Ok, so Im kind of on a budget, wouldnt want to go over $400 and Im looking to buy a laptop, even if its refurbished. Id rather it be portable, something like 14" or so. While I primarily want it for college and internet browsing, I still would like for it to play games like Morrowind, Sims 3....stuff like that, not very demanding, old 2004 kind of games.

Is there a specific model you recommend, or specific processors I should keep an eye on when browsing ebay, newegg and/or tigerdirect for cheap laptops?

that's an absolute horrible budget for a laptop. Before school there were good deals to place some ok laptops in that price range, but since school's started I've not seen anything I'd recommend to someone I hate even for less than $400.

Maybe you'll get lucky, but you'll have to scour. Things to look for:

i3 processor, at least 3 GB memory (preferrably 4 since you'll be forced to use a 64-bit OS nowadays on new laptops). Won't see anything better than that in your price range, and even that will be on a discount. 14 inch will make it even harder to find.

Anyway, avoid HP/Compaq like the plague (now with a new reason since HP is planning on trying to sell their consumer PC business on top of the long-standing reason of HP making horrible laptops) as well as Acer's lower brands of Gateway and eMachine. I'd also say stay away from Acer entirely, but in your price range you'll have hard enough picking as it is (just don't be surprised when your acer laptop dies after 1.5-2 years)

I have this one, I thought it was great for the price:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-g6-1b39wm/16662272

I usually play Morrowind, Lord of the Rings Online, or Champions Online with it. I doubt it can play something like Skyrim but Its still pretty good. Does basically everything I need.

Well, Im not looking to play Skyrim on it (why would I? this is not the can my pc run skyrim thread in the skyrim section); just old games like Vampire Bloodlines and stuff like that when I get bored of studying (or want to procrastinate.

An i3 processor would be overkill.

Not when you'll have absolutely no graphics card to back it up other than a crappy integrated intel chip


I'd definitely not recommend this laptop. HPs have a habit of melting and Toshiba provides similarly specced laptops for a bit cheaper. That said, I wouldn't recommend even Toshiba's versions of it to anyone.

I never Implied or asked if you wanted to, I was just using mine as an example saying it probably isn't THAT good. and yes aboviously this isnt the "blah blah blah can this run Skyrim" thread. No need to be rude when someone tries to give advise on what would be an average or low end laptop.