I just bought a (modest) laptop to use in the hours I have between my classes at school. I haven't been into gaming since junior high, about seven years or so ago, and because of this I'm completely unaware of most excellent PC games that are not graphically demanding (i.e., not of this generation).

I'm running:

XP Home
2.8 Intel Celeron
256 MB of RAM (I do plan on throwing a stick of 512 in, as well)
Radeon Mobility 9000

I don't need (nor could the system handle!) high-tech games---I can play those badboys at home. I'm looking for great games that my system could handle readily.

Anyone have some favorites that are a couple of years old? I'm pretty open to suggestions as far as genres go. Thanks for any recommendations.

X-Com.

Planescape: Torment
Civilization II

HOMM 3

Throw some emulators on there

If you want to kill time between classes, The Sims would be a pretty good choice. I also agree with the emulator idea - MAME would keep you occupied for months, even if you just played each game a few times!

Try to pick up one of those old Lucasarts bundles of adventure games - or if you have a seperate USB mouse, you might want some older FPS titles like Dark Forces, Half Life, Unreal Tournament. These can be picked up dirt cheap either in-store or on eBay.

I personally wasted a lot of time playing Roller Coaster Tycoon for months - dirt cheap and runs great on older systems.

As far as bundles go, Amazon has the Movie Collection pack on sale this week for only $9.99 (Indiana Jones, Star Wars Battlegrounds & 007 Nightfire) and even better is the 4-play Action Pack for only $9.90 at GoGamer. This could be cheaper at other places - so check around; but it includes Tomb Raider Chronicles, Deus Ex, Thief II and Commandos 2.

RTS like Age of Empires & Empire Earth would be fun also...

starcraft, warcraft 2

Emulators are a great idea. Maybe some older adventure games to pass the time.

Porn works on all PCs.

Minesweeper
Freecell
Character Map

About $10 online. This game is over 5 years old now and there is still someone making significant improvements to it. It now has the capability to record games and the ability to use color maps online.

Pong???

RPGs might be fun. I'd suggest the Infinity Engine line-up: Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale and Icewind Dale II.

I'll second Rollercoaster Tycoon, I missed a lot of classes from staying up late with that. Other sim games would be good timewasters. Maybe SimGolf, Tropico, Railroad Tycoon II, etc.

Turn-based strategy such as Age of Wonders and Heroes II/III would be fine on your machine as well.

I'm sure if I thought some more, I'd have more, but I'll leave it there for now.

I'll see your Civ II and raise it one Alpha Centauri.

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone. Looking into Worms, The Sims, and the 4-play action pack.