Re: Would the IdeaPad Slim 3i (15″ Intel) be good for the Sims 3 and all its DLCs?

I got it for about $300 with taxes when it was on sale, but it hasn’t come yet. I am considering returning it when it does come though.

I had a budget around $400 (maybe up to $500), do you think I would be able to get something better with that price? Because I would really want to have Pets and Seasons in the future.

@xxlMarii  $300 is a great price for that hardware, and it's not easy to find something at that price that's any better.  This is better though, from a Sims 3 performance standpoint:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/5262667268

You'd also get twice the memory, which, while not strictly necessary for Sims 3, is great to have in general or for multitasking while gaming.  On the flip side, the screen is likely not as pretty, although some of that is subjective.

If you're willing to go to $500, or close, this laptop would run all Sims 3 content on ultra graphics settings, minus the two (water and high-detail lots) that need to be turned down to lighten the load on the game engine.  12 GB memory is more than enough since the laptop would use the Nvidia graphics card's video memory for graphics-related processing.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-loq-15-6-gaming-laptop-fhd-amd-ryzen-5-7235hs-with-12gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-3050-6gb-512gb-ssd-luna-grey/6578512.p?skuId=6578512

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/loq-laptops/lenovo-loq-15arp9/83jc0001us

I see a lot of other options in the $350-450 range that are about as good as the first one except for having only 8 GB RAM.  If you want to keep the price down and don't like the first laptop for one reason or another, they're viable options; let me know if you'd like a list of these.  If you're willing to go to $450 though, you might as well spend a bit extra and get a proper gaming laptop, i.e. the Lenovo LOQ above.

Could I have the list as well please? I would like to also play The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection, and I was wondering if it would be able to work with both. I know TS2 is older, but I was guessing it still has a fair amount of load on a laptop.

@xxlMarii  The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection will run fine on a significantly weaker computer, not necesarily any computer, but it's much more forgiving.

What country are you in, and how much would you like to spend?  I can make some suggestions, but really, Sims 2 is not much of an issue; this would be more about getting the most for your budget.  On the flip side, TS2 requires more work to get running properly on almost any newer computer due to its lack of updates since 2008 or so.  That means you wouldn't necessarily have a game that ran perfectly out of the box no matter what you bought.

@xxlMarii  If you're only going to play Sims 2, you're better off asking someone who runs Sims 2 in Windows, which would not be me.  Do you want to play Sims 3 or 4, or other games?  If so, I can help with that; otherwise, I'll ask someone else if they can help you.

@xxlMarii  My advice for Sims 3 is to get the fastest integrated graphics chip you can for your budget.  A dedicated graphics card would be better, but that's not available in laptops for $400 or less.  And I've heard from a few players that a fast iGPU can run Sims 3 on high-ultra graphics settings most of the time.  That doesn't mean that any laptop is fine, only that you don't need a gaming system to have a good-enough experience.

This is the best new option I'm seeing for $400 or less, at least where Sims 3 is concerned.  It also has 16 GB RAM, and 512 GB storage, both of which are convenient if not essential.  The biggest downside is that the screen is not that great.  It would probably be okay in a darkened room, but playing with the lights on might not look good.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-vivobook-15-laptop-amd-ryzen-7-5800h-with-16gb-ram-512gb-ssd-quiet-blue/6597355.p?skuId=6597355

This one's screen is better, and it's about the same speed, maybe a bit faster in Sims 3 (reports are inconclusive).  It has the same 16 GB/512 GB configuration:

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/inspiron-15-laptop/spd/inspiron-15-3520-laptop/nn3520gsbbs?ref=variantstack

If you're comfortable with a refurbished model from Best Buy, this one has the same graphics chip as the Dell and a brighter, prettier screen than either of the above.  While 256 GB RAM isn't a lot, it's more than enough for Sims 2 and 3 if you pay attention and offload extraneous files (extra saves, music or movies, etc.) to an external drive.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-thinkpad-t14-gen-2-14-intel-core-i5-1145g7-16gb-ram-256gb-ssd-windows-10-pro-refurbished-black/6599000.p?skuId=6599000

If none of these is exactly what you want, let me know how, and I'll look for other options.  I do see some with only 8 GB RAM, which is enough for either game as long as you don't multitask too much, but it's better, all else being equal, to get 16 GB.  Still, if these options aren't good for you, a laptop with 8 GB memory is a viable alternative.

@xxlMarii As a rule of thumb, if it can run The Sims 3, it will most likely run The Sims 2 since the game is much lighter, so Puzzlez' suggestions are pretty solid for TS2 as well.

I do have a laptop with Intel Xe Graphics which runs TS2 Ultimate Collection very well on Windows 11, and I used to own one with Intel UHD Graphics where the game would occasionally stutter, but nothing that made the game unplayable. It should run on AMD integrated graphics as well, but I have seen reports of longer loading times on AMD graphics.

Whatever you pick, you will have to apply certain fixes, such as Graphics Rules Maker, to run TS2 on modern hardware. There is no way around that since the game has not been updated since 2008.