Can a new MacBook play The Sims 3?

Electronic Arts, the publishers for The Sims games, have confirmed that The Sims 3 will be published for both Macs and PCs, with both versions on the same disc in the retail box. This means you can walk into any games shop that sells PC games, and pick up a version that will run on the Mac.

Whether it will run on your MacBook will depend on a number of factors. If it is a MacBook Pro, it should run well, depending on the age and power of your particular machine; as all MacBook Pros have dedicated graphics cards they should be fine.

If you have a MacBook (non Pro), then you may not be able to run it. The white and black polycarbonate MacBooks have had integrated graphics chipsets which are poor performers in games, with the exception of the most recent white MacBook which sports a GeForce 9400 integrated chipset. All aluminum (unibody) MacBooks have a GeForce 9400.

To find out which graphics chipset your Mac uses, go to the Apple menu (at the top-left of the screen). Choose "About This Mac". When this appears, click "More Info". When the System Profiler appears, click Graphics/Displays on the left. Generally, a chipset produced by NVidia or ATI should be fine; a chipset by Intel will likely not perform well.