could any laptop ever be a real gaming machine?

[jefhatfield]

...or are ps2, gamecube, xbox, and desktop computers the only "real" gaming machines?

[blackpeter]

Let's wait n' see the next generation of Powerbooks.

[idkew]

laptops will never be more than last year's game machines. to play the best games you need the biggest, baddest things, and laptops can fit or power those cards, processors...

like i have said before, if you want to play games, get a GameCube.

[mischief]

Picture next year's Tibook:

1.2 Ghz with 1.5 GB of RAM and a 64 MB DDR RADEON AGP :D :eek:

Maybe even on a bus equipped with DDR? Even just going up to 1 Ghz wit a current RADEON would be quite nice for gaming, particularly with a nice big 3rd Cache. :D :p

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by mischief
Picture next year's Tibook:

1.2 Ghz with 1.5 GB of RAM and a 64 MB DDR RADEON AGP 2x:D :eek:

Maybe even on a bus equipped with DDR? Even just going up to 1 Ghz wit a current RADEON would be quite nice for gaming, particularly with a nice big 3rd Cache. :D :p

would a 700 g3 ibook, 640 MB RAM, with 14" inch screen qualify?

...or maybe next version, which would most likely be a 800 mhz ibook, 14" inch screen, with a 1 GB RAM limit?

and what would be wrong with either of these machines only being able to run last year's games...or are last year's games super taboo in the gaming world? :p

[mischief]

Originally posted by jefhatfield


would a 700 g3 ibook, 640 MB RAM, with 14" inch screen qualify?

...or maybe next version, which would most likely be a 800 mhz ibook, 14" inch screen, with a 1 GB RAM limit?

and what would be wrong with either of these machines only being able to run last year's games...or are last year's games super taboo in the gaming world? :p

No it wouldn't: There's no way to hook up a real monitor or (better yet) a video projector. Plus the bus is slow and the video card is a joke.

[krossfyter]

Gamecube is the "shizz".... like Jello would say.


Nintendo is the most creative game developer amongst all the main consoles... bar none.



Quality games over Quantity games.


rock

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by mischief


No it wouldn't: There's no way to hook up a real monitor or (better yet) a video projector. Plus the bus is slow and the video card is a joke.

darn

what if bus got upped to 133 or 167, would that ibook work with 1 gig of ram and 1 ghz g3?

or would we have to go g4 ibook/ddr/fast bus/and output capability for dual large monitors?...which would be late next year at earliest if things have been crawling with apple like it usually does?:(

[Rower_CPU]

Originally posted by krossfyter
Gamecube is the "shizz".... like Jello would say.

Nintendo is the most creative game developer amongst all the main consoles... bar none.

Quality games over Quantity games.

rock

"dig it" ;)

[krossfyter]

Originally posted by Rower_CPU


"dig it" ;)


haha cool. :D

[diorio]

Originally posted by idkew
laptops will never be more than last year's game machines. to play the best games you need the biggest, baddest things, and laptops can fit or power those cards, processors...

like i have said before, if you want to play games, get a GameCube.

Personally, I think the PS2 is way better than the game cube. The gamecube has no really excellent games, and all in all is not a very good system.

[Rower_CPU]

Originally posted by diorio
Personally, I think the PS2 is way better than the game cube. The gamecube has no really excellent games, and all in all is not a very good system.

What's your reasoning? The PS2 has been out for a lot longer, hence the disproportionate amount of games. Why is the GC not a "good system"? Because it doesn't have a DVD option? :rolleyes:

[diorio]

Originally posted by Rower_CPU


What's your reasoning? The PS2 has been out for a lot longer, hence the disproportionate amount of games. Why is the GC not a "good system"? Because it doesn't have a DVD option? :rolleyes:

For one, when a system does come out it should already have some good games so that people want to buy it. I can't think of any gamecube games I would waste my money on. I actually didn't know that it didn't have a DVD option, but thats just one more reason for someone not to buy it.:rolleyes:

[Rower_CPU]

Originally posted by diorio
For one, when a system does come out it should already have some good games so that people want to buy it. I can't think of any gamecube games I would waste my money on. I actually didn't know that it didn't have a DVD option, but thats just one more reason for someone not to buy it.:rolleyes:

A system's "goodness" and the quantity of games available for it are not the same thing. That's the same as arguing that Macs are not as good as PCs because there is more PC software available.

When the GameCube shipped "Rogue Squadron 2: Rogue Leader" was available, an awesome game, still regarded as one of the best out there.

Once the Zelda and Metroid titles ship, the GC will have a core of great games.

[diorio]

Okay, I agree with you there, but for some reason I still like the PS2 better than gamecube.

[jefhatfield]

since these gaming machines are relatively cheap and better than most pcs or macs in most cases, why not buy all of the big three for a total of $547 US?

even the cheapest half decent pc at $499 (hp/compaq or dell) only has a 16 MB shared, non ddr video card; a celeron; and only 128 MB of non ddr ram system RAM...and without monitor

i don't own any gaming machine, but i do like xbox a lot and even my friend's hand built athlon 700 with oodles of RAM can't do what the xbox for $199 does...that athlon was state of the art 18 months ago and worth thousands

even the cheapest athlon xp desktop system with a separate video card and monitor will run close to a grand

[krossfyter]

Originally posted by diorio


For one, when a system does come out it should already have some good games so that people want to buy it. I can't think of any gamecube games I would waste my money on. I actually didn't know that it didn't have a DVD option, but thats just one more reason for someone not to buy it.:rolleyes:


Just because you cant think of any gamecube games you would want to waste your money on doesnt mean they dont have any good games. Thats a matter of preference anyways. Its widely known that any game that nintendo makes wither it be 1 or 5 games... that those games are Quality games ... very creative etc. etc. I think you might have a problem seeing the quality of those games thats why you are knocking the gamecube by saying they dont have any good games.

about the DVD thing if your serious which I dont think you are.... are the combo machines printer/fax/scanner better then just a single printer, single scanner or single fax machine? general thought is that the quality of such a combo machine is not as good. dont know if this is an accurate take but its something to think about.:D

[jefhatfield]

now that we already are saying what we know...ps2, xbox and gamecube rock, the ibook with a g3 doesn't seem to stand a chance...i can buy that from your informed responses...and thanks for suggestions guys and gals

but,...not that i would do this, but is there any pc laptop in the $1199-$1499 USD range that would make a good gaming machine...something over 1 ghz with ddr ram and fast, fast bus like those entry level pc laptops wield these days?

...ps...i would still just wait longer for ibook to be a good enough gaming machine since my wife, and my budget, call for an ibook, emac, or perhaps an entry level g4 imac...but nothing more...really

sure, even an entry level ddr g4 tower would be nice, but then i have to get a monitor and it starts getting overblown really fast and that is not what my wife and i, though techies, need right now since neither of us have ever qualified as macintosh "power users"

if i had the money and didn't owe university and business start up costs, i might get a high end machine and save up 3 grand...at least...and a tibook would be the only one i consider...low end, but with three year protection

if money were no limit, i would get dual 1.25 ghz powermacs with three year protection and 2 gigs of RAM

and

high end tibook with maxed out RAM (1 gig?) and three years of protection

but with that kind of money, i could buy a pretty decent harley, but my wife would leave me and i would not ever reach true senior citizenhood and get that coveted 55 and over denny's discount ;)

but the harley riders in my area are mostly over 55 and as long as they don't suffer some flashback or alheimer's trip while on the road, i am OK with them

don't laugh, the retirement home in carmel valley, 55 and over, has had 19 deaths from there while the residents pulled out and many of them could not see a C5-A Galaxy jet if it was in front of them...they basically pulled right out into oncoming traffic at 50-60 mph

[iJon]

I think the ps2 is the best out there. Although the xbox does have the best graphics and some of the best features, but the gamecube and xbox sport less cool games. I mean on the ps2 you have gta3 and socom and vice city, metal gear 2 (which is coming out for the xbox). but i like what one guy said earlier, its nicer just to have all of them so you can play everything, kindof like why i love my windows machine and my mac machine. pc is for games and my mac is for basically everything else i do with a computer.
iJon

[diorio]

Originally posted by iJon
I think the ps2 is the best out there. Although the xbox does have the best graphics and some of the best features, but the gamecube and xbox sport less cool games. I mean on the ps2 you have gta3 and socom and vice city, metal gear 2 (which is coming out for the xbox). but i like what one guy said earlier, its nicer just to have all of them so you can play everything, kindof like why i love my windows machine and my mac machine. pc is for games and my mac is for basically everything else i do with a computer.
iJon

Thank you, finally who someone who agrees that PS2 is the best game system. X-box and Gamecube are okay but just don't have as many cool games as PS2.

[macktheknife]

IMHO, if you get a PC laptop running with a PIII at around 1.5 GHz with 256 MB of RAM, you should be able to play most of the games out there. No, it won't be blazing fast, but it won't lag either. I know you can definitely play WCIII on a laptop with such specs flawlessly. Ditto for SimCity 3000. Graphic-intensive first-person shooters like UT might be a problem, but I wouldn't be surprised if it could play at least decently on the system.

As for consoles, my head tells me to go for a PS2 with its formidable library of games. My heart, however, aches for the Gamecube with Zelda and Metroid Prime (!!!) coming out. As a child who grew up playing Zelda, SMB, Metroid, Kid Icarus, Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, etc. on the NES and SNES, my heart will always be with Nintendo. Yes, I know that Square and Enix now publish for Sony, but somehow, it just isn't the same. I know most Final Fantasy fans think that the magic was somehow gone after FF III (the last FF for SNES).

Anyhow, yes, a decent PC laptop (almost an oxymoron) will be able to play most games without a hitch.

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by macktheknife


Anyhow, yes, a decent PC laptop (almost an oxymoron) will be able to play most games without a hitch.

i still think the weakest link in the wintel world is the operating system...windows

the uma in the pc laptop is not unlike apple laptops, but we have the better os and have for a long time now;)

[barkmonster]

A Neo Geo is "Real" game machine.

Arcade games are "Real" gaming machines.

3D based, eyecandy junk where you're running round a corridor, guiding you're pixelated female indiana jones around collecting stuff and kicking ass are just computer games that are formulaeic at least, piss boring at most.

You CAN run any "Proper" game on an iBook, TiBook, iMac or even a crusty old G3 desktop like mine. I all depends on if you go for playability or eyecandy and fx.

I'm not discounting adventure or strategy games here, there's a lot of those that need serious 3D hardware to be playable but they shouldn't because playability should come before eyecandy and there's nothing stopping companies from making perfectly playable games that don't need the latest 3D card or fastest CPU to work properly.

Sorry for the the rant but I fail to see how not being able to get 100 fps with all the eyecandy on actually effects the playability of a game. If a game has to rely on slick 3D graphics, suround sound or whatever to be appealing, you might aswell forget about it because looking past the obvious, it won't have any really lasting appeal or be worth the huge (relatively speaking) price tag.

All this is just my opinion anyway, I don't want to start some slagging match with anyone over it.

[krossfyter]

Originally posted by diorio


Thank you, finally who someone who agrees that PS2 is the best game system. X-box and Gamecube are okay but just don't have as many cool games as PS2.


what makes a ps2 game cool? its all about preference anyways.


the difference here is that the gamecube has the most creative games... this is a known fact. so gamecube wins. dun dun dun!