I agree with some of the other posters here, that is WAY too good of a deal for $399.

There is probably something fishy about this. Windows Ultimate itself is over $120 or something, so you mean all that hardware costs under $280? It's an amazing deal if it's true (please link me because I would buy this too, haha) but I'm guessing you will be buying a Ferrari with a Honda Civic engine inside. Just saying.

The truth is, the Sims 3 series (meaning its spin-off Sims Medieval) actually use up more computing power than it should. I am blaming crappy optimization on the programmers' part because this game isn't Crysis or anything, so it should not use so much graphical power.

That being said, around $500 - 600 will get you a good enough laptop that can run this game smoothly (probably on Low - Medium settings since this game is a bit of a resource hog). And it will most likely get obsolete when Sims 4 comes out because of bad optimization of code from Maxis again.

Wait, what is the actual question you're asking? haha Because you didn't really ask a question.

If you want to know if you can buy a laptop around $500 that can run all those games, then the answer is YES. Those games are relatively low on the graphical side compared to what laptops are able to run these days.

But if you're asking WHICH laptop to buy around $500 that can run those games, then I don't know the exact models, but I'm sure people will start linking you to some pages soon. You should try Newegg.com to browse around your price range. Hope that helped.

Vaio's are definitely overpriced. But they definitely offer quality in terms of hardware. You won't have to worry about cheap parts or things breaking down. Then again, you are paying a premium for the name and the peace of mind.

. . . buying a Porsche but refusing to put gas in it.

Okay, first of all, I'm pretty sure you already knew or kinda knew this laptop is a beast just from the price (whatever the price may be). This sounds like you're just bragging about this super awesome laptop you're going to get.

I am assuming you're bragging because if you were actually concerned, you would be asking "am I getting my bang for my buck on this laptop" instead of an obvious question like "urr, uhhh, can this thing even play games?"