Has my laptop had its time to shine??

It doesn't look bad. Graphics processor is a bit weak by todays standard. Notice that the two latest Expansion packs have slightly higher requirements than the base game.

Upgrading to an SSD drive should give it a boost. Getting a Gaming computer will of course give more of a boost.

so if i plan on adding onto my game for years to come as they continue to release more packs i guess i should think about an upgrade of atleast some sort?

Your current laptop may not be able to be upgraded in the way of graphics. However, if you choose too, you could upgrade the hard drive and memory.

It sounded like you were thinking of possibly buying a desktop to play Sims? If so I think that would be better.

@aly975  First Windows 8.1 was not that good and may be at least part of the issues. The 1600 x 900 default resolution may also be part of the issue. Computer resolutions now follow tv resolutions as many people now use HDMI to connect  to their big screen tvs so resolutions like 480, 720, 1080, and now 4K seem to be what to look for when playing 3D graphical games. Microsoft was giving away Windows 10 for free to Windows 7 and Windows 8 owners. There's not much upgrading you can do with a laptop. Most desktop mother boards can be updated for a while until a new generation of chip comes out then you most likely have to upgrade the mother board.

 @172e3cda00349872 yeah i dont think it can since the graphics card is stuck to the motherboard, but i mean upgrade in the sense of upgrading to a new computer than has much better graphics and can handle the game better

@roberta591 

i think when the sims 4 first came out this laptop had windows 8.1 and i dont ever remember this issue ever happening until about a year ago..i may try windows 10 though.

As for the resolution, is there something i can do to help that out? either in game or somewhere in my laptop? 

@aly975  You are right the graphics hardware is part of the design of the motherboard and can not be changed without changing the whole motherboard which is most cases will cost more then the laptop is worth. What I mean is to upgrade the graphics drivers. Display drivers is software that lets the graphics communicate with the rest of the system and are updated from time to time. The default resolution is the resolution that will work the best with the monitor attached to the computer. Any resolution below or above this value won't produce  as sharp an image as the default resolution. Setting the resolution to a setting other then the default monitor (screen) will produce a less clear image.

Windows 8 (8.1) was a flop and was not supported as well as it should have been. It could be because of the poor support by Microsoft, third party vendors may have been slack in supporting their hardware. Microsoft answer to the dismissal sales for Windows 8 was to allow Windows 8 owners to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. As Microsoft and third party vendors there seems to be plenty of support for Windows 10.

I can not answer why you are having these issues without knowing the whole history of your ownership of these games and what is the status of your computer is. Posting your computer's dxdiag what probably help. That lists your hardware and all the drivers so we can tell if you have out dated hardware and improper drivers. Just a glance I can see your hardware is out of date. This could mean software may be so far out of date it doesn't work properly anymore. Gamers frequently have to update display drivers so the programs will run properly. I know why this is but that is a discussion for another time and another forum. All you have to know is updating drivers is part of bieng a gamer. Your laptop may be8 years old (maybe). that is a long time for a gaming laptop. I could go into the design of HP laptops but again this isn't the time or the place. What I will say is there have been many laptops in my family and most are gone except the Dell laptops. I'm not sure if the hardware is correct as a dxdiag would list everything your computer has and the drivers for the hardware. there is many things that need to be looked at and confirmed. As you listed Forceware 399.07 - according to Nvidia that is the latest driver but is that the drive installed in your system. How much free space is on the system drive is another item that needs to be checked as well as others that are too numerous to check.

@aly975

Just in case you need help with updating your drivers EA Help, has an article on that.

Finding devices and updating drivers on your PC
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/finding-devices-and-updating-drivers/

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@roberta591 wrote:

Windows 8 (8.1) was a flop and was not supported as well as it should have been. It could be because of the poor support by Microsoft, third party vendors may have been slack in supporting their hardware. Microsoft answer to the dismissal sales for Windows 8 was to allow Windows 8 owners to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. As Microsoft and third party vendors there seems to be plenty of support for Windows 10.

No their answer was a free upgrade to Windows 8,1 that rectified many of the complaints about Windows 8.0. 

Windows 10 was given as a free upgrade from Windows 7 SP1 and up for a limited time. It was not because of Windows 8. Microsoft had two objectives here. 1. they wanted to get rid of the older more insecure Windows versions. 2. They wanted to move to a SAAS approach with two minor upgrades a year. (next one is due in about 1 month) instead of one major update every 3 years.

@roberta591 my hardware is out of date? i didnt even know, nor do i really know how to tell lol... guess thats why i always resort to these types of forums, people out there know these types of things so much better than i ever could. here is my dxdiag (hopefully this is what you needed) please let me know what you find out & if theres something i can do to be as up to date as possible,