Hey guys, I am a student looking at a new laptop. I am not the most informed person about computer hardware or the ability to upgrade. My question is if there is a good, solid laptop on the market that can I can run FSX on and in the future have space to put better hardware in? If this is too open of a question, then what is 'good' hardware on a laptop.

>Hey guys,>>> I am a student looking at a new laptop. I am not the>most informed person about computer hardware or the ability to>upgrade. My question is if there is a good, solid laptop on>the market that can I can run FSX on and in the future have>space to put better hardware in? If this is too open of a>question, then what is 'good' hardware on a laptop.The problem with laptops in general is that VERY few are designed to be "upgradeable" over time unlike desktops. Part of this stems from the limited space constraints, power constraints, etc. In general laptop motherboards are MUCH more custom designed than desktop ones, making it virtually impossible to just "upgrade" the parts. Now, there HAVE been some inroads on this over teh last 2 years. Both NVidia and ATI have started producing their laptop parts on replaceable/interchangeable modules, but I don't know how extensive this support has been, and what I have seen of it has only been on the REALLY big, heavy and expensive uber-gaming desktop replacement laptops (more like luggables!) Certainly NOT the sort of machine you want to be carrying 6 hours a day to/from class.Some general guidelines though to look for if you're going to go the laptop route:1) ABSOLUTELY MUST have a high end NVidia or ATI video card with it's own dedicated memory (NO SHARED MEMORY!!!!) Do NOT get anything with the Intel "Extreme Graphics" integrated solutions - (It's down ride 'Extremely PATHETIC' for gaming of any sort!) Get something that has dedicated video memory of 256MB or better. If you can find one that uses those interchangable video 'card' modules, all the better.2) 2GB RAM if you can swing it. FSX in particular LOVES memory. If you can't afford 2GB right now, get 1GB and make sure there is a 2nd slot for you to add another 1GB later without having to remove the 1st GB.3) Go with a Core2Duo chip. Although I'm an AMD fan, the Intel Core2Duo really is top dog right now. Faster you can get the better.4) Since you're using this for school too, get the biggest battery you can for it. In fact, get two!5) Insist on a 7200RPM hard drive... (A lot of manufacturers like to skimp and go with 4200RPM drives. The performance difference is VERY noticeable...) If you can't find one with a 7200RPM drive, get the machine with the smallest 4200RPM drive you can (cheaper) and then replace it as soon as you can with a 7200RPM unit.Really, if you have to skimp anywhere, get the lower memory and slower/smaller hard drive since those tend to be easy things to upgrade later and will give you a nice performance improvement (laptops are notorious for having slower IO subsystems than desktops, so if you can bring those parts up to desktop standards you've made a big improvement. These were the 2 things I did to my laptop and it made it feel like a totally new machine.)Check out Alienware, Dell, cyberpowerpc.com, ibuypower.com, etc. Pretty much forget Toshiba, Sony, Gateway and HP/Compaq as they tend to be geared more for the "web surfing/media/wordprocessing" crowd. Also, be prepared for some sticker shock. A laptop configured like I outlined above is going to cost a good penny.

Personally, I would not ever run FSX on a laptop.If you MUST, then I'd get the fastest cpu laptop you can find, and hope and pray that it is upgradeable. As was said, that is the #1 problem with laptops. And no upgrade = no joy with FSX on a laptop.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2.5 ghz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (94.47), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian

Thanks a million. Now another question. The processor. Some notebooks had 1.33GHz processors, but then others had 3.0GHz (Alienware) and up. I can probably figure that the higher the better, but why would the difference be so great?

Ok, first off, you have to understand that GHz doesn't work as a comparison unless you're comparing 2 chips that are in the same "family" (for instance comparing a Pentium to a Pentium that's ok.) If you're comparing different chips (like a Pentium to a Core2Duo) it doesn't work because the Core2Duo is a much more efficient chip per Ghz, and so even though it's GHz is lower, it outperforms a Pentium Ghz to Ghz.In terms of CPU efficiency per Ghz (from worst to best):AthlonXP/SempronPentiumAthlon64/Turion (either single or dual core)CoreSolo/CoreDuoCore2DuoHence, a Core2Duo running at 2Ghz will wipe the floor with a Pentium running at 2Ghz.That's why I said look for the Core2Duo. I *think* the fastest model they make for laptops for it is a 2.13Ghz, but I could be wrong. Hope this helps!--2002cbr600f4i

Thanks, yea the comparing two differnt chips thing came into my mind last night. That helps alot.

What he said, except if Dell, only option is XPS... nothin else... I wouldnt do Dell at all.... check my siggy, that laptop (built on an MSI 1036 http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/not...il.php?UID=615) will run FSX with tweaks mid to mid-high... so top what mine is for sure.