The minimum requirements for playing EQ are that you don't typo an entire topic on the official EQ forums. Oops. For real though, you can buy a $139.99 Asus or <Insert Other Brand Name Here> laptop at best buy or someplace and it will run EQ, no problem.
Keep in mind that if you are on Windows Vista or XP that the patcher will not work unless you copy files over from at least a Windows 7 computer.
hmm i once installed eq in a notebook and it died also another popular game fried 2 of my motherboards like a decade ago.
Shadows and Advanced Lighting seemed to be the biggest hits to an old laptop I have been testing. (Dell e5500 - Core2Duo, 4GB RAM, 7200 RPM HDD (spinning disk), Intel Integrated Graphics - not HD) I have the other settings low as well, but the difference between Shadows and Adv Lighting on or off is huge. Both off and the game runs smooth as silk on the old beater. Here are a couple helpful links: https://www.everquest.com/news/imported-eq-enus-50629 http://everquest.fanra.info/wiki/Graphics_and_performance_settings_guide
I have a 12 year old laptop that was really nice for 12 years ago ($2k price), but now it takes 10-15 minutes to boot. Half the time it it wont connect to wireless and it randomly shuts off. Having said that, it runs eq fine until my power cord wiggles and it shuts off. Anything made in the last 8-10 years should be able to play it no matter how messed up it is. I recently got a new really nice laptop and there's not a huge difference in performance other than player gathering points. Your results may vary in an extremely crowded place, but it still should get the job done.
Or advanced options > actor clip plane and slide it to the left until you render at the right distance.
I probably am close to the retro record. Thinkpad R52 with single core Pentium @1.73 GHz running XP with 1.5 G RAM. Used it last Winter<November> to login at ~26k dial up when power went out and took my router with it. Most modern computer I had with built in modem! As has been pointed out, minimum requirements are now Windows 7 so it has problems. I tested it to see if it would login a minute ago and it bailed out with errors. I think it meets the minimum Windows 7 specs but it is not in its future. I'm trying to remember the original computer I ran EQ on. I remember it had a Voodoo 3000 video card because of all the problems I had with it, rest of it is lost in the fog of time. Maybe a K6 II at 500 MHz.