Gaming PC/Laptop Advice
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Okay so I have a macbook and I'm sick of not being able to play a lot of games/my computer crapping out on me when I do try to play the few games made for macs. So! I decided I want to invest in a nice gaming computer... preferably laptop, because I'm lazy and like to lay down. I know absolutely nothing about computers and what's good for this and that and whatever. So any advice would be helpful! Please and thank you ^.^
[edit] Apparently laptops aren't good for gaming and stuff, so scratch that. ANY ADVICE WILL DO XD
You can actually buy laptops that are good enough for gaming. I've got a Vista comp that's a few years old and a couple of my friends have laptops that are better than my comp xD So if you've got a mouse that you can use or are okay with using a trackpad, you should be fine. As far as finding one, just walking in to a electronics store and asking someone would be the way to go. Maybe knowing the games you'd like to play and their system requirements as well.
I think I can help :) Can you name a few games you'd like to be able play?
It seems that the laptops with the same specs as the desktops are like... $3000 :c So that's why I'm more interested in the desktop, because cheaper!
I play a lot of Sims. Like, an unreal amount. I have all the expansions + a few gig of custom content. I feel like if the computer can handle that, it should (hopefully) be good for other games too, right? :) I'll probably start playing Minecraft again. I don't really know what other games I'd play, since most games aren't available for Macs, so I haven't looked into any XD
Would you want to just buy it as a pc outright, or would you want to build it yourself?
If you want to get a feel for games, maybe going and looking through steam could help with that?
Omg I do not want to build it myself. I'm afraid to upgrade the ram in my laptop now. I could never do that XD
Could I always buy a PC and have someone upgrade it for me?
I'm sure you could. You can always add better parts to computers. So if you wanted to buy one that is just bare minimum of what you need, and upgrade it later, you could do that. For getting help or someone to do it for you I'm not sure if you could just bring it in to a electronics store, or just know someone who's tech savvy enough to do that. Although you could always go to youtube and see if you want to try it out.
Oh, I forgot to ask, what's your budget? I think the average for decent gaming laptops and PCs would be around $800-1000, but let me know if you're aiming for lower or higher!
For gaming PCs, I shopped around Newegg a bit and found these two: this one ($869) and this.
I've never had a gaming laptop but my friends do, and they're pretty content with it. Though it's pricier than the PCs, this one should be able to run your games well (though it's 5.3lbs, and probably heavier than your Macbook): xx
To be honest, if I had to choose, I'd probably get the laptop over either of those PCs as laptops aren't something you can build yourself, they're portable, and because Lenovo's known for their gaming laptops. Pre-built gaming PCs I feel are actually anything but decent and you have to pay a couple hundred more for how much that PC is actually worth.
The third option, if you're willing to consider a PC, is to buy all the parts yourself, and find someone to build the PC for you. I'm not sure how much it costs--around $60?-- but I think this way, you'll be able to 1) choose a case that's not extremely tacky, 2) be able to contact that person should anything go wrong as opposed to having to wait on poor customer service for RMAs/etc, and 3) build a PC that's much more powerful and in your budget than you can get from any pre-builts. I'd be willing to help you through it (picking the parts and such) if you want to go this route!
I have to agree with on the last part. xD I've ended up ordering all the parts for my new PC and assembled them with the help of my brother. It ended up costing me roughly 600 bucks and I think it's pretty good for a budget gaming PC.
If you have the option to buy all the parts separately and get someone else to put it together and install the OS, definitely consider it.
So the best option would be to just have someone build the PC for me? Ugh that's what my boyfriend said and told me he'd do it for me when he comes home, but I don't want to wait 😆 Is it possible to buy a bare minimum PC, like said, and just upgrade it, rather than building it all? I mean, isn't that kind of the same thing? You'd be picking all the parts you want and replacing the ones in the PC? I mean, that's how it works, right? I have no idea. Like I said, I have a Mac, and I think the only thing I can upgrade is my RAM, and I'm pretty sure that voids my warranty in the long run XD Honestly, I just want to install Create-a-World for the Sims 3 and mess with that a while, and if I could at least do that on the PC for now, before upgrading it to run the games better, I'd be happy.
PS. Thank you for all the help so far! Sorry I'm such a newb!
@ introvert When is your boyfriend coming home? It might sound more secure since it's already all set up and ready to go in the case, but I personally think it's much more of a hassle.
If you purchase a PC that's ~$300-500 with entry-level components, in the end you'll be expected to replace most (if not all) the parts, in order to get it working without any bottlenecks or problems, should you want to replace the parts with higher-end components.
That's just one of the few problems -- the others being the size of the case (if your replacement video card doesn't fit, you'll have to buy a new case and move everything over anyway) and the PC's specs (you'll need to know what is and isn't compatible with that build), etc. etc.
I hope that makes sense, but to sum it up, you'll need to know exactly what you plan to do if you start with a bare-minimum PC. It'd actually be rather pointless--you'd be better off buying a decent gaming PC and upgrading from there ;v;
Also, since you play Sims 3, do you merge your downloads into larger .package files? It'll make the game noticeably faster/smoother.
In about six months... guess I should just wait for him to do it for me. XD I guess I'll just get more memory for my mac and hope that helps for now.
I have absolutely no idea how to even do that O_O My biggest issue is getting custom worlds to load... because of the size of them, and my computer is just not having it.
If you want a more portable gaming machine, you can get gaming laptops, but they cost a fair bit. There's a brand in Australia called Metabox and I got one of their higher-end machines last year for my birthday, and it's a beast. Can play anything in full resolution, and there's been no issues. It's bulky, but strong. The only brand I can think of elsewhere that's close is Alienware, but... ehhhh, I dunno. I've heard some bad things.
If you're content with having a just at home gaming machine, then I would suggest a desktop. Would be cheaper, and a lot easier to upgrade and maintain. You could easily buy a lower-end machine and upgrade it for sure. As long as the motherboard can support the newer componants that you'll add.
Yeah, the patience will pay off since there are always new parts coming out! :)
And yes! It seriously works like magic. Sims is dangerous for me because I go on massive downloading sprees and I dump them all in the folder at once (though, I definitely try to keep it organized). I'd have issues playing on the same saved game for too long due to the sheer number of files the game had to load.
This helped me solve the bulk of it. Here's a link to one guide if you'd like to try: xx
It's pretty simple and you can do it however you wish - for example, I'd group all the cosmetics into one package, then skintones into another. I always make sure to keep the original package files as a backup in folders elsewhere, though.
There's no defined limit to how many files you can merge, but I think it is somewhat dependent on how much RAM you have, so I think it's safest to merge no more than 70-100MB worth of downloads into a single package.
I think I'm set on getting the desktop, since I don't really go places, and if I did, I probably wouldn't be playing on the computer :p
OMFG I'LL HAVE TO TRY THAT. I do the exact same thing... "Oh I think I'll just get a couple hairstyles" and three hours later I have a whole new wardrobe and 100 different living room, bathroom, and kitchen sets.
Will this also work with worlds that I downloaded as simpacks? Also, I'm assuming I need to delete all the simpacks from the game or else have double of everything?
I think I'm set on getting the desktop, since I don't really go places, and if I did, I probably wouldn't be playing on the computer :p
OMFG I'LL HAVE TO TRY THAT. I do the exact same thing... "Oh I think I'll just get a couple hairstyles" and three hours later I have a whole new wardrobe and 100 different living room, bathroom, and kitchen sets.
Will this also work with worlds that I downloaded as simpacks? Also, I'm assuming I need to delete all the simpacks from the game or else have double of everything?
Oh, actually IIRC you shouldn't extract world or lot .sim3packs as they won't display properly in-game (or rather, it's more effort than it's worth >_<). Everything else is good to go for it, though!
Hmm, yeah, I think your best bet would be to uninstall the .sim3packs properly to prevent any needless duplicates! Then you would go about extracting them with the multi-extractor and it can be grouped with the other .package files in your ModsPackages folder (if you have any in there) for merging.
I just stress on keeping backups because once you've merged the .packages, there's no way to split them out again easily.
Boooo I just wanna play Alpine County 😆 oh well. I have all the simpacks backed up on my external, so it shouldn't be a problem. I'll maybe experiment with it today. :)
Thank you so much for all your help! ^.^
Aaa I'm tempted to play Sims 3 again just looking at it! No problem at all and good luck ^^