Games on Laptops

In 98 I bought a "desktop replacement" laptop by Gateway. Found 2 things. 1. Current games wouldnt run well on it. 2. My brother worked as a tester for Lucasarts and said they didnt test on laptops and therefore didnt support it as hardware options were too numerous and laptop-gaming demand was too little for them to justify making them work well in all of the options.

Come 2004. I just bought a Dell 9100 which is similar to the XPS that is specifically marketed for game players. My first game (thought Id start out easy) is the new Hoyle Casino games.
Game wouldnt run and it seemed to be a resolution issue. Called cust support and got a VERY rude guy that said "we dont support laptops. Laptop screens dont change resolution at a programs request and therefore it wont work cause it will try to go back to the computers resolution. You have 2 options. Buy a desktop or take the game back."

Well I have tried manually switching the resolution down and its working better but still minimizes the program spontaneously sometimes.

So my question is.... If game companies are still NOT supporting laptop play and if theres a resolution switching issue on LTs that are different than desktops..... How are people playing all these games on the new laptops and how is Dell and Alienware marketing for game machines if the games wont run due to a monitor issue common in the difference between a laptop screen and a desktop screen.........

dave

 

I can't comment on Hoyle Casino games but most of the 3D titles like UT2004, Call of Duty, Far Cry etc. run just as good on laptops as they do on desktops--provided you have the proper hardware (which if you have a 9100 you do). They may not acheive the exact same performance of absolute high end desktops but they beat the snot out of most people's "gaming" computers. EA just recently started to support Nvidia based mobile cards. Laptops will change resolution just the same as a desktop will. . .it may not look good but it will do it.



Sony GRT270-16.1" UXGA; P4 2.8GHz; 1GB RAM; 80GB HD; DVD+-RW; 64MB Geforce 5600; XP Pro

"People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid." - Soren Aabye Kierkegaard

 

Well Ive found that manually switching the resolution down before I play the game seems to keep it working. If I just keep my resolution as normal, the game runs but only stays in minimize form. If I click on it, it opens up for a second then the screen goes back to normal resolution and minimizes the game.
So I guess you just have to change it before and after game play.

Why couldnt the guy at Sierra or wherever just say that. He was nothing short of rude about the issue.

anyway, thanks for the response. d

 

I haven't tried playing anything like hoyle casino, but then that should play on anything that doesn't need a game machine to be played.
I've been playing games like counter-strike, splinter cell, far cry and they all work great on the laptop. Perhaps since the Hoyle game isn't as popluar, nor is it unique they may not have as good of support as the big games.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 21,862

 

can't you set it up to run in a 640x480 window?
that way the screen res doesn't have to change.
[8]

 

I dont know how to set it in a different window at a different resolution.
I am thinking that perhaps this has to do with the wide screen being a different than "standard" resolution.
All I can say is it seems that the game runs, but it closes to "minimize" form as the resolution switches back to my regular resolution after 2 seconds of the game being on the screen.
But like I said, I switch the res manually before starting the game and it stays open then.
So those of you that play other games?? Do you switch res manually or do you just run the game. Is the game a different resolution then your native res you are usually running??
How do I have one window open in a different resolution like is being suggested by ROADKILL???

dave

 

I have a UXGA screen but almost always play at 1024x768 for UT2004, Halo etc. I just switch in the game and it switches the resolution for me. The resolution is usually different than my desktop--when I exit the game it is back to 1600x1200. *Shrugs* Never had a problem with it. I would try a different game. Try DLing a trial of UT2004 for instance. It doesn't cost any money and you should see what I was talking about. My three cents.

Sony GRT270-16.1" UXGA; P4 2.8GHz; 1GB RAM; 80GB HD; DVD+-RW; 64MB Geforce 5600; XP Pro

"People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid." - Soren Aabye Kierkegaard

 

and if you really want to test your graphic capabilites download a demo of Far Cry http://www.farcry.ubi.com .

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 21,862

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Quikster

 

Hey everyone, I was looking at the sony A series, 17 and 15 inch screens. I would like to use it to record tv, play games, and use it for school. Some games I have are Need For Speed HP2, Halo, and Rainbow six raven shield, and farcry. How would this computer run these games, what configuration should I get. I travel across the country every summer to CA, and i would like to use this laptop comfortably either in my lap or on the tray table of a plane. Thanks for any comments!

 

Anything with 64 megs of video ram will do, pretty much, but shoot for a 5200/9200, and you will run those things fine.

 

5200/9200? sorry what is that? probably something simple, I just didnt get what you mean.

 

graphics cards:
nVidia 5200
ATI 9200
Better though would be the:
nVidia 5700
ATI 9600
ATI 9700

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

This is the computer I am thinking of getting. Does it sound like it would play games well, or overly perform well? I don't play games a whole heck of a lot, but I want them to run well when I do. Also what does VRAM 64mb mean? Is that virtual ram(shared) or video ram(seperate video card memory)? I will get the 128mb version, I would not settle for 64, lol. Well get back to me and see what you think. I like the small size to take on planes, I can hook up a huge flat panel at home.
Sony VAIO VGN-S90PS



Microsoft Windows XP Professional
13.3" WXGA Xbrite
Intel Pentium M 745 1.80 GHz
1GB (512MB DDR333 x 2)
60GB HDD
MOBILITY RADEON 9700[VRAM64MB]

 

video ram, the extra 64 mb of ram really wont make all that much of a difference, and depending on the ram chips used it is frequently negligable. Example I had a abit geforce ti-4200 64mb ram that had the same performance as my friends asus geforce ti-4200 128mb ram. The reason was abit used higher quality, faster chips for their 64mb of ram than the asus one. If I still had it the games would probably perform slightly better on the 128mb of ram due to the larger texture sizes, however I wouldn't say it breaks a deal to have 64mb. In fact my 64mb 9600 Pro performs the same or slightly faster or slower depending on the test than the 128mb 9600 pro turbo in my friend's sager.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

I dont know... but I believe anything above 8400gs should run games... (im including low sett.)

I mean... upgrade now and youll notice how much games are supported on lappies

Isnt laptop 25 to 50 % the total sales of computers in 2006 or so? 2010 is supposed to be the year where laptops actually rule more than desktops?

 

talk about thread revival..............

 

WOW... how did I get to this thread?!?!?! I didnt see the date! =/

Sorry

 

Geez, I was just about to respond too!

Well if the OP is still around, I just want to mention that I had a similar experience with Hoyle Casino games.

Truth is though, you do NOT need a gaming laptop to run any value games like that. Unless it is 3D, every laptop will be able to run a program like that.

Also, most modern games can default to the OS resolution without crashing or minimizing. You then just set what resolution you'd like from within the game.

 

lol i'll post just to keep this going

... 6/10/04...

 

Lol! Interesting tough.

 

Beatsiz strikes again!

 

hehe.. I said I was confused on how I got here...

Anyways... Hoyles casino whatever.... I beleive was like off brand company software so it was very badly made? imo