getting a new laptop really worried?

Well your specs are quite low end, BUT the sims is also not a demanding game in the least lol...

like you should be able to easily play it...

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Int... = min cpu requirement for vista+

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Int...

your cpu. (not that this site is the best for that stuff, but your cpu is still far better then a P4 lol)

You may be able to find better laptops, like i would try and find one with the intel pentium B9xx cpus and the intel HD2000/3000 integrated graphics. Not that you need that to run sims, but you may be able to find that in the same price range, and its alot better performance.

For example http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Aspire-15-6-inch-Lapt...

thats the same price, but alot better performance.

even http://www.amazon.co.uk/Presario-15-6-inch-Process... is better lol

As for windows 8, it works pretty good. I like it, its faster and smoother then 7, it just takes a small bit of learning (less then an hour) to figure everything out.

As for compatibility, im 99.99% sure the sims will run w/o problem on windows 8.

I have yet to find anything that didnt work on windows 8 so far. Even games that said windows 2000/ME/XP only, run just fine w/o any issues.

Worse case scenario, run the game in compatibility mode for the last os it says it supports (like if it says 2000/ME/XP, use xp sp3). To install in compatibility mode, right click the setup file and go to properties, then compatibility tab, then check run in compatibility for, and then select run as admin.

If you have a disc, then after putting in the disc, dont use autorun or run the setup. If it gives you the option, view the files on disc. Or go to my computer and right click the disc drive, click open.

Find the setup.exe and change compatibility mode for that.

ofcourse this is ONLY if when installing normally doesnt work. (which im 99.99% sure the sims will install normally just fine)

Which i may be going over your head with all this, but 1 last thing, is you may want to upgrade your ram to 8GB. Not that you need more ram, but you should be running your ram in dual channel.

To run in dual channel, you need 2 matching sticks (since you have 6, that means you have 4 and 2GB sticks, thus meaning they are in single channel). And most laptops with 4GB, only come with a single 1 4GB stick.

Since you already have 1 4GB stick, you can get another one. use http://www.piriform.com/speccy/builds to get the specs of your ram, then go to an retailer and buy ram matching those specs.

then take out the 2 GB stick and put in the 4 GB stick.

Now why do this? well running ram in dual channel almost doubles your memory bandwidth. Your graphics in that laptop are integrated, Integrated graphics rely on memory bandwidth for their performance.

So more memory bandwidth = more graphic performance for integrated graphics.

Since your graphics suck, you may as well get the best performance they can get. Its not like its going to work miracles, but it should improve the performance.