Laptop for sims 2, 3 and 4

[bulaboo]

Hi everyone. I am looking to purchase a new laptop to play Sims 2,3 and 4 on high/ultra settings.
I have all expansion and stuff packs plus store content and  some CC and mods. I have up to £1000 to spend and I am in the uk. Can anyone suggest somewhere to purchase a good laptop. Thank you in advance

[MrsFlynn]

Hi Bulaboo,

Searched amazon.co.uk and found these laptops below. They can play most games at high settings.
Disclaimer: Sims 3 may have lag with CAS, CASt and Build/Buy modes. Due to the bottle-necks of the laptops. There is not much that can be done about that. Sims 3 was more made to be played with a desktop.

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MSI GE62 2QD Apache Pro 481UK 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop (Intel Core i7 5700HQ 2.70 GHz, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD, Windows 10)
Price: £984.77
http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-Apache-15-6-Inch-Gaming-Windows/dp/B015YD2V9U

i7-5700HQ ~ 2.70 GHz
8GB Memory
Nvidia GTX 970M

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MSI GE72 2QD-238UK Apache 17.3-Inch Gaming Laptop (Intel Core i7 5700HQ, 1 TB HDD, 128 GB Storage, 8 GB RAM, Windows 10)
Price: £907.92
http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-2QD-238UK-17-3-Inch-Storage-Windows/dp/B013OYZ1TI

Intel Core i7 5700HQ ~ 2.7GHz
8GB Memory
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M

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MSI GE62 2QD Apache 276-HID1 15.6" i7-5700HQ 2.7-3.5GHz (Windows 10 / GTX 960M 2GB / 1TB 7200RPM HDD / 12GB RAM / DVDRW)
Price: £965.16
http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-GE62-2QD-Apache-276-HID1/dp/B013FPTDFO/

Intel® CoreTM i7-5700HQ ~ 2.7GHz
12GB Memory
nVIDIA® GeForceTM GTX 960M

[bulaboo]

Thank you Mrs Flynn. Now to decide which one. I'm leaning towards the last one you listed. I have not heard of these makes before but the reviews for the last one seems ok. Thank you once again for your help   


Hi again Mrs Flynn. Have been looking at the options above and its between the last one you listed and I found this one for a few pounds more (£1,049,16) it is the same make as the others. Do you think that this one is worth the extra and will it work for my needs?  This one I can get on prime.
Thank you again for your time   


Product Description
Size Name:GTX 960M 2GB / i7-6700HQ 2.6-3.5GHz / 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD / 16GB RAM / DVDRW
This product includes professionally installed upgrades by MSI authorized build to order resellers. Warranty stays intact for full warranty term.


INCLUDES
6th Generation Intel® CoreTM i7-6700HQ Quad Core Processor, 2.6 GHz (Max Turbo Frequency 3.5GHz), 6MB Smart Cache
nVIDIA® GeForceTM GTX 960M 128bit w/ 2GB GDDR5 - DX11
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 bit
15.6" Full HD (1920 x 1080) Antiglare LED backlit LCD Display (Wide Viewing Angle) w/ MSI True Color Technology
16GB DDR4 2133 MHz System Memory (2 x 8GB) - 2 Memory Slots
256GB SATA M.2 6Gb/s SSD (Main) - installed by HIDevolution + 1TB 7200RPM 6Gb/s Hard Drive (Storage)
Tray Load Dual Layer DVD Writer (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
1080p Web Camera
IntelTM Wireless 3165AC ac/a/g/n 1x1 NGFF With Bluetooth 4.1
Backlit Steelseries Programmable Gaming Keyboard (US English) w/ Silver Lining Print, Programmable Touchpad
Nahimic Sound Technology
High Capacity 6-cell Lithium Ion Battery
A/C Adapter Output: 150W, Input: 100-240V - WILL WORK WORLDWIDE
Ports - 1x USB 3.1 Type C, 2x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0, 1x SD (XC/HC) Card Reader, 1x HDMI (v1.4), 1x mini DisplayPort (v1.2), 1x Mic In, 1x Headphone Out (SPDIF), 1x RJ45 LAN - Killer Gaming E2400
2 Year Limited Warranty

LATEST 6TH GEN INTEL CORE I7 PROCESSOR
INSANELY POWERFUL
DDR4 MEMORY SUPPORT
AN EYE OPENING EXPERIENCE WITH TRUE COLOR TECHNOLOGY
STEELSERIES GAMING KEYBOARD W/ SILVER LINING PRINT - SWIFT. ACCURATE. POWERFUL.
TURN IT UP WITH DYNAUDIO SPEAKERS
KILLER GAMING LAN WITH ADVANCED GAME DETECT TECHNOLOGY
STREAMING MADE FOR EVERYONE WITH XSPLIT GAMECASTER V2

[MrsFlynn]

Bulaboo

I am very sorry for not catching this post sooner!! I'd say going by specs alone the one you found would be best. As it's got 16 GB memory and larger secure digital drive. Which that always comes in very handy!!

So if you haven't grabbed that one yet. I'd say go for it!! It's well worth it. Plus it's on Prime!!

MrsFlynn

[bulaboo]

No problem Mrs Flynn.

I went ahead and bought it as when I first looked there was 6 available and it soon reduced to 2, so I grabbed one quick 
It arrived yesterday. I have had a few teething problems. Mainly because its windows 10 and I just don't know where everything is on it  .im sure I will learn! I am at this moment downloading all my sims games which is taking forever.

As an aside, how do you get anything on the SD Drive? when I tried to change it through origin it said it was not allowed.
I know it must be me doing something wrong.

Thank you again for your time.

[MrsFlynn]

Origin uses a "download in place" function - when you start downloading a game it will install it in the folder in your Origin Application Settings. You can't change that setting until after it is done downloading and installing what you've already started.

Try this: Let the games finish downloading and installing, then use the steps in the Backing Up and Restoring The Sims 4 from Origin article to backup your games.

How-To: Backup and Restore The Sims 4 From Origin

This works for the digital versions of Sims 2 and Sims 3 as well. Once the games are backed up, change the install folder in their Origin client to the drive\folder you want, then restore the games into the new folder.

This way you have backups of your games and don't have to re-download everything if something messes up.

Hope this helps,

MrsFlynn

[bulaboo]

Thank you Mrs Flynn. I have not had time to try this yet as I have my 2 year old grandson staying for a few days.
I will let you know how I get on when he goes home
Thank you again 

[bulaboo]

I have had time to look at backing up and transferring the files to the SSD drive. I have ran into a few problems.

I think that everything is going straight to the SSD drive anyway and it is filling up fast!
I am getting so confused about where to put things and how. I don't know if I have to create new folders on the other drive or what. I am just so confused.  It doesn't take much to confuse me.

I was hoping that the main drive would be the normal hard drive and the SSD drive I would use just for the sims 3 and all its stuff packs and expansions.

I have not downloaded sims2 UC or sims 4 and all its expansions as I think it will overload the SSD drive?
I have taken a screen shot of my drives here..



Hope I have done this right.
Also when I am backing up the sims 3 and expansions with 7zip do I need to back up all expansions and stuff packs or just the sims 3? I am getting a message that the sims 3 file is to big for my external HD drive which has 415 GB free space out of 465 GB. Is this enough or do I have to buy another bigger one? All of the expansions and stuff packs went over ok.

Sorry if I am being really thick and stupid. I have not had a SSD drive before. Everything has just gone into the normal HD drive.
EDIT
Is the screen shot showing? I cant see it on my lap top 

[Flynn Arrowstarr]

Hi, bulaboo.

Screenshot is showing just fine here.

When you have a computer with a SSD and a standard drive, the traditional way to do things is to have Windows on the smaller faster SSD and your applications and data on the standard slower drive. Looks like your SSD is about 256 GB, so it should be large enough to have Windows plus the games on it.

Digital copies of The Sims 3 and all the stuffs/expansions should be about 20 GB after compression. I don't remember how big it is when installed, but the disc version is about 34 GB (give or take a couple GB) when everything is installed. The digital version may be a little smaller, if I remember correctly.

By comparison The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection is 12.5 GB installed, and The Sims 4 is about 10.2 GB (current patch with Outdoor Retreat - we don't have any of the other stuffs/expansions yet). So, about 56.5 GB total according to my File Explorer, and probably over 60 GB if you have all the stuffs/game/expansions currently available for Sims 4.

Has Origin completed downloading Sims 3 onto the SSD? If so, then you should have plenty of space to download and install Sims 2 and Sims 4. Otherwise, you may want to backup what has completed downloading using the article MrsFlynn linked. Then change the game install location in Origin to the D:\ drive (I use D:\Games\Origin for mine), and finally restore what you've downloaded to that folder. Once that's done, you can download the rest and it will go to the standard drive.

Feel free to ask any questions and we'll do our best to answer.

Hope this helps and happy Simming!

Flynn

[bulaboo]

Thank you for that Flynn. I think I understand better now.
I have the sims 3 and 4 downloaded onto the SSD but haven't had time to do the others yet.
Hopefully I can do it soon!
I have put all the settings on high and so far it seems to be running ok. Unfortunatly GeForce experience can't find sims 4 to optimise but can find sims 3? Go figure!

Thanks again for your help :-)