Looking for a decent Notebook able to run CFS2

J

Jaxon

virtually there
Hi guys,

the headline says it all: I run my notebook for 5+ years and avoided changing to a new system.
But now it seems the time has come. I think it is time to PLAY Pearl Harbor finally, instead of single plane sightseeing in a slight show...

Every average hardware today should beat my old one in nowadys benchmark categories.
But most important for me is, if CFS2 is still running without problems!?

So if your are deeper in todays hard- & software than I am, give me a hint please!

I am looking for a notebook again. Limit around €700,- less is better, but more is affordable also.

I want a strong processor (or a combination some offer) and a vidcard with 1GB RAM minimum.
Most notebooks come with Windows 7. Is that OK?
I did not read about troubles so far using CFS2. But worry about 64 vs. 32 bit.
I also saw notebooks without OS. I have windows XP pro here, which I could use again also.

10 or 5 years ago I would have had an idea, what was best for me - but no cash to afford it.

Now I have, but I am overstrained and concerned thinking of CFS2.

Looking forward to your answers.

Happy flying,
Jaxon
 
Jaxon,
the only thing I can tell you about running CFS2 on a notebook is that it runs reasonably well under XP Home on my NC10 netbooks. However, I personally would not recommend running CFS2 under Windows 7 on any PC, though there are a lot of users who do that quite happily. So why do I say that ?

I just built myself a new PC - 6 core, 8 Gb, HD5870, six hard drives (separate drives for o/s, FSX and scenery) and Win7. While I was designing it, I came across an issue called Vsync, in which older apps like CFS2 can show display problems when running under Win7. The reason is that the app wants to control the Vsync signal of the display, but the combination of Win7 and the ATi drivers won't let it (to oversimplify a little). I had hoped that using one of the two XP emulation modes available under Win7 would fix this, but no. And none of the solutions I found on the internet would guarantee a fix either - they all worked for some users but not for all users.

So I bought a copy of XP Home to make the new PC multi-boot, but found that I had to apply one fudge after another fiddle to even get the two o/s to run happily together ...

End of story - it would make your life a lot easier if you stay with XP. Take it from someone who has been in the computer industry for over 40 years, and worked heavily with Windows in every flavour since version 3.1. But of course it's up to you !
good luck,
Ro
 
Jaxon,
Check out this link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICED&PageSize=20

I have a Dell Inspiron 1721 with two physical HDs. One, 5400RPM with XP, the other 7200RPM with Windows 7. I only have 4 Gigs of RAM and a 256 MHz Vid RAM on my nVidia card. CFS2 runs very well with all graphics set at maximum under both OS. But then, my Dell cost about double what you are looking for. Of my 4 daughters and their husbands, I can tell you that Toshiba and Acer are both fine machines for the money. The ASUS U30 is a bit more than you want to spend, but would be very stable with 1 Gig of vid RAM.
 
Thx for the answers.
So I was a bit right with my concerns regarding Windows 7, right?

Devildog, the Inspiron comes with two physical HDDs?
Now you have two OSs, how do you play CFS2 - on the XP one only?
And are they 32bit or 64bit versions?


At the moment, the Dell Vostro 3700 here is my favourite:
http://www1.euro.dell.com/de/de/unternehmen/deals_laptop/fs.aspx?refid=deals_laptop&s=bsd&cs=debsdt1&~ck=mn

It comes with XP SP3 installed, Windows 7 on Recovery CD.
What about the processors? Are the I3, I5 and I7 Intel series interchangeable, so I can upgrade the system later?
(I found a link, where someone does this with his Mac)
Or can I at least change within each series, like in this case from the installed I5-460M(2.53GHz) to, lets say I5-560M(2.66GHz)??
 
I run CFS2 on my HP DV7 laptop with Windows 7 - forerly a Vista machine - just fine. As a matter of fact, I'm in the process of using it to build a campaign in Mission Builder. The only problem you should have is initially changing files. This is solved by turning the User Account Controls (via the Control Panel) off. :wiggle:
 
Jaxon said:
What about the processors? Are the I3, I5 and I7 Intel series interchangeable, so I can upgrade the system later?
Click to expand...

The i3, i5 and some i7 processors are socket 1156 models while the rest of the i7 family are socket 1366. With desktop versions of the processors, the two model types are not interchangeable. The Dell laptops to which your link points all use mobile versions of the processors, which suggests to me that the problem will be whether the user can even upgrade them without returning the PC to Dell. If you are seriously interested in a processor upgrade at a later time, I think you should either get written confirmation from Dell that you can do that (either by yourself or by returning the PC to Dell), or spend more money now on the better processor (and forget about the later upgrade).

As for Win7, as I said there are many users who are quite happy with the way it runs on their PCs. For me, it's been nothing but a bag of worms - it doesn't behave consistently; it still has a lot of the bugs that infested Vista; it still hasn't had SP1 published; and, in some ways, it doesn't do what it says on the tin. And the problem doesn't lie with this user, as I've installed Windows more times in my working life than most users have had hot dinners. The ONLY reason that Win7 still takes up my disc space is for memory management for FSX ...

Hope that clears up a few things,
Ro
 
Jaxon said:
Thx for the answers.
So I was a bit right with my concerns regarding Windows 7, right?

Devildog, the Inspiron comes with two physical HDDs?
Now you have two OSs, how do you play CFS2 - on the XP one only?
And are they 32bit or 64bit versions?


At the moment, the Dell Vostro 3700 here is my favourite:
http://www1.euro.dell.com/de/de/unternehmen/deals_laptop/fs.aspx?refid=deals_laptop&s=bsd&cs=debsdt1&~ck=mn

It comes with XP SP3 installed, Windows 7 on Recovery CD.
What about the processors? Are the I3, I5 and I7 Intel series interchangeable, so I can upgrade the system later?
(I found a link, where someone does this with his Mac)
Or can I at least change within each series, like in this case from the installed I5-460M(2.53GHz) to, lets say I5-560M(2.66GHz)??
Click to expand...


Jaxon, Yes and No, the Inspiron can be ordered with a second HD from factory build, OR, like me, you order it later and add it on. It is a very easy add-on to accomplish at home. Make sure XP is the first OS installed. If you add it after Windows 7 you have to download a free boot manager program to see both HDs and boot from either.

I play CFS, CFS2 in XP, Vista, and Windows 7. In Vista and Windows 7 you turn off UAC and then set the CFS2 to run as administrator. On my PC, I have XP 32 bit and Vista 32 bit. I have 4 Gigs of RAM, 1 Gig of Vid RAM, massive sound card, with 5 speakers, Intel Core 2 duo X64 2.4 Gig CPU. On my Inspirion laptop, I have XP 32 bit, Windows 7 64 bit, 4 Gigs of RAM, 256 Meg Vid RAM, onboard C-Media sound card, AMD Tiburon Core 2 Duo X64 2.4 Gig CPU. On both the XP only sees and uses about 3.33Gigs of RAM Under Vista and Win 7 both see and use all 4 Gigs of RAM. Now, the Inspiron 1721 that I have came with Vista. I bought XP and "upgraded" back to XP and have the original Vista system discs stored. The Inspiron 1720 is the exact same laptop, only it came from Dell with XP, so I just downloaded the XP drivers for a 1720 on my 1721. Windows 7 finds all of the correct drivers during setup and goes to Dell Support and downloads and installs them semi-automatically.

My PC came with XP on it with a free upgrade to Vista when it finally got released from Dell. I knew I was not going to get rid of XP until and unless Vista was actually better, so I ordered an extra 7200RPM HD and installed it myself after the PC was off warranty. Talking to my techies at work , they told me that now Vista is basically Windows 7 lite once you have the SP and undates. Basically the same architecture, with less bells and whistles. So far, like right now, I use Vista on the big box online. I have built missions under all three OS and they are basically interchangeable. As Rami said, once you get used to the "idiotcincracies" Vista and 7 work fairly well. I have bugaboos, like ROH said with Windows 7, but I think that is due to CFS2 being a 16 or 32 bit program and I am forcing it to run under 64 bit Windows 7. I might have caused my own grief there. Windows 7 comes with two DVDs, one 32 bit, one 64 bit. They have the same certification number so you can only use one or the other, and believe me, they check. I tried to load the 32 bit on the big box after I registered the laptop Windows 7X64. NO GO! I looked at the documentation from M$ afterward and found out that they don't allow you to do that. They don't even allow you to do it and pay for another license. You HAVE to buy a second set of DVDs with their own certification number. I had to reload my licensed Vista 32 bit.

Hope all this rambling helps you.
 
Hi Jaxon,

Have you thought about going the desktop route or do you need a laptop?

rohan said:
The i3, i5 and some i7 processors are socket 1156 models while the rest of the i7 family are socket 1366.
Click to expand...

I believe all 800 series i7 processors are socket 1156 while i7 900 series processors are socket 1366.

Regards,
Stratobat
 
I switched to laptop only in 2004 and don`t miss my desktop PC anymore.
In fact I love to have all in one and be able to put it away, once I need my desk for something else
- or take it to the couch and browse the net, while the girl watches one of those crappy movies on TV.
:)
 
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