Who has Uru/PotS running fine on a laptop?

[Rhodes54]

I've been reading the forum the last days to find some more info on Uru/PotS running on a laptop. I have it running fine on my Desktop but I soon want to buy a laptop and want to play Uru/PotS on it.
Who of you has it running fine on a laptop? I am specially interested in the brand, video chipset, amount of memory, that kind of stuff so it could help me make a decision. I am thinking buying a Sony Vaio (Radeon mobility 9200, 64 MB) or a dell inspiron (128MB Radeon mobility 9600)

All help is appreciated. Thanks!

[Rhodes54]

I've been reading the forum the last days to find some more info on Uru/PotS running on a laptop. I have it running fine on my Desktop but I soon want to buy a laptop and want to play Uru/PotS on it.
Who of you has it running fine on a laptop? I am specially interested in the brand, video chipset, amount of memory, that kind of stuff so it could help me make a decision. I am thinking buying a Sony Vaio (Radeon mobility 9200, 64 MB) or a dell inspiron (128MB Radeon mobility 9600)

All help is appreciated. Thanks!

[RaPhil]

I think if you have a look at the Video Cards, Laptops, and Intel Extreme (http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=400102&f=524109302&m=419101565) that will give you an idea about laptops.

I have a laptop, which is (now) running Uru/PotS fine. Took a bit of mucking around with drivers, re-installing etc. but has all worked out in the end. I have (128mb) ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 IGP graphics and that was the main problem with PotS not working very well in the beginning.

I'm sure Heimdall will be able to tell you in more detail what may be your best option. I do think alot of people have Uru running on laptops and running ok.

Joann

[Heimdall_G]

Rhodes,

If video is the only consideration, I'd opt for the Inspiron, since it has the more powerful video chipset with more video memory. That's not all there is to it, of course, bearing in mind the tradeoffs involved with CPU speed, hard disk size, screen size, etc.

What are the model numbers of the Vaio and Inspiron you're looking at?

Heimdall

[Rhodes54]

Thanks for your Quick reply,

The sony's I have in mind is:
Sony Vaio K-115M P4 2.8Ghz, 512MB, or the K-115S or K-115Z, all having the ATI RADEON 9200 64MB VRAM on board.
The Dell I have in mind is te Inspiron 8600. The 9100 series is a bit too expensive (and big by the way)

I actually prefer the Vaio above the Inspiron as the insiron uses the Intel centrino chip. Do you think it will run on a Vaio?

Thanks!

[This message was edited by Rhodes54 on Wed August 18 2004 at 09:12 AM.]

[Heimdall_G]

CNET reviews:
-- Dell Inspiron 8600 series (http://reviews.cnet.com/Dell_Inspiron_8600_series/4505-3121_7-30521464-2.html?tag=top)
-- Sony Vaio K-series (http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_VAIO_K_series/4505-3121_7-30764548-2.html?tag=glance)

I don't know whether Uru will run on the Vaio implementation of the Mobility Radeon 9200 chipset or not. I can say that there are quite a few posts in this Forum by folks who have had Uru problems with the 9200 chipset, both laptop and desktop. Some of these problems have been solved with video driver changes, some have not.

The Radeon 9200 chipset will sometimes run Uru 'right out of the box' with no problems. Otherwise, a 9200 can often be made to work with Uru, but it takes effort. That is, the right combination of drivers and Uru graphics settings must be found by trial and error. Trying several driver versions, including the Omega driver, is often required.

When you're buying a laptop, in your price range you want the:
-- Fastest CPU
-- Biggest hard disk
-- Most capable video chipset (i.e., highest model number in a series) with the most video memory
-- Most system memory (RAM)
-- Largest display/screen size

Remember that it's very nearly impossible to upgrade anything on a laptop. What you buy is what you must live with!

Heimdall

[RaPhil]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Heimdall G:

Remember that it's very nearly impossible to upgrade anything on a laptop. What you buy is what you must live with!

Heimdall<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

um....anything except the RAM maybe?? Mine is upgradeable to 2gig and I have already upgraded it (not to 2 gig though, he he) with easy access through the back especially for this purpose. I'm not saying you are wrong Heimdall, but maybe some Laptops have easy access for some upgrades?

Joann

[Jnathus]

Alienware laptops (while pricey) have user upgradeable graphics cards. If I were getting a laptop right now.. I'd get the E-Machines laptop with the Athlon 64 CPU and the ATI Mobility Radeon 9600. Radeon 8500-9200 video cards are old technology . . . AVOID THEM. ATI's 9500 and up seem to have better compatibility than ATI has ever seen, and that E-Machine laptop I mentioned runs about $1600 or so and comes with a great package (fast CPU, enough memory (512 MB I believe), enough hard drive space(60 GB last I checked), graphics faster than some rivals with double the memory).

I'm currently using a Dell Inspiron 8200 with a ATI Radeon Mobility 9000, and getting anything newer to run on this machine with graphics that are appealing is a job in itself. Although my laptop was introduced in a time very near to when laptops were just starting to tinker with discrete graphics solutions. Now most laptops except the less expensive or the battery misers have some form of dedicated solution. Yay for progress. OUT WITH INTEGRATED GRAPHICS!

[Heimdall_G]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by joann99:

um....anything except the RAM maybe??<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Yep. Which is why I said 'nearly impossible'! If you can find the proper parts, you can sometimes upgrade memory and the hard drive, and much less often the CPU. But currently not the video chipset, although some manufacturers are making moves in that direction.

Heimdall

[This message was edited by Heimdall G on Tue September 14 2004 at 08:21 AM.]

[waldorf1]

Hey all.

I have one of those eMachine laptops, and I'm trying to find out whether it'll be enough for the Uru Chronicles before I plop down cash for the game.

It's got a Radeon 9x00 (NOT the Radeon Mobility, which is officially listed as unsupported) but it's an integrated chipset so the 64 MB of video memory is borrowed from the system RAM. So I'm hopeful because the card is at least not officially unsupported, but fearful because the video memory might not be fast enough to handle the load.

It seems from my reading that this is sort of a try-it-and-see thing, but I was hoping someone might have some relevant experience to share.

Brainwave: is the Uru demo a good measuring stick? i.e. if the demo works is the game likely to work, and vice versa? I'll try downloading it...

.

[Heimdall_G]

Unfortunately, the Uru demo will only tell you for certain if a laptop can NOT run Uru. But the demo won't necessarily prove that the laptop CAN run Uru, because 'false positives' are entirely possible.

Heimdall