I play a lot of older adventure games, and since I own a HP Omen desktop PC I am having constant issues with the graphics and getting games to work.

Installing a dual-boot Win 7 or XP with Win10 doesn't help, as HP and the component manufacturers only provide drivers for Win10.

I am thinking of buying an older computer with older windows. but not quite sure which to go with.

Games I play:

Syberia series, Still Life series, Gabriel Knight series, Atlantis series, Dracula (microids) series etc.

Maybe try a version of Linux (via a bootable USB drive) on your current computer ?.

A lappy will tickle your fancy? If so, go to the store - even if you're buying online later - and see if the screen pleases ya.
'nuff said!

Could you post your PC specs?

Like new!

Because I like you, I'll cut you a deal; $980 and a case Jägermeister!

Pointless if they want to buy an old laptop to run ancient unsupported operating systems.

I'd try Trooper1270's advice before buying any more hardware. It's quite possible that the games would run just fine on the computer they've got right now.

Have you tried installing virtual machine on your PC? Adventure games are not very power-demanding. It will cost you nothing. And you will separate yourself from hardware.

Thanks for all the replies (even the nonsensical ones).

As I said, Virtual Machine, Dual-boot and Linux are out of the question for the computer setup I have. It's an HP Omen, a brand new model and there are NO drivers for older versions of Windows available from HP nor manufacturers. Only Windows 10 is supported, not even Linux. Even VM needs those drivers in order to play any video graphics.

So installing whatever alternatives to a new HP Omen machine won't make a difference cause it won't run without drivers. And since there are no drivers for anything else than Windows 10, the only solution is to either run the game with laggy, crappy graphics or buy that cheap used PC.

And the issue is not the monitor either. I have 3 and the issue is either no multicore support or simply being dysfunctional and unable to run on newer machines. Now, I can use Nvidia Inspector and DGVoodoo2 for some games, but eventually that'll just f up the computer completely, when there are different settings for each game.

There is all the point in the world to get a 50 dollar old laptop/PC for this, if you play these games. What I'm trying to figure out is what kind of machine it should be. Why would I buy a 500 dollar laptop when I can get a Desktop that runs all these games for 50 dollars. Man this forum is something else indeed.

Not everyone has room for two or more desktops at home. If you do, that is of course an option.

There are several shops that sell old computers. You could even have mine for peanuts after I get my new computer up and running; just need to get it first (waiting game).

Huh? There are drivers for Windows 10. But nothing else but Windows 10. New components. Pretty normal. It's a HP computer so that also limits the usage of other OS. I've tried older Windows versions, no drivers. Linux, no drivers. VM no drivers. I've also checked manufactorer websites: No drivers for anything but Windows 10. Asked HP: no support for anything else but Win10. Get the point?
I do, but the thing I was asking is what kind of setting would be ideal for those games. But I see now it was pretty useless to ask here. Thank you for a proper response tho!

No, I don't get the point. It might be a new computer, but glancing at some specs I saw online, it seems to be using pretty much bog standard components which either don't need a special driver, or already have drivers. So if you find that some device does not have a driver for it, I would like to know what device that is.

And no, "HP" does not limit usage. It's just a label on the box. What you find inside is going to be intel, nvidia, realtek, seagate/samsung/whatever, get my point? HP just put all these things in there. They didn't make all these things. You don't need a "HP driver" for those things.

Dunno, you specified two laptops, so I thought you wanted another?

To get older games working in Windows 10 you should do things like turn on support for legacy stuff in the settings, install DirectX9, ensure you have installed all drivers and updates. There is usually information for each game on the support pages and the games' subforum.

Dual booting with Linux and running Wine in there to play old Windows games on is a solution sometimes. To find out whether it would work on your computer, you can try without installing, a so called live usb/dvd. That is just a usb stick/dvd with the Linux distro on it and your computer set to boot from that. Careful not to install onto your current hard drive on top of your files by mistake. If you go this route, you want it in its own partition or even hard drive, if you have several.