Is this a good pc for sims 3?

"igazor;c-17422062" wrote:
(I'm admittedly stalling here in part because there are others who hang out on this forum section with a better evolved shopping online gene set than I have)

No idea who you're talking about; those must be pretty weird people. I for one hate shopping and avoid it if at all possible.

@telmarina As far as laptops go, there are a number of Portuguese stores currently offering the same Asus with the same specs (processor, graphics card, RAM, hard drive, screen) for €750. The GPU is an Nvidia 1650, capable of running all packs together on ultra settings; the other hardware is all at least good enough. A few examples:

https://www.chiptec.net/pcs-e-mobilidade/portateis/asus-x571gt-59b15pl1.html
https://www.pcdiga.com/portatil-asus-x571-15-6-x571gt-59b15pl1
https://www.novoatalho.pt/pt-PT/produto/38128/Portatil-Asus-X571GT-59B15PL1/90NB0NL1-M03320.html

The catch is the laptop comes with a free OS, but you could of course wipe it and install Windows instead. It looks like a Windows 10 key currently costs €130, although I got one on Amazon for $108 (U.S.) a year ago because it came with an obsolete install medium. (I didn't care because I just needed a product key.) Either way, all you'd need to install Windows, aside from the key, would be your existing laptop and a USB stick (at least 8 GB storage) you don't mind erasing. The Windows install process should be straightforward; you'd then need to install all the relevant drivers from the Asus website, which should be simple as well.

If you didn't want to go through all that yourself, I did see a few options that come with Windows pre-installed. These have a slightly weaker processor but otherwise the same hardware; the weaker CPU should still be fine for TS3.

https://www.globaldata.pt/computadores/portateis/portatil-asus-tuf-156-fx505dt-r5-8gb-512gb-gtx-1650-120hz-w10-fx505dt-r5b15pb1
https://www.novoatalho.pt/pt-PT/produto/40609/Portatil-Asus-TUF-FX505DT-R5B15PB1/90NR02D2-M07350.html

I only went up to 900€, since you shouldn't have to spend more than that even including the Windows key.

If you don't like this particular Asus, just wait a bit; something different will probably go on sale sooner or later. And if you'd prefer a desktop, I could find some good options too, but a decent laptop would be just fine for TS3.

As far as you current laptop goes, your GPU drivers are out of date and much older than your Windows build. You can update both from the Lenovo site. But if you're not having any issues with crashing, graphics glitches, etc., it's usually not necessary, especially with an older game that wouldn't be getting any updates of its own.

https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/300-series/320s-15ikb-type-81bq/81bq/downloads/driver-list/component?name=Display%20and%20Video%20Graphics

This particular laptop would likely struggle with Pets and Seasons—in particular, long-haired pets and rain, snow, and hail are especially demanding on a graphics card. Island Paradise and Into the Future are the next most stressful packs, and multiple people with the same or similar cards to yours find they can't run any of these four EPs with anything resembling decent framerates. It's likely others do play with some of these packs, on lower graphics settings; every computer is a bit different, as is each player's standard for acceptable performance.

But again, if you're not seeing any signs of graphics issues, there's no reason to worry. You just might want to wait until you get a new computer to add more expansions. And be sure to let this laptop cool properly while you play: use a laptop tray, or put books or something under the corners, or get a cooling pad.