampire the Masquerade. Basically, it's a system where they say "this doorknob is number 2" and "Chairs are 3." So when you go into the game, the computer will read it as, "ok, so a two goes on the door and a 3 goes by the table (except it will be in all numbers for everything in the game)." When you Alt-tab frequently enough it causes the game to start seeing in fuzzy glasses... basically the numbers start to blur together and what was once a chair(3) could now be a doorknob(2) because they were right next to each other on the numeral setup. In the old game (Vampire the Masquerade) those items would literally be replaced by one another, which made for some funny stories, but with the Sims, it will always catch those errors, and have to work harder to think about how to fix up where it goes.
I don't want to be crude, but your computer would essentially become like a drunk person (or maybe saying it's like a little kid would be a better reference) to where it has to work harder and think a lot harder and use a lot more memory just to accomplish a little thing like putting certain items where you want them.
Obviously that's a simple explanation for it, but I must encourage you to not Alt-Tab with your computer. I've found a safer way to move to your desktop is to switch to "Windows" mode from the options menu in game. Just uncheck the "fullscreen" mode, do what you need to do and recheck it. I haven't noticed any ill side-effects yet (though I haven't spoken too much with my boyfriend who does all that stuff with the numbers either).
Asides from that, I'm going to do some more digging for a very detailed list of what to do about a BIOS, if you're interested in it, but I wouldn't recommend you attempt it until you were pretty sure you knew what you were doing. Completely ignore the bios thing. There should be an instruction list in your manual for your laptop.
Changing Video Settings in the System BIOS
Instructions on accessing and navigating the system BIOS can be found in the PC’s instruction manual. To change the video settings, enter the BIOS and navigate to the video settings. This may be listed as "Primary Display Adapter," "First Initial Display," or something similar. Set this to AGP or PCI as required, save the settings, and restart the system.
There's also this:
Windows Device Manager can be accessed in different ways, depending on the operating system version. For Vista and subsequent operating systems, click on the "Start" icon and type "Device Manager" in the search box. Click on "Device Manager" listed under "Control Panel." To access Device Manager in Windows XP, right click on "My Computer" and select "Properties." Next, click on the "Hardware" tab and click on "Device Manager."
Once Device Manager has been located and accessed, find "Display Adapters" and click on the "+" symbol next to it. Right click on the onboard graphics device and choose "Disable." One will be prompted to restart the system, but one should select "No" and proceed to shut down the system to install the new graphics card.
Those were both found on The Do's and Don'ts of Graphics Card Installation.
