Gaming on a TM291Lmi?

I have a Travel Mate 291 and was wondering if anyone else in here uses the 290 series to play games. I just installed Halflife again for the heck of it to play some Day of Defeat and Counterstrike. Plugged in the usb mouse, and it played for about an hour. Now my notebook is hot as %#%@%@. Can I overheat these things playing games? I've never owned a laptop before, how hot can it get, is it normal getting pretty warm? I stopped, afraid I might screw something up if i continue playing. Are there any external cooling solutions for notebooks whose users expect a little more work out of them than average?

thanks

Javyn

 

oh come on, no one with a travelmate likes to have fun?

 

How/where were you using the laptop while you were gaming? If you had the laptop on your lap then its really no surprise if it felt very warm as you or your clothing was probably blocking the vents on the machine. If you had the laptop on a smooth & flat surface then perhaps you've upgraded the processor or the hdd and the case wasn't designed for the hotter running parts.

While you were gaming did the system fan come on? If not then perhaps the fan is damaged.

All laptops can get pretty darn warm if they are stressed for a fair length of time. Perhaps you don't need to be so concerned if the system isn't exhibiting other heat related symptoms.

 

Nope, I keep the laptop flat on my desk. The fan does come on, but it blows out very hot air. I don't know how much heat is normal for a laptop, having never owned one before. I guess I am being too paranoid heh. Thanks

 

i have a 290 also
wonderful laptop and all...but its **** all for gaming. so i have a desktop for that.
when i DO game on this, its older stuff, and the thing DOES get fairly hot..but it has NEVER crashed because of it.

 

Hi,

Recently Acer released a new version of the famous 290 series. It's 292LMI_ATI with Pentium M 1.5 and ATI Radeon 9700 64Mb. The specs are good and price is OK but before considering this machine which has a casing identical to the one Compal CL56 has
http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=24218&highlight=Compal+CL56
(for more infor see this http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=22187&highlight=ODM)
I would like to ask you the following:
1 How is the screen (veiwing angles, colours, brightness etc.,)?
2 What is the material the notebook is made of?
3 Does the palmrest get hot?
4 Does the fan make noice?
5 Does the keyboard have flex?

Thank you very much for any indication you may give me!

 

while very nearly identical in design, the 9700 version isnt QUITE the same.
im betting it has a far better heat dissipation method for that video chip.
but overall, its very sturdy, made mostly of plastics.

 

HI blackomegax,

I was trying to find differences between the case of travelmate 292LMI_ATI and the one Compal CL56 (plus others) has. I could not find any. Can you please give me some indications?

 

i mean the 290 vs the 292 with the radeon.
the 290 is much plainer.
but overall, on the outside, except for the palmrest, identical

 

yeah this thing does get hot. i got a laptop cooling pad with 4 fans so i can play counterstrike on it without having to worry too much about heat. still, even now i am noticing, the plastic right under the screen where it says "acer" gets pretty darn hot itself. i'm sure i'm just being paranoid, considering i haven't owned a notebook before.

i have a desktop for gaming too with a better video card than the 291's integrated intel. but this notebook has a better processor than the gaming machine hehe

 

yes, the area around the function buttons gets warm after a bit no matter what.
a cooling pad will massively HELP this. but the cpu IS right under that.

 

i do feel kind of left out now getting this recently, and a new one just like it comes out but with a radeon video card. i assume that changing the video on these is not quite as simple as on a desktop. oh well. its probably a good thing, keep me more concentrated on my work lol. once i am done with this summer school session, i am going to try to install Morrowind on this thing, see if it runs. Wish me luck

 

morrowwind will NOT run on the intel video.
anything newer than half life 1 has trouble.
but youre right, its a perfect work/school laptop

 

Nothing newer than Half-Life will run well on that chip? Wow, thats really weak.

 

its not so much the chip, its the integrated intel graphics card. i just installed quake 3 arena and i get around 60 fps average, higher than halflife actually. counterstrike i average around 40, day of defat 20-30. if you are a gamer and plan on getting an acer travelmate, make sure you get the one with the radeon 9700 mobile hehe

also, how long is the battery suppose to last on these? i have been reading people say that you should remove the battery when you leave the computer plugged in. i am hesitant to do this because it is easy to for the less computer literate people in my family to unplug this not knowing what they are doing. i notice with the battery taken out i am unable to shut down, just restart. so i am assuming losing power with no battery will wipe out my data.....am i wrong on this?


john

 

5 hours, give or take.
2 under gaming, 3 under dvd.

and...one thing ive noticed...the battery is very well insulated from the heat sources...so it doesnt get hot enough to warrant taking it out. (with 1.3 ghz anyway)
so leave it in. replace it in 2 years anyway, or get a new laptop.
my battery is coming up on a year of "typical" use. 3-4 discharges a week. still gets over 4.5 hours