Laptop Gaming Basics: Experts Wanted.

I have my NP9260 coming in this week (fyi WSXGA+, E6700, 2.66 GHz, Go 7950GTX SLI 512MB, Vista Premium 64, 4GB DDR2, 200GB HD) and I've been looking through a lot of the threads on this forum just trying to make sense of it all (haven't bought a new laptop in five years, and haven't ever bought a gaming laptop).

I thought it might be useful to collect the out-of-the-box tips to optimize the laptop right away. Obviously some issues will be very specific to certain brands but I know there are also issues that would be helpful to most people (e.g., Nvidia settings, programs, etc.

So when you get your laptop, plug it in, and turn it on, what do you do right away to get it going at maximum performance. If there are responses I can add them in this post.

I'll start (got this one from another thread).

• Use AC power whenever possible.

• If text appears small, adjust DPI. In Vista, right-click on empty space on desktop, select Properties, and Adjust Font Size (DPI) then set it to whatever size looks best (I use 120, but may bump that up a little).

• Create Restore DVD's, Copy SWSetup.

• Disable bloatware or do a clean install. Seen a couple suggestions for doing this; at the extreme end-->format HD, reinstall OS, reinstall drivers. If you're a little less picky, just run down the list of programs in Control Panel-->Add or Remove Programs and take away anything you don't need, especially resource hogs like weather apps, media clients, etc.

• Get proper drivers (e.g., www.laptopvideo2go.com).

• In Nvidia Control Panel-->Powermizer-->Max Performance.

• Tweak Vista (www.tweakguides.com).

• Install programs (Games- Steam, Chat- Trillian, AntiVirus- NOD32 or Avast, Hardware Monitoring- SpeedFan, Browser- Firefox or Opera).

• Defrag HD.

 

Well since I'm at work and don't want to try and list it all now, the first thing you want to do, is make sure the system is full of bloatware. Uninstall anything you don't need, disable useless services, etc etc. Usually you'll want to use some sort of guide for this, unless you trust yourself with just looking things up and deciding.

Some people just format off the bat, after installing/uninstalling a lot of things though you'll probably want to defrag. Obviously find the best drivers for your graphics card. And generally you want to always game while on AC power, and not on battery.

So there you have my late night at work ramblings of an answer. Hope it at least gets you started.

 

Steps that I take:
1. Create Restore DVD's, Copy SWSetup, make sure laptop generally works.
2. Clean Install
3. Drivers, drivers, and more drivers (this is the fun part - thank god for SWSetup)
4. Install my programs (Firefox, AV/AS, games, etc...)
5. Defragment
6. Tweak Vista, turn off UAC, msconfig, services, random stuff... ( www.tweakguides.com)
7. Enjoy.

 

Noice. I'll keep that in mind for my new laptop in a couple of years. XD

Edit: I thought there were still no SLI mobile drivers for Vista that worked yet. Is that still true? If it is your only going to be able to use one 7950 GTX.

 

Hmm.....full of bloatware....yes....I meant....is not or isn't...of course.

Quote for great justice -_-

 

if you play at battery will you get worse performance than when you play on ac? Even if you have powermizer set to use max performance?

 

There are Vista drivers for SLI now, don't know how they compare performance wise to the XP ones though.

 

Check www.laptopvideo2go.com for GPU drivers.
Download a driver and the modded 'inf file'(can be found on the same page).
Extract the driver into a folder and then copy/paste the modded inf file into the driver folder.
Modded inf files are needed because the drivers are not optimized for notebook GPU's.
You can also find information there which drivers are suitable for your SLI configuration.

 

Basically, this is all you need to do.

 

Great suggestions. First post is updated, let me know if I missed anything.

 

good thread would read again keep the suggestions coming

 

You're going to want to put those in order. Tweaking before you do a clean install or defraging before you install your programs would defeat the purpose.

 

Good point. Should be organized now from first to last steps. Of course there are still a lot of gaps (e.g., good programs to install) and further comments/suggestions are certainly welcome.

 

Programs that I install (now this surely isn't for everyone, and I doubt you could get a list to satisfy everyone):

Firefox
Trillian (IM client)
Antivirus/Antispyware
Google Earth
Yahoo! Music Jukebox
SpeedFan
Ntune
Games

 

I just got my laptop last night. First, Sager rocks. Second, I've got another suggestion for new owners--adjust DPI settings. Fixes the "small text" issue on WSXGA+ and especially WUXGA displays letting you enjoy glorious native res without mortgaging your eyesight. Adding to list.

 

i think a good question is that if you have a "business graphics card" (for lack of a better term) like the fx 570m v. 8600 gt, what drivers would be the best to install for gaming? and do you have to modify anything for better performance?

 

AstroLad, just wanted to say congrats on a rockin' machine! I know you'll be enjoying it. You have a great list of to-do's here .
The DPI was one of the first tings I increased when I got my G1s. Also, updating the drivers at laptop2go was most important. After disabling or removing some apps that I know I was not interested in ever using, was the best thing for system performance. I do like some Vista features, but turn off UAC & indexing, plus some network junk. Use the command prompt to resize your "system restore" cache. ( Instructions can be found in the "OS" section of the forums if you do a search.) Vista default is like 30 gigs, so your HDD will disappear slowly if you don't resize it to something workable like 6-7 gigs. Disable sys restore altogether if your feelin' sassy
I use Auslogics defrag and saw a noticable speed increase after the first defrag. 23% increase is what it said in the report.
I see no reason to fix things that aren't broken, so re-installing the OS isn't a big deal unless you have some major issues.
best to you, Robin

 

Awesome. Good advice. I'll do all of those things.

 

... don't do that...

sorry to bluntly disagree.

(someone said to disable virtual memory and then deleted the post)

 

stop bumping old threads!!! and thats not even a prover advice

 

If you would take a look at his other posts, you'd realize how much he truly intends to advise in the first place... he's just intentionally misleading... probably thinks he's funny!