Before I buy....

jam March 14, 2010 at 17:55:46

Not only do we have to compare the specs, but we have to look up every single laptop to do it. I shouldn't have wasted my time, but I did: Toshiba Satellite L555D-S7005 (Office Depot - $650) CPU: AMD Turion II M520 OS: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 4200 w/shared memory Memory: 4GB Hard Drive: 320GB Screen: 17.3" Sony Vaio NW310F (Walmart - $600) CPU: Intel Pentium T4400 OS: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) Graphics: Intel GMA 4500MHD w/shared memory Memory: 4GB Hard Drive: 320GB Screen: 15.5" HP Pavilion dv7-3160us (Office Depot - $770) CPU: AMD Turion II Ultra M620 OS: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4530 w/512MB dedicated memory Memory: 4GB Hard Drive: 500GB Screen: 17.3" HP Pavilion G71 340us (Office Depot - $550) CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 OS: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) Graphics: Intel GMA 4500M w/shared memory Memory: 4GB Hard Drive: 320GB Screen: 17.3" Pavilion G71 449wm (Walmart - $600) CPU: Intel Pentium T4300 OS: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) Graphics: Intel GMA 4500MHD w/shared memory Memory: 4GB Hard Drive: 320GB Screen: 17.3" For gaming, you need decent graphics. In order of increasing performance, they are: GMA 4500M, GMA 4500MHD, Radeon HD 4200, Radeon HD 4530. So the best out of the above is the Radeon HD 4530 in the HP Pavilion dv7-3160us. It's also the most expensive laptop in the bunch. Now check the system requirements for Sims 3: http://www.thesims3.com/game/systemreq And pay attention to the note: "Laptop versions of these chipsets may work, but may run comparatively slower."

Thank you for 'wasting your time'. As for the information, you did a good job. Nice work.