Are hp laptops good for college and playing sims 3

[Hungry Hippo]

So I really want a laptop that will be able to help me with my college classes but I also want to be able to have fun anf play computer games like sims 3 so I'm just looking fo a laptop that i would be able to do both of that stuff on. (also it can't be to expense I would like it to be cheapish...) Thanks!!

 

[C12Friedman]

Welcome to Tom's Hardware,
Pretty much any dual core CPU laptop will perform adequately for your described uses. To keep it on the cheap and still get a performance return, I might suggest looking at a laptop featuring the AMD A4, A6 or A8 APU - 8GB of ram is nice but probably not needed.
If you're looking for a specific laptop recommendation, please describe any other features you desire (bluetooth, HDMI connectivity, 17" screen, etc...)

 

[phil22]

i can't recommend HP. They sell in large numbers on account of their low price, but if they had to sell on quality alone, HP would go under.

 

[ian magic]

i would suggest you a HP dv4 laptop ,i using this right now

 

[lewza]

I would recommend an Acer product.

Cheap, fairly decent spec.

8GB memory is overkill for just sims3 and browsing.

 

[simmons33]

Depends. From experience, HP seems to change their config options every day.

The Sims 3 Minimum System Requirements-

PC OS: Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista SP1 or Windows 7
CPU: (XP) 2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent; (Vista and Windows 7) 2.4 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
RAM: (XP) 1 GB RAM; (Vista and Windows 7) 1.5 GB RAM
HARD DRIVE: At least 3.5 GB* of free space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content and saved games.
VIDEO: DirectX 9.0c compatible Video Card with 128 MB of Video RAM and support for Pixel Shader 2.0
*9.6 GB if installing with The Sims 3

Like C12friedman said, Any Dual core. Id get at least 6GB of RAM, tho 4GB can cut it for "most games" (2GB for OS, 1.5-2.0 for game.

128MB of VRAM is found on ANY card anymore. that wont be an issue (And remember, VRAM is NOT a measure of performance)
If I remember correctly, all card support at least PS 2.0 and DX 9.0c

This Again is where personal Preference comes into play. Not being stated weather you wanna play on Low, Med, High settings. And at what resolution. Most of HP's 15inch Laptops come in 1366x768, and their 17inch come in 1600x900. Id say for Med Settings (I could be wrong seeing as I havnt played Sims 3 recently on various hardware) a Nvidia x20m, x30m or mabye a x40m card. and as for AMD (The generally cheaper side) mabye a 7670m?

As for productivity (College) your gonna want someting probably with a Word Processing application (Microsoft Office). Again, all their models offer said program. Be it part of the base line, or in various other forms and levels, or not at all should you want to use something else.

Unless someone gives you an actual up-to-date recommendation, I can only advise to do your research and mess about with the models available at HP. From experience, Sometimes HP has models thats bottom line cost more, but offer less performance. Best to mess about with all the configs and put together something you really want, Be it Intel/AMD/Nvidia based

Also, Game should work on W8

May I suggest this model I put together?

HP Pavilion g6z-2200 Notebook PC (Customized)

Color-- sparkling black (Optional depending on person)
Operating system-- Windows 8 (64)
Processor-- AMD Dual-Core A4-4300M Accelerated Processor (2.5GHz up to 3.0GHze)
Graphics card-- 1GB AMD Radeon(TM) HD 7670M Discrete-Class Graphics
Memory-- 6GB DDR3 - 2 DIMM
Hard drive-- 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
Office software-- $40 OFF Microsoft(R) Office Home and Student 2010 (Optional depeding on person)
Security software-- $30 OFF Norton Internet Security(TM) 2012 - 15 Months Subscription (activation required)
Primary battery-- 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery
Display-- 15.6-inch diagonal HD BrightView LED-backlit Display (1366x768)
Primary optical drive-- SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
Personalization-- HP TrueVision HD Webcam with integrated digital microphone
Networking-- 802.11b/g/n WLAN
Keyboard Standard-- Keyboard Black

Came to about $579.00 (Not including S&H and State Tax)

And yes, I did notice Im a month late, But should you have not bought a pc yet, I hope Ive helped, in some way