Gaming laptop that can run 500k+ population with ease?

  • We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

arj3000

Private
6 Badges
Mar 30, 2022
11
0
  • Cities in Motion
  • Cities: Skylines
  • Cities: Skylines - Snowfall
  • Cities: Skylines - Natural Disasters
  • Prison Architect
  • Prison Architect: Psych Ward
Hi all, I have been playing cities skylines for some years on my Mac but every time I get close to the 90,000 population I get serious lag even with the graphics on the lowest. I am going to get a new laptop so was wondering which is the best one to get that can run big populations comfortably with good graphics and mods etc. Looking to pay around the 750 mark. Let me know if this is realistic? TIA
 
in march you wanted the cheapest and now you want the best, so which is it?

 
  • 2Haha
Reactions:
Hi all, I have been playing cities skylines for some years on my Mac but every time I get close to the 90,000 population I get serious lag even with the graphics on the lowest. I am going to get a new laptop so was wondering which is the best one to get that can run big populations comfortably with good graphics and mods etc. Looking to pay around the 750 mark. Let me know if this is realistic? TIA

If you are getting lag on your computer, getting a new one will likely have the same lag. Lag usually comes from the game itself or workshop being used.

maybe post your saved game and we can maybe see an issue that you can do to regain your performance.

Maybe post your computer's specs, or your output_log for comparison:

Log files (output_log.txt or Player.log)
 
  • 1
Reactions:
hi my specs are
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
1.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
8 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 645 1536 MB,


I have no mods on it either,
 
hi my specs are
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
1.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
8 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 645 1536 MB,


I have no mods on it either,

That's about right. This is way under powered all around. 90k pop is about your limit with this system. I had roughly the same system, but the desktop version of CPU/GPU and I was only able to get 120k-150k pop, then it just bogged down slow as molasses.

Sadly, without a dedicated GPU with it's own video RAM, you are going to have a limited experience with this game.

As for a desktop for $750, then it will do much better. But you will need your own monitor and keyboard/mouse. You may need wired internet close by. 16GB minimum RAM. GPU needs GDDR5 or GDRR6.

What is your monitors screen resolution?
 
That's about right. This is way under powered all around. 90k pop is about your limit with this system. I had roughly the same system, but the desktop version of CPU/GPU and I was only able to get 120k-150k pop, then it just bogged down slow as molasses.

Sadly, without a dedicated GPU with it's own video RAM, you are going to have a limited experience with this game.

As for a desktop for $750, then it will do much better. But you will need your own monitor and keyboard/mouse. You may need wired internet close by. 16GB minimum RAM. GPU needs GDDR5 or GDRR6.

What is your monitors screen resolution?
thank you for your reply, my screen is 1080 but I plan on updating that soon, do you have any desktops that you reccomend? I would love to get to 300k -500k population if that's possible?
 
thank you for your reply, my screen is 1080 but I plan on updating that soon, do you have any desktops that you reccomend? I would love to get to 300k -500k population if that's possible?

You're looking over $1,000 for a decent desktop gaming rig.

If you have a phillips screwdriver and build your own away in a room with no carpet, then you can build one under $800.

Something like this that was suggested by PCPartsPicker. I upgrade RAM to 32GB already. You will need windows but most youtubers sell them for under $20. A similar prebuilt is $1,200+

 
  • 1
Reactions:
You're looking over $1,000 for a decent desktop gaming rig.

If you have a phillips screwdriver and build your own away in a room with no carpet, then you can build one under $800.

Something like this that was suggested by PCPartsPicker. I upgrade RAM to 32GB already. You will need windows but most youtubers sell them for under $20. A similar prebuilt is $1,200+

could you tell me which gaming laptop could comfortably rung the 300-500k population mark regardless of the price please sir?
 
A simple Google search for "best gaming laptops" brings up several websites comparing and explaining the differences between different models at different price points. Don't skimp on memory - you do need at least 16GB
 
Hi all,

As you have seen in my previous posts I have now managed to save a bit of money to get a laptop that can run the 500k+ population on cities skylines. Please could you send me recommendations?
 
Threads Merged. Please use this thread going forward, multiple threads are not needed.
 
Hi all,

As you have seen in my previous posts I have now managed to save a bit of money to get a laptop that can run the 500k+ population on cities skylines. Please could you send me recommendations?
As someone that used to build computers my advice has always been don't do serious gaming on a laptop. For messing about during a 2 hour commute on a train - yeah sure, but id just switch up. Id use a cheap as chips netbook and play something else. City skylines is my leave me alone time and even if you wanted to play in bed next to wifey while she reading, there is ways to use 1 computer with 2 different screens. Either long HDMI leads or wireless TV transmiters for PC are options

99% of laptops are born into captivity, most are under spec or built to fail, even the ones that say they are "gaming" - i've fixed upteen numbers of them
You get WAY more bang for your buck with a desktop, building your own isn't even hard and on your budget is a no brainer
For the £300 mark i could build (scratch together, that's rock bottom) a simple gaming rig, it would run rings around any £500 lappy and at higher pops on CSL yes it would struggle lots.

For a lappy to play CSL comfortably @ higher pops and all bells and whistles (25+ tiles and a truck ton of stuff off workshop) expect to pay £1500 minimum
Then expect the best to run out of battery in about a year, so that means you will always be plugged in, so that will give the DC port more wiggle that you want. So after 2 years you will be replacing 1 or both when you should have been shopping on ebay for the i7 you couldnt afford the first time round. Current i7 prices are about the same as a battery for a lappy. That is just 1 of many things bad with lappys

So my advice still stays, get a desktop. And it is a time investment but lappys are money pits
That spec you need to what you wanted comfortably is given to you above by others, and the £1000 is about right to be very comfy for a very long time.
Would it max Total war? no - dont be silly
 
As someone that used to build computers my advice has always been don't do serious gaming on a laptop. For messing about during a 2 hour commute on a train - yeah sure, but id just switch up. Id use a cheap as chips netbook and play something else. City skylines is my leave me alone time and even if you wanted to play in bed next to wifey while she reading, there is ways to use 1 computer with 2 different screens. Either long HDMI leads or wireless TV transmiters for PC are options

99% of laptops are born into captivity, most are under spec or built to fail, even the ones that say they are "gaming" - i've fixed upteen numbers of them
You get WAY more bang for your buck with a desktop, building your own isn't even hard and on your budget is a no brainer
For the £300 mark i could build (scratch together, that's rock bottom) a simple gaming rig, it would run rings around any £500 lappy and at higher pops on CSL yes it would struggle lots.

For a lappy to play CSL comfortably @ higher pops and all bells and whistles (25+ tiles and a truck ton of stuff off workshop) expect to pay £1500 minimum
Then expect the best to run out of battery in about a year, so that means you will always be plugged in, so that will give the DC port more wiggle that you want. So after 2 years you will be replacing 1 or both when you should have been shopping on ebay for the i7 you couldnt afford the first time round. Current i7 prices are about the same as a battery for a lappy. That is just 1 of many things bad with lappys

So my advice still stays, get a desktop. And it is a time investment but lappys are money pits
That spec you need to what you wanted comfortably is given to you above by others, and the £1000 is about right to be very comfy for a very long time.
Would it max Total war? no - dont be silly
Thank you so much for your reply you have really helped me decide. Is there any towers you recommend to get that can handle the 500k even 1 million population easily?
 
Thank you so much for your reply you have really helped me decide. Is there any towers you recommend to get that can handle the 500k even 1 million population easily?

500k is easy on most any recent computer with a GPU. If you want mods, you need a minimum 16GB RAM and a page file.

If you don't want to build it yourself for around $800 from the link I posted above, then I found this one for $1,299.99:

It has a 12GB video card, so that will help on detailing your city. Less swapping in and out of video memory and page file.

I also seen a fairly decent budget gaming PC, for $1,200, but for $100 more, the one above is way, way better.

Here's a better one for $1,113.99 that is better and 32GB RAM and same 3060 12GB GPU. with 10th gen i5-10400F CPU. It's a couple years older, but very good for gaming at 1080p most games. This game will be a breeze.


But don't expect miracles on performance. This is a simulation so FPS will always be poor. 35fps zoomed into a busy intersection on a moderate sized city.
 
Last edited:
500k is easy on most any recent computer with a GPU. If you want mods, you need a minimum 16GB RAM and a page file.

If you don't want to build it yourself for around $800 from the link I posted above, then I found this one for $1,299.99:

It has a 12GB video card, so that will help on detailing your city. Less swapping in and out of video memory and page file.

I also seen a fairly decent budget gaming PC, for $1,200, but for $100 more, the one above is way, way better.

Here's a better one for $1,113.99 that is better and 32GB RAM and same 3060 12GB GPU. with 10th gen i5-10400F CPU. It's a couple years older, but very good for gaming at 1080p most games. This game will be a breeze.


But don't expect miracles on performance. This is a simulation so FPS will always be poor. 35fps zoomed into a busy intersection on a moderate sized city.
Are you saying either way it will buffer with either of those devices? I have set my mind on a tower but now I’ve heard it’s cheaper to build one?
 
It's way cheaper to build your own. Even more so, now that the video card market is flooded with used GPU from data miners ending the GPU portion of their research. This is also why the bitcoin market dropped like 75% almost overnight.

But yes, simulators have complex AI calls to make, and they can take longer than GPU calls, so the GPU gets put on hold for awhile as the CPU finishes its calculations. These are micro seconds of course, but it can affect FPS abnormally from DX11 API not well optimized.

It's fairly safe building your own PC anymore. Just avoid carpeted rooms as they make static electricity that can harm your computer. Even then, the computer technology has a lot of built-in safeguards to keep static electricity from harming your system.

There are tons of computer builder videos you can watch like:

Linus Tech Tips (LTT)
Gamers Nexus
JayzTwoCents

and others.

Or go OEM like dell or something as then you should get a year warranty. Usually if you make it a month, you're golden.