Laptop gaming

Vegetable Man · Post by **Vegetable Man** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 7:32 pm

I know this topic used to pop up every once in awhile over at GG, so I thought I'd be the first to ask it on the new boards. I've turned my aging desktop rig into a linux server, rendering it pretty much useless for gaming. So, while I'm in the process of building a new machine, I'm left with only my laptop to play games.

It's not absolutely terrible, but it's not great either. It's basically a 2Ghz P4 Celeron with 512MB RAM and an Intel integrated graphics chip(supporting up to DirectX 8.1, I believe). I figured now would be a good time to figure out what some of the better strategy games I might of missed over the last year or two. Any recommendations?

[edit] Anyone have experience with Kohan 2? I saw the recommended specs in IGNs review were a 2Ghz proc and 512 RAM, but how much does it stress the graphics chip?

Thanks

setaside · Post by **setaside** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 7:33 pm

Massive Assault ... period.

Vegetable Man · Post by **Vegetable Man** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 7:54 pm

Ooooh... That looks good, thanks!

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 8:44 pm

You'd be better off with the old Kohan games. That laptop you have isn't built for 3D anything.

Massive Assault is a fun game though and should foot the bill as well. Also check out http://massiveassault.wargamer.com for more info.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Sun Oct 17, 2004 9:06 am

As a strategy gamer,perferably turn based,I find my laptop will play every game I'm interested in. Of course mine's a little bit better at 2.4Ghz,1Gig ram, 64meg vid card(ATI 9000).I even have one FPS game that I tried on it (Halo) and it worked fine.
Your's would probably handle Diablo 2 okay.

Dirt · Post by **Dirt** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 4:44 pm

Massive Assault does look good.

setaside · Post by **setaside** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 6:19 pm

It's an excellent game worth every penny of the asking price (even though I got it in a trade, I eventually gave my copy away and bought another just to support these guys.).

Not a lot in terms of storyline or backstory but damn if the gameplay doesn't make up for it and then some.

MisterEd · Post by **MisterEd** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 7:42 pm

hey everybody!

glad i caught up with you all

back over at GG i was inquiring about the best laptops for gaming...
it seemed the concensus stood with emachine.

any other opinions?

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 9:22 am

it seemed the concensus stood with emachine.

any other opinions?

nope. emachines all the way...

The Meal · Post by **The Meal** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 9:30 am

I'm extremely happy gaming on my Inspiron 8600. Is that $750 off coupon still available (check our Bargain section for details)?

~Neal

Jancelot · Post by **Jancelot** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 12:00 pm

I just ordered an Inspiron 8600 fully loaded so that's great to hear Neal. It's mostly going to be for work, e-mail, Money, etc but I want to be able to take it on trips (and to coffee shops) and do some gaming on it as well.

Koz · Post by **Koz** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 2:45 pm

The Meal wrote:I'm extremely happy gaming on my Inspiron 8600. Is that $750 off coupon still available (check our Bargain section for details)?

~Neal

Nope, the deal is over.

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 4:26 am

i just downloaded the Massive Assault demo and went through the tutorials... it is pretty neat, tho i can see where it'd get really hard later on...

Hamsterball_Z · Post by **Hamsterball_Z** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 4:17 pm

Jeff V wrote:You'd be better off with the old Kohan games. That laptop you have isn't built for 3D anything.

I've got a Dell C400, P3 1.3Ghz and Intel integrated graphics. I play Neverwinter Nights on it quite a bit. Sure, I have to bring the settings down and it struggles when the action gets really heavy but it's still playable most of the time.

If a game has a 16 bit option that helps a lot. I could get 70fps numbers out of Quake 3 that way. On a laptop display that little reduction in image quality wasn't noticable. If NWN had the 16 bit option I think it would clear up those slow spots. I wouldn't want this as my primary rig but it works fine for my commute.

setaside · Post by **setaside** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 9:10 pm

hitbyambulance wrote:i just downloaded the Massive Assault demo and went through the tutorials... it is pretty neat, tho i can see where it'd get really hard later on...

It never really gets "hard" .... just .... challenging.

All missions are beatable but some really do require you to think a couple/few turns ahead. That's one of the things I love about it.

gorky1 · Post by **gorky1** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 3:15 pm

Locomotion's a good laptop game too. I'm a bit afraid to start it up, because last time I did, I got really addicted and lost three or four days to it.

Was a scary experience, but you get your money's worth of entertainment.

Cylus Maxii · Post by **Cylus Maxii** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 6:04 pm

My Sager NP3790 rules!

Pentium Mobility 755 (2 GHz 2MB L2 ache)
1 GB DDR PC2700 RAM
Radeon Mobility 9700 128 MB
15.4" 1680x1050 15.4" widescree display

a little over 7 lbs (with the 12-cell that gives 4-5 hours)

all for <$1900

I love this thing!

I bought it from discountlaptops.com. They rate a 10 on resller ratings - I'd have to agree with that after my own good experience. Shipped it in 3 days.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 8:33 pm

Yesterday I went over to Falcon NW and checked out their desktop replacement laptop. The way I configured it,it was only $4000!
Anybody want to loan me some money?

Goldchamp · Post by **Goldchamp** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 12:49 am

I just got me a HP Pavillion ze5300 and it kicks arse, p4 2.4 512 megs ram (soon to be 1 gig) radeon 7000 igp, 15" screen dvd rw and I love it! and get Escape velocity nova

knob · Post by **knob** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 1:08 am

dbt1949 wrote:Yesterday I went over to Falcon NW and checked out their desktop replacement laptop. The way I configured it,it was only $4000!
Anybody want to loan me some money?

I didn't know Falcon NW got into the Laptop scene.

If I had 4k, I'd be all over it. But I'm not rich.

Meghan · Post by **Meghan** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 6:24 am

I'm toying with the idea of Falcon's thin laptop for 3k. I want to get a laptop but I haven't decided if I'm going budget or BFG.

One thing that concerns me about laptops - I use my pc pretty much all day - 12-18 hours sometimes. Can a laptop - especially a really powerful one - be left on and plugged in for that thime without overheating?

Charlatan · Post by **Charlatan** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 7:09 am

Meghan wrote:I'm toying with the idea of Falcon's thin laptop for 3k. I want to get a laptop but I haven't decided if I'm going budget or BFG.

One thing that concerns me about laptops - I use my pc pretty much all day - 12-18 hours sometimes. Can a laptop - especially a really powerful one - be left on and plugged in for that thime without overheating?

I have a laptop I use for work, since I travel a bit. In addition I was carting it home every night for the first 18 months I had it, so I used it about 18 hours a day all told. As long as you make sure you don't block the airflow to the processor, you won't have any problems. That said, I used a wooden lap desk at home, because it certainly did heat up, and I wouldn't advise sticking it on your lap when you're using it, not unless you have a way to dissipate enormous amounts of heat through your groin (cue rimshot!).

Beer Goggles · Post by **Beer Goggles** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 10:38 am

Meghan wrote:One thing that concerns me about laptops - I use my pc pretty much all day - 12-18 hours sometimes. Can a laptop - especially a really powerful one - be left on and plugged in for that thime without overheating?

Yes, as long as you do not block the fans.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 11:02 am

Like the other said,keep the airflow clear and it'll last as long as a desk top. I mainly use my laptop and it's on 12 hrs + of gaming most of the times with no problems.

The Meal · Post by **The Meal** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 11:50 am

My major concern with laptops and heat build-up is that the battery life gets degraded with temperature cycling. I try to keep my lappy off (and thank goodness XP has reasonable boot-up times, so this isn't a huge PITA issue) when it's not in use for just this reason. I probably do 25% of my notebooking unplugged, and I purchased a Pentium-Mobile for just this reason, so it makes sense to do what I can to keep those batteries in good shape.

~Neal

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 12:35 pm

I like to buy an extra battery and rotate them about once a month.I found out the hard way if you wait too long your spare will be down quite a bit over time.

The Meal · Post by **The Meal** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 1:29 pm

dbt1949 wrote:I like to buy an extra battery and rotate them about once a month.I found out the hard way if you wait too long your spare will be down quite a bit over time.

I've done the same and swap them on a weekly basis. They start to degrade as soon as they're created, so it doesn't make sense to purchase two and then "save one for later" once your first one has gone.

~Neal

Dirt · Post by **Dirt** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 2:39 pm

What's a good laptop cleaner?

nameless77 · Post by **nameless77** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 1:26 pm

I have a Dell Inspiron 5150 P4 3.5GHz with a gig of RAM. It has an NVidia card with 64 megs of video ram and screams like a banshee when it really gets going. I play everything on it with no trouble. I also run it 24 hours a day, often letting it run complex access queries over night for work the next day. I did blow a fan out after about 8 months, but Dell came out and replaced it the next day for free. Other than that, no problems at all. And believe me, I'm getting my money's worth off of this machine!!!!