Need help on alienware specs
@sassyfrashnash If you're looking to play Cyberpunk on anything resembling high settings, you'd need a lot more graphics power than the Alienware would have had to offer even new. The recommended specs are an Nvidia 1070; a 2060 is about equal or a bit better, depending on the benchmark. But I can't find any laptop with either card for under $1,000. (The processors in the laptops listed below all exceed the recommendations for Cyberpunk.) Skyrim's recommended specs are lower; any of these laptops would be fine.
This Alienware, on clearance from Best Buy, is the cheapest option. But its solid state drive is so small (128 GB) that you'd need to install all your games on the larger mechanical drive. That wouldn't make a difference to Sims 4, but it would to Sims 3, and almost certainly to a game like Cyberpunk.
I'm not actually sure whether you could swap out the mechanical drive for a second SSD, although it should be possible in theory. (It might void the warranty though.) If not, to get a large solid state, the next cheapest option would be this MSI, with a single 256 GB SSD and room for a 2.5" drive of your choice. Its processor is a bit stronger than the one above, and it has a 2060 rather than a 1070.
https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GL63-8SE-209-Performance-i5-8300H/dp/B07MNWTRRJ
If you really want to stay under $1000, this Asus is the best option I could find right now, although it's supposedly only on sale for another couple of hours. Its processor is a bit weaker than the ones above, and it only has an Nvidia 1660 ti, which is the next card down from the 1070. It's still a very fast card though, more than strong enough to run all Sims 4 packs on ultra settings. This laptop has a 512 GB SSD, so you could fit a few games on it comfortably. You'd definitely want to add more RAM though; a matching 8 GB stick might cost you $40.
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16834235244?Item=N82E16834235244
For $1050, with an additional $50 rebate, this MSI also has a 1660 ti, and a much stronger processor than any of the others listed. It does only have a 256 GB SSD though, so you'd still need to add a second drive.
This MSI has a 512 GB SSD for $50 more, and a processor that's slightly slower than the one above but still significantly better than the others.
If you're comfortable with Ebay, you'd probably find the same specs in a 2 or 3 year laptop for cheaper. But of course it's a risk buying there. Still, you might find something for around $1000 with a 2060 or 1070 and a big enough SSD to fit your games. There are too many options (and the site is so disorganized) for me to go through them, but you'd want at least a 6700HQ for a processor. Whether you could add or swap a hard drive would depend on the make and model of the laptop—the manufacturer's manual should make it clear whether this is possible. Adding RAM should always be easy in a gaming laptop.
If you do see something you're considering, feel free to link it for a second opinion.
