Hi everyone,
I’ve been running WoW on a very old MSI GT60 2PC laptop with Windows 7 and Intel HD Graphics 4600 (since my GTX 870M died looong ago before I started WOW journey). I always played on the lowest graphics setting (1/10), and honestly, it worked fine for my needs.
Now with the new patch and Season 3 of The War Within, it looks like Win7 will no longer be supported, and I won’t be able to run the game at all unless I upgrade for Win10 laptop. (I don’t want to install win10 on this particular laptop)
Since I’m not really a gamer and I am not willing to spend much money on another laptop (just for the game), I’m just looking for a dirt-cheap used laptop that:
Can run Windows 10
Can run WoW Season 3 (even on lowest graphic settings, like 1/10)
Doesn’t need a dedicated graphics card, if integrated graphics are good enough
Does anyone have suggestions for specific models or hardware specs I should be looking for?
I just want something that barely works, nothing fancy. Thank you very much in advance.
Looking at the system requirements you’ll need (as an absolute basic):
- Intel Core or AMD Ryzen processor - min 4 cores and 3Ghz speed.
- 8GB RAM (though 16GB would be better)
- SSD with at least 128GB of available space - ideally look for 256GB or more as you’ll also need space for the Operating System and other applications.
- Windows 11 (10 is approaching end-of-life in October 2025)
- A Graphics Adaptor capable of running DirectX 12 - Intel integrated graphics should run the game (in a lower quality setup). HD Graphics 530 or greater should do it according to Blizzard.
As for particular makes/models - with you saying a used laptop it’s hard to point to something specific. Personally I go for Asus as a make, but others may prefer differently - it’s a bit of a personal preference. You could also try the Dell/HP outlets to see if they have any refurbs that match the requirements.
1 Like
Unless I misunderstood the message that appeared after the patch today it said that Windows 10 would be minimum requirement for the next expansion, Midnight, not just for Season 3 of War Within.
So I think we’re still OK with Windows 7 for now, for the remainder of this expansion, but will not be able to run the next expansion without “upgrading” to Windows 10 or 11.
The warning message hasn’t popped up again since that first run this morning, so I can’t check it to be 100% sure of what it said.
When they did this the last time it was mid expansion (removing support for Vista and making Win 7 the minimum needed) and I remember complaining about that at the time, as it wasn’t fair that you bought the expansion and then couldn’t play it completely. So it seems this time they’re being a bit more reasonable and changing the requirements between expansions at least.
1 Like
Hello Tinyroar 
While other players will be definitely willing and able to help you in choosing new hardware, I’d like to jump in here to give a bit of a clarification on the operating system side.
As of now, Windows 7 is still supported so in terms of operating system so you’ll be fine for Season 3 and possibly even after… as long as your system also meets the other minimum requirements.
That said, please keep in mind that Windows 7 is quite old (almost 16 years, how time flies… 
) and Microsoft ended support for it in early 2020, meaning that the operating system no longer has security and features updates.
This basically means what Minizip mentioned above:
In other words, it is just a matter of time before most modern software and games - including WoW - may be unable to keep supporting such an old operating system 
Best of luck with your adventures Tinyroar!
3 Likes
Thank you for the information. And also thanks to all other commenters.
If budget is issue I would strongly recommend looking for used desktop PCs unless laptop is absolute must. Lot more choices there which are also more powerful and easier to replace or repair if needed.
1 Like