What would be a good laptop for trainz?

[railroy19]

I'm looking for a laptop to use for trainz with a good video card.
Any and all suggestions will be appreciated.
I'm only going to use it for trainz 2010.

Thanks to All of you.
Bob

 

[saintjimmy]

How much do you plan on spending? Then we can figure out a good laptop for your budget.

 

[Yoshi112]

If the laptop your buying can support the bare minimal recommendations that trainz needs in over for it to work on your laptop, then it probably will work. However, you may have to update your video card drivers on your laptop.

 

[Iced8383]

I would recommend sticking with a desktop, laptops were never really meant for gaming. If a laptop is a must for you to get, take a look at all the stores. I run Trainz 2010 on a laptop, it is rather slow (say 15 FPS?) so I would custom build a desktop, if you don't want to do that, look at computer manufacturers and see what you can find.

 

[cofergus]

I run Trainz2009 on an ASUS K52J. Runs fine, excellent framerate.

CPU: I3-350M
ATI Mobility Radeon HD5470 w/1GB DDR3
540 GB HDD.
4GB RAM.

Cost me about $900 CAD.

 

[saintjimmy]

True, a desktop is always better, but I understand that sometimes having one isn't feasible (like in college). I have a laptop that runs Trainz 2006 without trouble on small/medium routes, yet struggles with big routes like Marias Pass or detailed ones like MoPac: Route of the Eagle. But I also bought it for the battery life of over 4 hours (12 cell battery, only surfing the internet). I can get roughly 2 hours of playing games on the High Performance power setting.

My laptop specs: HP dv6-1260se Artist Edition 2
AMD Turion X2 Ultra ZM-85 2.3 GHz dual core
4 GB DDR2 memory
500 GB 5400 RPM hard drive (a little slow, not really noticeable)
1 GB DDR3 ATI Radeon HD 4650
16.0" LED backlit screen @ 1366 x 768

All of this cost me about $1,000 dollars last summer, but I'm happy with it because of the superb battery life (I take it on the road more than I game with it...I have a desktop for gaming).

Okay, if I had to make a blind recommendation (ie, without a set price), I would have to recommend this Acer:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115839

It has a fast processor, good graphics (to play any version at full 1600 x 900, maybe even with AA/AF), plenty of memory & hard drive, and a large screen to enjoy Trainz with.

 

[Iced8383]

As saintjimmy said, it really depends on your price range. If you have a $1000 budget, I would get the laptop he linked to, however if your price range is in the $750 or lower range, forget about it. Laptops with good graphics card from a well known manufacturer with a 1GB or more graphics card or almost always above that range. Try opting for a 512MB card if you are willing to sacrifice a bit of performance on higher-end routes.

 

[railroy19]

Thanks Guys
Ok I would only use the laptop when on a trip. Not for full time use.
I have a great desktop for home.

the 1000.00 range is not a problem I was just thinking about the video card and the 1 gb card sounds good.
If you can run Marias Pass on your laptop that is a good benchmark for any computer. Now I know what I will look for and not really concerned about battery time.

Just wanted to get feedback on laptop use.

Thanks so much to all of you.
Bob

 

[yojimbo]

Just a little comment on workstation versus laptop. I have found that investing in a high end laptop have resulted in me spending less and less time in my basement "studio" and more time with the family.
But I still use the big setup in basement if I want to have the sound on max while playing games - unless you invest in a good set of headphones, that is the only area where most laptops will fall short.
So my recommendations is to look for a machine with a full HD monitor and the matching GPU setup. The rest is a matter of taste, but a good video performance should be your key parameter when deciding what to get.
Battery lifetime is never long for any laptop once you put it through the hoops gaming or running 3D modelling software, but if you can get one that has a nine cell battery for starters, then you are well underway.

 

[metalfare]

Laptop!

Hi. Im running Marias pass reasonably well on a Toshiba L500 windows7. Im pleased. Cost £450 Metalfare

 

[conductor1945]

TS2010 on laptop

try ASUS G51J ( They call it a gamers notebook !!)
you need a rather good videocard, which is mostly the bottleneck.
15.6 inch screen
I5 450CPU
4G mem, 500G harddrive
Nvidia Gforce GTS 360M 1 G
Windows 7 shows performance of 5.8 (lowest = harddrive) 3d Shows 6.8 on a scale of 7

which is better than my homecomputer on I 720 with 6G ram, 1,5 T harddrice and 1 G Videocard

Make sure you have an oulet at hand when you're on your way.
The videocard consumes a lot of power.
I have no expericance with TS 2010 on the battery only but expect a runtime of less than an hour

TS2010 runs fine with a good frame rate.
In Holland the price is € 1100.=

best luck