Hardware Shopping for a Laptop...

[cljohnston]

...that can run Orbiter.

Lookin' for maximum capability at minimum cost.
Been using a Mac for the past 10 years, but I had a PC clone in addition to the Mac before that, and that thing could only barely run Orbiter.

I recently inherited some money, so now I can afford to own more than one computer. I love the simplicity of the Mac, but all the best software is written for the PC!

Any Orbiteers here in the L.A. area have a recommendation of what kind I should get that can at least give me a smooth frame rate?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Urwumpe]

...that can run Orbiter.

The current issue of c't has a test of low-cost notebooks from 250 € to 270 €

All pretty poor for gaming, but the Lenovo G50-45 seems to be no complete failure.

 

[kuddel]

...what I did last time I bought a Notebook was:
I copied a Orbiter-Installation onto a (fast) USB-Stick and tried it at the shop(s).
The current (BETA-)Version might be too big if you use all the planetary tiles, elevation-maps, etc.
But maybe you could get your hands on a portable HDD...

Due to the fact that Orbiter does not install anything onto a system I could check each individual 'candidate'.

 

[gattispilot]

What did you find? Thinking about getting a new laptop this christmas

 

[jarmonik]

I got Acer Aspire E1-470 (Core i3-3217U @ 1.8GHz) with Intel HD Graphics 4000 and it will give somewhere around 100-200 fps with default orbiter scenarios without anti-aliasing. Tested with latest orbiter beta with D3D9Client. The anti-aliasing will kill the frame rate. Also a hard-drive activity will cause the frame rate to crawl around 10-20 fps.

 

[gattispilot]

Desk top or Lap top? Looking for something around $400.

 

[RisingFury]

Lookin' for maximum capability at minimum cost.

Don't get a laptop

 

[cljohnston]

Don't get a laptop

Then how am I gonna show off Orbiter to the folks down where they're keeping Endeavour?

 

[RisingFury]

You're gonna buy weaker hardware for more cash so you can show off Orbiter to other people who might not even be interested in it? Is that the only reason you're buying a laptop?

 

[gattispilot]

No. I have a Toshiba laptop now. But for mobile purposes. So I can be in more than one spot.
I know that I can easily upgrade a desktop.

So any suggestion on a desktop?

 

[cljohnston]

You're gonna buy weaker hardware for more cash so you can show off Orbiter to other people who might not even be interested in it? Is that the only reason you're buying a laptop?

Nope, not the only reason. (I'm also gonna be buying a desktop PC later.)
But I've tried for years to tell people about Orbiter (y'know, for science classes & such), but I figured I have to show them, but can't very well ask them to install it on their computers just to demo.

 

[gattispilot]

So any recommendations?

 

[MikeB]

Been using a Mac for the past 10 years, but I had a PC clone in addition to the Mac before that, and that thing could only barely run Orbiter.

Have you tried running Orbiter using BootCamp on the Mac? That's what I use (MacBook Pro 2011), and it works pretty well.

The laptop keyboard isn't suitable for Orbiter, so I use an external USB keyboard and mouse.

 

[Spacethingy]

A lot of laptops come with full numeric keypads nowadays, so that's not an automatic sticking point for laptops.

My major thing that I wish I'd looked out for a bit better was proper touchpad buttons - the atrocity that is the click-pad is spreading like the plague, so if you play games that that need rapid click-and-drag gestures, and you don't like using a mouse, you might want to check what the laptop has!

With regards to showing people Orbiter on other computers, don't forget the .zip install version is portable, so you can run it from a memory stick.

 

[gattispilot]

I know that for upgrades desktops are the way to go. But not sure how much I will do.

My Toshiba laptop runs a standard graphic Delta glider scenario at 25 fps. in D3d9 33. But if you load the warpship I get 5-7 fps.

I like portability of the laptop as one could work/play at a table or in bed, on a plane.

But haven't tried the beta to see if it even run in my laptop.

 

[alamat]

Acer Aspire E1-470 is my fav laptop.. good

 

[Steve Works]

Acer Aspire E1-470 is my fav laptop.. good

Sounds good but might a bit over the budget. Try a Toshiba Satellite instead.
Hope this helps!
______________________________
Steve Works
Admin at EBS software outsourcing

 

[cljohnston]

Well, this is what I ended up with...

HP Pavilion 15-ab253cl (Touch) Notebook PC Product Specifications

It was $600 at Costco.

Microprocessor: 6th generation Intel® Core™ i5-6200U (2.3GHz with turbo boost up to 2.8GHz , 3MB L3 Cache) Dual Core

Video Graphics: Intel® HD Graphics 520 with up to 6191MB total graphics memory

Haven't tried Orbiter on it yet, because I'm having trouble with the WiFi.
Apparently it doesn't like that the signal originates from my iMac's AirPort.

 

[barrygolden]

I have been told that an HP 2 n 1 will work pretty good so I'm looking at 2 HP laptops that are close to that. Both run about $1000

 

[jroly]

It will be fine running Orbiter 2010, not too sure it will run Orbiter 2015 Beta very well.

Intel graphics historically have been poor, you did not really get a graphics card built in, it is just part of the processor that is enabled if there is not an another graphics device installed on the system. It likely shares the video memory with system ram and system ram speed is never as fast as dedicated system memory.

Anyway the only way to find out is to test it. Being the latest model it should be sufficent, Orbiter 2010 certainly will run well on it.