advice on a netbook

[nickfil]

was thinking of picking up a netbook in addition to a gaming rig.

Now- i know onlive will run on a netbook no problem.

What i was curious of, is if most games on gog.com will. Anyone have any experience with it?

[Ivo]

was thinking of picking up a netbook in addition to a gaming rig.

Now- i know onlive will run on a netbook no problem.

What i was curious of, is if most games on gog.com will. Anyone have any experience with it?

I haven't tried myself, but there's plenty of good references indicating that yes, many GOGs will run perfectly.

There are threads about it on GOG's forums.

http://www.gog.com/en/forum/general/gam ... n_netbooks
http://www.gog.com/en/forum/general/netbook_games_list

Ivo.

[nickfil]

thanks man. Didn't realize that they had a forum, and had no idea what to search for beyond searching for every game i wanted to play.

Think i'm going to pull the trigger on one.

[Cronson]

I'd like to know what you get. I'm not wanting to take the plunge on a gaming rig either. All I really want is to try out Torchlight and some of the less graphically demanding games. Let us know how it goes.

[irixith]

What i was curious of, is if most games on gog.com will. Anyone have any experience with it?

I've got a 40 game library from GOG, and each works on my netbook without issue. (In fact, one of the reasons I have my netbook is specifically for GOG.) I'm using a netbook with an N280 (1.66ghz), 2GB RAM, 320GB 7200RPM drive and a 1366x768 10" screen with Intel GMA 950 graphics. You can output them to a monitor without issue as well.

Not all netbooks are created equally -- the newest kids on the block use the Intel GMA 3150 and the N450 (or N455) combo. I don't have any experience with one of those models yet, but I imagine they are just as capable with an even lower power draw. I've played with some GMA 500 netbooks, and they not only played everything just fine, but the 500 has some hardware acceleration features that's nice for other purposes. Too bad it's generally paired with a Z series Atom.

The only problem you will run into on a regular netbook with a 1024x600 panel is that some games require a minimum of 1024x768 and won't run. I didn't run into this issue often with my last netbook, but enough times that it was a piss off, and hence the upgrade.

If you're going for one of those ATI/AMD "netbooks", you obviously won't have any trouble either, but you're really not in netbook territory anymore with one of those either.

[irixith]

All I really want is to try out Torchlight

While Torchlight does have a netbook mode, I hate to say it but it runs like crap. Anything with a dual-core Atom+ (and even ION+) seems to handle it better than just the single core atom with Intel integrated graphics. It just requires slightly more ooomph.

However games such as the new Worms Reloaded works great.

[nickfil]

I'd like to know what you get. I'm not wanting to take the plunge on a gaming rig either. All I really want is to try out Torchlight and some of the less graphically demanding games. Let us know how it goes.

Cool. I'll update how i like my netbook a couple weeks after i get it. I want it for travel mostly. Around the holidays i spend a couple weeks at home with odd hours being bored. Trying to gear up for that.

I do have to say though- torchlight is great. I played it on my mac and loved it. Can't speak to netbook mode though.

[nickfil]

What i was curious of, is if most games on gog.com will. Anyone have any experience with it?

I've got a 40 game library from GOG, and each works on my netbook without issue. (In fact, one of the reasons I have my netbook is specifically for GOG.) I'm using a netbook with an N280 (1.66ghz), 2GB RAM, 320GB 7200RPM drive and a 1366x768 10" screen with Intel GMA 950 graphics. You can output them to a monitor without issue as well.

Not all netbooks are created equally -- the newest kids on the block use the Intel GMA 3150 and the N450 (or N455) combo. I don't have any experience with one of those models yet, but I imagine they are just as capable with an even lower power draw. I've played with some GMA 500 netbooks, and they not only played everything just fine, but the 500 has some hardware acceleration features that's nice for other purposes. Too bad it's generally paired with a Z series Atom.

The only problem you will run into on a regular netbook with a 1024x600 panel is that some games require a minimum of 1024x768 and won't run. I didn't run into this issue often with my last netbook, but enough times that it was a piss off, and hence the upgrade.

This makes me kind of worried. The point of the netbook is not to spend too much, so i'm looking at the lower end ones you just described. Should i suck it up and pay a little more? Do you really get more bang for the buck? With marginal speed increases it doesn't seem like it would be that much better to get spend an extra hundred.

this is the one i was thinking of. Should i grab a better one?

[MikeyW]

I wouldn't do it if I were you. I'd spend a bit more and get a laptop instead. Netbooks really aren't made for gaming, and I've had a naff experience with them.

I'm currently running XP on an Asus Eee 900 series. The one with the 16GB SSD. It's painfully slow at times and can just about run Fusion, the Megadrive emulator. I'm still having problems with ZSnes and Snes9x.

However, I've read that I've heard that the SSD netbooks are slower that the ones with "proper" hard drives, which I think are in most newer netbooks...

[ZeroAX]

for gog games netbooks are excellent.