Intel HD Graphics 4400 for Gamings/Sims 3

[breyfyenow]

I know it is a integrated graphics card and it is inferior to NVIDIA and other dedicated video cards. I'm wondering whether it will support The Sims 3 base and possibly a few expansions at a reasonable quality.

My budget: Nothing above $550
Location: In the US
Type: All-purpose Laptop (web surfing, microsoft office, gaming).
Games: Ideally, I would want it to runs the Sims 3: Starter Pack. I don't need the highest settings but I would need at least medium. I do not play any other 3D intensive games.

Here's what I'm considering buying for ~$525(including tax and shipping):

Dell's New Inspiron 15R
Operating System: Windows 8, 64-bit, English
Memory: 6GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (4GBx1 + 2GBx1)
Video Card: Intel® HD Graphics 4400
Driver: Wireless Driver, 1705
Hard Drive: 500GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
CD ROM/DVD ROM: Tray load DVD Drive (Reads and Writes to DVD/CD)
Processor: 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-4200U processor (3M Cache, up to 2.6 GHz)

Is this a good deal for the price and will it meet my needs?

My current laptop is an Lenovo G550 with 4 GB of Ram and an Pentium Dual Core processor (2.3GHz) and a Mobile Intel GMA 4500M. Will I see much of an improvement if I do buy the Dell?

 

[jaguarskx]

It should be fine. People play Sims 3 on the slightly slower Intel HD 4000 without issues from what I've read. For average daily usage you probably will not notice much of a difference in performance unless you generally have several programs open or surf the internet with several different tabs (I usually have 8 - 10 tabs), then you may see an improvement.

Playing games is where you will see the most difference. While a game like Fallout 3 will be sluggish on the GMA 4500m, it runs pretty decently on an Intel HD 4000.

 

[jaguarskx]

The Dell laptop is decently priced.

The only less expensive laptop I can find on Newegg which has the Intel HD 4400 is the following Acer for $499. However, I am not crazy about Acer's quality in general so I'd rather pay the extra $$ for the Dell.

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314150