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infinitespectra's avatar
infinitespectra
4 years ago

Laptop upgrade

Use to play on a 2010 MacBook Pro, but definitely time for an upgrade as it is not feasible to game on it anymore. Mostly looking for a laptop to play sims 3 & 4, collection of steam games, and using...
pc
infinitespectra's avatar
infinitespectra
4 years ago

@puzzlezaddict Thank you for the information! I went and uninstalled the sims 4 from my current MacBook and have it now set just for sims 3, which surprisingly works well. Eventually I plan on building a gaming desktop, but I will still need a laptop for school and whatnot. Since my mac appears to be doing well with just the sims 3, I think I would be able to focus on getting a new laptop for life and being able to play sims 4 along with steam games.

With this, would you still recommend the same laptops or are there now other options I could consider? I have been looking at what Micro Center has to offer, as there a few near the city I work in, but again, I am still not sure what options would be best for my situation. Again, thank you.

darkaudit's avatar
darkaudit
Seasoned Veteran
4 years ago
@infinitespectral I bought this one last March:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-Pavilion-15-6-FHD-AMD-Ryzen-5-4500U-8GB-RAM-512GB-SSD-Horizon-Blue-Windows-10-15-eh0050wm/616638731?fulfillmentIntent=In-store

It's since been superseded by this one:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-Pavilion-15-6-FHD-AMD-Ryzen-5-5500U-8GB-RAM-512GB-SSD-Horizon-Blue-Windows-11-15-eh1052wm/531869839?fulfillmentIntent=In-store

I upgraded the memory to 16GB after purchase, and it runs both Sims 3 and 4 quite well. It will run either game at 1080p and high graphics settings. And with an NVMe and PCIE 4.0, load times are quite snappy.
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    4 years ago

    @darkaudit  Out of curiosity, which Sims 3 packs do you have installed, and if Seasons is among them, how does the laptop handle inclement weather?  What graphics settings do you use?  I don't have a lot of data about this particular processor and graphics chip.

    • darkaudit's avatar
      darkaudit
      Seasoned Veteran
      4 years ago
      @puzzlezaddict I have the entire set thanks to the bundle sale over Xmas. I haven't done a lot of Sims 3 testing so far, but it seems to be doing okay. No inclement weather seen so far.

      I had to use the Carl's guide to add the laptop (and RX 580 desktop) graphics to the .sgr files for Sims 3. But the DeviceConfig.log saw it as "uber" rated graphics from the beginning. Both games default to the High graphics preset.
      • puzzlezaddict's avatar
        puzzlezaddict
        Hero+
        4 years ago

        @darkaudit  I'd love to know how the game runs when it's raining or snowing, as well as how well your laptop handles horses and long-haired dogs: these are the most taxing elements to render on any system.  So whenever you do encounter any of them, your impressions would be great.

        The Sims 3 graphicsrules.sgr file contains a line that instructs the game to rank any AMD card not in the database as uber.

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