Cheap Laptop for Sims 3

[Chief Beancounter]

Hey everybody -

Looking for a cheap laptop for my daughter to play Sims 3. We have other devices for everything else if needed.

Does anyone think this would work at all reasonably?

http://www.staples.com/HP-Pavilion-g6-2235us-156-Laptop/product_985050

Thanks

Dan

 

[azathoth]

That laptop would work perfectly fine for playing the Sims 3.

But there are other similar laptops that are around the same price, that perform the same or slightly faster.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215663

This laptop will be substantially faster playing the sims 3, for slightly cheaper even.

 

[Chief Beancounter]

That laptop would work perfectly fine for playing the Sims 3.

But there are other similar laptops that are around the same price, that perform the same or slightly faster.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215663

This laptop will be substantially faster playing the sims 3, for slightly cheaper even.

Thanks - I'll look into that. The HP is going on sale tomorrow at $200 off.

Dan

 

[azathoth]

Thanks - I'll look into that. The HP is going on sale tomorrow at $200 off.

Dan

Well at $200 off then I would absolutely say you should buy that one!

The APU on that laptop will take up system RAM, so I would recommend you purchase an upgraded set of RAM if you make that purchase.

APU's get a good performance boost from faster RAM, and by default that comes with 4GB of 1333Mhz RAM. A portion of the 4GB will be used by the Graphics chip.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226280
This is two sticks of RAM, 8GB total running at 1600Mhz. There should be a slight performance improvement, along with having more usable RAM, the system should be a bit snappier overall.

*Oh! Another thing I just found out, having one stick by default the RAM can only be accessed in Single Channel mode, having the two faster sticks provide twice as much memory bandwidth.

 

[Chief Beancounter]

Well at $200 off then I would absolutely say you should buy that one!

The APU on that laptop will take up system RAM, so I would recommend you purchase an upgraded set of RAM if you make that purchase.

APU's get a good performance boost from faster RAM, and by default that comes with 4GB of 1333Mhz RAM. A portion of the 4GB will be used by the Graphics chip.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226280
This is two sticks of RAM, 8GB total running at 1600Mhz. There should be a slight performance improvement, along with having more usable RAM, the system should be a bit snappier overall.

*Oh! Another thing I just found out, having one stick by default the RAM can only be accessed in Single Channel mode, having the two faster sticks provide twice as much memory bandwidth.

Thanks

I will let her know we can upgrade if needed.

Dan

 

[Chief Beancounter]

Thanks

One last question, do you think Sims will run on Windows 8? The Sims site is currently down for help.

Dan

 

[azathoth]

The Sims 3 is confirmed to be compatible with Windows 8. As long as you have patched the game to version 1.39 or later, which can be done on windows 8 anyways.

In short, it will work perfectly fine.

 

[Chief Beancounter]

Azathoth

Thanks for the advice. Computer was DOA on Christmas morning. Exchanged it the next day. Sims 3 worked ok, but once we added the Pets add-on, it slowed way down and eventually crashed. Upgraded to the 8gb of memory. Ran better but still freezes up frequently. Everything is on the lowest setting.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Dan

 

[Nobodysgirl333]

Azathoth

Thanks for the advice. Computer was DOA on Christmas morning. Exchanged it the next day. Sims 3 worked ok, but once we added the Pets add-on, it slowed way down and eventually crashed. Upgraded to the 8gb of memory. Ran better but still freezes up frequently. Everything is on the lowest setting.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Dan

I have a suggestion. I have to do this on my computer to get sims 3 to work. Do you know how to access DEP (Data Execution Prevention) on your computer? I'm not 100% sure if it's the same for Windows 8 but on 7 you can access it by going to Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Advanced System Settings (to the left) -> Advanced -> Performance. Once you are there (Yes it's a pain to get to) go to the DEP tab and select Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select:, then hit "add". Browse into your program files until you find Sims 3 (base game, not any of the expansions) and go into the Bin folder. There you will find the Sims 3 exe file. Add that.

Doing this means that your computer won't kill the program when it feels it is using too much memory or CPU and such.

I was advised to do this and now even on a computer that shouldn't run The Sims 3 I can play the game on the lowest settings with expansions.

Hope this helps.

 

[Chief Beancounter]

I have a suggestion. I have to do this on my computer to get sims 3 to work. Do you know how to access DEP (Data Execution Prevention) on your computer? I'm not 100% sure if it's the same for Windows 8 but on 7 you can access it by going to Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Advanced System Settings (to the left) -> Advanced -> Performance. Once you are there (Yes it's a pain to get to) go to the DEP tab and select Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select:, then hit "add". Browse into your program files until you find Sims 3 (base game, not any of the expansions) and go into the Bin folder. There you will find the Sims 3 exe file. Add that.

Doing this means that your computer won't kill the program when it feels it is using too much memory or CPU and such.

I was advised to do this and now even on a computer that shouldn't run The Sims 3 I can play the game on the lowest settings with expansions.

Hope this helps.

Nobodysgirl33

Thanks

I will try this!