Opinion on a laptop

[wvjules]

I'm getting DD14 a laptop for Christmas. I've been looking around a little and came across this one. Do you think that would be sufficient for a 14 year old? She isn't into gaming so it would just need to be good enough for MS Office, internet, Itunes, and possibly the SIMS3.

Thoughts?

 

[rwdavis2]

That should be OK EXCEPT you may be asking for trouble if she's going to use SIMS3. SIMS is generally a resource hog (memory and processing power) and the slow processor speed combined with Windows Vista and integrated graphics may leave SIMS unsusable.

For everything other than SIMS the PC is quite sufficient. PM me if you have any other questions.
BD

 

[wvjules]

That should be OK EXCEPT you may be asking for trouble if she's going to use SIMS3. SIMS is generally a resource hog (memory and processing power) and the slow processor speed combined with Windows Vista and integrated graphics may leave SIMS unsusable.

For everything other than SIMS the PC is quite sufficient. PM me if you have any other questions.
BD

Thanks. I had a feeling that the SIMS3 would be the do or die for this computer. We don't have it yet but I was thinking of getting it for her as a stocking stuffer since she won't get much since there will be a laptop under the tree.

When the Windows 7 upgrade comes out, will that free up some of the resources for the SIMS?

 

[rwdavis2]

Thanks. I had a feeling that the SIMS3 would be the do or die for this computer. We don't have it yet but I was thinking of getting it for her as a stocking stuffer since she won't get much since there will be a laptop under the tree.

When the Windows 7 upgrade comes out, will that free up some of the resources for the SIMS?

Maybe. I don't know enough about it to give an informed opinion. The problem with SIMS on the laptop will be the graphics processing and the CPU power. You have plenty of memory. The 1.6Ghz processor on that laptop is at the lower end. I would not want to install WIndows 7 on a laptop having another operating system already installed. There may be compatibility issues with the new OS. If you can get W7 pre-installed then that's OK.

My daughter put SIMS3 on here Macbook without a hitch and I'm sure it has fewer resources than the laptop you are looking at. But Mac's OS is such an excellent product it does not hog resources like Windows does.

Does she have SIMS2 on another PC at home? Compare that PC with the new laptap as to cpu, memory and graphics and if they are similar you may be OK.

Being a parent, the real problem you face is giving her SIMS3 and then it does not work and she's disappointed. ;-)
Good luck.