Best Laptop for Sims 3

Sorry for the somewhat recycled response, but this is a pretty commonly asked question on the TS3 Tech board. This is for desktops, we used to recommend at least an i7 and a slightly stronger graphics card for laptops but those higher reaching suggestions are not as crucial as they once were.

I would never purchase a used or refurbed laptop even if I was the prior owner myself. Those are always a gamble and the risk is you might get one that was used roughly, had a manufacturing flaw from the beginning, never performs well, or has to keep being taken in for service for whatever reasons.

"igazor;c-17128756" wrote:

Processor: For a desktop, an i5 quad core or higher, or the AMD equivalent, 2.4 GHz, the newer H-series processors that run at just under that are fine as they can turbo slightly to make up the difference and are designed to take the stress but a higher base speed will always be preferable. Avoid the U- and Y-series processors at all costs as they are meant for ultra-low power consumption, not continuous high speed processing.

RAM: At least 8 GB, if you want to be able to run other applications alongside of or while the game is paused then 12 or 16 GB. The game itself can only use just under 4 GB but Windows and other processes are going to claim a large amount for themselves.

Graphics Card: Nvidia GTX 1050/1050Ti or higher within that series, or the 1660 (I can't seem to keep up with the numbering system on the new 1600s), or the AMD equivalents. The also pretty new GT 1030s and MX 130s and 150s should be avoided, they are not strong enough within the range.

Hard Drive: At least 512 GB to work with comfortably, of course the game doesn't need all of that space but one assumes other uses for the computer and TS4 has already been mentioned. Solid Stated Drives (SSDs) are great, but ones large enough to carry Windows, the game, and other things (so over 256 GB) will drive the price up considerably. Very small SSDs (128 GB or less) are meant to carry Windows and system processes only, and will typically come with a second standard HDD that provides more space to work with -- in this case the games would need to be installed on the second drive and the Documents library shifted over at the Windows level.