Hi all,
I'm about to buy myself a new laptop - the new Alienware 14 (the $1499 one at http://www.dell.com/au/p/alienware-...n&s=dhs&~ck=mn). It'll be a gift to myself for being accepted into Honours - yay! The reason I need a laptop is for uni - I'll need a new, fast pc that I can take with me for research & presentations to my supervisor (I'll be doing a lot of voice recording so it needs to be portable). Otherwise I'd go with a desktop.

I have the option of going with either 8GB (with the ability to upgrade later), or 16GB RAM for an extra $500 or so. Also, my bf has advised that the graphics card isn't quite top-spec, but is upgradeable if need be.

At the moment I've got a crappy HP with 4gb, which used to run smoothly, but with all the expansions, CC and store content, lags every 2 seconds or so. Thinking of selling it for parts to my university - it's physically in perfect nick, but runs super-slow.

My question is: what is everyone's advice on the RAM issue? I'll be running all expansion & stuff packs, as well as having some other lower-spec games installed, and some uni-related software.

Also, I realise specs aren't out for Sims 4, but do you think it'll require anything significantly more powerful than the linked computer?

Thanks!!
Anna

You don't need 16GB. We're at a sort of tricky point nowadays though, where 8GB is still good but not fantastic and not futureproof - but if you want more than 8GB, the only sensible option is to jump all the way up to 16, which is more than you need for most things. You should be able to upgrade RAM on a gaming laptop further down the line, if you want to go for that option and get 8GB now. Your boyfriend is right about the graphics card being pretty naff; double-check about upgradability before you buy.

That said, I'd advise against Alienware. You pay an awful lot for the brand - you could get an equally good laptop from MSI or ASUS, or custom built (just not from CyberPower!) for much less, or you could get a better laptop from one of those companies for about the same price. For example, the MSI GE40 has an equivalent CPU, the same screen size, a slightly lower resolution, the same amount of RAM and HDD space, a slightly better graphics card, and is $200 cheaper. If you're willing to look at bigger laptops, you'll get better graphics - for example the MSI GT70 (17.3", same CPU, RAM and resolution, bigger hard drive, better graphics, $100 cheaper), or the GT60 which is exactly the same, but 15.6"; or the Toshiba Qosmio X75, which is largely identical to the 17.3" MSI, except that for an extra $80 you get 16GB of RAM instead of 8GB (a bit more reasonable than what Alienware are asking!). You should also consider buying a cheapie office laptop for schoolwork and a nice desktop for gaming - it would come out much cheaper than buying a gaming laptop, which would mean you'd be able to look at amazeballs graphics cards rather than graphics cards which will get the job done.

When you're doing your research, you'll probably come across some ravings about the MSI GX60 and GX70 - they're fantastic machines and the price is brilliant, but I wouldn't recommend buying either of them if you want to play TS3, because they are weak on the CPU.

Edit: Gah, I just now realised you linked to Alienware AU, so my prices in USD probably aren't that helpful. I'm sorry about that! The point does stand, though - not buying Alienware will be significantly cheaper. :P

Yup, everything that Nysha (née Whiterider) said. I would also recommend looking lenovo ideapad y series of laptops.

Thanks both of you - for some reason, I didn't even think to go anywhere other than Dell, even though I know from experience that their support is shocking & their products overpriced... just lack of experience buying anything other than Apple (and for the same reasons I'm looking at PCs!)
I've had a gander, and there's a highly-rated local store that does custom pcs, where I could pick up a high-spec desktop PLUS a tiny new ultrabook together for less than the alienware laptop.
Which of these three would you recommend? How high should I upgrade all the parts? I'm not a complete luddite, but I have so much trouble figuring out what is necessary compared to what's a sales pitch, and I also have no idea what some of those parts even do!

http://www.jw.com.au/jw-six-fx-gaming-tower-p-14024
http://www.jw.com.au/jw-fx8320-gaming-tower-p-14052
http://www.jw.com.au/jw-i5-gaming-tower-p-14053

I really appreciate all your help, you've potentially saved me some big $$$.
A
**edit** silly me forgot to post the links.