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Thread: Small gaming laptop?

  1. #1
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    Small gaming laptop?

    I've been spending a bit of time watching some Skyrim gameplay clips/teasers etc and I'm fairly convinced that this game will be the deciding factor in me buying a new laptop. I will definitely be buying the game when it is released and it will, I know, run just fine on my desktop computer. However my laptop is another story. I have a Dell XPS M1330 which, when I bought it 4 years ago, had enough power to run most of the games I loved, including Oblivion. It wasn't great with Fallout 3 but could just about manage with reduced detail. I think Skyrim will be just too much for my little lappy and I will buy a replacement.

    At the moment I'm thinking of a Dell Alienware M14X but I would love to hear of any other suggestions. Size is an important factor and I don't want anything bigger than 14".
    A quick search on Google hasn't suggested anything better in that size. There is a Samsung SF310 but it seems on paper to be a lot less powerful.
    Last edited by Ceefer; 05-11-2011 at 12:42 PM. Reason: spelling!
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    Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Socket 775 (3.0GHz), stock cooler, Gigabyte GA-EP43-S3L iP43 Socket 775, OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 Gold Memory, PowerColor HD 4870 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card, Seagate 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache, Arctic Power 500W PSU, Hann-G 19" widescreen
    Kitchen Table Browser: Dell XPS M1330 laptop
    On the Road: Alienware M14X laptop

  2. #2
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    Re: Small gaming laptop?

    Just in case anyone read my previous post, I decided to go for the Alienware M14X, which I've had for about 3 weeks now. Pros: display, build quality, appearance, speed (in day-to-day computing). Cons: weight - a 14" laptop that weighs almost 3 kg!

    When I initially installed Skyrim on this laptop I accepted the default resolution setting of 'medium' . I was a bit disappointed that the programme, after checking the laptops specs came up with this recommendation, but I just went with it. Imagine how dismayed I was when I found that the game was unplayable! The mouse lag was the worst I've ever seen in a game.

    After a bit of research I found the solution(s) to the problem. I'd been launching the game via Steam. When I launched it directly from the folder where it was installed, by right-clicking and then selecting to run using nvidia graphics processor, the performance was excellent, even at 'high' settings. Also I disabled vsynch and 'mouse acceleration' in the SkyrimPrefs.ini file.

    Now I have everything turned up to the max and Skyrim looks wonderful!
    *
    Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Socket 775 (3.0GHz), stock cooler, Gigabyte GA-EP43-S3L iP43 Socket 775, OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 Gold Memory, PowerColor HD 4870 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card, Seagate 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache, Arctic Power 500W PSU, Hann-G 19" widescreen
    Kitchen Table Browser: Dell XPS M1330 laptop
    On the Road: Alienware M14X laptop

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