Trying to help a friend make a laptop purchase decision, he needs to get one that plays Generations (steam download). I was looking at the Steam Generation Specs which are : Minimum: OS: Microsoft Windows 7/Vista/XP Processor: Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4200 (2x2.0GHz) or AMD equivalent Memory: 2GB RAM (XP)/3GB RAM (Windows 7 / Vista) Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 (512MB) / ATI Radeon HD 2900 (512MB) Hard Drive: 11 GB free hard drive space Recommended: OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Processor: Intel Core i5 @ 2.66 GHz / AMD Phenom II X4 @ 3.0 GHz Memory: 3GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 (1GB) / ATI Radeon HD 5850 (1GB) Hard Drive: 11 GB free hard drive space These are the Laptop Specs: OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Processor: AMD A4-Series @ 2.0 Speed (2.6 with Turbo Boost) Memory: 4GB RAM Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6480G discrete-class (2037mb available (2GB)) http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+17.3%26%2334%3B+Pavilion+Laptop+-+4GB+Memory+-+320GB+Hard+Drive+-+Pewter/5044486.p;jsessionid=528E88D415AA095FED725CDDD31CCC6F.bbolsp-app02-09?id=1218608959156&skuId=5044486 It seemed like it should work but just wasn't sure how integrated graphics rank as compared to graphic cards. Hopefully I posted this in the right section. Thank you in advance for any help, I appreciate it. Im just so used to desktop PCs so this is a whole new world to me.
There's a demo on the Steam store, you can download that to see if your laptop can run it. EDIT: Never mind that, should have read the first line of the post. Looking at this page though, it doesn't seem likely that it'd be playable on that laptop: http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6480G.55685.0.html
Integrated graphics rank pretty much at the lowest of the low. Best to get your friend a laptop with a dedicated graphics card in it. Other than that, RAM looks good, but I've never used an AMD processor before so I don't know how those fare against the requirements. EDIT: Also, if your friend gets a laptop with Optimus technology, you'll have to manually edit the config .ini to trick it into seeing the dedicated graphics card when it starts, because Sega never got around to fixing that problem, nor did nVidia.
OK, sorry for somewhat hijacking someones thread, but I want to post this: Today I got a new awesome laptop. It has 1.7 GB of Video Ram. BUT when I ran it in the "Can you run it" program, I just fell short of the video card because I have an I5 Intel core video card. Can I still play Gens, or is this a problem?
I downloaded it, and it works. BUT it's not a smooth 60 FPS, it feels quite jumpy at times. Is it possible to install a new graphics card for laptops? Or is it something that can't be done?
It's quite possible to upgrade a graphics card in a laptop. It's also something that I very strongly recommend one NOT to do. As that guide points out, you have to practically disembowel the laptop to get to the card. Screw it up, and you're out a laptop. Even back when I did computer building/repair replacing a laptop graphics card was something I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. That said, I have a crappy Core 2 Duo, 2 GB system RAM, and 256 MB graphics RAM, and Generations runs okay at the lowest graphic settings possible. It's nowhere near pretty, but it is playable. Try turning off every program that you can, putting the settings down low, and switching to Windows Classic when playing the game. It's not much, but it made the difference for me.
I knew that there were some horrid USB2 ones, and that there was a very expensive (as in $700+) adapter to run PCIe cards on ExpressCard slots. As someone who could use PCIe slots for both graphics output and capture, that link is VERY relevant to my interests. If that pans out, you might just be the most awesome person in the world for posting that.
Well be sure to let me know how that works out for you. I'd be better off just waiting until I can build my $1K PC rather than spending serious cash on forcing a graphics card into this laptops ExpressCard slot, so I probably won't be trying it. Unless I decide to buy just the PSU and GPU for the system I'm looking to build, and make use of them until I can buy the rest of the components for the PC. How 'bout them possibilities?
On my ASUS laptop - Intel i3 2.2GHz, nVidia geforce GT 630, 4GB ram, Generations will run - to some extent, but sluggish. Wonder what it is about Generations design wise that requires so much processing power. I hope my working will pay off so far as being able to get a PC purely for gaming, as not only would it be better suited, but less of a chance I have to worry about fucking up a laptop that is meant to be more so for doing school work and programming - for college courses or work or fun.
