QUOTE - 2.0 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo - 2GB RAM DDR2 - 160GB HD Space - 256mb Video Card Well... in my opinion, Toshiba is the best laptop company and you might want to try Dell (XPS). You get both these laptops with the above spec!

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I just got a compaq presario. I guess it's okay. It's one of the relatively cheap ones being sold here in the Philippines. It has a dual core processor, 1gb of memory, but only 80 gb of HD space though but I plan on buying an external because they're very cheap now, so yeah. Acer also has relatively cheap ones too, you might want to check them out. Anyways, good luck

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I just looked at the required minimum specifications for Microsoft Flight Simulator X and figured, hey, this isn't too bad.

Then I read the Wiki article on it and saw this:



You're out of luck if you're trying to keep under budget and still get a laptop powerful enough to run this game well with considerable eye candy when peers are having less-than-desirable results with video cards that ship with laptops (unless you can tolerate less-than-desirable graphical options and lack of eye candy).

Be prepared to fork over $1000 at the very least for a laptop that will be able to play this game without too many hiccups. I say that you're better off with a desktop, if you want value for your performance dollar.

The Acer Aspire AS5520-5716 is the cheapest laptop that I could find with respectable performance in running MFSX. At 1024x768 with Ultra Quality, no anti-aliasing, and trilinear texture filtering, it runs at an average FPS of 18... which is playable, and if you're not too bothered by slight choppiness, that's a decent framerate to play at.

I suggest you shop around and take another look at that budget. Like I said, it's going to be hard to stay cheap but be able to play your favorite games without killing performance with eye candy.

What I suggest you do is go to NewEgg and shop for laptops there, specifying a dedicated graphics card filter (at least), throwing in other things that you want to filter your results, and then looking solely at the video card within the laptop to gauge whether it will suit what you want for a gaming laptop. Use the VGA charts and match them up as closely as possible at Tom's Hardware, as they conveniently have a scenario for Microsoft Flight Simulator X.

Edit: More tools incoming... here's a site that actually charts mobile graphic solutions against each other. It's not as intuitive as TH's VGA chart, but hey, it's more accurate than guessing an equivalent.

Edit edit: An awesome thread post to gauge what kind of GPU you would want to aim for in a laptop.

 

 

 

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NewEgg spits out two laptops that might fit the bill as far as graphical rendering capability goes.

Toshiba Satellite X205-S9800
Toshiba Satellite X205-S9349

Both laptops sport the NVIDIA 8700M GT, which is the high-end of video chipsets in the mobile computing field. I have NO idea how this will actually perform in real-time, but if it surpasses my mid-range ATI X600 that I have in my HP Pavilion zd8000, and if it's that much better... I'd say it's a good bet.

Both laptops ring in at around $1300-1500, which really isn't that bad considering what you're getting. The processor speeds aren't awesome, but they make up by being dual-core. If you want HD DVD capability, you'll have to go for the more expensive one, but at a price hike of around $100, it's not that bad for HD DVD.

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I bought few weeks ago Acer 4920G

(Core 2 Duo T5450 / 1.66 GHz - Centrino Duo - RAM 2 GB - HDD 160 GB - DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM - Mobility Radeon X2400, WLAN : 802.11a/b/g - Vista Home Premium - 14.1" 1280 x 800).

But it doesn't have bluetooth. It is rather fast in games and just for work. Price is 1000-1300$(i've got it for 800$).

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