Buying a gaming laptop ?
Hi everyone! I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this question, if I should move it please do let me know! I'm thinking of buying a gaming laptop: Acer 15.6-inch i7/16GB/512GB SSD Lap...
Forum Discussion
@Tasha79 Sorry for the delay.
With Sims 3, as with most games, the single biggest factor in determining how well a computer will run the game is the graphics card. For £900 and under, the best GPU available is an Nvidia 1650, which should run all Sims 3 packs together on ultra settings. The next most convenient feature is a solid state drive large enough to hold Windows and Sims 3. While the game runs just fine on a mechanical drive once it's loaded, the loading itself—everything from the initial screens to travel transitions to loading CAS and Build/Buy catalogs—is much faster on an SSD.
Laptops with a 1650 usually start at £700, although the ones I usually see for that price are sold out right now. But if you're willing to wait a few weeks for delivery, you could upgrade the Nvidia 1050 in this Lenovo to a 1650, increasing the price from £650 to £700. You could also add a 256 GB solid state drive for another £50; if you really don't need much storage, you could save £50 and remove the 1 TB mechanical hard drive. Also convenient is that the upgrade to 16 GB memory is currently free, and you should totally do it if you get this laptop. Other than the better screen (£10), the rest of the upgrades aren't worth it.
https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/ideapad/l-series/IdeaPad-L340-15IRH-Gaming/p/81LKCTO1WWENGB0/customize
These other options with a 1650 are all £800. They have a 512 GB SSDs, except for the Acer, which has a 1 TB SSD. Even 512 GB is more than most people need, unless they want to install a bunch of games or store large collections of data (movies, photos, etc.) at the same time.
https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/asus-tuf-core-i5-9300h-8gb-512gb-ssd-15.6-inch-geforce-gtx-1650-windows-10-fx505gt-bq023t/version.asp
https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/gaming-and-games/dell-g3-15/spd/g-series-15-3590-laptop/cn35917
https://www.box.co.uk/NH.Q59EK.01H-Acer-Nitro-5_2873716.html
Gaming laptops generally don't have good batteries. Gaming on battery will throttle performance, and besides, it's almost impossible to build a cost-efficient laptop-sized battery that would support more than an hour or two of playing. Plus the hardware needs a lot of power even when barely above idling, and most screens are bright. However, if battery matters to you, the Dell has a good one, and the Acer's is supposed to be even better, at least in these configurations.
On the high end, Asus's newer Zephyrus models are smaller and lighter than any other gaming laptop in this price range, and the graphics card in the entry-level model is a 1650 ti, which is a bit faster than the non-ti version. The processor is significantly stronger than the one in the other models. The battery is also excellent by gaming laptop standards. This one is a bit more than you wanted to pay: it's £1,100 on the Asus site, but Asus offers a student discount of up to 15%, so you might only pay £935 instead. It comes in gray or white.
https://uk.store.asus.com/laptops/gaming-series/asus-rog-zephyrus-g14-eclipse-gray-ga401ii-bm027t-14-full-hd-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-4600h-processor-8gb-ram-512gb-pcie-ssd-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1650-4gb-graphics.html
https://uk.store.asus.com/laptops/gaming-series/asus-rog-zephyrus-g14-moonlight-white-ga401ih-bm057t-14-thin-bezel-full-hd-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-4600hs-processor-8gb-ram-512gb-pcie-ssd-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1650-4gb-graphics.html
If you have more questions, please feel free to ask.
With Sims 3, as with most games, the single biggest factor in determining how well a computer will run the game is the graphics card. For £900 and under, the best GPU available is an Nvidia 1650, which should run all Sims 3 packs together on ultra settings. The next most convenient feature is a solid state drive large enough to hold Windows and Sims 3. While the game runs just fine on a mechanical drive once it's loaded, the loading itself—everything from the initial screens to travel transitions to loading CAS and Build/Buy catalogs—is much faster on an SSD.
Laptops with a 1650 usually start at £700, although the ones I usually see for that price are sold out right now. But if you're willing to wait a few weeks for delivery, you could upgrade the Nvidia 1050 in this Lenovo to a 1650, increasing the price from £650 to £700. You could also add a 256 GB solid state drive for another £50; if you really don't need much storage, you could save £50 and remove the 1 TB mechanical hard drive. Also convenient is that the upgrade to 16 GB memory is currently free, and you should totally do it if you get this laptop. Other than the better screen (£10), the rest of the upgrades aren't worth it.
https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/ideapad/l-series/IdeaPad-L340-15IRH-Gaming/p/81LKCTO1WWENGB0/customize
These other options with a 1650 are all £800. They have a 512 GB SSDs, except for the Acer, which has a 1 TB SSD. Even 512 GB is more than most people need, unless they want to install a bunch of games or store large collections of data (movies, photos, etc.) at the same time.
https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/asus-tuf-core-i5-9300h-8gb-512gb-ssd-15.6-inch-geforce-gtx-1650-windows-10-fx505gt-bq023t/version.asp
https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/gaming-and-games/dell-g3-15/spd/g-series-15-3590-laptop/cn35917
https://www.box.co.uk/NH.Q59EK.01H-Acer-Nitro-5_2873716.html
Gaming laptops generally don't have good batteries. Gaming on battery will throttle performance, and besides, it's almost impossible to build a cost-efficient laptop-sized battery that would support more than an hour or two of playing. Plus the hardware needs a lot of power even when barely above idling, and most screens are bright. However, if battery matters to you, the Dell has a good one, and the Acer's is supposed to be even better, at least in these configurations.
On the high end, Asus's newer Zephyrus models are smaller and lighter than any other gaming laptop in this price range, and the graphics card in the entry-level model is a 1650 ti, which is a bit faster than the non-ti version. The processor is significantly stronger than the one in the other models. The battery is also excellent by gaming laptop standards. This one is a bit more than you wanted to pay: it's £1,100 on the Asus site, but Asus offers a student discount of up to 15%, so you might only pay £935 instead. It comes in gray or white.
https://uk.store.asus.com/laptops/gaming-series/asus-rog-zephyrus-g14-eclipse-gray-ga401ii-bm027t-14-full-hd-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-4600h-processor-8gb-ram-512gb-pcie-ssd-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1650-4gb-graphics.html
https://uk.store.asus.com/laptops/gaming-series/asus-rog-zephyrus-g14-moonlight-white-ga401ih-bm057t-14-thin-bezel-full-hd-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-4600hs-processor-8gb-ram-512gb-pcie-ssd-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1650-4gb-graphics.html
If you have more questions, please feel free to ask.
