help needed choosing new laptop for sims 14 September 2015 at 4:13PM in Gaming MoneySaving 9 replies 3.5K views

magoogy

can anyone help me choose a new laptop (£400 budget) for sims 4 and expansion packs plus uni work please...

i have been looking and found these two but would like your views please

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-15-ab040sa-15-6-laptop-white-10132645-pdt.html

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00LLE6I7I?keywords=gaming%20laptop&qid=1442242767&ref_=sr_1_9&s=computers&sr=1-9


requirements for the game are;

PC MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

REQUIRED: Internet connection required for product activation.
OS: Windows XP (SP3), Windows Vista (SP2), Windows 7 (SP1), Windows 8, or Windows 8.1
PROCESSOR: 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, AMD Athlon 64 Dual-Core 4000+ or equivalent (For computers using built-in graphics chipsets, the game requires 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.0 GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-62 or equivalent)
MEMORY: At least 2 GB RAM
HARD DRIVE: At least 9 GB of free space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content and saved games
DVD-ROM: DVD ROM drive required for installation only
VIDEO CARD: 128 MB of Video RAM and support for Pixel Shader 3.0. Supported Video Cards: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or better, ATI Radeon X1300 or better, Intel GMA X4500 or better
SOUND CARD: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
DIRECTX: DirectX 9.0c compatible
INPUT: Keyboard and Mouse

PC RECOMMENDED SPECS:

REQUIRED: Internet connection required for product activation.
OS: 64 Bit Windows 7,8, or 8.1
PROCESSOR: Intel core i5 or faster, AMD Athlon X4
MEMORY: 4GB RAM
HARD DRIVE: At least 9 GB of free space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content and saved games
DVD-ROM: DVD ROM drive required for installation only
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GTX 650 or better
SOUND CARD: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
DIRECTX: DirectX 9.0c compatible
INPUT: Keyboard and Mouse

thanks

PenguinJim

You will find a 1080P screen far more productive for uni work - although an alternative would be to buy a 1080P monitor (or better) at some point and plug your laptop into that while working at home.

The stumbling point for your laptop hardware is the video card requirements. The laptops you have linked, and the majority of laptops, will use "onboard graphics" (either part of the CPU or a chip on the motherboard, instead of a dedicated GPU board). You can run The Sims 4 using onboard graphics, but most onboard graphics solutions would only manage the lowest settings.

Therefore, avoid the "Pentium" laptops - get an i3 or i5 laptop which will have better onboard graphics. The more modern the CPU, the better. The i3 model you linked uses Intel HD 5500 graphics, which can be shown running The Sims 4 here: http://www.ultrabookgaming.com/intel-hd-5500-gaming-sims-4/

It's also a 15.6" screen (portable if needed, large enough for practical use) with a decent battery life - even with the 1366x768 resolution screen, that's not a bad laptop.

I'd avoid PC World for anything other than a missile strike, mind you - try SaveOnLaptops. For example, they have a laptop with the same specs but adding a touchscreen and hybrid chassis for the same price here (SaveonLaptops links not working - go to the website and search for "HP ENVY x360 15-U200na").

You might also want to check out the Surface 3, as you get a 10% discount as a student, but while the 64GB version is under £400, I'd recommend getting the 128GB version, and that also doesn't include a keyboard cover thingy.

magoogy

thank you so much - im just looking through your suggestions and doing more research.....

sorry im a bit confused but are you saying the i3 one is good but preferably not from pcworld though?

cheers...

i typed the i3 laptop into amazon and this came up

http://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-15-p144na-15-6-Inch-Quad-Core-Integrated/dp/B00V2N9L90/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1442327000&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=HP+Pavilion+15-ab040sa+15.6%22+Laptop

would this be good? id actually prefer amazon if i can as i have some amazon vouchers due

thanks

bluenoseam

The general consensus - and well, I find it awfully hard to disagree with it - is that PC World are useless. My experience is that their gear is substandard & overpriced, their focus is on ill advised "bolt ons" and their staff are the level somewhere between drooling idiot & below average with all the knowledge of a breeze block!

The laptops you posted are both geared toward a "general purpose" use - neither one of them should be considered for any form of advanced gaming use. For your budget you may be able to run Sims 4, but it won't be pretty & for myself as a PC gamer, it'd be unplayable, it would be on bare minimum quality. Honestly I'm not even being a snob when I say that, the quality would be hideous & the experience would be at best slow, jittery & rough. Both also have on-board graphics, 128mb of graphics yes, but ultimately well short of a reasonable performance.

PenguinJim

magoogy wrote: »

thank you so much - im just looking through your suggestions and doing more research.....

sorry im a bit confused but are you saying the i3 one is good but preferably not from pcworld though?

For £400, yes, it's quite good. And, yes, avoid PC World if possible.

magoogy wrote: »

i typed the i3 laptop into amazon and this came up

http://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-15-p144na-15-6-Inch-Quad-Core-Integrated/dp/B00V2N9L90/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1442327000&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=HP+Pavilion+15-ab040sa+15.6%22+Laptop

would this be good? id actually prefer amazon if i can as i have some amazon vouchers due

That's the same laptop style, but with different parts inside. No Intel i3 chip - instead it has an AMD CPU, which will be slower, hotter, and use more power. Don't get that one!

Amazon, you say? Well, I do have a bargain for you... but this is where it gets tricky.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/15-6-Inch-Notebook-i3-5005U-Integrated-Graphics/dp/B00Y0LWQAW/

This laptop is a 15.6" 1366x768 i3 model - very similar to the i3 HP we've been discussing. 1TB storage, onboard graphics are the 5500 as above, etc - but only 4GB RAM. This is particularly important for onboard graphics, as they share system RAM instead of having their own. So add another £17 for memory by buying this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Technology-SODIMM-Memory-Module/dp/B00D74FQP0/

According to this review, you won't need to completely open up the laptop to install the RAM - there's a little trapdoor you can open to slot the new RAM in.

So, even before using Amazon vouchers, the total cost is under £350.

(If you go to Today's Deals on Amazon, there may be a banner at the top offering you a £10 coupon if you buy a £40 gift card, which will add a day to getting it ordered, but knock a further £10 off the price. But not every Amazon account receives this offer.)

And just to repeat myself for bluenoseam's benefit, as (s)he clearly missed it the first time, here you can see The Sims 4 running on onboard Intel 5500 graphics (as in the i3 laptop linked above) - at the laptop's native resolution, on High details, at playable frame rates. Outputting to a 1080P screen like a TV requires a drop to Medium to remain playable. I'd suggest ignoring bluenoseam's 'tech advice', as their "128mb of graphics yes" comment was amusing, but completely meaningless.

bluenoseam

I stand corrected, but I don't stand convinced that it'll be viable - although will hasten to add that it comes from the position of not regarding laptops as gaming devices at this level. (I'm afraid my particular brand of dinosaur mindset is one which cannot see past a desktop for gaming, although that's no doubt an ease issue.)

But you can sleep easy, I don't intend to go into any "tech support" roles any time soon, saying "have you tried turning it off & on again" would lose it's humour value too quickly.

(And incidentally, wouldn't really question the use of an i3 either, but ultimately it's not something I'd be checking out as I wouldn't consider a machine without a dedicated GPU.)

Cycrow

Of course this is Sims 4, so it doesn't really matter what pc you have, its still going to stutter and freeze at times, so you will never really get 100% smooth gameplay

PenguinJim

bluenoseam wrote: »

I don't stand convinced that it'll be viable

Some of the words in these posts are blue. Move your cursor (the arrow thing on the screen that moves when you move your mouse) over the blue words and it should look like a little hand. Pressing the button on the front-left of the mouse while the cursor is a little hand will take you to another web page (a place on the Internet).

Try it on these blue words here! :T

magoogy

thanks for all your comments....... bluenose - my daughter already runs sims 4 on a laptop ok, just that its old and getting worn out which is why im buying her a new one - that has only about 2gb ram on it too....... i have bought from pc world before but always pass on their extras and know it all service as i know how to set stuff up myself, im just a bit clueless when it comes to game playing as i dont do it - daughter only really plays sims when she has like a day off from university which is very rare so it wont be totally used just for games.

penguinjim - thank you so much, i will have a look at your suggestions now and also try get the original i3 if not but not from pc world if i can avoid it.

thanks all

magoogy

penguin jim - im now due to order the laptop you recommended and the additional memory, its gone down in price too which is a bonus. im having jitters at the thought im not buying the right thing or the ram will be harder to put in than you say