Question Looking for a small, comfortable, cheap, old laptop (games)

[kilo24]

I want a comfortably small laptop running Windows for playing games in the coziness of my bed without having to destroy my back and neck at my desktop. I don't know what the price range would be but people've told me even low-end notebooks from around 2012 would suffice (and something older would probably play a great role in lowering price). I'd prefer something close to $100 at most but I'd imagine even this sort of thing isn't quite so cheap.

To give an idea of what level of performance I need I'm only interested in playing games like anything made in RPG Maker 2003 (Yume Nikki for example), freeware Cave Story, OneShot, Undertale, Baba is You, and really old FPS's like Quake. My preferable limit for running things well would be Source 1 engine games, but if that's too out of my range then the limit would be something like Morrowind/Unreal.

Battery life should be at least decent (5-6 hours?) since I don't plan to move it away from an outlet too much. Storage size being really small is zero issue considering the games I listed. I'd prefer Windows 7 installed but I'm fine with 8 or 10. My vastly preferred resolutions are be 1920x1080p or 1280x1024p (very few of what I'm looking to play uses 16:9, in fact everything I listed besides Baba is You is 5:4).

Lastly, it needs to not have applications like Steam or Discord make it chug. Thank you to anyone who tries to help, I'll finally be able to stop having to settle for buying these kinds of games on the Switch.

Edit: At least 4GB of RAM

 

[Eximo]

I wouldn't necessarily go with something old or used. Could get some entry level laptops for not a whole lot more, maybe $250. New fans, battery, keyboard, vs risking something used.

Maybe look at OEM refurbs?

Hard to sort through the garbage at $100.

An interesting one. A bit old, but I at least have familiarity with the processor. I used to use an AMD E-Series chip to run emulators and old dos games. Was even capable of World of Warcraft at low settings, back in 2012 or so. Basically the same type of chip that was in the PS4 and XBox, albeit only two cores.

https://shop.pcmag.com/products/len...-home-off-lease-refurbished?utm_source=tbsite

I would just poke around Dell and Lenovo when they get their low-priced refurbs in stock.

 

[kilo24]

Thank you so much for the information, I really appreciate it. Do you know when those refurbished laptops tend to come in, though?

 

[LordVile]

I want a comfortably small laptop running Windows for playing games in the coziness of my bed without having to destroy my back and neck at my desktop. I don't know what the price range would be but people've told me even low-end notebooks from around 2012 would suffice (and something older would probably play a great role in lowering price). I'd prefer something close to $100 at most but I'd imagine even this sort of thing isn't quite so cheap.

To give an idea of what level of performance I need I'm only interested in playing games like anything made in RPG Maker 2003 (Yume Nikki for example), freeware Cave Story, OneShot, Undertale, Baba is You, and really old FPS's like Quake. My preferable limit for running things well would be Source 1 engine games, but if that's too out of my range then the limit would be something like Morrowind/Unreal.

Battery life should be at least decent (5-6 hours?) since I don't plan to move it away from an outlet too much. Storage size being really small is zero issue considering the games I listed. I'd prefer Windows 7 installed but I'm fine with 8 or 10. My vastly preferred resolutions are be 1920x1080p or 1280x1024p (very few of what I'm looking to play uses 16:9, in fact everything I listed besides Baba is You is 5:4).

Lastly, it needs to not have applications like Steam or Discord make it chug. Thank you to anyone who tries to help, I'll finally be able to stop having to settle for buying these kinds of games on the Switch.

Edit: At least 4GB of RAM

Just fix your poster and you won't have back and neck issues?

 

[alceryes]

You're always taking a chance going with a used laptop.
There's no way that you'll find a laptop from 2012 that STILL has a battery life of 5-6 hours. Also note that battery life while gaming is a lot different than battery life while surfing the web or doing some word processing. Even games from yesteryear will drain a laptop battery quickly.
Your best bet would be to spend around $400 to get a new, basic laptop with 10th gen i5 and Iris graphics. The graphics should be powerful enough for the old-school games you referenced but there's no way you'll get the battery life you're expecting, sorry.

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you so much for the information, I really appreciate it. Do you know when those refurbished laptops tend to come in, though?

The Dell Outlet inventory changes daily. Even hourly.

 

[kilo24]

Just fix your poster and you won't have back and neck issues?

1. "Poster"?
2. Don't pester me thinking your solution is better while dismissing the question, I avoid using Reddit to get away from that and getting anxiety disorder panic attacks from it.

 

[USAFRet]

"poster" = posture?

 

[kilo24]

"poster" = posture?

Yeah I've tried everything including that in various ways, shortening my desk and changing chairs, it's a lost cause. Now keep it out of this.

 

[LordVile]

1. "Poster"?
2. Don't pester me thinking your solution is better while dismissing the question, I avoid using Reddit to get away from that and getting anxiety disorder panic attacks from it.

Posture lol typo. There's no reason for you to get neck and back pain at a desktop if you sit correctly. If anything sitting/laying in bed is worse for your back and neck. Just buying stuff to fix it won't do anything if your position is causing the issue, a £5000 orthopaedic chair will do nothing if you slouch in it.