Will This Laptop Run Train Simulator

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by George1862, Jul 27, 2021.

  1. George1862

    George1862 Active Member

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  2. JJTimothy

    JJTimothy Well-Known Member

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    No. As I have mentioned in another thread I have no little experience making do with below spec' machines running TS. It's surprising what you can get away with if you manage your expectations but that system is a step too far- if not a few steps.

    If that's a clue to your budget you'd be better off looking for a second hand machine. I got a 17" i5 laptop with a middling Radeon GPU for £200 and it ran TS very nicely... until it broke down which is a chance you take buying used of course.
     
  3. paul.pavlinovich

    paul.pavlinovich Well-Known Member

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    I agree with JJTimothy that laptop is for browsing the web and probably wouldn't do a great job of that let alone run a CPU demanding game. TS does use GPU but its playability is more about CPU than anything else.

    Paul
     
  4. ntypeman

    ntypeman Well-Known Member

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    George...

    I'm not a "pro-laptop" person but speak from experience with using one for TS... If I had the space then no doubt I'd probably have a PC but due to our household constraints, I use a laptop...

    Many people shudder at the thought of using one for TS but to those who do shudder at the thought, let me ask you this??? If it was a choice between playing TS on a laptop or not at all, what would you choose...???

    As to your choice of laptop, my main piece of advice would be to look for one with a dedicated graphics card with a minimum of 2gb...

    Eric
     
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  5. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    Unfortunately that laptop is a potato...
    The spec is for people who may want to watch a video or use the basics of windows to print something, but certainly anything "real time" would not be played in "real time".
    As someone who started playing TS on a Microsoft Surface with slightly better specs than the machine quoted I can say with experience that TS WILL run, but you' be running at minimum graphics capabilities, with a max of 20-25 frames per second, with huge slowdown in any station with more than two platforms
    The reason for this is that TS uses the CPU a lot, even for a game with the graphics it has (ie not the best), and if you get somewhere like London Victoria where you might have 10 trains sat or moving, the game is still trying to pump out frames and to do this it slows down the clock. At one point one "in game minute" took three minutes, so a 25 minute scenario would take over an hour!

    You also have to remember that a laptop is designed to preserve it's battery life, and it does this by "throttling" the CPU, GPU and memory (and SSD if it has that kind of storage). This slows everything down even more!

    All of the above is why DTG do not support any form of laptop, even the best specced "gaming laptop"... there are simply too many downsides
     
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  6. George1862

    George1862 Active Member

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    Ah annoying ok
     
  7. JJTimothy

    JJTimothy Well-Known Member

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    Agree with everything you say here. In spite of the warnings about mobile chipsets one would be extremely unfortunate to find a laptop that was simply incompatible with TS. I would guess that I have logged well over half my hours on laptops and laptops that fall short of the minimum spec' at that.

    The laptop in the OP however falls too far short. It's a Chromebook with ideas above its station and, while TS might start on it with older routes, it would be a frustrating experience.
     
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  8. paul.pavlinovich

    paul.pavlinovich Well-Known Member

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    I don't have too much of a problem with laptops in general, I use one for work every day and it would be quite capable of playing TS very well and would likely do respect to TSW2 if you didn't mind about 24 - 30fps.

    In general if the machine comes with "Windows 10 S" like that one does, run. Windows 10 S is a bit like an iPhone - if its not on the Microsoft store good luck. It is cut down windows, not the full deal. Its designed for small tasks and was designed to compete with Chromebooks and tablets.
     
  9. Alex_m30x#7297

    Alex_m30x#7297 Well-Known Member

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    In my experience ts can run with minimum graphics on pretty much anything, I have an absolute potato of a pc and it runs half decently, but don't take my word for it.
     
  10. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    You are talking about a PC - the OP wants to know if a Chromebook would work - which is not even a proper Laptop
     
  11. Alex_m30x#7297

    Alex_m30x#7297 Well-Known Member

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    Sorry laptop i have a HP 240 G6 Notebook PC which is a laptop
     
  12. JJTimothy

    JJTimothy Well-Known Member

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    It's not actually a Chromebook- I called it one, "with ideas above its station" because of its spec's, in fact there are Chromebooks that could run rings around it, but it does run a version of Windows. I was trying to emphasise that, while it is a Windows laptop, it's little better suited to running TS than an Etch-a-sketch.

    If OP's still reading this thread I reiterate that if £300 is an indication of your budget you should be able to find something second-hand.
     
  13. George1862

    George1862 Active Member

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    Ah can anyone recommend a good laptop then that will run it very well then
     
  14. JJTimothy

    JJTimothy Well-Known Member

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    Second hand? Not really- availability will vary from one day to the next and from place to place.

    My laptop had an i5 CPU, 6GB RAM, a 650GB HD and a Radeon GPU (don't ask me what sort I don't remember- nothing any keen gamer would get excited about but it had 2GB RAM and was good enough to significantly improve my experience of TS). That should give you some idea what to look for and it set me back £200 so a good deal less than the Lenovo you were looking at- and with a 17" screen and full-size keyboard BTW.

    If you don't need the portability desktop machines generally offer more for the money especially if you can find one that plugs into your telly via HDMI though that would obviously depend on your living arrangements and what if any other uses you have in mind.
     
  15. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    My error for reading what you said as Fact.
     
  16. Pookeyhead

    Pookeyhead Well-Known Member

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    You'd need to give us a budget to aim at. You can pay thousands for decent "gaming" laptops.
     
  17. George1862

    George1862 Active Member

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    Any budget typically not over 1000 if possible
     
  18. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    For much less than that you can have a desktop which will run TS2021 properly
     
  19. ntypeman

    ntypeman Well-Known Member

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    New or second hand???
     
  20. Pookeyhead

    Pookeyhead Well-Known Member

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    That's a tall order for a new gaming laptop. I'd forget "gaming" if I were you, and just get a reasonable spec laptop with lower end hardware in it, and accept that you'll need to run at lower settings.


    I'd seriously consider building a desktop from used components if I was on a budget, especially at the moment when so many electronic components are either in short supply or just ridiculously priced.
     
  21. Tigert1966

    Tigert1966 Well-Known Member

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    I wouldn't say it's a tall order though you will be at the top of your 1000 budget.

    I just bought an ASUS TUF DASH F15 with an 11th Gen I5 and a 3060 for 1015 CHF (Swiss francs) that's the equivalent of £800 approx. You probably can't get the same model in the UK but I'm sure there mist be something similar. It can play both TS2021 and TSW2 at very good frame rates and does a pretty good job with most games. I play both Train Sims, Project Cars2 and Forza Horizon 4 on it a lot and it copes with high settings. I did spend an extra 40CHF for 8 gig more memory as it only came with 8. But its a great machine for the price. The only downside is that you are pushing the hardware pretty hard so you will have to live with fan noise and it does run warm (but within limits).

    This is the closest I could find on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-FX516...ds=tuf+dash+f15+i5+3060&qid=1627665494&sr=8-5

    As others have said though, you would get far more performance for your money with a desktop. But if you really want a laptop then all I can say is that I'm happy with mine.
     
  22. George1862

    George1862 Active Member

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    Ah ok cheers
     

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