Laptop Players - What do you run and how does it look?
By
Aluminum Man,
Posted on: 2011-05-25 21:06 in Player Questions
I have 2:
ACER Aspire 5253-BZ661 ($450) - dual core. slower than ASUS but trials are still playable with minor lag. Very lightweight. This is my travel gig.
ASUS N71J ($1300) - almost as fast as my quad core 3.4 Ghz PC, Nv9600GSO/384. However, this monster is a 17" and very heavy.
I play CoH on a Aspire 8942G Widescreen Laptop
It has Intel Core 720QM processor, 6gb memory and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850. The screen is 18.4" with which I run resolution 1920x1080.
I play the game in full screen mode at 1920x1080 resolution with ultramode running with everything running at high quality (with Shadow Quality Set to High).
I very rarely have any problems, although the laptop can run a bit hot (I have purchased a cooling tray to help with that).
When I have run the odd trial (not a big fan of them) I generally turn each of the settings down one so everything runs a bit more smoothly.
I generally have played CoH on laptops since I started playing. I generally don't have room for a desktop in my flat so have always invested in laptops that have a decent spec.
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
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Haha. You can find laptops that will run ultra mode, but those laptops might as well be desktops, with their size and weight. They're not exactly the most portable of laptops (or the most comfortable in your 'lap').|
Originally Posted by Aluminum Man
Also: Ultra Mode?
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If you're not setting the bar too high for graphics, though, there are plenty of laptops around that will work. In fact, if you go to a brick-and-mortar store, just about everything on the show floor that isn't a tiny netbook will work.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt
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Oh I agree with you there Fleeting, my laptop which I described above falls into that category. It isn't the best portible laptop if I was walking around with it all day. In fact I am planning of getting a cheap Notebook for that purpose. |
Originally Posted by Fleeting Whisper
Haha. You can find laptops that will run ultra mode, but those laptops might as well be desktops, with their size and weight. They're not exactly the most portable of laptops (or the most comfortable in your 'lap').
If you're not setting the bar too high for graphics, though, there are plenty of laptops around that will work. In fact, if you go to a brick-and-mortar store, just about everything on the show floor that isn't a tiny netbook will work. |
However, people travelling on business/extended periods where the laptop can be stored away in a luggage bag it isn't a problem. I don't travel on business but if I do go away for a while for whatever reason, I pack the laptop up and put in my suit case and don't have any problems.
As for having it on my lap, I do play with it on my lap on occasion and don't have any particular issues.
Member of GGRRR, a SG on Defiant - check out our website - GGRRR
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
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Oh I picked up one of those "not in my lap" - tops. On the road it's mostly going to sit on a desk in the hotel room waiting for me to come back to the room. At home it's probably going to sit on the coffee table a fair amount of the time as we have desktops there. I don't have to lug it around a college campus in a backpack or anything so this is less of an issue for me than for some.|
Originally Posted by Fleeting Whisper
Haha. You can find laptops that will run ultra mode, but those laptops might as well be desktops, with their size and weight. They're not exactly the most portable of laptops (or the most comfortable in your 'lap').
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Originally Posted by Fleeting Whisper
If you're not setting the bar too high for graphics, though, there are plenty of laptops around that will work. In fact, if you go to a brick-and-mortar store, just about everything on the show floor that isn't a tiny netbook will work.
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Aluminum Man's Journal: http://diaryofanaluminumman.blogspot.com/
I'm running an Asus G50V-AK100K (WGT SE)
CPU: Intel the 2 Cores Duo T9550 (2,66 Ghz)
Memory: 4GB (2 x 2048MB) DDR2
LCD: 15,4 " TFT WSXGA+ (1680x1050)
2º LCD: ASUS Direct Messenger will be In-Game system information
Record: SATA 500GB 5400rpm
Drive: DVD-RW SuperMulti Double to layer c Lightscribe
Graphical: nVidia GeForce 9700M GT, 512MB DDR3 VRAM
Accessories: Chamber of 2 Mega Pixel imbutida with microphone
LAN 10/100/1000
Wireless 802,11 a/b/g/N
Modem Intel® High audio Definition
Bluetooth
Audio: Built-in audio Azalia compliant chip, with 3D effect & duplex full
S.O.: Seen Windows Premium 64Bits
I know this machine is like 3 years old, now, but even with Ultra Mode out, I can run my graphics at the standard 'recommended' and get decent quality out of it. Only problem I have now, that I didn't used to have, is how hot my system is running. Otherwise, it looks great, and you can alt-tab out pretty quickly to go from browser to game and back.
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One thing I want to warn about laptops, as this was true on my wife's Dell that I was using for about 2 months away from home this Spring. If you use the numbers to fire off attacks with your left hand, be careful not to hit the disconnect wireless button, which on her Dell is right above the 3 key.
With my fat fingering, I ended up using a whip cable and plugging into the network instead of using wireless, so I wouldn't accidentally get myself killed because i hit the wrong key. Also, hotel wireless, sucks for gaming, especially during evening hours when everyones in their rooms.
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I run the game fine on my Alienware M17x, core i7, dual ati mobility radeon HD 5800 series cards and 8gb ram. However its not so much a laptop as a desktop replacement. I brought that and got rid of both my 4 year old desktop and 5 year old laptop back in Feb. Most of the time it sits on the desk on a cooling mat as it has fan exhausts on the bottom so it helps the air flow.
It runs full ultra fine and I have much faster loading times and less lag than I had on my old machine running on minimum. So it can be done on a laptop, just not your run of the mill work style intergrated graphics lappy.
ThinkPad T61p (About $1700 a few years back): Core2Duo 2.5Ghz, 4GB RAM, 320GB HD, 15" 1920x1200 screen, nVidia QuadroFX 570M.
Running standard graphics at 1920x1200. Looks "okay" but not great. Prefer my workstation a lot more. Still, it works just fine for casual play. It tends to choke a little on long raids.
Have a buddy I just set up with one of these. The machine's an absolute BEAST and he's VERY happy with it. Especially since, a couple days after he ordered it, the price took a $200-250 jump.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
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Paranoia talking here, but you might want to make sure to have some way of locking it to the furniture or something.|
Originally Posted by Aluminum Man
Oh I picked up one of those "not in my lap" - tops. On the road it's mostly going to sit on a desk in the hotel room waiting for me to come back to the room..
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Also, check under the bed (if you dare!) if it's a little dusty, might not be a bad hiding spot.
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I have this custom-build Dell Inspiron 1720 that I can play COH on:
Processor Intel® Core 2 Duo T7500 (4MB cache/2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB)
Memory 3GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (1GB x 2GB)
LCD Panel Anti-glare, widescreen 17.0 inch display (1440 x 900)
Video Card 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce 8600M GT
Hard Drive 250G 5400RPM SATA HDD
OS Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition, English
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Wireless Intel® 3945 802.11a/g Mini-card
Sound Card Integrated Stereo High Definition Audio
I tried Ultra Mode on it, it "works" (oh.. the shinies...), but too laggy for actual play. Otherwise, I can use "Graphics Quality: Quality" no problem.
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When I am traveling for work, I play CoX on an Acer 7740-6645.
- i5-650M CPU @ 2.66 GHz
- Intel HD graphics
- 1600x900 resolution
- 4 GB RAM
The Dell luggable?
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Toshiba Qosmio X300
Core 2 Duo 2.00 GHz processor
4GB DDR3 1066 RAM
GeForce 9700M GTS
960GB between 2 5400 RPM hard drives (I added second hard drive to the available slot)
Windows 7 Experience index: 5.5 (Processor being the bottleneck, all other components rate 5.9)
With a bit of overclocking, I can run high (not Ultra, mind you) settings at about 30 FPS. In ultra mode, I like turning on shadows, environment reflections and water effects on Low to Medium, without substantial loss in frame rate.
Considering I bought this machine nearly 3 years ago (August, 2008) at the $1750 price point, I'd say it's held out rather well.
That said, I have been considering the purchase of a new gaming laptop in the next year or so.
Gateway p7805u-FX
Core 2 Duo 2.26 GHz
4GB RAM
GeForce 9800M GTS
320 GB HDD
I have most base settings set to maximum except for World Detail (at 100% rather than 200%). As for Ultra Mode, I have water and environmental reflections at highest quality and shadow quality set to medium. Ambient occlusion is off.
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I run the game on a Gateway NV53A52U.
AMD Mobile Turion II 2.4 GHz Dual Core processor (plan to upgrade to 3.0 Quad Core)
4 GB Ram
ATI HD Mobility Radeon 4250
450 GB HDD
I run the game on Recommended. I get great FPS on those settings.
I see it's a pretty varied mix of hardware, yet everyone seems to be able to find a setting they can live with, at least. That's comforting. Some of these are models I looked at during my research so I'm glad to see that they do work. I was thinking that since the engine has been around for a few years then it should run pretty well even on older hardware and it looks like that is the case.
Ultra mode is the real wild card here. I know a lot of it depends on resolution but I would love for us to be able to find the cutoff point for Ultra but I'm not sure that's really possible with laptops and their interesting configurations. Maybe we could at least get a 2011 guideline. The Nvidia 540 shows up a lot in newer systems and I wonder if it could handle UM at say 1300 X 700. On the Radeon side the 5650 and 6650 seem like fairly common mid to high end laptop cards. Looking at the specs I'm not sure if any of them could do it but it would be nice to have a current standard of "if you have at least an XYZ card then you can expect performance of ___". Just in case someone else is looking.
Aluminum Man's Journal: http://diaryofanaluminumman.blogspot.com/
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Maybe. The 540 is really an entry-level solution. You might get away with turning some things on. But balls-to-the-wall Ultra Mode? No.|
Originally Posted by Aluminum Man
The Nvidia 540 shows up a lot in newer systems and I wonder if it could handle UM at say 1300 X 700.
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Compared to the previous 460M.
Pixel Fill Rate (GPixels/sec)
540: 2.688
460: 16.2
Texel Fill Rate (GTexels/sec)
540: 10.752
460: 21.6
Memory Bandwidth (GB/Sec)
540: 28.8
460: 60
Processing Power (GFLOPs)
540: 258.048
460: 518.4
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
I'm running (as soon as it gets back from warranty repair for the sole problem it has) an Asus G53-Jw, with a nVidia GTX 460M and an i7, which lets me run UM easy, and it looks gorgeous.
As for the one problem, well, the power cord is placed dead-center on the right side of the laptop. Which is the absolutely most boneheaded engineering move I've ever seen Asus make, especially for a gaming laptop.
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Originally Posted by Back Alley Brawler
Did you just use "casual gamer" and "purpled-out warshade" in the same sentence?
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I bought an ASUS Model: G73SW-BST6 from Best Buy a few months ago. It was available as a rebuilt model so it was just under $1000. Runs CoH on Ultra mode very well. I'm very satisfied with the purchase. It's a very big laptop... but it works well on your lap.. it doesn't even get hot. The only thing I would change about it is I miss having a 2nd set of mouse buttons at the top of the touch pad that my old laptop had. That was very handy as it puts it right below the space bar so I could open doors/click objects without moving my hand.
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I also have an Asus G50V, but mine is a little bit different with Nvidia 9800 GT graphics. I have been quite happy with how it runs CoH/V, even on a wireless connection. It certainly does not have max Ultra Mode graphics, but it still looks very good.|
Originally Posted by Obsidian_Light
I'm running an Asus G50V-AK100K (WGT SE)
CPU: Intel the 2 Cores Duo T9550 (2,66 Ghz) Memory: 4GB (2 x 2048MB) DDR2 LCD: 15,4 " TFT WSXGA+ (1680x1050) 2º LCD: ASUS Direct Messenger will be In-Game system information Record: SATA 500GB 5400rpm Drive: DVD-RW SuperMulti Double to layer c Lightscribe Graphical: nVidia GeForce 9700M GT, 512MB DDR3 VRAM Accessories: Chamber of 2 Mega Pixel imbutida with microphone LAN 10/100/1000 Wireless 802,11 a/b/g/N Modem Intel® High audio Definition Bluetooth Audio: Built-in audio Azalia compliant chip, with 3D effect & duplex full S.O.: Seen Windows Premium 64Bits I know this machine is like 3 years old, now, but even with Ultra Mode out, I can run my graphics at the standard 'recommended' and get decent quality out of it. Only problem I have now, that I didn't used to have, is how hot my system is running. Otherwise, it looks great, and you can alt-tab out pretty quickly to go from browser to game and back. |
After the experience with this Laptop, I would be happy to buy another ASUS product.
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I've never had a problem with an ASUS laptop... I currently have 6 of them of various series ranging from 4 years old to 2 months old. Like most manufacturers they come with a ton of crapware and I generally wipe them and reinstall the OS right out of the box.|
Originally Posted by Local_Man
I also have an Asus G50V, but mine is a little bit different with Nvidia 9800 GT graphics. I have been quite happy with how it runs CoH/V, even on a wireless connection. It certainly does not have max Ultra Mode graphics, but it still looks very good.
After the experience with this Laptop, I would be happy to buy another ASUS product. |
I've played COH on a couple of them; both have dedicated vid cards although I forget which card. The newest is capable of running some UM settings with it's Nvidia 315 but it's not a gaming powerhouse.
I also have a 12 lb older Sager with Core2 and 7950GTX card, that will run most UM at moderate settings. My Alienware MX11 with a Core i5 and a 310 Nvidia is capable of minimum UM.
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Hi all - I will be playing on a laptop for the first time as I am travelling on business for an extended period and I'm wondering how well they work for other people. I did a ton of research and I've already picked up a machine I like, but I'm curious about what other players use and how well it works for them.
CPU type, video card type, screen res, and frame-rates are all welcome but also what kinds of compromises you've made to make it run at a satisfactory level.
Also: Ultra Mode?
I'm not looking for buying advice, I just didn't see a recent discussion on practical experience with running Our Favorite Game on a laptop in the era of quad-core CPU's, SLI Vidcards, and SSD's. I'll be testing mine this weekend and I will share once I've had a chance to try it out for a few days. In the meantime I'd love to hear from others with more experience.
Aluminum Man's Journal: http://diaryofanaluminumman.blogspot.com/