Laptop Suggestions for Trainz

[conrailfan1999]

Hello all, I am planning to purchase a new laptop soon. I would like to be able to run trainz 12 with high fps (meaning very little lag) so I could run large sessions and highly detail routes. I have been looking at some HP laptops and have customized one on their site with the following specs....

Laptop: HP Envy 15x-j100

Operating system: Windows 8.1 64

Processor: AMD Quad-Core A10-5750M Accelerated Processor

Graphics card: 2GB AMD Radeon HD 8750M Discrete

Hard Drive:1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive

Memory (RAM):8GB DDR3 System Memory 2 dimm

Will Trainz 12 run well using these specifications? Also, I would love to hear your recomendations for a laptop and graphics card that you run trainz on and how it performs.

Thanks!

 

[deneban]

TS12 Specs state Intel processors and NVidia graphics cards, and that laptop has neither.

I would suggest a gaming laptop. That laptop is not recommended for heavy gaming, and that is a budgetary graphics card. Do not expect high frame rates with little lag with that card. TS12 requires higher end cards.

Your laptop graphics card should be on the order of NVidia GTX 600 to 800 series if you are buying new. The laptop should visually have large air exhausts to exhaust heat. If it is not a gaming laptop without sufficient heat dissipation, it will prematurely fail.

My suggestions are Alienware 17 or Sager 9390 / Clevo P375SM. The later supports two graphics cards.

 

[conrailfan1999]

TS12 Specs state Intel processors and NVidia graphics cards, and that laptop has neither.

I would suggest a gaming laptop. That laptop is not recommended for heavy gaming, and that is a budgetary graphics card. Do not expect high frame rates with little lag with that card. TS12 requires higher end cards.

Your laptop graphics card should be on the order of NVidia GTX 600 to 800 series if you are buying new. The laptop should visually have large air exhausts to exhaust heat. If it is not a gaming laptop without sufficient heat dissipation, it will prematurely fail.

My suggestions are Alienware 17 or Sager 9390 / Clevo P375SM. The later supports two graphics cards.

Thank you very much for the information I will look into those models!

 

[nicky9499]

Some of what Deneban said isn't exactly true; Trainz will run on Intel/AMD CPUs and NVidia/ATI/AMD GPUs. So long as they are powerful enough, it'll get the job done. I had a Phenom and 4850 two years ago and that ran TS12 just fine. On the other hand your current candidate is indeed a little short on said power. It must be said that Sager and Clevo are "boutique" manufacturers so expect to pay much more. Same thing with Alienware, which is really just a Dell with alot of lights. Have a look at the MSI GX series and Lenovo Y500. Both have solid build quality from reputable companies and offer you great bang for your buck.

 

[JCitron]

Some of what Deneban said isn't exactly true; Trainz will run on Intel/AMD CPUs and NVidia/ATI/AMD GPUs. So long as they are powerful enough, it'll get the job done. I had a Phenom and 4850 two years ago and that ran TS12 just fine. On the other hand your current candidate is indeed a little short on said power. It must be said that Sager and Clevo are "boutique" manufacturers so expect to pay much more. Same thing with Alienware, which is really just a Dell with alot of lights. Have a look at the MSI GX series and Lenovo Y500. Both have solid build quality from reputable companies and offer you great bang for your buck.

I agree with this somewhat. Yes, the HP will cook, literally because they don't have the cooling capabilities that gaming-specific laptops will have. As far as gaming-specific laptops go, the Alienware machines maybe a bit pricey, but they have aluminum cases which will dissipate heat. They maybe wholly-owned and supported by Dell, but they are still manufactured by Alienware and these machines are much higher-quality and higher-end than the Dell equivalent. I know because I have an older M17x which still runs TS12 fine even with its 5700-series ATI card.

John

 

[conrailfan1999]

Some of what Deneban said isn't exactly true; Trainz will run on Intel/AMD CPUs and NVidia/ATI/AMD GPUs. So long as they are powerful enough, it'll get the job done. I had a Phenom and 4850 two years ago and that ran TS12 just fine. On the other hand your current candidate is indeed a little short on said power. It must be said that Sager and Clevo are "boutique" manufacturers so expect to pay much more. Same thing with Alienware, which is really just a Dell with alot of lights. Have a look at the MSI GX series and Lenovo Y500. Both have solid build quality from reputable companies and offer you great bang for your buck.

Thank you very much for that input! Those laptops are exactly what I am looking for because I want to spend around $700-$1,000 and still getting a 1tb hard drive and high performance gaming instead of $1500 on the more "boutique" models.

 

[conrailfan1999]

Here are a few that I think look decent:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...0p_i5_4200m_6gb_1tb_8ss_windows_8_1_15_6.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1025697-REG/dell_inspiron_17r_i17rm_5164slv_17_3.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1025680-REG/dell_inspiron_15r_i5535_2684slv_15_6.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...us_i5_4200m_3_0g_8gb_1tb_w7hp_17_3_black.html (this one I really like)

 

[deneban]

Here are a few that I think look decent:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...0p_i5_4200m_6gb_1tb_8ss_windows_8_1_15_6.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1025697-REG/dell_inspiron_17r_i17rm_5164slv_17_3.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1025680-REG/dell_inspiron_15r_i5535_2684slv_15_6.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...us_i5_4200m_3_0g_8gb_1tb_w7hp_17_3_black.html (this one I really like)

That is what I recommended against, visually there is no emphasis on heat dissipation with these. These graphics cards are not going to "run trainz 12 with high fps (meaning very little lag)" as you asked for in the first post.

Thank you very much for that input! Those laptops are exactly what I am looking for because I want to spend around $700-$1,000 and still getting a 1tb hard drive and high performance gaming instead of $1500 on the more "boutique" models.

With all due respect, laptops in that price range will fail prematurely with TS12 run as a hobby, and will not produce high FPS as you asked for. There is nothing more sluggish than a sluggish laptop that you cannot upgrade. If that is your budget stick to desktops. I realize you can buy two of those for the price of a gaming laptop, but who wants the hassle of moving your stuff to a new laptop in 3 years because the motherboard is cooked?

Some of what Deneban said isn't exactly true; Trainz will run on Intel/AMD CPUs and NVidia/ATI/AMD GPUs.

What Deneban said was what TS12 specs say, and Deneban did not disqualify functionality as the above implies.

It must be said that Sager and Clevo are "boutique" manufacturers so expect to pay much more. Same thing with Alienware, which is really just a Dell with alot of lights. Have a look at the MSI GX series and Lenovo Y500. Both have solid build quality from reputable companies and offer you great bang for your buck.

Hey Nicky, the term boutique implies paying for uncommon style or availability. It should not be applied to laptops because the alienware and clevo have engineered features above and beyond the apparent lights you see which make them cost more. These are (once again) superior heat dissipation, higher front side bus speeds, and the ability to upgrade your graphics when your budget allows. The alienware 18 and the clevo 17 inchers allow you to add an additional graphics card, which is much more than a dell with more lights, and more than just better style. Look at the features before you characterize them please.

The MSI GXs and Y500 are contenders in PCMags best gaming laptops: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2020688,00.asp

 

[conrailfan1999]

Ok thank you! I may look into desktops then.

 

[deneban]

But do take a look at the MSI GX and Y500 here: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2020688,00.asp

 

[conrailfan1999]

But do take a look at the MSI GX and Y500 here: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2020688,00.asp

I have come down to two options:
1.Lenovo yp510 http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-IdeaPa...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00HIY96WO

2. MSI GP70 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...us_i5_4200m_3_0g_8gb_1tb_w7hp_17_3_black.html

Let me know which laptop I should go with

 

[NSWGR_46Class]

The MSI seems to have dedicated video ram but does not really state how much - if it is only integrated ram ie the main ram is also sheared for video your only asking for trouble. - Running Trainz on a laptop is never a good idea

PS can not find anything to say that the NVIDIA Geforce GT740M supports DirectX9 which trainz needs

I have come down to two options:
1.Lenovo yp510 http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-IdeaPa...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00HIY96WO

2. MSI GP70 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...us_i5_4200m_3_0g_8gb_1tb_w7hp_17_3_black.html

Let me know which laptop I should go with

 

[deneban]

The MSI seems to have dedicated video ram but does not really state how much - if it is only integrated ram ie the main ram is also sheared for video your only asking for trouble. - Running Trainz on a laptop is never a good idea

.

...unless its a gaming laptop.

 

[Christopher824]

I would make sure anything you get has a SSD hard drive. Old school HDD are rapidly becoming obsolete and are really slow compared to SSD technology.

I got a Vizio CT15-A5 laptop for $750 plus tax and shipping i7 processor 250 Gig SSD drive and Trains runs incredibly fast on it.

You should probably get a brand you are comfortable with, but make sure it has the SDD hard drive. I can do a extended database repair in less than 5 minutes, no joke.

 

[deneban]

(post retracted)

 

[Vern]

Depending where you are ordering from it may be worth considering a custom build. That way you can specify exactly what you want. In the UK I used PC Specialist for my last laptop and the price came in £150 - £200 less than buying an equivalent branded model. I'll be using them again for a replacement once the exact spec for TANE is known.