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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 11th Jun 2020 at 12:02 PM Last edited by lovemarchx : 12th Jun 2020 at 6:56 AM.
Default Any suggestions of laptops that can run Sims 2 smoothly in 2020?
I've been looking for suggestions on what laptops that can run Sims 2 smoothly, but all I can search is answers from years ago or even a decade ago.

I used to have a desktop computer that runs Sims 2 with expansion packs but my computer has broken down already. Now, I want to buy a laptop that I will only use for Sims 2 with expansion packs.

I can buy a new, old or secondhand one. Any suggestions on old laptops (which is not already phased out, and is still working fine if that's even possible) would also be much appreciated. Here are some secondhand laptops I search online (available in my country: Philippines) :

1. Lenovo Thinkpad x220 i5-2gen
2. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E530 Intel Core i3-3120M
3. Lenovo ThinkPad L530 - Core i5 3230M


Do you think these are good to run Sims 2? If I'm not mistaken, their operating system is Windows 7.

I also researched that Windows 10 laptop users needs to fix their Sims 2 to be able to play it smoothly.

So which one would you suggest? An old laptop with Windows 7 as operating system or modern laptops with Windows 10? Also, if you suggest a modern laptop, please cite some examples of laptops.

Thank you and stay safe.
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 11th Jun 2020 at 2:07 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 12th Jun 2020 at 10:00 AM.
1 - Intel graphics 3000, chip only.

3 - Intel graphics 4000, chip only

2 - has either Intel 3000/4000 or a 630M Nvidia card depending on model, it seems. I think the spesific one you linked to has the 4000 card.
I have some experience with the 635M card on Win7 which I'm guessing is roughly on par with the 630M, but on a different model laptop (Asus, 2011 model). It ran TS2 fairly well (never with my full game, though - but it did manage around 10-15 GB of CC without complaining too much), but the card had a tendency to "play dead" a few times, so my game suddenly would run on the low-end card. Found a few ways around it, but it was annoying. The laptop managed fairly well for about 6 years, then the battery died and now it kinda runs (but throws bluescreens every so often) on cord - which is why I got a new one. This was never my main simming computer, though it served as my "replacement" for a couple years after my stationary partly threw in the towel a few years back.

Chips can be okay for casual play with graphics on medium or some things like shadows, reflections and shaders turned off, but may not be the best if you're the kind of player who love to play around with graphics on high, lots of CC (especially high-poly or with large textures), or other graphical heavy-duty things like reshade. For those things you may want a graphic card that's not going to fry when it gets too heavy.

Seems like all have 4GB RAM (technically, 8 would be better with Win7 because Windows is a memory hog and the 4GB fix could come in handy), i3 or i5 processors (2.5 GHz +), and from what I can see (some of the reviews were a bit limited) they seem to have at least the minimum requirements of what's needed to run TS2 (with Win7).

Also, it's not certain you'd want the older small laptops (the 12-13 inch ones, one seems to be 15,6 which is fine), as the cooling on these may not be the best. The more compact a laptop is, the worse the cooling system may be.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#3 Old 12th Jun 2020 at 7:09 AM
Thank you very much for your help.

Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
1 - Intel graphics 3000, chip only.

3 - Intel graphics 4000, chip only

2 - has either Intel 3000/4000 or a 630M Nvidia card depending on model, it seems. I think the spesific one you linked to has the 4000 card.
I have some experience with the 635M card on Win7 which I'm guessing is roughly on par with the 630M, but on a different model laptop (Asus, 2011 model). It ran TS2 fairly well (never with my full game, though - but it did manage around 10-15 GB of CC without complaining too much), but the card had a tendency to "play dead" a few times, so my game suddenly would run on the low-end card. Found a few ways around it, but it was annoying. The laptop managed fairly well for about 6 years, then the battery died and now it kinda runs (but throws bluescreens every so often) on cord. This was never my main simming computer, though it served as my "replacement" for a couple years after my stationary partly threw in the towel a few years back.

Chips can be okay for casual play with graphics on medium or some things like shadows, reflections and shaders turned off, but may not be the best if you're the kind of player who love to play around with graphics on high, lots of CC (especially high-poly or with large textures), or other graphical heavy-duty things like reshade. For those things you may want a graphic card that's not going to fry when it gets too heavy.

Seems like all have 4GB RAM (technically, 8 would be better with Win7 because Windows is a memory hog and the 4GB fix could come in handy), i3 or i5 processors (2.5 GHz +), and from what I can see (some of the reviews were a bit limited) they seem to have at least the minimum requirements of what's needed to run TS2 (with Win7).

Also, it's not certain you'd want the older small laptops (the 12-13 inch ones, one seems to be 15,6 which is fine), as the cooling on these may not be the best. The more compact a laptop is, the worse the cooling system may be.
Test Subject
#4 Old 12th Jun 2020 at 8:00 AM
I've got an Lenovo ideapad flex 15 inch. I've had no troubles I didn't have with windows 7 or vista. I just delete those to files in the sims 2 folder every now and again when it won't load. I did pin it to my task bar. I play virtually daily, though I have had one crisis with CC so I have been doing a no CC neighborhood. I don't have ultimate (I didn't have internet at that time) So I ended with Mansion and Garden. I did buy a new dvd-r to run the game. It runs better than I have ever seen it run.

I did see a thing where if you have the in motherboard and a separate graphics card, 2 won't see the external one, only the one on the motherboard. Only thing it did to me was limit me to the 800 x 600 window, but the game still plays fine. Enjoy!
Test Subject
Original Poster
#5 Old 12th Jun 2020 at 3:43 PM
Thank you for sharing your experience with your laptop as well!

Quote: Originally posted by brientara
I've got an Lenovo ideapad flex 15 inch. I've had no troubles I didn't have with windows 7 or vista. I just delete those to files in the sims 2 folder every now and again when it won't load. I did pin it to my task bar. I play virtually daily, though I have had one crisis with CC so I have been doing a no CC neighborhood. I don't have ultimate (I didn't have internet at that time) So I ended with Mansion and Garden. I did buy a new dvd-r to run the game. It runs better than I have ever seen it run.

I did see a thing where if you have the in motherboard and a separate graphics card, 2 won't see the external one, only the one on the motherboard. Only thing it did to me was limit me to the 800 x 600 window, but the game still plays fine. Enjoy!
Mad Poster
#6 Old 12th Jun 2020 at 4:42 PM
I'm playing on my almost 8 year old laptop and use a game booster tool to force the computer into using the dedicated card in gaming mode so I can choose to run my games in windowed mode which is how TS2 UC runs for me because I edited the shortcut to force it into loading as a window so I don't lose track of the time.I've got the ablity to select the screen resolution and my computer is Windows 7.
Mad Poster
#7 Old 12th Jun 2020 at 5:23 PM
Quote: Originally posted by brientara
I did see a thing where if you have the in motherboard and a separate graphics card, 2 won't see the external one, only the one on the motherboard. Only thing it did to me was limit me to the 800 x 600 window, but the game still plays fine. Enjoy!


There's fixes for both of those problems, and both can be fixed by editing the GraphicRules and VideoCards files. It can be done manually, but there's also a tool called GraphicRulesMaker that does this for you. It helps the game fix issues with the onboard chip or sets up the dedicated card properly, and fixes the resolution issue. The newest version also adds a potential fix for a pink-flashy issue that's been a problem for a lot of Windows users lately, especially those with 2015+++ dedicated graphic cards (like me - my game was pretty much unplayable without this particular fix).

You don't need an old computer with old hardware to run TS2. An older (less annoying than 10) Windows version could perhaps help a bit, and so could probably an older (but still powerful) dedicated graphic card, but there are a lot of ways to get around problems these days.

My game went from being fully playable on the Win7 laptop to completely unplayable and pink-flashy on my sparkly new gaming laptop, but after a lot of head-scratching and a lot of fixing I've now gotten it to a point where it runs fine with no pink-flashing at a low CC amount (Ultimate collection, Win10), and maybe could handle a good deal more (I just haven't gotten around to do a proper test run yet). Even Bodyshop went pink-flashy for a bit, but now it handles 15+ GB of just Bodyshop CC, so there's hope.
Lab Assistant
#8 Old 22nd Jun 2020 at 9:37 PM
Default Laptops for smooth Sims 2 play
I use a Lenovo Predator with 1080 fix and my game is good as ever.

The interface box and noticed are tiny but graphics, speed and gameplay are fine.

Had to boolProp simShadows off though.

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