for playing the sims 3 on a laptop you need a good video card 2.4 ghz processor or better.. Video cards in laptops are not as good as desktop. 710m is an entry level card and should not be used to play the sims 3 even if you could play it for a while. This game can ruin a video card especially if your computer is not designed to play the sims. This game with all its expansion packs is brutal. Some expansion packs worse than others. Pets, Island Paradise Seasons, into the future, are worse than others.I have a 770m card. and do not have pets installed.
Here is a link to some laptop video cards tested for the game and their performance. the 740 is the lowest card listed in the 700 series.
http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/635124.page
