Need a new laptop (for LaunchBox stuff & older games like Civ 6) Any recommendations?

[PurpleTentacle]

I might have spilled some water on my old laptop, which may or may not be working (spoiler: it's not working now) - assuming that drying it out doesn't work, I'll need a new laptop.

Fortunately, my needs aren't necessarily that high. I'm basically looking for something that can run my LaunchBox Collection (with GameCube games probably being the most complex that I'd run, maybe PS2), as well as some of the simpler PC games like Civ 6 or Darkest Dungeon, while also being able to watch videos on a 2nd monitor (I have a little 11" screen that I hooked up to my old laptop for watching Twitch/YouTube while playing games). Looking to spend about $400-500, but of course, the cheaper the better. Ideally, I'd like a SSD for running Windows 10, but I'd also like to have enough storage for my LaunchBox collection (about 200 gigs), but also a handful of Steam games. So if it comes with a 256 gig SSD, it would also need room for another hard drive (don't mind buying that later).

 

Just figured I'd ask here - not sure if anyone has any specific suggestions.

[DOS76]

https://laptopunderbudget.com/best-laptops-under-500-dollars/

That 1st one the Acer looks like a pretty sweet deal

[PurpleTentacle]

38 minutes ago, DOS76 said:

https://laptopunderbudget.com/best-laptops-under-500-dollars/

That 1st one the Acer looks like a pretty sweet deal

That is one of the laptops I was looking at! Unfortunately, the price is back up to $450 on Amazon. I'm also considering this HP Gaming Pavilion laptop for $500. Normally I assume "gaming" hardware just means that they charge you for the branding, but the specs on that laptop check out (still need to see if I'd be able to add another hard drive & that its build quality is good). There was another one I was looking at, but I can't seem to find it (I should have bookmarked it).

[DOS76]

In most cases you are limited to one internal hdd on new laptops. In the past you could buy caddies that would fit in the disk drive space and add an additional HDD (I have two older laptops that I did this to) but now a days there aren't many if any models that come with an optical drive.

[PurpleTentacle]

The HP Gaming laptop actually does have a slot for a 2.5" SSD drive, so I figure I can buy a 1 tb SSD & install that as my secondary drive. Since they seem to go on sale for about $100 for a 1 tb SSD, that's not too bad. I generally don't need a TON of space, and I think those 2 drives combined would easily cover my needs.

 

Oddly enough, HP's own official response team is claiming that you need a GTX 1070 ti to play freakin' Civ 6. WTF! A 1050 should handle it no problem. It's not like you need 60 fps for Civ 6 (I'd imagine Civ 6 is more CPU dependent anyway). 

[eemzulfi]

in this list you can check  https://gadgetscane.com/best-gaming-laptops-under-600-dollar/ acer aspire with 8GB SSD that also include NVIDIA GeForce MX 150 with 2 GB  and price is under $600