Laptop Replacement: Will this run Sims 2 and/or 3 or just explode?

[Lilly Rose1231]

I'm replacing the laptop. Woo! Will this lenovo (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246324) run TS2 (and maybe TS3) at an acceptable framerate? My budget, as set by the manager of household funds, is "Under a thousand? *exaggerated wince*", so I won't be investing in a full-fledged "gaming laptop". Still, the specs for this one look decent considering the price:

2.20GHz processor
6 GB RAM
5400rpm HDD
GeForce GT 555M video card

So...a good choice? Please don't tell me to buy an Alienware I am sick to death of hearing that and I can't go dropping two grand on a laptop. :/

[whiterider]

That laptop will be absolutely fine for TS2. It will struggle with TS3, especially if you want to play TS3 with EPs; for TS3 you ideally want a 2.4Ghz or faster processor, and the graphics card isn't great, especially as the version in that Lenovo is a cut-down 555M. You would be able to run TS3 on it, but it wouldn't be advisable to play regularly or for long periods of time.

Honestly, TS3 is a resource hog, and buying a laptop to play TS3 on will put you over your budget. If you really want to play TS3, you'd be better off getting a cheap laptop for portability, and a desktop to play games on - you can get a powerful desktop for half the price of an equally powerful laptop, and it'll last longer, too. Or, you could go for the Lenovo, and stick to TS2, which is a better game anyway. ;)

Never buy Alienware - they're not quite as bad as they used to be, but they're still seriously overpriced. You can get the same damn laptop for half the price from any decent laptop builder.

[Lilly Rose1231]

Thanks for the help!
As much as I'd love to invest in a great gaming desktop, my current desktop is only a couple of years old and it's the one the household agreed on. When I play TS3, I play it on the desktop with no problems.

I am primarily a TS2 player, so it's great to hear that I can expect to run it. Right now I'm playing it (on the laptop that is getting replaced) with an integrated Intel chip. I've found that playing Sims 2 with the bare minimum system requirements will actually work, despite what some might say. I have all the settings on low and play in 800X600 windowed mode, but Fraps reports a frame rate pretty consistently between 30 and 60, and the computer never overheats. Unless I leave it sitting on the bed with the vents smothered. :|

I guess I'm running with the assumption that if my seven-year-old hunk of junk (with its blistering 512 MB of RAM) can run it, anything better will have to.

What do you mean when you say the card is a "cut-down" 555M? That it's a laptop card?

[whiterider]

The thing with the graphics card is odd - it is a laptop card, but there is no desktop 555. Normally the 555M comes with a 128-bit bus, but the 555 in the Lenovo comes with a 96-bit(?) bus. I may have misremembered the precise numbers. However, the Lenovo card is average or better as regards other specs, and even with the smaller bus, it's still gonna be fine for TS2, so I wouldn't worry. :)

I hope you enjoy the drastically improved graphics you'll soon be seeing in TS2. ;)