Hi all,

 

I am posting here since my question is specifically for the PMDG 777 and FSX only. All my simming has been done on desktop PC's and I know nothing about about laptops!!

 

My old man turns 65 and ends his career on the 777 next summer, whilst he does know a bit about desktop flight sims he has always held the thought that it is a bit of a toy

 

So! As part of his retirement present I would like to purchase a laptop, load it with the PMDG 777 and perhaps version 2 of the 744 at some point.

 

I can't see him sitting there with a yoke and pedals flying, so the setup will really be for him to have the aircraft parked up somewhere while he can click away referencing the FCOM and get a real idea of what desktop simulations are capable of in this day and age. The plan is to hopefully turn him into an addict like us to keep him busy in is retirement

 

What kind of laptop would you recommend? I have heard of people using laptops for FSX but to me I would imagine it being a slide show fest! Although I don't see him actually flying the sim I would still like to put lots of complex airports, real weather etc to add to the immersion.

 

Cheers

Hi Rob,

I use to use ( for FSX) a Toshiba L650. It did the job quite ok. I used it when I moved house for a while as it took a few weeks for everything to arrive at our new house.

I was realistic using it, and even though it is 2 years old now, it has been a very reliable laptop. Rock solid in fact.

 

I now use it networked for FSX to run EFB etc. It gets used every day, 12 hours a day and ever misses a beat One of the best brands I have owned.

I am sure you will get many options, but I thought I would share my experience with this particular brand.

 

Cheers

Thanks Julian, will take a look. I have been searching the net and the choice is huge! I was initially looking for something with a big screen, then it clicked that I can just hook up a monitor or TV to the laptop.

 

Cheers

I have a Samsung 22" plugged iinto the Toshiba via a HDMI cable. Works great. So I have two screens ( 3 if I include my desktop ) and have EFB on one and FSC on the laptop screen. If I am not using the laptop screen, I just close the lid and work off the Samsung.

I'd get one with a huge, bright, non glare, crisp screen so he can read things as easily as possible.

 

Same for keyboard, big easy to hit buttons.

 

Then just get some good gaming spec'ed hardware inside with decent warranty that cover coffee spills.

haha, he's old but not that old they still trust him with a few million dollars worth of equipment! my concern is more specs, smoothness & reliability.

 

Cheers

FLEX1978, are you thinking a laptop for convince purposes? Because a nice desktop could cost the same if not less! But for what it's worth I run a MacBook Pro with bootcamp, i7 with 4 gigs of ram and haven't had any issues!

FLEX1978, are you thinking a laptop for convince purposes? Because a nice desktop could cost the same if not less! But for what it's worth I run a MacBook Pro with bootcamp, i7 with 4 gigs of ram and haven't had any issues!

Yeah I want to be subtle about the whole thing, if I stick a desktop in his office loaded with Flightsim I doubt he would use it. Just want to give him a nice modern laptop with a bunch of stuff on it including the PMDG 777 so he can carry it around with him.

 

Cheers

i use an intel i7 2.8-3.8 with gf grx675m and 16gb ram. custom notebook. 50 frames all the way

i use an intel i7 2.8-3.8 with gf grx675m and 16gb ram. custom notebook. 50 frames all the way

Hi Tebin, do you have a link to where I can find that laptop?

 

Thanks

I personally have an Alienware M17x R4 that has served me really well while I have been on deployment, and away from my desktop... I know the stigma associated with the machines. However since they are SATA III (faster internal communication between CPU, graphics card, etc) it works almost better than my desktop with FSX. Plus it only has a 2.9ghz i7, but still feels pretty quick.... If you are looking for decent though Asus makes the G75 and that what I was cross shopping with the M17x. Just keep in mind you will need a SSD for FSX though to get the best texture loading rates. I fly NGX no problems though, and RSR says the 777 is even more frame friendly. Either way the newer generation of laptops run FSX quite nicely. The only thing I cannot run is AI traffic. Other than that all of the settings are maxed out.

Hi Tebin, do you have a link to where I can find that laptop?

 

Thanks

its a company from Germany (www.one.de). There, you can select a basic layout for your laptop and then upgrade certain things. I am running a "One Gaming Notebook K56-2N " and am going to upgrade to a "One Gaming Notebook K56-3N " with the best CPU + 2 SSD or maybe 1 SSD / 1 Hybrid-SSD or something similar. All in all, its better than anything on the market.. and cheaper. For my current one, i paid about 1500€ and the new one will be 1800€

Toshiba Qosmio. I've had mine for a while and has been through, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and now back in the USA and it has been solid! It'll be nice with a big sceen so your dad wont have to squint, etc. Idk if you can still get them with Windows 7, but I'm pretty sure you can make that happen.

Many thanks everyone!

I have an ASUS G74SX gaming laptop for FSX and I get good frame rates. It has a 17 inch screen and I have it networked to an older desktop to use with Aivlasoft EFB. I fly PMDG's 747-400 and MD-11 the most and also Aerosoft's Airbus. Never had any slide show issues whatsoever. My AI traffic levels are set at 20% and even at busier airports like Aerosofts KDTW it runs fine. I use all the common cfg tweaks and after a little trial n error have it running as smoothly as I can get considering the laptop's specs.