Laptop Tech Savvy people please read!!

[Wildfilly94]

I'm trying to get a laptop, and having the hardest time with it. I need something that can run Sims 3 fluently (Also a few expansions), and also able to do day-to-day internet, photoshop, etc. Also cheap, I'm whining at even $500 dollars.. Lol

I have a few choices I'm going through, but some confuse me because for the walmart ones, they say for example: 2.5Ghz on top under key benefits, and then when you go down to the specs, it says 1.8Ghz. How am I supposed to know which one is the actual speed? Sims 3 needs 2.0Ghz atleast, and I can't go buying a laptop that says one speed on top thats good, and one speed on bottom that wouldn't work at all.

First and top choice at the moment-
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba+-+15.6%255C%255C%255C%2522+Satellite+Notebook+-+6+GB+Memory+-+500+GB+Hard+Drive/1309189588.p?skuId=1309189588&productCategoryId=pcmcat247400050000&id=mp1309189588&sellerId=37563850

Second- http://www.walmart.com/ip/Toshiba-Mercury-Silver-15.6-L55-A5226-Laptop-PC-with-Intel-Core-i5-3337U-Processor-and-Windows-8-Operating-System/24534423 (depending onf the Ghz.. also very expensive so a little hesitant)

Third- http://www.walmart.com/ip/Dell-Matte-Black-15.6-Inspiron-i15RV-8524BLK-Laptop-PC-with-Intel-Core-i5-3337U-Processor-and-Windows-8-Operating-System/25582166 (Would be great if its 2.50Ghz, but the top says 1.80Ghz so not sure)

[TheLeet]

Hi. I'm Joe. I'm Leet's boyfriend. She showed me this thread so I thought I would try and help.

Processor speed is not a particularly good indicator of how well it will perform. An older generation processor that is a faster speed than a newer one could well be slower.

For your budget you should be looking for either an i3 or an i5. There are several different types of i3 and i5 so it's important to know the exact processor that you are getting.

On the Bestbuy page that you linked to, it just says "Intel® Core™ i3". That's not at all helpful. Walmart seems to give more detail because both the links say "Intel Core i5-3337U Processor". The key information is the i5-3337U. That is the specific code for that model of processor.

When I look for a new laptop I go to a website, click laptops, look for where it says processor or CPU type and then select i3 and i5. Then I order them by price and look at what's available in my budget. Then I look at the specific processor model number and put it into Google with "benchmark" after it. For example "i5-3337U benchmark".

A site that I trust is cpubenchmark.net which is normally near the top of the results. It gives processors a simple score. In this case 3281:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-3337U+%40+1.80GHz

That is an excellent score. Anything over 2000 is pretty good but obviously the higher the score, the better. The Sims 3 site says it needs a 2.4GHz P4 processor if you are using Windows Vista. That is a really old processor that only scores 235.

I wouldn't worry too much about RAM. As long as it has 4GB it will be fine. Any more is a bonus.

The best make for your budget is Asus (not to be confused with Acer). The very worst make is HP. HP laptops are poorly made and frequently go wrong after a year or two.

If you don't mind buying online then I hear Newegg is a good site. I'm in the UK so I'm not overly familiar with US sites. Having had a quick look I would suggest the following:

If you can stretch to $500 then go for this which has a score of 3281:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231074

If you want to spend less ($350) you could go for this which has a score of 2265:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834300152

If you were willing to go up to $430 you could get this which has a score of 2854:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230985


These prices may well be Black Friday deals so they may go up after today. If you aren't looking to buy straight away I could have another look next week for you.

Any questions, don't hesitate to ask.


Joe

[Saturnalia]

I'll second Newegg (and I'm in the States). I've always had fantastic luck with them, fast shipping, good prices, etc.

Alas, I'm not great with laptops but it looks like you have a lot of good info there, anyway Best of luck!

[Wildfilly94]

Wow that's a lot of info! I will rebook this later tonight and see what I think.
I plan to buy withi the next few days including today. Monday probably is my best bet because of cyber Monday sales.

However in the specs for the first laptop I linked to, it does say the type, atleast I think so. "Processor Model: i3-3120M"

Eta: I'm really really worried about the Ghz here. I know you said old processors are different, but my mom has a model from last year or the year before that's an i3 2.5 ghz or around there and that doesn't even play my game as well as I want it to. So like with that last laptop you showed me, I'm really afraid of the 1.8ghz speed.
I want something better than her computer in general, actually.

Also: same question with the laptops you linked me to like the ones on Walmart.com. It says one processor speed in the processor area, and a totally different one in the CPU area. The CPU for sims 3 is atleast 2.4 ghz for windows xp so 1.8ghz wouldn't come close.. If it doesn't work on my moms computer it can't work on a computer with even less specs... I'm just really confused here

[TheLeet]

Oh yeah you are right it does say that the model is  i3-3120M. My mistake.

You really ought not to worry about the GHz. Investigate each processor individually. It's possible that your mom's i3 is quite an old i3. You can easily see which exact model it is by clicking Start then right-clicking on My Computer and going to properties. It should say there what the model is.

Put that into Google followed by "benchmark" and then look for the cpubenchmark.net link. Look at the score for that processor compared with the various others that you are considering. Keep in mind that the Walmart one you linked to scores 3292.


Joe

[Wildfilly94]

Okay. I'll do that and see what I come up with. Thank you! I'll keep you posted when I get home and look at it all

[Wildfilly94]

My moms computer scored 1900 something.
The first link I posted (The one I'm really interested in) scored 3292, which is actually even better that the top one you posted. XD I guess there's my answer on with one I should go with.
Thanks for showing me that website! That is really insightful and it helped alot!