Choosing a Laptop - Laptops and TS3

[TheChronicR]

The original question was...

Hi everyone.

What is (in your opinion) the best laptop to play The Sims 3 on? What I mean is high performance, good graphics (so that you can set it on maximum in Settings), a lot of RAM, and finally, a nice laptop overall. I checked some technical forums, but only came up with "Best Gaming Laptop", not specifically Sims. If you are interested, it's Alienware M17X. It has all the best specifications on the market. But, somewhere I can't remember, probably here, I read that Quad Cores don't run The Sims 3 good at all. Is this true? What is the best laptop for simming? Please help.

Thank you.

And the info gathered...

The Sims 3, a game we all love, can be played both on desktops and laptops/notebooks. Desktops are preferred most of the time, as they allow driver upgrades, as well as a few other advantages belong to them. However, at times laptops are better, especially if you want a portable computer. You'll have to sacrifice a few things, like forgetting about 1 Terabyte hard disk drive space (HDD), or sky-high graphics, as laptops can't support these. Otherwise, you're risking your hardware, along with the machine itself.

General Info

So you want a laptop, but are completely confused which one is better. Firstly, I'd recommend checking out the general laptop buyer's guide. You'll get basic info on what is good and what is bad, and why.

Manufacturer

I really don't have much info on what the best gaming (TS3, especially) laptop manufacturers are, but my best guesses would be Acer ($-$$), Alienware ($$$), Sony Vaio ($-$$) and Sager ($$$$). Those are more of "gaming and business" type of laptops. Alienware and Sager are rather heavy, be sure to keep that in mind. Being heavy is the main downside of a laptop, along with low battery power - those are the two things that distinguish it from a desktop, mainly.

Video Cards/Graphic Cards

This is definitely a thing to worry about. Most games nowadays (including TS3) require ones that at least support Pixel Shader 2.0. Assuming most laptops come with built-in video cards, sometimes you have to sacrifice something else (like battery power) to have a laptop with better video card. Again, the following info mainly depends on the cash amount you have. The better brands are NVIDIA and ATI aka AMD, and for some and most laptops (mine is this, and I am satisfied by it) - Intel. I personally advise not to choose any laptops with integrated graphic cards, since those also take up your memory, in addition to providing low quality graphics.

Note: If you want to play TS3 on high or very high settings, you need to have a good video card. In other cases, the laptop will quickly overheat and the game will crash to a black/blue screen of death.

Note 2: The Sims 3 is not one of those games that require high graphics. It only requires low graphics. So that's a pro.

RAM

RAM is your laptop's memory. Even if laptops are smaller than desktops, they too can have a large memory. This is a basic requirement for all PC games, TS3 requires only 1Gb. I myself have faced a few situations where this just wasn't enough. I advise getting at least a 2Gb RAM laptop. As far as I know, some laptops' memories can be upgraded. However, I recommend not relying on that. Get a good one from the start, you never know when you'll need it.

Operating System

Depends on what you like and/or are used to. Mine is Windows XP, and it runs TS3 quite good. Vista and 7 are good too. I can't advise for Mac, you'll have to ask for that. Doesn't really matter as far as what you want can run the game smoothly.

Processor

Not enough info for this... However I can recommend Dual Core. I have Celeron, and, well, it's good.

Also, be sure to check this list out:

The Sims 3
Publisher: EA Games
Developer: Maxis

Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows XP SP 2/Windows Vista
Processor: Pentium 4 @ 2 GHz/Athlon XP 2000+
Memory: 1 GB (1.5 GB for Laptops)
Video Memory: 128 MB (GeForce FX 5900/Radeon 9500)
(GeForce Go 6200/Radeon Mobile 9600 for Laptops)
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
DirectX: 9.0c
Keyboard & Mouse

For computers using built-in graphics chipsets, the game requires at least:
Intel Integrated Chipset, GMA X3000 or above.
2.6 GHz Pentium D CPU, or 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent
0.5 GB additional RAM

SUPPORTED VIDEO CARDS

NVIDIA GeForce series
FX 5900, FX 5950
6200, 6500, 6600, 6800,
7200, 7300, 7600, 7800, 7900, 7950
8400, 8500, 8600, 8800
9600, 9800, GTX 260, GTX 280

ATI Radeon series
9500, 9600, 9800
X300, X600, X700, X800, X850
X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950
2400, 2600, 2900
3450, 3650, 3850, 3870,
4850, 4870

Intel® Extreme Graphics
GMA X3-00 series

 Laptop versions of these chipsets may work, but may run comparatively slower. Standalone cards that are installed in vanilla PCI slots (not PCIe or PCIx or AGP), such as some GeForce FX variants, will perform poorly. Intel integrated chipsets featuring underclocked parts will not perform adequately.

 Integrated chipsets such as the ATI Xpress and the NVIDIA TurboCache variants will have low settings selected, but should run satisfactorily.

 Please note that attempting to play the game using video hardware that isn't listed above may result in reduced performance, graphical issues or cause the game to not run at all.

The NVIDIA GeForce FX series is unsupported under Vista.

I hope this info will help you to find the best laptop to play the game. This website offers a quick test, to see if any of the 100+ laptops included in their database are suitable for you.

To see if your current machine can run the game, visit this site.

To view the specs of your current graphics card, download and/or run this software. Completely free.

If you have questions, ask here.

If you have any contributions, please post here. That is much appreciated. Thanks.

Last edited on 18/7/11

[Alexandria_]

I have a friend that has an Alienware laptop, and it can handle a massive amount of games. He was almost every game imaginable on his laptop (PC games, Nintendo 64 games converted, etc) and it runs really well still.

I'm not really an expert on computers, but I know that Alienware the best gaming computer in the opinion of many. I guess if it's voted that, it'd probably be great for the sims.
Also, I thought I'd let you know, Alienware laptops are generally quite big. So you if you're after something light and compact, it probably won't be something you want.

[RunAmokSims]

I have a Toshiba Satellite that's almost two years old and it's great for Sims. It even handled TSM and it has the minimum graphics card....256. The newer models have a lot more memory and higher graphics capability. This is my second Toshiba and I've been very happy with it. I'd love to have their gaming computer but it's like $1,500. One thing I like about it is that (and I hope I'm explaining it right) the graphics doesn't share memory with the rest of the computer. It has memory allocated to just graphics that is seperate from the rest of the computer.

The friend who introduced me to The Sims just bought an Acer and she said it's running her game very well.

[TheChronicR]

Thanks for the suggestions. Alienware is indeed huge (17 inch screen), but since I'll have two laptops by then, it's ok.
My two year Acer is running Sims 3 and Medieval rather good, graphics are very clear, but the case is that I want more. Lags can kill your time, which I do not have. Toshiba sounds quite good. But then again, the graphics card is very important for me. Mine is 256 MB, which won't be enough for games coming out next year already. :-/ Another reason I want a new laptop is that my current has only 20 GB memory left - out of 160.

[browneyed_]

I have a Toshiba Satellite that's almost two years old and it's great for Sims. It even handled TSM and it has the minimum graphics card....256.

It's ironic that you say that because I have also have a 2 year old Toshiba Satellite, and it doesn't run the sims smoothly at all. I have all TS3 games except Medieval (that's pretty much all that's on the laptop), and it's going very laggy at times.
Plus, the laptop overheats after about an hour of simming.

On another note, my friend has a new generation 15 inch MacBook Pro, and it runs great with the sims!

[TheChronicR]

I also read that Sager is good for playing games too, but it's quite huge, heavy and expensive at the same time... I do want a laptop with a good battery power and for it to be light, so Sager is out for me.

[Leto85]

Even my Acer 6920 from 2008 is capable of playing The Sims 3 with expansions, but eventually it will play slow.

But... I really advice you to buy a desktop Mr Chronic, not a laptop. It's more easy with expanding or replacing hardware components, besides the fact a laptop will be outdated sooner.

[RunAmokSims]

Thanks for the suggestions. Alienware is indeed huge (17 inch screen), but since I'll have two laptops by then, it's ok.
My two year Acer is running Sims 3 and Medieval rather good, graphics are very clear, but the case is that I want more. Lags can kill your time, which I do not have. Toshiba sounds quite good. But then again, the graphics card is very important for me. Mine is 256 MB, which won't be enough for games coming out next year already. :-/ Another reason I want a new laptop is that my current has only 20 GB memory left - out of 160.

I think the video cards in newer models have larger memory.

This is the one I REALLY want.

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/laptop-model.jsp?family=Qosmio&model=X505&lid=CFAMQosmio_SeriesLinkX505&src=MAXG&cm_mmc=SEM_Direct_Google&gclid=CNuQx87E46gCFRIq7AodD2FSIg

[simlishlol]

To add on this topic, is there a good HP laptop for the sims 3 and other games? HP has a military discount so I was wondering

[Alexandria_]

May I ask why you want a laptop and not a desktop?

[TheChronicR]

May I ask why you want a laptop and not a desktop?

Because a portable computer is better for me than an unmovable. I love playing Sims in different places, and you can't do that with a desktop.

[Seabody]

That's a plus. I wouldn't have been able to install Medieval for another 2 days (!) if I didn't take the family laptop along on my recent holiday.
I don't own one, but I've heard great things from a friend about Alienware.
My family Laptop is an HP, and it doesn't really run Sims well. If you take a look at any of my screenshots, you can see the graphics are bad:

I know for a fact that there are better graphics than this. I could turn my settings up, but I don't want to risk a CTD.

[Alexandria_]

Because a portable computer is better for me than an unmovable. I love playing Sims in different places, and you can't do that with a desktop.

I see I'm the opposite and just like playing sims at home
Do you have any computer specialists nearby that you could ask advice from?

[TheChronicR]

I see I'm the opposite and just like playing sims at home
Do you have any computer specialists nearby that you could ask advice from?

Not really. That's why I'm seeking help on the net. In addition to playing Sims, the laptop must have huge HDD space so I can store my 16,000 (!) song collection and other programs. My current has only 30 GB left...

[Saltypaws]

In my opinion, if I was going to buy a laptop, I would probably have one built for me with the right requirements for the games that I play.  That way, right from the start, I would know I could play those games.  Most laptops, if you buy them off of the shelf, do not have the proper graphics card, which is usually the issue for the sims3.  I know, financially, it is hard for some people to do that, but in the long run, it would save them money.  When I bought my desktop, I had it built to suit my needs for these games.  It is almost three years old and I have had to upgrade the graphics card and put extra memory in it, but that has been it.  There are alot of great laptops out there, but people do not realize, that manufactors only install lower end components in these computers, depending on who makes them.  I am not saying that about all of them, but for the most part, when you buy a laptop or a desktop, for that matter, the graphics card does not meet the requirements for the sims3.  The best thing to do, is to do alot of research to see what you can get for your money, because I know laptops are not cheap.  But this is my opinion.