malibu43 Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 My laptop is nearing 4 years old and I've convinced myself that I may be due for a new one. The crazy part is that I jokingly told my wife I needed a new one and she said "you can buy one if you want..." I hadn't planned on doing this very soon, but now it appears it is up to my own will power to resist. It may be a futile effort...I paid about $1K for my current laptop 4 years ago, and my budget is about the same this time around. From what I've seen, I may want to push it up to around $1,200.My current laptop (specs below) runs one of my most demanding scenarios in FSX at about 10fps (A2A C172, ORBX NCA near KSQL, lots of weather). I'd like to get that up to 20fps or more. I've been seeing a lot of ASUS and MSI in my price range:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232122http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152668http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152554Anyone have any suggestions or input? Will these laptops get me the performance increases I'm looking for? Any vendors or brands that are recommended to use or stay away from?Thanks! My current laptop: HP Pavillion Dv6t Quad Edition, Win7 (64), i7 2.0ghz (2.9ghz w/ Turbo Boost), 1GB Radeon HD6770M, 6GB RAM, 640GB HD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertPilot Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 One thing I know for sure--a laptop with efficient heat dissipation is required. I originally tried P3D on a business-type of laptop (with i7 processor), but the laptop kept getting too hot, such that I had to direct a table fan at it! I realized all that heat was going to shorten the life of the laptop, so I ended up building a tower PC, with plenty of fans, for P3D. If a laptop is still desired for FSX, maybe consider a laptop engineered for gaming (especially with a higher-end graphics card). I assume such laptops have better cooling built in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottbed Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I only buy Sager gaming laptops and my last 3 have all been excellent, quality is top notch and you can replace the video card later (a lot, lot of money though). You get much more bang for your buck and they are very high quality. I have the 8265 which is replaced with this: http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8268s-clevo-p150sma-p-6987.html It's a real beast for that price! Take a look around Xotic, they have some below $1000 that are very nice. They also carry MSI, Asus, Gigabyte, Alienware, etc....so you can price compare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripcord Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 what do you use it for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malibu43 Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 I only buy Sager gaming laptops and my last 3 have all been excellent, quality is top notch and you can replace the video card later (a lot, lot of money though). You get much more bang for your buck and they are very high quality. I have the 8265 which is replaced with this: http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8268s-clevo-p150sma-p-6987.html It's a real beast for that price! Take a look around Xotic, they have some below $1000 that are very nice. They also carry MSI, Asus, Gigabyte, Alienware, etc....so you can price compare. Thanks! I'll take a look at those. what do you use it for? FSX, DCS World, Mechwarrior Online, and then generic home use stuff (pictures, music, internet, etc...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolgovind180 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 i would say a big no to laptop for fsx .. build your own PC.. PS: my own experience cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electricman Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I would say the same as Govind, 10fps with a turbo at 2.9 Ghz? how do you expect fps to go up with a cpu running at 2.5 Ghz? the GPU from the expensive model has a bandwith of 192 bits?? you need at least 256 bit and then the ever worse W8.1?? FSX needs processor power and that a laptop can't give you. You want to spend 1200$? buy a descent desktop. Herman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Kane Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Why would you spend $1200 on a laptop to get ~20fps when you can spend that money on a desktop running 4.5 to 5.0 ghz these days. My current rig was running FSX:SE at 120 fps on a fresh install and when loaded up with addons between 30 to 60 fps fully loaded. Laptops have far too many limitations and overpriced and fragile Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Venema Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 If you're serious about laptop gaming or running FSX/P3D get a Razerblade 14 with the 970m GPU and keep the display to 1080P. No laptop will touch that for FPS. http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade I am using one as my testing PC at the moment; very, very impressive. I got this after Wes Bard from LM demoed KPSP to me using it, getting 50+ FPS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malibu43 Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 i would say a big no to laptop for fsx .. build your own PC.. PS: my own experience cheers I would say the same as Govind, 10fps with a turbo at 2.9 Ghz? how do you expect fps to go up with a cpu running at 2.5 Ghz? the GPU from the expensive model has a bandwith of 192 bits?? you need at least 256 bit and then the ever worse W8.1?? FSX needs processor power and that a laptop can't give you. You want to spend 1200$? buy a descent desktop. Herman Why would you spend $1200 on a laptop to get ~20fps when you can spend that money on a desktop running 4.5 to 5.0 ghz these days. My current rig was running FSX:SE at 120 fps on a fresh install and when loaded up with addons between 30 to 60 fps fully loaded. Laptops have far too many limitations and overpriced and fragile I need a laptop so that it can be put away under an end table and then be set up to use on the coffee table, dining table, or my lap, depending on what I'm doing. A desktop is simply not an option. Also, electricman, all the laptops I linked have at least 3.5ghz with turbo boost, so they are a definite improvement over what I have now. And to be clear, what I have now has performed perfectly fine for me over the last few years. It has only been lately that a few demanding scenarios are resulting in very low FPS. Most of the time fps is 20+. FSX on a laptop is, in fact, quite possible and enjoyable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malibu43 Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 If you're serious about laptop gaming or running FSX/P3D get a Razerblade 14 with the 970m GPU and keep the display to 1080P. No laptop will touch that for FPS. http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade I am using one as my testing PC at the moment; very, very impressive. I got this after Wes Bard from LM demoed KPSP to me using it, getting 50+ FPS. Thanks for a helpful link, John. That's a bit out of my price range, but it gives me an idea of what results I might expect with certain hardware. Here is a Sager with the same processor but a lower end GPU. Price looks good: http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8650-clevo-p650sa-p-7847.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malibu43 Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 I like this one: http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8651-clevo-p650se-p-7690.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottbed Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 I like this one: http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8651-clevo-p650se-p-7690.html One thing I will say is battery life is not so hot for laptops of this power. Expect to be plugged in most of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malibu43 Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 Just ordered! http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8671-clevo-p670se-p-7799.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottbed Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Congrats!!! That looks like a very good machine! Just ordered! http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8671-clevo-p670se-p-7799.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbarryd Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I wish you the best of luck with it! But I am like some of the others. I would not even think of flying on a laptop. I am too addicted to my big desktop with 30 inch screen with two other ones to show the maps and panels, etc. And my yoke, throttles, and rudder.But good luck! I hope you like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karaya1 Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Malibu Congrats on your new laptop. I am sure you will enjoy it. I have been running FSX with Orbx scenery on my laptop for just over 18mths now and am very happy with it. I do run a cooling base and a 27" monitor but thats all. My specs are I7 3630Q @ up to 3.4GHz, 8G ram 2G HD7600M Radeon graphics and a single 1TB hard drive partitioned into 3 drives. Oh yeh plus Win8. I have two joysticks hooked up, an old Microsoft Sidewinder for primary flight controls and a Saitek Cyborg X for additional buttons and throttles (it got too sticky for primary controls). I mainly fly country and manage to get a solid 30 frames most of the time. If I load the weather up this does drop to 15-20. My choice was easy when purchasing, a desktop for flight sim was going to set me back 3+ big ones, this laptop was on special for NZD1200. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottbed Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 Did you get that bad boy yet? What are your first impressions? Congrats!!! That looks like a very good machine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malibu43 Posted March 13, 2015 Author Share Posted March 13, 2015 Laptop came Wednesday! At first I thought the 17" screen seemed big, but after I used for a few minutes and then went back to get some stuff off my old laptop, the 15.6" screen seemed tiny!I got P3D and DCS World installed so far. I still haven't added add-ons. All my ORBX stuff will be added this weekend. First I fired up P3D. I jumped into the sim after install, moved all the sliders/options to the right (mostly) and then just started trying stuff. With the rainy weather theme at KSEA with cloud shadows and 3d fog enabled, I was happy to see the FPS stay pegged at the locked value (20) and the sim was buttery smooth. Cockpit shadows are nice and add a lot.I also jumped into DCS World, set the "High" graphics settings + turned on mirrors, and then jumped into the A-10A quickstart mission. I used this mission to test FPS and settings on my old laptop. On my old laptop, with mostly medium settings, I got FPS in the 20-30 range with occasional drops and stutters. I didn't check FPS last night, but the sim was crazy smooth and must have been over 30fps. Plus it looked so good at higher resolution with the mirrors and cockpit shadows flying all over the place! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest M31 Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 Glad you are enjoying the new Lappie, but you could have got more performance for the money from a desktop and chose individual components better if you had listened to early advice here first I have one old friend who seems to go overboard on laptops because he is in the Navy and is away from home on the boat for vast months at a time, desktops are not practical for their boat cabins and laptops make perfect sense. I too have a Lappie, its getting a bit long in the tooth at last, it too has a 17" screen and a decent for time Intel I5 CPU, 6GB ram, as always with lappies the hard drive was the limiting factor though and it died, had a spare 240 GB SSD going so flung it in and what a difference, would still not consider it for Flight sim though unless as mentioned I was offshore or on the boats for long periods of time and had to flight sim during my time away from a good desktop due to being mobile. Sometimes laptops are neat and practical for a trendy minimalist way of living at home too and that's absolutely fine, they have the cool factor to this day still ... for me its for mobility for when I'm away, but even then I find my Ipad taking over in that area because I'm rarely away for more than a day or two now ... and LOL, there are one or two very decent sim apps for the Ipad too now The other thing to remember about laptops is that they are much harder to repair or upgrade in the same way Desktops are, having said that I've repaired one or two lappies now inc replacing keyboards, screens, ram HD's and more but mostly we find laptops are disposable items now and not worth doing so, the industry encouragement is just to get a new one. We live in a disposable society. So long as you appreciate your lappie thats all that matters my friend, know what its like to get new hardware ... enjoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest M31 Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 If you're serious about laptop gaming or running FSX/P3D get a Razerblade 14 with the 970m GPU and keep the display to 1080P. No laptop will touch that for FPS. http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade I am using one as my testing PC at the moment; very, very impressive. I got this after Wes Bard from LM demoed KPSP to me using it, getting 50+ FPS. I'm sure you must use powerful desktops too John? Care to share the spec? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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