rookie trying to buy a new computer

[JACKJR]

I'm thinking of a dell xps laptop with an intel i5 480m 2.66ghz/3mb cache with 500gb hd and 1024mb nividia gt420m geforce dedicated card. Will this setup run Trainz 2010 without problems? Ive got to keep costs down so if this won't work ,I'll wait until I can afford something that will work. Thanks for any help in this decision.

 

[RRSignal]

Sure, it'll run TS2010 fine. I'm not fond of laptops as it is and especially because they are pre-built machines - you get much better performance and optimization if you build your own - but if you need a laptop, at least get one with discrete graphics like the one you are proposing.

I do, however, recommend NOT getting Norton's, McAfee's, etc. pre-installed. Comodo makes a good firewall (if Windows' built-in one isn't enough) and NOD32, Avast or Avira, to name a few, are much better AVs. Better yet - if possible, don't use your gaming machine for internet, so you won't need any of that stuff to begin with!

 

[Euphod]

I run 2010 on a much lesser laptop (Gateway Cheapo NV78 (or something like that)), and it runs well enough for my purposes, I'm sure your choice will be fine.

 

[djt]

I'm thinking of a dell xps laptop with an intel i5 480m 2.66ghz/3mb cache with 500gb hd and 1024mb nividia gt420m geforce dedicated card. Will this setup run Trainz 2010 without problems? Ive got to keep costs down so if this won't work ,I'll wait until I can afford something that will work. Thanks for any help in this decision.

Your best bet is to do some research on the model you’re thinking of getting before purchase.

One word of advice is to make sure you ask Dell to supply you with the OS DVD at the time you order the machine, if you don’t you will be left with a pretty much useless OS recovery partition only.

With the Dell XPS laptops I’ve had in the past the first thing I would do is wipe the drive with a fresh OS install with the latest drivers. Dell’s and HP among others are preloaded with bloat ware junk that usually leaves the registry in less than ideal condition.


http://forum.notebookreview.com/


http://www.notebookforums.com/forumindex.php


http://www.hardforum.com


/forumdisplay.php?f=73



Some good reviews of laptops can be found here -


http://www.anandtech.com/tag/mobile

 

[lewisner]

I'm thinking of a dell xps laptop with an intel i5 480m 2.66ghz/3mb cache with 500gb hd and 1024mb nividia gt420m geforce dedicated card. Will this setup run Trainz 2010 without problems? Ive got to keep costs down so if this won't work ,I'll wait until I can afford something that will work. Thanks for any help in this decision.

How much RAM will it have? You should really be looking at 4GB.

 

[JACKJR]

Thanks for helping the rookie

Thanks to all of you that replied to my call for help. I am not a techie so advice from people who use Trainz is a big help. I would love to have a custom computer made but its just not in the cards and I don't have the talent to build one myself. This xps also comes with 6gb ram which I forgot to list. They have this one on Dells site for $780.00 so Im gonna go ahead and get it. I recieved Trainz 2010 for Christmas and installed it on the family computer and it worked just well enough to wet my whistle, while causing this little computer to do some strange things, I uninstalled quickly. Im really excited about getting a new computer and being able to appreciate this great looking simulator. Thanks ,Jack

 

[lewisner]

Thanks to all of you that replied to my call for help. I am not a techie so advice from people who use Trainz is a big help. I would love to have a custom computer made but its just not in the cards and I don't have the talent to build one myself. This xps also comes with 6gb ram which I forgot to list. They have this one on Dells site for $780.00 so Im gonna go ahead and get it. I recieved Trainz 2010 for Christmas and installed it on the family computer and it worked just well enough to wet my whistle, while causing this little computer to do some strange things, I uninstalled quickly. Im really excited about getting a new computer and being able to appreciate this great looking simulator. Thanks ,Jack

I used to run TRS2006 on a Packard Bell 6052 desktop with an 80GB HDD, Geforce 5500 256MB GPU and 1GB RAM and it ran OK.
My laptop is an antique from 2002 upgraded with 1GB RAM but I have to say that I wouldn't shell out on a new laptop to run Trainz since I find that for most purposes I wouldn't want to run Trainz "on the move".
It's a pity there isn't a "Trainz Lite" version which would let you Drive one Route with no facility to Build.