I read a conversation at other forum, that The Sims 4 is annoyingly lagging or delaying on low-spec PC?

Like a lag or delay when you click something and a significant delay for a sims to react to your command. Like you want to command your sims to sleep, you click a bed, it will take several seconds up to ten of seconds before the pie menu show up. Several seconds up to a minute before sims react to your command and start to walk to the bed and sleep.

I'm planning to buy a cheap laptop for work purpose, as well as installing TS4 in it. But I fear the spec is too low to play TS4 comfortably, there's a big discount in the shop near my home.

I have a what can be considered a really good PC and sometimes I still experience lag.

Pie menus taking several seconds to pop up means the computer can't handle the game. If you try to run games like Sims on one of those, you'll end up with fried parts after a much shorter while than if you get a more decent computer. Laptops in particular, as most cheap laptops aren't meant for handling games. You'll want a dedicated graphid card, a decent processor, and enough memory (preferably 6 gb or more if you have Windows 7/8, because they hog at least 2 GB).

My old laptop was 5-6 years old when it started having really bad slow spells while running Sims 2, and building a house was practically impossible. On the worst it took up to 5 minutes from I clicked to something happened on the screen. The computer gave up not long after, and wouldn't even start. It was a very low-end computer by today's standard (2005-ish model, had 512 mb memory, and ran XP). It did survive about 4-5 years of heavy gaming, and somehow managed, even if the game was a bit laggy.

I can't give you a straight answer because I don't know the specs of this laptop. Laptops are never the go-to for gaming, but they can be... Though it's almost always cheaper to just get a desktop tower. Regardless, if you post the specs I can probably give you a straight answer. I just need to know the basics for gaming, which are GPU (graphics type/model) and CPU (processor speed/core amount). If you can show me the exact laptop model, I could also give you an informed decision (I build computers as a hobby; it's like Legos with expensive parts and screws!)

Most low rate laptops (200-400 dollar range) should not be used to run any 3D games. Some can run TS4 at low settings, but then they quickly become portable heaters which is bad for the laptop itself and whatever the laptop is sitting on.

If you plan on playing a lot, and the laptop you eventually choose to buy is one of those that heats up very fast, get a cooling pad. It protects your legs and/or the surface, and helps cooling down the laptop. I've got one that slants down a little, which makes it a bit easier to write. They're not very effective, so make sure you find a laptop with a good air flow and good fans. With a cooling pad, at least you don't get burn marks from the laptop (yes, that can happen).

The spec is:

Pentium P6000 with onboard Intel HD Graphics, 2GB DDR3 RAM, 320GB HDD, 14" LED display.

It's a very very old laptop, still new in the box, the price is around USD 150. The shop owner want to clean up his old stock.


I did a search before whatever Intel HD Graphics can run TS4 and it can run smooth. But someone say, low spec PC, even if the vga card can handle it, there's a serious lag/delay when you click and execute command in the game... I'm not sure about it, because TS4 was made to able to run on PC even lower than TS3. According to shop owner, it can even run Medieval 2 Total War, Need for Speed Underground 2, The Sims 3, etc.

Lag in the graphic or lag in the gameplay? Like executing a command for a sims?

Another thing to think about is not just the base game requirements, but also making sure you have enough space for expansions. I had to buy a new comp when playing sims 2 several years ago because my comp couldn't handle more than 3 expansions. Having enough space for custom content is something to consider as well. I would definitely recommend building your own computer. Even with just an avg. understanding of how a computer works you can build one yourself, and for a lot cheaper than outright buying one, especially if you can find deals/sales online. My boyfriend and I watched tutorials on youtube for about 3 days on building a desktop comp and then went to tigerdirect and newegg and bought the parts we would need. After everything was shipped to us it only took a couple hours to put together, and any questions we had about compatibility of the parts we wanted tigerdirect cust. service answered. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. It was stressful though, not knowing much about computers, except how to use one, and spending the money to do it. It was sooooo worth it though, being able to customize everything for your personal needs. We do a lot of gaming between the two of us, so we needed lots of space for games and wanted to be able to play all of our games on high graphics settings. We've had the desktop we built for about 4 years now and its still working wonderfully and keeping up with the specs of newer games as well. All in all it cost us about $650 after like $200 worth of mail-in rebates, and when we compared our specs to similar pre-built comps. we saved a couple hundred doing it ourselves. Another cool thing to try, is using the HDMI ports on your tv (if you have them) and using the tv as your monitor. It's awesome playing Skyrim and Sims and streaming movies on a huge screen. Anyways, good luck in your gaming endeavors .

I expirience the entire game just... halting. On and off, stopping and starting even with no interactions with the game just... playing. It happens when my computer has been going through a lot of changes, such as scans or resets (before the game is started). A restart usually fixes it.

Honestly I don't think it's a bad problem but I thought it was worth mentioning, I guess?

Thanks everyone for all the answers.

I'm going to buy the laptop, it's a great deal, because I want to own a laptop too beside of my desktop. Whatever it is...

I will install TS4 in it... just wait for the report couple of days later.


Although somehow, I feel like... if I have more money I probably will buy a better laptop. May be I will regret it later or not... I don't know. I guess, I will bargain the laptop even cheaper.

For the most part, the quantity and quality of the processor(s) is what's going to be responsible for slow pie menus and Sims taking a while to carry out actions.

I experienced slight lag at high graphics settings, so I lowered the settings and now the game runs super smoothly

Given that proc is from 2010 at the latest, and the dealer is selling out this old "new" stock laptop to make space for $150, I'd bet the dealer is not going to up it to 8 GB for them. Hell, adding another 6 GB of matching RAM alone would probably run ~$100, two thirds the cost of the laptop itself (although there are probably 2 1 GB sticks in there, which would have to be tossed for 2 4 GB sticks, which might be done for $100). And the proc and old Intel graphics still don't meet the minimum system specs EA has published, never mind real world recommended.

To the OP, honestly, even if it does run it in some manner, buy that machine for whatever other use you had in mind, like web browsing or word processing, because expecting a 5 year old entry level laptop to play any game is, IMO, pretty unreasonable to shoot for. I mean, the game alone is a third the price of that laptop. Which makes it a poor strategy to place so little into the hardware to run the software. If it meets your other needs, fine. If you want to throw TS4 onto it and see if it runs just for yuks, sure. But if you honestly expect it to run the game well, forget it.

That's a pretty bad processor for playing TS4, especially if you're going to be using integrated graphics. You'd also want to get a bit more RAM than what it has.

IMO it wont run in any way that will be enjoyable or not frustrating to play. Go ahead and try it, but you really shouldn't be expecting much.

What about my laptop out of curiousity?

Windows 8.1
Intel HD graphics 4000
intel core 15 1.8 ghz
6 GB ram
500 gb Hard drive

Not that I'm really experiencing lag(well I did once, but that was because I was in power saving mode) anyways I don't know though, if it will be good enough for future ep's.

I have a pentium, but I can assure you it's not from 2010 LOL. Mine is a desktop, so they use that for laptops these days. I would rather kill than having to play sims on such a lousy pc. I would rather play sudoku.

Ok thanks. I do also have a nvidia geforce gt 720 card. When I played using that, the performance was a bit faster and smoother, however quality wasn't as good. The lighting was worse. There were also no reflections on the pool, etc. With the intel I actually have those things. The game has very small unnoticeable lag. I wouldn't even call it lag, it just isn't a little less smooth with the integrated graphics. However, I will use them because of the better lighting and reflections. I've always been a quality person over performance. And If I must with future ep's, I can always upgrade ram to 8 gb or replace the processor.

i when Thur 3 different pc's just keeping up to date with TS2, for all expansions and stuff packs I wouldn't recommend anything less than a 64 bit OS with at least 4Gig and a 512mb graphics card, to play hassle free without the risk of desktop crashes, but the written specs aren't put that way, they just presume it just the base game with 1 EP, so far for TS4 I been nearly lag free until the Outdoor retreat stuff pack just shows things to come.