Re: A new laptop for play the sims3 -will be an important present, please help

Hi! Thank you for be so kind to answer. So, asking them: silver could be a good compromise. They love writing (other than gaming) so black-black isn't ideal... but silver can be acceptable.

Thank you for your explanation! We are not much informatic, so it's really helpful.

For the budget... I try to be open because we are a big big family, so I'll make all (or more I can) partecipate 😅 maybe around 2,000 can be a number?

We are in Italy and searching online I read good about Dell and Framework... but sincerely I don't know if they can do for the sims 3.

Another thing - if maybe you can help us:

my sibling is really afraid of updates.

We have a friend that brought a new computer and got corrupted after download one (through the official channel of provider)... what is the best way to deal with that? Update is necessary to let the computer work properly but then why they are so "dangerous "?

thank you for taking time to help us

@TrucyW  There are lots of great gaming laptops available for Sims 3 in the 1100-1400€ price range, although not as many are light-colored.  I did find a few quality options worth considering.  All of the laptops I'm listing are capable of running all Sims 3 packs together, on mostly ultra graphics settings (there are a couple of settings that need to be turned down), with no issues other than how the game itself behaves.  So the decision here is not about performance so much as the other details.  The manufacturer doesn't matter as much either, aside from the overall quality, because they all use the same components from Intel, Nvidia, AMD, etc.

First, I want to say that this is the single-best laptop I found in terms of quality and longevity, but it may be too dark for your sibling:

https://www.mediaworld.it/it/product/_lenovo-legion-5-15arh7h-156-pollici-processore-amd-ryzentm-5-nvidia-geforce-rtx-3060-16-gb-ssd-512-gb-179518.html

Lenovo Legions are the highest-quality standard gaming laptops (as opposed to much more expensive premium products), and Lenovo has a reputation building laptops that last for a long time.  As I said, there's never a guarantee, but relatively speaking, the products are more likely to still be in good working order than most others.

If the color isn't going to work, one of these is a good alternative:

https://www.amazon.it/Laptop-Lenovo-IdeaPad-Gaming-82SB00CPPB/dp/B0BZT7HQ58

https://www.dell.com/it-it/shop/notebook-dell/notebook-inspiron-14-plus/spd/inspiron-14-7430-laptop/cn74410

https://www.amazon.it/ASUS-K3605ZU-N1061W-alluminio-Antiglare-i7-12650H/dp/B0BRYDR8TH

https://www.eprice.it/Portatili-HP-Notebook-Victus-Gaming-15-fa1029nl-Monitor-15-6-pollici-Full-HD-Intel-Core-i7-i7-13700H-16-GB-DDR4-SDRAM-512-GB-SSD-NVIDIA-GeForce-RTX-4050-Wi-Fi-6-802-11ax-Windows-11-Home-Bianco-8Q2V7EA-ABZ/d-67582042

https://www.dell.com/it-it/shop/notebook-dell/nuovo-notebook-inspiron-16-plus/spd/inspiron-16-7640-laptop/cn76604sc

The RTX 4060 (last option) is faster than the 4050 (three and four above) and 3060 (Legion), which are faster than the 3050 (first two), but even the 3050 is more than capable of ultra settings.  All of these have 16 GB RAM, which is very nice to have if not strictly necessary for Sims 3; and more than enough storage for the game and lots of extra saves.  The reason I've listed some overpowered options is that there really aren't a lot of silver laptops, so this is about giving you some variety in the other details, for example screen size and weight.

One important detail here is that for the laptops with Intel processors, Sims 3 probably won't run out of the box without a workaround.  I don't know for sure about all the models, but the i7-13700H is definitely affected.  The AMD processors are not, but there are very few silver laptops with an AMD CPU and a good-enough graphics card, at least this generation.  The workaround is to apply the patch described in the accepted solution of this thread:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-won-t-open-Alder-Lake-Intel-12th-gen-CPU/td-p/11057820

It's a one-time patch, applied to TS3.exe (EA App install) or TS3W.exe (disc or Steam install), so this is not something your sibling would have to deal with long-term.  But I do want to mention it since the problem would be immediate and unavoidable.

Framework laptops don't have their own graphics cards, at least not yet.  I don't think you or your sibling wants to deal with a bulky add-in card, and the integrated graphics are somewhat iffy for Sims 3.  If your sibling were willing to work through the issues playing on a borderline GPU, or your budget were more constrained, there are good-enough options, and some people playing on these integrated graphics chips report having few problems or none at all.  But others have a lot of problems, and it sounds like you'd rather pay more to avoid this possibility.  But let me know if that's not the case, and I'll find some good-quality laptops with high-end integrated graphics.

As for updates, there is always a chance of an update corrupting the operating system.  A lot of the reasons for this come down to user error: not updating frequently enough, changing system settings they don't understand, downloading malware, etc.  Some are not the user's fault, like a problem on the Microsoft end, and some are random.  But as you know, avoiding updates entirely is not a good strategy.

The best ways to minimize the risks from updating are to update frequently, so the computer isn't missing a previous update that a new one expects; and to wait a week or so before major updates.  Windows will let you choose when to install a new feature update, up to a point, and you can choose to install the newest Nvidia graphics driver or not, for a while at least.  Most of the problems arise in the first few days after an update is released and are corrected quickly.  You should never be forced to install an update as soon as it's available, and you can disable automatic updates wherever you find the option.

If there is a problem, what you can do, if you or someone else is available to help your sibling, is run a repair install of Windows.  This does what it says: it repairs the Windows install itself, without deleting user data.  You create a Windows installer, using Microsoft's own process, and let it overwrite any corruption; and it gives you the freshest version of Windows you can get without wiping the computer.  It should only take 5-10 minutes on a fast system like the ones above.  Here's how (option two is more thorough, but option one is a good place to start):

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/repair-install-windows-11-with-an-in-place-upgrade.418/

This doesn't fix absolutely everything, but it does address most problems, and it's easy once you've gone through the process for the first time.

If you have more questions, please feel free to ask.

Thank you 10000 for your kindness and for take time for helping us!

so, we are considering everything!

Still, I'm a bit "di legno" (made of wood), that's mean that we can't understand basic things.

You specify about intel processors needing a workaround. This would be the case even with the lenovo -best of them- model?

And, in case not, I just have to check to others models and the ones that don't use intel are fine to go without do nothing?

I really afraid to mess up not be good to do the basic things that need to be done.

Thank you for the variety of laptops and colors.

I'm trying to pushing for the first best of all... but you have a favourite of the "white" ones?

thank you, thank you, thank you 🍝 

For error I delete a part:

thank you also for explaining in details about the updates and all!

will remember the 1 week rule and other!

@TrucyW  The Lenovo Legion has and AMD Ryzen 5 6600H processor, not an Intel CPU, so it would be unaffected.  The same is true for the Lenovo Ideapad, the first of the lighter-colored laptops; the others have Intel processors that definitely or probably are affected.  Still, fixing the issue is a one-time intervention, so it shouldn't stop you from buying the laptop that you think is otherwise perfect.

If I were buying for myself and could spend the money on any of these, I would probably get the HP Victus or the second Dell (the last one overall), that is if the Legion were not an option.  I like having stronger hardware than is strictly necessary just in case, for example if I want to play another game in the future.  Also, when Sims 3 slows down here and there (which it always does), those slowdowns start from a higher level and therefore don't drop as low and don't affect my enjoyment as much.

There is a limit to how much better hardware can improve the game, however, so spending money beyond a certain point doesn't make any sense.  The limit is hard to quantify, but anything beyond an RTX 4060 graphics card won't make any difference, and even the 4050 is more than fast enough for the screen the Victus has.  The Dell has a higher-resolution screen, which is a bonus for some people (including me) and makes no difference for others, especially when the screen itself is laptop-sized.  Its only effect on how Sims 3 runs is that the graphics card has more pixels to drive, but the 4060 can handle the workload without a problem.

In your position, looking for a laptop for only Sims 3 and that just has to run the game well and without crashing, I would say that spending the extra 300€ for the Dell is not necessary and probably worth the price.  I listed the Dell to give you more options in case you didn't like the others, but if you're happy with the Victus, it's a great choice.

@puzzlezaddict 

Sorry for the late answer, and really sorry if we keep bothering you.

The laptop will be a present but the fact that is an important one, needed my sibling to check pros and con. That was a good thing, because I didn't think to other important things to look at.

Like, I started all this because it's long time we want to them to can go in holidays or out knowing they can relax playing with their favourite game when they needed most or feel overwhelmed.

And knowing also, that the sims 3 is a huge game, buying any laptop wasn't a solution.

Still... their laptop wouldn't be just for that, I didn't think that before but other than gaming an important thing is that the keyboard is comfortable for long writing (that they do for work+study+passion).

So, even if we'd love to go with your best of all suggestion (lenovo legion 5), that one has the keyboard sacrificate by numbers on side (so less space, littlest letters).

That said, we would want "your blessing" if we are going to choose between the two DELL's ones (HP white version unlucky isn't sold by an reliable vendor online or any others with a shop close to us, Acer one's has the letters not strongly marked and else, they don't totally trust the idea of an ipad+pc for the lenovoidea 😑).

We know we have to deal with the 'intel fact', but eh, will try our best 🍀

Anyway, if with those news you have another suggestion (will be the last time we ask, promise!), we are here -still very sorry to bother- for you!

We ask -again- mostly because we really wanted to follow the suggestion of the lenovo one (looking at all the specs, no intel, the ethernet possibility, and because was your n.1 choice), before acknowledge the keyboard.

Even if will still be gray -but with a "regular " keyboard- if your new suggestion will be your favourite of all... we'll really think deeply about it.

Thank you for taking time to help us, we wish you all the best you deserve and the same kindness in your everyday.

@TrucyW  All of the laptops I recommended are good enough, or I wouldn't have listed them at all.  The idea was to give you and your sibling some choice in the matter, to account for personal taste or some other detail that I didn't know about, for example the number pad.  Yes, all else being equal, the Legion is the best option, but it sounds like it's not the best option for your sibling, and that's what matters.

If you'd like, I can take another look for good laptops, just to make sure I didn't miss any options worth mentioning.  In that case, please list the stores and websites where you'd be comfortable shopping so I don't list another example from a retailer you don't trust.  I don't know anything about the Italian market, even if I do recognize some of the retailers' names from other discussions, so I have no idea how reputable each company is.

You're not bothering me at all.  I understand this is an important purchase to you and your family, and I'm happy to take the time to help in whatever way I can.

By the way, I'm not sure what you mean by iPad+PC, because none of my recommendations are any kind of tablet.  The Lenovo IdeaPad is just a model name, similar to Legion or Victus, that communicates what category of computer it is.  But if you mean something else, let me know.

@puzzlezaddict 

Of course all your suggestions are more than good enough! Sorry if I somehow write bad about them, I wanted just to list what didn't convince my sibling. Sometimes I lost in translation, so sorry if I sounded bad. We loved that you gave us many things to compare and study!

About the Lenovoideaipad:

I asked for clarification and they watched a video of a model where they rotate the monitor (that can be used with touch) and was afraid to broken it easly (we are a bit clumsy)... also we didn't understand which model is it, on their site (https://www.lenovo.com/it/it/search?fq=&text=ideapad%20gaming%203&rows=20&sort=relevance)

...

Anyway, if you really could do a last time search, we are infinitely grateful (please write to us if you ever come in Italy, we will guest you in our family's restaurant).

About the shop: the fact is that for the Hp we couldn't find someone who sell it (except in the site you reported, but that shop has poor reviews), but I think is all about being a light version: everyone sell the black ones.

Anyway mediaworld, unieuro, euronics, trony are all valid vendors. .

I would even tell amazon is ok, but a physical store (even if sells online) may be better if problems occurs.

Also even the parent company (hope is the right term) who sell their own products.

In the light of this...

Other than a good capacity/memory/graphic for play the sims3+expansion and a light+comfortable (even 'just regular') keyboard, other things that may be useful are:

*good battery autonomy

*some extra ports

*good fan for ventilation

*possibility to add space -ram

*the possibility to connect via ethernet (in case wifi isn't strong)

*the fact that the laptop isn't "mini" but regular or larger size

All of those * are not essential (except the "mini", but I think that all the options you gave us was never about mini laptops), the important is above.

Anyway, even if you find just another lenovo (the intel ghost is still with us) and or HP that can compete with Dell, is ok for us.

Also, About dimensions, 16 plus is bigger than 14 (as the name suggests), so if is the definity one, what we should choose in terms of specifics (graphic card, memory, processor) for make it good for us and the sims 3?

https://www.dell.com/it-it/shop/cty/pdp/spd/inspiron-16-7640-laptop/cn76605sc?tfcid=71422965&

Thank you!!!!

@TrucyW  I just wanted to reassure you that every laptop I listed was at the very least a good choice, even if some are better (in terms of hardware) than others.  So whichever one you choose, for whatever reasons matter to you, should work great for Sims 3.  I also completely understand being picky about the details, and that you or your sibling might find a problem with a laptop that I didn't see, like the number pad on the Legion.

For the IdeaPad, there are a few different subcategories: Gaming, Touch, regular.  The Touch are the only models that have a rotating screen because they're supposed to be 2-in-1, as in, can be used as a tablet.  The IdeaPad Gaming models don't have a touchscreen and therefore don't have a swivel screen either.  You can sort of see it on the Amazon product page, but if you want to watch a video, be sure to look up "IdeaPad Gaming" and ignore any Touch models.  The specific Amazon model is 15ARH7, which is this one:

https://psref.lenovo.com/Product/IdeaPad/IdeaPad_Gaming_3_15ARH7

Battery life is always going to be mediocre to bad on a gaming laptop.  The powerful hardware uses a lot of energy, and batteries have to be under 100 watt-hours capacity to be allowed on planes.  For comparsion, some laptop graphics cards use more than 100 watts when maxed out.  Besides, playing games on battery is a bad idea because it hurts performance—the laptop will throttle to conserve battery, which won't work but will slow down the processor and graphics card.  AMD processors do generally use less power than Intel ones, but you're only getting a small benefit most of the time.

I can't tell you what a keyboard will be like just from a product page, so you may want to take your sibling to a store to try out some display units.  Even if that particular store doesn't have the exact laptop you want to order, a different configuration of the same overall model, for example a different IdeaPad Gaming, should have the same keyboard.  This is to some extent a personal choice—some keyboards are clearly better than others, but there are very different styles of keys and switches even within one tier of quality.

For the other details:

• Extra ports are great but not essential since you can always buy a cheap adapter or hub.  There's also a wide variety on gaming laptops.
• All gaming laptops are designed to make sure they can keep themselves cool even under heavy loads, including sufficient fans and vents.  You can help with cooling by limiting in-game framerates in Sims 3, and you should do this anyway (and I can help once you have the laptop in front of you); the game won't max out the hardware either.
• Most but not all gaming laptops allow for RAM upgrades.  The first one below cannot be upgraded, the second one has one free slot for an upgrade, and the third should have two slots but I can't find the exact model.  The storage is pretty much always upgradable.
• These laptops should have ethernet ports, but if one doesn't, you can get a USB to ethernet adapter for maybe 10€.
• These laptops are all the standard 15-16", as you said.

I went through the sites you listed, some again, and I found a few options that weren't in my previous post.  The HP site didn't have anything worth mentioning, and neither did the Dell other than the base model of the one you linked.  The only laptops on the Lenovo site with gaming hardware and no number pad have 14" screens.  I'll list everything else below just for simplicity.

These two are basically the same, other than the processor (AMD in the first, Intel in the second) and the faster RTX 4050 in the second.  They both have a small number pad, and I don't know whether that's a problem too or the issue is the larger one the Legion has:

https://www.unieuro.it/online/Notebook/M6500QC-HN063W-pidASUM6500QCHN063W

This one is too expensive for its hardware (still overkill for Sims 3; it's just that the price is high for the components), but since it's silver and has no number pad, it's worth mentioning:

https://www.trony.it/online/informatica/computer-portatili/notebook/acer-notebook-gaming-predator-triton-neo-16-ptn16-51-50ft-16-pollici-silver_sku-2240001254

Predator is Acer's high-end gaming category, and Triton is the premium model within that group.  So while I wouldn't recommend an Acer Nitro or standard Predator, this one should be great.  But I'd still go with a Dell or HP at the same price.

For the Dell you linked, the base model with 16 GB RAM is more than fine.  Sims 3 can only use a little less than 4 GB, Windows uses 2-3 GB, and Dell's bloatware can eat another 4-5, but that's still not anywhere close to maxing out the memory.  This is a new model, and documentation online is scarce, but the Dell manual shows two standalone RAM modules, meaning the memory is upgradable:

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/inspiron-16-7640-laptop/inspiron_16_plus_7640_om_4060_4050/major-components-of-inspiron-16-plus-7640?guid=guid-edfdb749-d5e5-4767-8ee1-bcb485908416&lang=en-us

You can of course ask Dell itself if you want to be sure.

The other components of this computer are overkill for Sims 3, not that that's a bad thing.  As mentioned, an RTX 3050 is more than capable of ultra graphics settings, and so is any processor paired with it.  Don't worry about the speed of the RAM; you'd have to run a formal benchmark to notice any difference at all, at least at these speeds.  And a 16" screen with a high resolution, as this one has, is a very nice quality-of-life improvement even if it's not necessary.

Point is, the base model is far more power than you need, but upgrade to 32 GB 5.600 MT/s if you really want to.

It's fine if you have more questions, about these laptops or in general.

Hi!! Sorry for the late answer, health issues happened... but now everything is fine.

We study all the list and visit some store to see similar (they didn't have the exact ones, but was helpful) models.

Still, my sibling fallen in love with the Inspirion 16.

The fact that can be used for the sims 3 and that has many potentialities other than that... intrigue them!

Maybe they can finally try to do the project of short videos and images they wanted to do years ago...

So, for understand: NVDIA, intel core ultra are the right selection right? They are already pre-selected but can be changed, so I want to know I'm doing the right thing ^^'

Playing on the batter means play with the laptop in recharge or not (relaying on the battery)?

I'm not sure of the right translation and find it tricky.

Also, for when will arrive, we could write you here for reduce the framerates you mentioned?

Thank you for all your kindness

@TrucyW  The base model Inspiron with the Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, the RTX 4060, and 16 GB RAM is more than fine for Sims 3.  You can of course increase the memory if you want to, but it is not at all required for the game and won't make it run any better.

When I say playing on battery, I mean that the laptop is not receiving power from a charger, so the battery is powering everything.  Doing this is fine for normal work but will decrease in-game performance when running even a somewhat mild game like Sims 3.  It's best to always plug the laptop in before launching the game.  If you want to preserve battery life, there are lots of apps that allow you to set a maximum charge.  So you could temporarily tell the laptop to charge to only 80% and stay there during longer play sessions.

When you have the laptop, let me know, and I'll help with the framerate cap.  The issue here is that the proper settings to use will depend on the laptop's internal wiring and possibly other installed software, and you can't know just by reading its product page.

Hello again!

My sibling finally got the laptop and are overjoy!!! Thank you again!

So, now what we do for let them play?

At  the moment if they try to start the game ask to use just 2 expansion but even doing so, the game won't launch.

Also, just -again- for understand: it's better play with the cable plug in before launch the game and not relay on the battery even if is at the max level, right?

Sorry for disappearing: health issue all over. Now, I'm better (yey).

So: for many months, the sims 3 didn't even start at all (even following every steps you suggest us), then 1 week ago... we tried just for the sake of it, and wow! It worked!!! 

So a big big big thank you for you extreme kindness and for taking time for us. We wish you all the best and to encounter people as kind as you were with us.

We send you a big hug!