Ultra Slim Notebook Gaming

I have a Toshiba R100. This thing rocks for most tasks, and it even kicks butt in some games. Obviously, when you buy a laptop in this category you have to make some compromises - and that usually includes running the latest games. But hey, that Pentium M, even the low volatge variety, are getting more done per clock than a P4. So what the heck, lets see how this machine handles games!

I will update this as I try my rather large library of games. I have a couple of monster dekstop PCs for gaming. These rigs run all games at the highest settings and AA/AF. I will test my games out and post results here for those that may be interested.

If you are looking for a ~ 3 lb notebook and you want to play games, the Toshiba M200 tablet with its Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 and the Sony Vaio PCGV505 with its RADEON 92000 are probably the nicest units.

The R100 is 2.4 lbs and has a decent GPU. Mine has 768mb of RAM but is otherwise stock. The Trident CyberBlade XP4 GPU with dedicated 32 megs of DDR fools most games.

If there are spelling mistakes, keep in mind I just ingested a case of beer and a healty dose of absinthe. If I live through this I will update the post with more games.

To date:

Moto GP 2 - this is the definitive motorcycle arcade racing game. It even has front and rear brake controls and weight shifting! On the R100 it detects a card capable of maximum settings, but there is a serious vertex shader problem that results in bikes that look like paper cutout snowflakes. Turning VS off lessens the bug, but does not fix it. Frame rate on the crappy looking visuals is quite good (the riders and scenery look great).

Giant Citizen Kabuko - this game is old, but perfectly suited to hardware like this. Framerates are high with all details high. This game is a poster child for this kind of hardware - it still looks great! The game is a riot. Lots of fun humor!

UT2004 - forget it. Even at the lowest possible settings the game does not run without stutters.

Counter Strike - this game is perfect on this hardware. High framerates and nothing that would handicap you during online play.

Quake III - old, but it seems to demand more than the R100 can offer. Everyting is rendered properly, but the mouse lags a bit. Literally, you move the mouse and the screen refreshes a second later.

Rise of Nations - with lower settings the framerate is acceptable but not ideal.

Republic - the system specs are realistic. You need more oomph than a thin and light can muster. This game is playable, but at a reduced FPS - I would estimate about 15 fps at the lowest settings.

Star Trek DS9: The Fallen - another oldie but it looks and plays good. It ran fine w/o any visual abnormalities.

Is it me, or is Franka Potente hot?



laptops: Toshiba R100 (current), iBook 800, PowerBook G4 400, iBook 600, Compaq 2811CA, Sony VAIO Z505JS, NEC Versa SXi, Compaq Presario 1685

 

I'm using a v505 @ 2.4ghz and 1gig memory. So far:

SimCity 4 - Runs fine with default settings @ 1024x768. Haven't tried to increase the settings.

Command and Conquer Generals (and Expansion) - Runs fine @ 1024 x 768 and default settings. Did notice slow down when increasing res to 1280x1024 to match desktop. Also noticed slowdown with max graphics effect at any resolution.

Rise of Nations (and Expansion) - Runs fine @ 1024 x 768 with max detail/effects. I was actually surprised at the performance but RON had the maximum settings by default and it runs great!!

That's all I play...sorry I'm so boring.

Afterthought: All of these observations were done with my machine running at full speed. Obviously if yuor processor steps down, the performance will go down also.

 

"UT2004 - forget it. Even at the lowest possible settings the game does not run without stutters."

I am running UT2K4 res at 1440x900x32 trilinier turned off. looks very crisp. i get 60 fps online and almost 100 on instant action (or what ever it is called)

Q3 i get very simular proformance

The screen never shutters, unless of course there is LOTS of lag . . .

powerbook is only 1" thick

17" PowerBook
1.5GHz PowerPC G4
1GB SO-DIMM PC2700 (333MHz) DDR SDRAM
ATI Redeon 9700 Mobility 128mb
80GB Ultra ATA @ 5400rpm
SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)

 

I can play UT2004 on my Fujitsu P5020 on low settings with no problem, even online. PM 1.0 1GB RAM, 4200 RPM drive.

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

can an asus s5n 1.5Ghz centrino with 512MB DDR ram play games like the sims and baldur's gate 2? its got onboard grafix... at the review at tomshardware, it was able to run a Quake3 demo at around 55 fps with normal quality settings at 1024x768. so i guess it'd be able to handle the mentioned games? i'm not really gonna be using the laptop for gaming but at least i'll be able to play SOME games when i'm bored... that's why i chose games that dont seem too demanding and have such longevity so that they'll last [ ]

 

To Brian: Wow! On intergrated graphics? what framerates do you get and what are your settings? Is the 1gig ram a nessecity or can you go lower (512 or 768)?

To soccerjoe5: Hell yeah! if 1ghz ultraportables can play ut2004 then your 1.5ghz can certainly play amazingly old games like the ones you mentioned[ ].

 

oh goodie [ ] i was worried about the intel integrated graphics [:I]