Will 15inch MacBook Pro run the Sims 3

[keeleymillerr]

Hi! I really want to buy a brand new 15 inch Macbook Pro (https://www.apple.com/au/macbook-pro/specs/) but am concerned about how it will run the Sims 3. I have all Sims 3 expansions & stuff packs.

Can anyone who plays the Sims 3 on Mac give me any info??

TIA

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@keeleymillerr  I play TS3 on last year's macbook pro: 15", Intel i7 @2.9 GHz (4 cores, not 6), 16 GB RAM, AMD Radeon Pro 560.  The game runs beautifully on my hardware, and while installing it in mac OS was a bit of trouble, there are some excellent guides that helped me along.

However, I now play TS3 exclusively via Bootcamp—I partitioned my hard drive, installed Windows 10 on one side, and run the game from there.  This is because TS3 is not and never was optimized for macs; the port into mac OS was extremely poorly done.  There are a number of consequences of this, but the most important one is that the game can only use 2 GB of RAM at once (unlike in Windows, where it can use ~3.7 GB before crashing).  With all packs installed, you'd likely be close to 2 GB memory just when loading a new game; playing it forward for any length of time would be next to impossible.

I love macs and would never tell someone who can afford it not to buy one... but trying to play TS3 in mac OS is frustrating at best.  If you're buying a mac for other reasons, then partitioning your hard drive is a perfectly viable solution.  You'll want an SSD large enough to set aside at least 300 GB just for the Windows side of the partition, more if you don't want to have to worry about managing free space.  The hardware on new macs is perfectly capable of handling everything Windows can throw at it, and the Bootcamp Assistant software is reasonably easy to use.

It is a bit of a pain to have to boot into Windows just to play TS3, and I don't even like looking at anything related to that OS, but in-game the performance is much better.  It is absolutely the right way to play TS3, especially if you have more than a few early packs installed.

P.S.  In all likelihood, the next mac OS after Mojave won't run TS3 at all, no matter what we do.  Bootcamped setups will still (probably) be fine, but that will be the only option for mac users.  So if you plan to stay current with your operating system, you'll need to find some way to play in Windows 10 within a year.

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@keeleymillerr  I play TS3 on last year's macbook pro: 15", Intel i7 @2.9 GHz (4 cores, not 6), 16 GB RAM, AMD Radeon Pro 560.  The game runs beautifully on my hardware, and while installing it in mac OS was a bit of trouble, there are some excellent guides that helped me along.

However, I now play TS3 exclusively via Bootcamp—I partitioned my hard drive, installed Windows 10 on one side, and run the game from there.  This is because TS3 is not and never was optimized for macs; the port into mac OS was extremely poorly done.  There are a number of consequences of this, but the most important one is that the game can only use 2 GB of RAM at once (unlike in Windows, where it can use ~3.7 GB before crashing).  With all packs installed, you'd likely be close to 2 GB memory just when loading a new game; playing it forward for any length of time would be next to impossible.

I love macs and would never tell someone who can afford it not to buy one... but trying to play TS3 in mac OS is frustrating at best.  If you're buying a mac for other reasons, then partitioning your hard drive is a perfectly viable solution.  You'll want an SSD large enough to set aside at least 300 GB just for the Windows side of the partition, more if you don't want to have to worry about managing free space.  The hardware on new macs is perfectly capable of handling everything Windows can throw at it, and the Bootcamp Assistant software is reasonably easy to use.

It is a bit of a pain to have to boot into Windows just to play TS3, and I don't even like looking at anything related to that OS, but in-game the performance is much better.  It is absolutely the right way to play TS3, especially if you have more than a few early packs installed.

P.S.  In all likelihood, the next mac OS after Mojave won't run TS3 at all, no matter what we do.  Bootcamped setups will still (probably) be fine, but that will be the only option for mac users.  So if you plan to stay current with your operating system, you'll need to find some way to play in Windows 10 within a year.

[keeleymillerr]

@puzzlezaddict Thank you so much for that advise it has really helped me make my decision! I really only want it so I can play TS3.. so looks like I'll be looking into a Windows PC. Thanks again  

[puzzlezaddict]

@keeleymillerr  I'm glad to have helped.  Frankly, for the same cost as one of those gorgeous macbook pros, you could buy a macbook air for all of your browsing/portability needs (but not gaming) and also a Windows desktop that runs TS3 with ease.  If you post your budget and country, someone here can help you find the computer that meets your Sims needs.  Just be sure to include anything else you want the machine to do besides run TS3.

And once you get it, you're welcome to come back and ask for help setting up the game.  In particular, you'll need to cap the in-game frame rates, since TS3 has no fps limiter of its own, and you wouldn't want to risk damaging a brand-new graphics card.  But of course, that and all other issues are purely theoretical until you actually have the computer up and running.