Old laptop and a flight sim help needed

Hello, Flight sim forum thanks for the add it's great to be here.

This might be a long shot but I am looking for a flight simulation game that will work (run without lagging etc) on my old school laptop for a little light gaming. I have a Dell Latitude E6420 x64 based pc it has a 4GB RAM with a 500GB internal HD, Intel i5 core and a Nvidia graphics card running windows 10. I must have had this laptop 8 or 9 years easy now and it's done me well and I'm hoping it won't let me down now.

I have been searching online sites for the games and coming up with things like this https://www.for-sale.ie/FSX but I'm not too familiar with many flight simulation games as I haven't played one for years so I will leave it in your hands to point me in the right direction to get the best for what I have got.

If I've missed anything please let me know and I will get back to you ASAP.

Cheers

Hi,

Welcome to the forum......

If you are looking for something like the screenshot you have included, with your rig specs two options (both old and no longer supported by the developer - Microsoft) to consider are......

Option 1 - FS2004 (also known as FS9). Your rig should be able to run it with no problems. There is a wealth of addons, etc for it and it is still used by many in the community. There is NO download version available, only boxed editions that can still be sourced via many popular online stores like Amazon etc.

Option 2 - FSX-SE (also known as FSX Steam). Although FSX is heavy on the CPU it is capable of being run on low end machines. However, your 2nd gen i5 might struggle. There are many users of FSX that use low end 3rd and 4th gen based rig - some even with only the basic integrated Intel based on board GPU and no dedicated GPU like your Nvidia - and get an enjoyable experience with the right settings. Note, it will probably mean compromising on some visuals effect settings to get a good playing experience.

FSX-SE is available directly from the Steam website or via a number of Sim related shop websites, usually by way of a 'license' - in this case you will still need to download the product from the Steam website.

Note that FSX is also available in boxed editions (Standard, Deluxe and Gold) but they are hard to come by and are often expensive. The -SE version is equivalent to the Gold edition and is a lot cheaper than the boxed versions - it often retails for less than 20 GBP/23 Eur/26 USD (and is often on 'sale' at a lower price). Something else worth noting about the SE version is that, if you purchase it direct from the Steam website and it doesn't run good, you may be able to get a refund - there is some specific rules regarding the refund policy so check it out before buying.

Another option you might like for 'light gaming' is something along the lines of Combat Flight Simulator series - also by MS and longer supported.

A word of caution here regarding all of these products and Win 10 - all can be run on Win 10 but you will encounter some issues that require specific 'fixes', especially for FS2004 and CFS - specific details can be found within the forums here so it is worth browsing through threads that have a Win 10 theme for info.

Thanks for the great detailed reply. I am going to go for option 1 and try to find the game on cd if that fails I will check out FSX. Be back soon with some sort of result

Thanks again

This game came out recently, it's called: Take Off - The Flight Simulator. It's biggest advantage is low requirements, which should suit you.

Here is the game Steam shop webiste:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/657470/Take_Off__The_Flight_Simulator/

It may not be the very complicated simulator as Take Off is a conversion from mobile. It's more like an arcade simultaor with various missions and ability to run your own airlines.