Laptop suggestions

[Ferc Kast]

I am looking into getting a new laptop; I had a few questions about specs to look for. As a modder for KotOR, I want to still want to be able to mod/play KotOR I & II. What are some graphics card suggestions to look for in a new laptop? Would something like this be able to handle my gaming need? Or, do you know of relatively cheap, but updated (Windows 7) laptops that are good for that?

[Q]

At this point, if you want a GPU that is guaranteed to play KotOR, Nvidia is pretty much the only game in town, but laptops with Nvidia GPUs can be expensive.

Usually, Intel GPUs can run it after some tinkering, but it's become virtually impossible with AMD/ATI GPUs.

The newest Intel mobile GPUs, which are packaged with the new mobile Sandy Bridge CPUs, are roughly 4x as powerful as the previous generation, so it might be worth waiting for cheap Sandy Bridge laptops to become available if you plan on doing any gaming on it. It's just a matter of waiting until the previous generation sells out.

The Sandy Bridge CPU/GPUs have 4-digit model numbers (i.e. Core i3 2310M), verses 3-digits for the previous generation.

[Ferc Kast]

Thanks; I'll keep that in mind while browsing. I'm curious, though: How much tinkering would be involved to get it running on an Intel graphics card?

[Q]

Depends on the model.

My laptop is 3 years old and has a GMA X3100 GPU. The only thing that I had to do, other than the normal installation tricks for running the game on Vista, was to set the "flipping policy" to "blit" in the graphics driver control panel, and the game ran fine.

That option is no longer available in the drivers for newer Intel GPUs, and I can only recall a few people getting TSL to run on a GMA x4500M; the GPU that came out after mine. Since I don't have the hardware available to me, I'm having a hard time figuring out what's preventing TSL from running while KotOR1 seems to run fine.

Someone else has managed to get it to run on GMA HD, which is the last GPU released before this latest one. Since the architecture of the 2 is very similar, it's a good bet that the games will run on the Sandy Bridge GPU as well, but, once again, it's impossible to be certain without the hardware sitting in front of me.

The main problem with the Intel GPUs (and AMD/ATI ones, for that matter) is legacy OpenGL support. Workarounds have usually been found for Intel GPUs (like 3D Analyze), but things are looking progressively more bleak on the ATI/AMD front as newer drivers are released.

Really, though, the ideal solution would be to find a laptop with an Nvidia GPU as cheaply as possible, because it WILL run KotOR with a minimum of fuss.

[Ferc Kast]

So, any NVidia gpu should work for running KotOR? If so, i think I found a couple options to consider. Or are there some NVidia gpus that don't work with KotOR?

[RC-3556]

I can run KotOR perfectly well with my laptops ATI.

[Q]

^What model GPU, and what driver version are you using? If it's a late model, I'd be very interested in learning how you got the game to run.

Originally Posted by Ferc Kast

Or are there some NVidia gpus that don't work with KotOR?

Not that I'm aware of, no.

[RC-3556]

It's an ATI 4570HD, latest drivers and I just popped KotOR in and it worked.

[Q]

How about TSL?

[RC-3556]

Everything standard, model is a Sony Vaio PCG 5T1M, running catalyst control centre

[Ferc Kast]

Well, I found a couple laptops that could fit my needs. I had a question about one laptop that i found in my search: The model is the refurbished 2010 15" Intel i7 model of the MacBook Pro, It has 2 gpu's: Intel HD Graphics and NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M, which automatically switch graphics; After installing the drivers from the Mac OS disk for the MacBook Pro on Windows, should the automatic switching still occur when using KotOR I & II on a dual-booted Windows?

I'd appreciate anyone that could help.

[Pho3nix]

[Negative Sun]

I know KotOR works with my Intel GMA X4500, dunno about TSL though...