Hi. I am not a very devoted gamer, but I have enjoyed playing games like Baldur's Gate, Planescape, and the Witcher through GOG. I played these on an old, cheap PC laptop I had, but I no longer remember the specs of that computer.

I currently have a circa-2012 Macbook pro, and it seems to be about to give up the ghost. My intention was to buy a cheap Windows PC mostly for using the internet and word processing, but it'd be nice if it could also play some old games.

I currently have my eye on Bloodlines; it looks great. I was wondering if anyone has run it on a machine with an even slower processor than listed, and if it worked with maybe some loss to graphics performance, which I don't care about very much at all (though if it constantly lagged or had long load times, that would bother me).

Please let me know if I'm delusional for wanting to play Bloodlines on something like the low end Dell Inspiron machines. [GOG won't let me post a link unfortunately]

If that's too pathetic, anyone have any insight on a laptop $3-400 that could run, say, games from Bloodlines and before? It'd also be nice if I could run the first Witcher game...

I can't stress enough I don't know a lot about computer specs or running games, so this might come across as naive! Also sorry if this sort of topic comes up a lot and thanks for your help. I feel like I've had an ok time running games on my janky old laptop, but maybe it was more powerful than I thought it was!

Edit: added photo. Would these CPUs run old games appreciably well?

Thanks! I was hoping that too. From what I read laptops with Intel HD graphics have some trouble running games, and for low end PCs I'm better off with AMD processors because they have more dedicated graphics capabilities. Anyone can confirm if I'm right about this?

Integrated graphics can definitely have issues with many games, even when the specs suggest it should run perfectly. If you're buying a laptop and intend to use it for gaming, definitely ensure it has a decent graphics card in it (not just the integrated one).

When I stroll down memory lane I am shocked to recollect that it was circa ~2001 or 2 (!) when D3d 9.0c first saw it's way into gaming as the finished version of D3d9...;) Yes, it's actually been *that* long and I am *that* old...;) And if it weren't for *your patches* in particular, bringing Vampire:BL into the current era of D3d9+ API & shader compatibility--nobody would be playing BL today, and that would be a crime against humanity...;) Without your patches, WESP, the game fairly "stonkies" on newer hardware...!

On that basis alone, if a person takes care of the GPU end of the business--you are exactly right--running BL should be a cake walk even on bargain-basement laptops today. (Like you, I stay away from laptops as my sanity demands it...! They are non-standard, notoriously ornery beasts not designed for gaming.) If there is any way you can work it out--skip the laptop and stay with a desktop. You'll thank yourself a thousand times in the first couple of months, alone...;) But if it has to be a laptop, then yes, probably one with an AMD integrated GPU would work best for your needs and price range, imo. But I'm sure there are others far better versed in laptop lore than me--I eschew laptops of any and all descriptions...;)