Buying used laptop for a friend.

[Sleepy664]

Hello,

My friend is looking for a laptop in a price range of 250–300 USD.

She'll be using it just for web browsing and playing The Sims 4 and similar games

It doesn't have to be a ThinkPad; HP or Dell would do...or something else that is easily serviceable. She originally wanted to buy something new...but a new laptop in this price range won't probably run The Sims 4...



Ideas? Would a T61p run The Sims 4?

[emeraldgirl08]

Perhaps a T500 with the ATI 3650M switchable graphics and the WSXGA+ screen. I played the first half of Tombraider 2013 using the T500 by setting the in-game resolution to 1280X800. 4gb of RAM should be sufficient. A large capacity platter drive would probably be best as well >500gb as some game files can be quite large and grow as updates are released. A rough comparison of the Sims gameplay is that my niece played the Sims 3 on her R60 with ATI X1300 graphics. It seemed to work fine however the ATI 3650M is the more recent out of the two and should allow the Sims 4 to run with more effects on vs the ATI X1300. A quick look at ebay shows the T500 (w/switchable gfx, WSXGA+) screen around $120-$150. One drawback is that there is a defect in the design of the internal frame which may break at some point or it may not. Considering there are several T500 still around that do not have broken frames then it might just be good luck lol. If you do consider the T500 make sure that ATI 3650 and WSXGA+ are specified. The other type of screen is the WXGA and is low-resolution and from what I have heard is terrible! Also there are T500 with Intel-graphics only which is not the one you want as it will run the Sims 4 poorly or it may not run it at all. I would do further research and to keep checking back for further suggestions from other forum members as well. Good luck!

[Sleepy664]

I was looking into T500 or W500 but that cracking roll cage keeps me worried. I found one T510 for sale which is for 330 USD in a mint condition.

I'll check what Dells and HPs I can get in this price range.