Can You Play Ns From A Laptop?
Zunni
The best thing to happen to I&S in a long while Join Date: 2002-11-26 Member: 10016Members
The best thing to happen to I&S in a long while Join Date: 2002-11-26 Member: 10016Members
<div class="IPBDescription">I'm getting a new work one...</div> Can most new standard laptops run NS pretty well?
My boss has decided that we are going to replace my p2 300 at my desk with something new, and since I like to write code on the go, a laptop seems to make a certain amount of sense.
My biggest fear is in the video card, will I have to request a higher end VC, or will most laptops now-a-days have a decent enough card that NS will run without a problem.
I'm getting a docking station for the office and when I'm at home, I have my home PC, so I'll have a decent NS experience (keyboard/mouse/monitor wise) no matter where I am (that's the plan)...
Anyone have any experience they can share?
My boss has decided that we are going to replace my p2 300 at my desk with something new, and since I like to write code on the go, a laptop seems to make a certain amount of sense.
My biggest fear is in the video card, will I have to request a higher end VC, or will most laptops now-a-days have a decent enough card that NS will run without a problem.
I'm getting a docking station for the office and when I'm at home, I have my home PC, so I'll have a decent NS experience (keyboard/mouse/monitor wise) no matter where I am (that's the plan)...
Anyone have any experience they can share?
Comments
generally laptop monitors are considerably worse than standard TFT/CRT monitors - the frame rate will probably be fairly poor
plug it into a proper monitor for gaming, slap on a optical mouse, and it should be fine
the top end laptops these days are about 3x faster than my main pc, and I play NS fine (ping allowing :X)
you have (almost) identical specs to my pc - i'm running a 1.3mhz 512 ram 32mb gfx
I average 40-50 fps - don't know what you're complaining about haha
Basically, you'll make a good gorge or a good distraction, but not a good anything else. You'll probably be running at some lower resolution on a crappy monitor with light glaring off the screen. If you have any aptitude for aiming now, prepare to kiss it goodbye. I know I certainly couldn't make the step down to playing on a laptop. Those things just aren't your best bet for playing the game. You CAN, but would you want to? I mean this isn't like tetris on your pocket calculator here.
On the other hand, shiney new laptops are pretty sweet.
edit: get a optical mouse of some sort to go with it, they work very well on one's leg, or the arm of a chair, or whatever.
That's pretty hardcore. I tried that once and only managed to make an idiot out of myself.
At home I'll use my pc.. so I don't think it's a problem..
I was really just concerned with the video card.
h4|-|
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good luck on your buy, your boss not a <span style='color:white'>Search yourself a new all-purpose swearword, will ya?</span> and will not fire you for playing games during work....awesome <!--emo&:0--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/wow.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wow.gif' /><!--endemo-->
PC's can be a lot more customized/new stuff added to.
PC's don't have a small **** keyboard and a touchpad <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> (not mine at least, and yes ofcourse you can plug in a keyboard and mouse @ the laptop)
PC's are easier to cool so far as I've seen.
CRT (not flatscreen) monitors give better graphics for FPS and other flashy stuff
PS:
I'm not used to laptops, so that may explain a lot >)
(/me remembers the time he played Test Drive 1 with colors instead of orange/black....good old time were the games were ugly but fun)
Why would he get a laptop without an openGL capable graphics card?
Inspiron 5150, price paid? £0.
SWEEEEEEEET. And yes, it eats NS alive, stomps on its corpse, laughs, then goes & has a meal while it waits for NS to recover.
I have been **** at my wireless optical mouse for a while, since it lags, it is frigging fast, but I don't have to clean it, and there is no wire.
HAH fooled ya!
There is a wire, for the loading station
There is something too clean, your desk! (or where ever you use your mouse on)
Where did I leave my ball mouse again...
<edit>
its wire not whire O.o
</edit>
Uhh utter lies check your mouse pad or whatever surface you are using, been using optical mice for gaming for years and not had a problem. It's all based on your sensitivity. I actually play with mine in the 30's with windows up most of the way on a logitech laser. Never had any of the problems you had.
You can only get 60Hz (60fps, really) on most LCD screens, but that's not so bad. It's a little more straining on the eyes than 75 or 80.
The biggest considerations are to get a USB mouse (the older kinds sometimes interfere with the touchpad. I'd have to disable the touchpad in my bios to use a PS2 mouse), and to actually use a cable instead of your wireless to hook in.
You can actually get an "optical mousepad," but any surface with some texture will work fine. Glass works pretty awful.
It's not hard to get a 7200RPM laptop drive anymore. It's well worth it.
While I'm here, I'll give you this hint: get a laptop screen with a fairly low natural resolution! My 1600x1200 15" makes text TINY, or slightly blurry if I turn down the resolution. That's just how LCDs go...
edit: oh, also you should definately get a laptop cooler if you're going to work it hard. The tiny fans it will come with suck, and heat buildup will shorten the life of your laptop. I have an Antec one (USB powered with pass-thru for my mouse), and it's as noisy as a freaking tornado but it keeps the laptop fairly cool. Even when it's not on, having the laptop elevated a bit improves the airflow and keeps it cooler. There are probably better ones, however.
-Trackball mouse
-Ball mouse with cord
-Cordless optical mouse
Test results for ns:
-Trackball mouse: EEEK I'm NOT used to it!
-Ball mouse with cord: It's like the optical one, except it has the annoying cord, and its waaaay to dusty to play with
-Cordless optical mouse: Teh Win, until the batteries run low, I shouldnt play all day ns btw <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo-->
When a CRT (traditional monitor) updates, after each refresh, the screen begins to fade. This is why at low refresh rates, like 60hz, there is a visible flicker; the monitor has faded enough before the next refresh for you to notice it. This is also what causes the eye strain and headaches. On a CRT, this is solved by using a higher refresh rate, (72hz is generally considered flicker-free). If you go high enough, the screen doesn't fade enough between refreshes for your eye to notice.
This is a total non-issue on an LCD. LCDs don't fade between updates, they just stay on whatever they're on until the next refresh. So 60hz on an LCD is more than fine. 60hz is enough for completely fluid movement.
Now, back to the issue at hand, I've seen HL on some low-end laptops. Notably, I've seen it on a Dell Inspiron 1100, which I believe had an Intel Extreme Graphics processor (I don't think it had the Intel Extreme Graphics 2).
I saw The Specialists running, and it ran ****-poor. At some points it was virtually unplayable, and NS is a hell of a lot more demanding than TS.
I've also seen it running on a Toshiba laptop that had a Radeon 9000. That's pretty low-end, sub-GeForce3 I think. It ran silky smooth.
So my advice? ANY kind of GPU from ATI or nVidia will do, ANY GeForce 2/4/FX Go or Radeon Mobility. Or, failing that, your absolute minimum should be an Intel Extreme Graphics 2. Not 1, <b>2</b>.
At home I'll use my pc.. so I don't think it's a problem..
I was really just concerned with the video card. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
if you buy one of the newer dells you can get a geforce fx in it
One of my friends was boasting about how she spent ?1500 on a new dell latop, then I showed her alienware's site and she hit me cause I made her feel bad <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->
If I wasnt a student and living away from home I'd probably get a <a href='http://www.alienware.co.uk/Configurator_Pages/area-51m.aspx?SysCode=PC-EU-LT-AREA51-M&SubCode=SKU-ENTHUSIAST' target='_blank'>laptop</a>(either that or I dont eat for a year :/)