Buying a laptop for Sims 3 - advice requested!

[Reve]

Hi! I'm looking to upgrade to a gaming laptop for simming purposes -- if at all possible, ideally I'd like be able to play Sims 3 (and 4) smoothly on the highest settings, with all EPs and a good chunk of CC. (...as a minor consideration, I've been getting back into Runescape and would like to be able to play that at high settings too.)

I've been planning for this for a while, so cost isn't a huge factor, just FYI. I'm trying not to go much higher than $1000, but this is going to be a major purchase for me either way, so I'd rather hold out and invest in something that's going to meet all my needs and last a long time, than settle for something cheaper that won't.

The "Buying a Computer" thread has been incredibly helpful by the way, thanks a lot for that resource! I've compared specs and looked at reviews, but since I'm not really tech-savvy at all myself, I wanted to run my finds so far by you guys for a more educated opinion.

- Acer Aspire V Nitro VN7-591G-792U (more info)
This my top pick right now. I've heard negative things about Acer, but judging from some of the reviews on this one, this is a great buy if you're willing & able to pull it apart and do some upgrades yourself (swap out the HDD for an SSD, replace the wifi chip). I have a tech-savvy family member I can ask for help with that, and it would save me a good $200 over the other two models I'm looking at. The memory can also be upgraded if necessary, which is a big plus. It apparently gets pretty hot, but a couple reviewers have said this isn't a problem with a good cooling pad. Also just aesthetically, I prefer the design of this one.

- Lenovo IdeaPad Y700 (80NV0028US) (more info)
I'm a big fan of Lenovo. My current and previous laptops have been ThinkPads and they've lasted me years, so the first thing I did was see what they offered for gaming laptops -- this looks pretty solid, but I don't want to be blinded by brand loyalty haha. It's also a little... gimmicky-looking? for my taste, in comparison to the Acer.

- ASUS ROG G751JT-WH71(WX)
I've heard ASUS is a good brand, and this model has some impressive-looking specs and mostly positive reviews. It was in a "top 5 laptops for Sims 3" list I came across and seems like it could be a good pick. It does look a bit large and also kinda gimmicky-looking for my tastes, which I can totally live with, but there's also a chunk of negative feedback that indicates this model apparently has known display and driver issues, which makes me a little wary.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts! I really want to do this right haha.

[MrsFlynn]

All 3 laptops are awesome in their own way, and will play these games well, but if you're wanting to run the games on highest settings with lots of CC you'll want the best graphics card out of the bunch.

Going by the graphics card alone, this is what we pick.

ASUS ROG G751JT-WH71(WX) Gaming Laptop

- Intel Core i7 4720HQ (2.60 GHz)
- 16 GB Memory
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M 3 GB GDDR5
- 17.3"
==========

Lenovo IdeaPad Y700 (80NV0028US) Gaming Laptop

- Intel Core i7 6700HQ (2.60 GHz)
- 16 GB Memory
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4 GB GDDR5
- 15.6"
==========

Acer Aspire V Nitro VN7-591G-792U Gaming Laptop

- Intel Core i7 4720HQ (2.60 GHz)
- 8 GB Memory
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 2 GB GDDR5
- 15.6"

[Reve]

Thanks a lot! Just curious, how significant would the difference be between those three set-ups, in terms of Sims 3? I looked up some benchmarks and other comparisons between the 960M and the 970M, but none of the games they looked at included Sims, so (being the non-gamer that I am haha) that didn't tell me very much.

[MrsFlynn]

In terms of Sims 3 there isn't much difference between the 3 laptops, except the GTX 970m will give a boost in performance over the 960m. How much of a boost we don't know for certain as by the time these cards came out Sims 3 was no longer used for bench marking.

From personal experience we can get about 115 fps in Sims 3 with the 960m at med-high settings. 970m should get about the same at highest settings.

[Reve]

Awesome, thanks so much!! That really helps!

[Xterno50]

In terms of Sims 3 there isn't much difference between the 3 laptops, except the GTX 970m will give a boost in performance over the 960m. How much of a boost we don't know for certain as by the time these cards came out Sims 3 was no longer used for bench marking.

From personal experience we can get about 115 fps in Sims 3 with the 960m at med-high settings. 970m should get about the same at highest settings.

Hi!
Were you getting those FPS on the 960M with expansions? Or just base game. How do yo think the performance would be with expansions.

Thank you

[MrsFlynn]

Yes this was with all expansions/stuff packs installed. Bear in mind that due to the game engine's quirks the game still suffers from micro-stutters and periodic slow downs. There is not a lot you can do to fix this.

Were you getting those FPS on the 960M with expansions? Or just base game. How do yo think the performance would be with expansions.

[bowen]

Lenovo or Asus they have power battery and very reliable

[bowen]

This is a good comparison for you http://gaminglaptopunder1000.org/gaming-laptops-under-1000/