New Laptop Help will - amd radeon vega 3 work? [ Edited ]

[louise199360]

Hello! 

I'm looking at getting a new laptop to play sims on and just looking for some advice as my old one has gone bust after 7 years. I think I've found one but just looking for some advice from people more computer/tech savvy than me to confirm sims 3 will work with no problems. 

The Laptop I'm thinking of getting is HP 17-ca0007na - specs seen here: https://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=4BY34EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB is this ok and the graphics card too ? 

Not that it will be must use but I used to run sims 3 and most of the EP's & packs on this Toshiba here: http://www.toshiba.co.uk/discontinued-products/satellite-c855-1hm/  

Thanks in advance! 

[igazor · Accepted solution]

I would suggest considering the following two I just managed to find on Amazon UK, or anything that might be equivalent to them, as starting points. Dell and HP don't usually offer the best options for laptops in this range. Actually, I like the second one much better. It has a better graphics card and MSI makes high quality laptops for gaming (this would be on the "lower end" of their usual line). The build quality on Asus at this end of their line tends to be more variable. If you poke around more, there are bound to be many similar items on Amazon or wherever you prefer to shop as well.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07F3JGPW1/ref=sr_ob_10?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1541308735&sr=1-10

(on sale for £650)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0793K8Y2X/ref=psdc_429886031_t1_B0735FQVP6

(on sale for £775)

[puzzlezaddict]

@louise199360  You're not going to get very good performance out of the laptop you linked.  It has a U-series processor, for ultra-low power, which will throttle power compared to other makes.  IT also has only an integrated graphics card, and not a particularly strong one at that.  The most demanding EPs—Pets, Seasons, then ITF and IP—really do require a dedicated card of sufficient strength.  HP products are also not known for their cooling, which is especially important with a game that puts such stress on a graphics card.

I think you can probably do better than this computer.  I'm not an expert on shopping by any means, but there are others who can help.  Please post your budget and country (it looks like you're in the U.K., but please confirm), as well as anything else you need the computer to do, like run other games or be a laptop.  Then someone will be able to find better options for you.  @chesterbigbird in particular is very good at this sort of thing.

[roberta591]

@louise199360  The AMD Ryzen 3 is the weakest of the Ryzen line. It has a burst speed which is not turbo. The cpu will speed down very quickly with burst unlike turbo the cpu will speed up and maintain the speed. Most 3D graphical games run much better with a dedicated video chip rather then an integrated video chip. That is because an integrated video chip has no true dedicated video memory. With demanding 3D graphical games with no dedicated video memory this causes the cpu and integrated video chip to work harder. This may work until the 3D graphics overwhelms the system. If the cpu can handle the extra load the game may run acceptable but this system's cpu is the weakest of the Ryzen line.. As the add on packs get more demanding you may have performance issues. The Sims 3 and the Sims 4 are 3D graphical gamesand to get acceptable performance you will need a gaming systems - student/business computers need not apply. Once you buy a laptop there is no upgrading the video system. I recommend getting a gaming laptop.

[chesterbigbird]

As others have said above, it's not going to play the game well at all.

The cpu is a low end dual core and it's using integrated graphics which is not ideal.

If you want to be able to play the games properly with no very little issues then you really should be looking at proper gaming laptops with a good quad core cpu and a dedicated graphics card such as a Nvidia GTX 1050/1050ti/1060. Usually intel and Nvidia will give you better performance over AMD on laptops. 

[louise199360]

@puzzlezaddict @roberta591 @chesterbigbird

Thanks all for replying and helping! I've found all it rather baffling trying to find one. @puzzlezaddict Yeah that's a great idea if there is people here that don't mind doing that as would make it easy for me and give me peace of mind knowing it will work! Yep I am in the UK and budget was thinking around £500-800 ideally as the laptop will only be used to play sims with a bit of internet use. I was looking at laptops with disk drives too as all my sims are on disk but if plug in disk drives are still around this is also an option for getting a non disk drive laptop?

I currently have a HP for photo editing, storing photos, and general use but don't want to bog it down with sims etc and end up back where I was with my Toshiba. Ideally wouldn't want to spend anymore than £900 though, 

Thank you very much

[louise199360]

Just curious as to what everyone thinks of these:

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/laptop-desktop-electronic-deals/dell-g3-15-gaming-laptop/spd/g-serie...

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/laptops-notebooks-and-2-in-1-laptops/dell-g3-17-gaming-laptop/spd/g-...

 https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7364976?cmpid=GS001&_$ja=tsid:59158|acid:532-198-3455|cid:200223050|a...

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8522896

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7253180

[puzzlezaddict]

@louise199360  Sorry that no one has replied to you in a few days.  I'm no expert in shopping, but I can tell you right away that 3 and 4 are not what you want.  They both have U-series processors, for ultra-low power, meaning they're built to conserve power rather than support demanding processes like TS3.

1, 2, and 5 will all run TS3 quite well.  For the ones with the 128 GB SSD, you'd need to install TS3 on the larger 1 TB HDD and move your Documents folder there as well.  (Windows 10 needs a lot of space to maneuver, so 128 GB isn't enough room for more than the OS and maybe an antivirus/firewall.)  Running the game from the HDD isn't difficult; there's just really not much point in spending extra for an SSD that small.

All three of these also only come with 8 GB RAM.  This is more than enough for TS3, but you probably wouldn't want to run much alongside the game.  Laptops are hard to upgrade, but it looks from the other configurations offered that you might be able to add a second RAM stick to the Dell options, at least.

The other consideration is that Dell computers aren't known for their cooling.  (They also tend to be a bit more expensive for the hardware provided, but whether this is the case in the computers you linked is a question better left to an expert.)  It's probably manageable, as long as you take precautions.

Anyway, after this rough estimate, it's probably time to ask someone more knowledgeable if he can contribute.  @igazor

[igazor · Accepted solution]

I would suggest considering the following two I just managed to find on Amazon UK, or anything that might be equivalent to them, as starting points. Dell and HP don't usually offer the best options for laptops in this range. Actually, I like the second one much better. It has a better graphics card and MSI makes high quality laptops for gaming (this would be on the "lower end" of their usual line). The build quality on Asus at this end of their line tends to be more variable. If you poke around more, there are bound to be many similar items on Amazon or wherever you prefer to shop as well.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07F3JGPW1/ref=sr_ob_10?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1541308735&sr=1-10

(on sale for £650)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0793K8Y2X/ref=psdc_429886031_t1_B0735FQVP6

(on sale for £775)

[louise199360]

Thank you very much both of you for your help, you have been very helpful I will take a look at the links and make a decision :D Thank you!