markshot Posted September 15, 2002 Share Posted September 15, 2002 Folks, I am going to be in the Far East for a couple of months. So, I started thinking about renting a laptop for playing CMBO while there. I've never tried CMBO on a laptop. What would be good parameters to balance cost versus quality of play? I've never had/used a laptop. I was thinking: Low end Pentium 4 class CPU 512Mb RAM 32Mb 3D video (if Nvidia than the 29.42 Detonator drivers) Win XP Pro 14-15" XGA TFT with 1024x768 native resolution Internal CD-ROM drive Now, some form of internal sound system would be built-in correct? I am also thinking that I might take a mouse with me to attach and a small set of external speakers. So, how does CMBO play on a laptop? Will 1024x768 native on a small LCD be okay for CMBO? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougieB Posted September 16, 2002 Share Posted September 16, 2002 Markshot I have a Toshiba Laptop with a lowlt Celeron 650 and ATI on-board Graphics. I have CMBO installed and it plays well although my graphics are set at 800 x 600 as this is the best the beast will do. I use it when I am away from my main PC> So with what you propose to borrow/beg or whatever you should have no problems. Douglas (aka DougieB) Belfast (NI) UK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KG_Jag Posted September 16, 2002 Share Posted September 16, 2002 No problems with Dell Celeron 600 with 8mb ATI video set-up and 128 mb of ram. It runs about the same or a little better than the desk top I originally put in on--Dell P II V350, with 8mb ATI Rage video card and 96 mb of RAM. However, I get little or no fog effect with both rigs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Visom Posted September 16, 2002 Share Posted September 16, 2002 CMBO runs fine on my HP, but it has one problem. As CMBO uses 100% of the CPU power it gets overheated. Sofar it has costed me a new battery and a fan. Make sure it has a good enough cooling system, that would be my only concern if I bought a new laptop for CMBO today. (Processor, RAM and graphic card on todays laptops are all ok for CMBO, but the lowend might be a bit slow with CMBB.) What you propose is way above the low end that we started to play CMBO on a few years back. I would bring a good headset instead of external speakers (depends on how much you'll travel). Mouse is definately needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porkbrain Posted September 16, 2002 Share Posted September 16, 2002 markshot, CMBO should run like a dream on that spec machine. My PIII 800mhz Tosh with 128mb RAM and 16mb geoforce Go runs CMBO really well. I'd go for the 15in screen though and as suggested a good pair of headphones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murpes Posted September 16, 2002 Share Posted September 16, 2002 I'd imagine that config would be fine - the resolution in cmbo doesn't necessairly change the size of the models, but the jaggy-ness of the polygons used to create them. I suspect you'll be very happy with the looks and performace at 1024. I've tried CMBO on a couple of laptops. On one the video card didn't support D3D so I had to run it at 640X480 software mode. It looked like crap no matter what I did with it. My other laptop (okay, my company work laptop. sshhh.) has an 8M ATI Rage Mobility chip. It's servicable - I can get decent perfomance and looks out of CMBO with careful mod selection. What I've found *really* helps is to reduce the color depth of the bmps to 256 colors. It really doesn't look that bad on a lcd display, and is a fair trade for the performance gain. If I had to play that way all the time I'd hate it, but for a quick PBEM over lunch it does the job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markshot Posted September 16, 2002 Author Share Posted September 16, 2002 Folks, Thanks for all your feedback. I used to play CMBO on a PIII/600, 394Mb, G400 Max (32Mb), and Win98SE. Except for larger scenarios and lots of smoke it played acceptable. So, I kind of let that define my minimum requirements for a laptop. I've been playing at 1024x768 on a 21" monitor. So, I was somewhat concerned about using a small LCD screen. However, I know LCDs are sharper if you run them at the native resolution. But my eyes aren't so great to stare at very small fonts. There are some other decent games to load on a laptop. But if I was alone on a desert island and choose only one game for just mouse play, than I would choose CMBO. I know I could play CMBB, but I think I will save that experience for when I get back from my trip to play on my new system: P4/2.53, 1024Mb (pc1066), GF4 Ti4600, and WinXP Pro. {Since getting it, I've been playing some huge scenarios that I couldn't touch with my former PC.} Thanks again. PS: Does anyone know any good vendors for laptop rentals? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markshot Posted September 21, 2002 Author Share Posted September 21, 2002 If anyone was interested, this is the best solution I worked out for my time overseas: Take my old PIII/600 boxed with me. I'll leave it there as I will be going back from time to time. For the cost of a laptop rental, I was able purchase a 15" LCD (1024x768 native) instead. I can easily carry that with me on the plane. I can leave that stuff there and whenever I am over there I'll have some hardware to play CMBO on. I am imagine if you check in 40 years, you might find me in some nursing home somewheres playing CMBO on my old PIII/600. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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