Can you game on a refurbished laptop?
It depends on the laptop.
Business laptops (ThinkPad, Latitude, EliteBook)
Most use integrated graphics. They'll run older games, indie titles and lighter esports games at low settings, but they aren't gaming machines.
Workstations and gaming laptops
Machines with a dedicated NVIDIA or AMD GPU — Precision, ThinkPad P, ZBook or an Acer Predator — can handle a lot more: esports titles comfortably, and many older AAA games at medium settings.
What to look for
- A dedicated GPU (the single most important thing)
- 16 GB RAM
- Good cooling
- An SSD for faster loading
Set expectations
A refurbished laptop won't run the latest AAA games at high settings. For that you need recent gaming hardware. See our gaming picks.
