So... a little help, anyone?

I'm gonna be entering high school in less than six months, and I'm really wanting a laptop. Now, I realize it takes a lot of power to run the Sims, but I'm just looking for, at the least, the Sims 2 base game. So, what's the cheapest computer you know of that can play without (many) complications? I'm not looking to buy something that can play every game in the world at once with ease, but I don't want some piece of crap, either (I have over 300 bucks right now, and I intend on putting them to good use.)