Somewhat of a similar answer to pinlifter but I would recommend the Asus G75VW. It has great specs and a nice and big 17" screen. It would be a great purchase

Well, I have a VAIO with an i5 dualcore (2,6Ghz) and an AMD Radeon HD 7650M for around 700€.

I am running the NGX with FTX Global, REX and OpusFSX at around 25-36 FPS (36 locked). 

However, my autogen is at low and I don't really use scenery for IFR, since that is a big performance hit for me anyway. Everything else like textures and ground detail is maxed out.

 

You are good to go with a lapton to run the NGX, 777  or similar addons at the highest settings smoothly, although you have to make a compromise for environmental visuals like addons of major airports and HD 3D clouds. Apart from that I get a very smooth and immersive airliner-experience with my laptop.

 

If you wish I can provide you some unedited screenshots to get you an idea how it might look like.

Rob

 

For a Laptop, the latest gen Haswell is a must have technology. They offer considerably more raw CPU power (which is what FSX ideally needs) but is also very efficient. You can expect at least 48% more efficiency compared to 3rd gen Ivy Bridge mobile CPUs. Not to mention the IGPU, Intel really did a great job with the HD 4600. This is exactly why I have a firm belief Haswell was made with Notebooks and Laptops in mind. Because of this point, there is no logic reason to upgrade from a 3570K to a 4670K PC wise.

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

One has to be carefull with statements like that.

I have a desktop i7 3770k CPU overclocked to 4.5Ghz with a GTX680 top dog (1 year ago) graphics card, and I dont achieve 50fps all the way!

 

It depends what you mean with all the way too.

On default FSX airports, sure no problem.

But around detailed addon airports with detailed weather (cloud) addon, etc etc...no way!

 

@FLEX1978

if all you want to do is surprise your dad with a laptop and as a bonus, show him what FSX with PMDG 777 looks like while sitting at the ramp. Sure, fine, any laptop can do that.

 

But add some nice scenery products and start flying that 777 and you WILL get a slideshow with a low spec laptop! (just like a low spec desktop by the way)

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

EDIT:

Reading other replies you have gotten.

Most have suggested a strong gaming laptop for FSX (1500-1800 euro was mentioned)

That I could see working, even with some addons.

 

But I wonder what the weight of one of those is.

I think you mentioned he should be able to carey it around right?

 

For what it is worth, I have a Sony laptop (VPCSE1E1E), 1 year old.

Light (2kg) and thin with an i5 and a dedicated GPU.....forget it man....FSX default scenery maybe, but anything else.....slideshow!

You need a gaming laptop!

Rob

 

For a Laptop, the latest gen Haswell is a must have technology. They offer considerably more raw CPU power (which is what FSX ideally needs) but is also very efficient. You can expect at least 48% more efficiency compared to 3rd gen Ivy Bridge mobile CPUs. Not to mention the IGPU, Intel really did a great job with the HD 4600. This is exactly why I have a firm belief Haswell was made with Notebooks and Laptops in mind. Because of this point, there is no logic reason to upgrade from a 3570K to a 4670K PC wise.

I agree, go Haswell!

 

But I dont know about the on board GPU though.

FSX requires top GPUs on desktops...I cant imagine an on die GPU being able to do the same.

Look into Asus G750 series, i just got G750JW. Works like a charm!

Apologies if this a double post.. The forum seems to be playing up again..

 

Hey thanks, weight of the laptop really isn't a problem, when I visit my folks we sometime just relax out in the garden or on the roof garden for a few hours, just wanted something for him that's portable rather then the standard fixed desktop stuck in a room type sim most of us use.

 

Have done a search based on the ideas given, thanks a lot guys

 

Edit - @ Rob, exactly, its the Onbaord GPU I worry about, laptops seems to be poor in this area from what I have heard. I don't plan to turn into his tech support for CTD's!

FSX requires top GPUs on desktops...I cant imagine an on die GPU being able to do the same.

 

Not really. I've been switching between the onboard HD4000 graphics in my 3570K and my discrete GTX770 using Virtue MVP and I haven't noticed any difference in FPS in FSX. Overclocking the CPU really makes a difference.

Not really. I've been switching between the onboard HD4000 graphics in my 3570K and my discrete GTX770 using Virtue MVP and I haven't noticed any difference in FPS in FSX. Overclocking really makes a difference.

From a tech support perspective it makes a huge differance what kind of GPU you use. Most of my headaches came from laptop onboard GPU's

Look into Asus G750 series, i just got G750JW. Works like a charm!

These Asus laptops look good too :-)

May I ask what kind of addons you are flying with and if you can maintain 30fps fix?

mainating 27-30 fps with the NGX, FTX Global, REX latest version, Active Sky 2012, FSDT, FlightBeam, FlyTampa, Aerosoft. Tweaked using ******* twak and Kostas guide. All scenery settings on max exept water on High1x, scenery complexity on normal and autogen on normal. As of now only default AI traffic, as soon as i startd adding airlines FPS will drop. Cars, boats on 10 %. Did I miss anything?

From a tech support perspective it makes a huge differance what kind of GPU you use. Most of my headaches came from laptop onboard GPU's

Agree. since I've also noticed how weak IGPUs are on Laptops compared to IGPUs of Desktops. I believe it's the Vcore that's causing the problem.

Not really. I've been switching between the onboard HD4000 graphics in my 3570K and my discrete GTX770 using Virtue MVP and I haven't noticed any difference in FPS in FSX. Overclocking the CPU really makes a difference.

I have removed FSX from my laptop.

At first it worked (like for a month or so), not great, but it would run FSX.

 

Then after a month or so, all of a sudden, FSX would not start and came with a message that my GPU is not strong enough...??

I guessed it reverted from the AMD Radeon HD 6330M to the on die HD3000.

but even using the switch on the laptop that changes from high to low performance did not help. Which is strange cause I thought that switch is there to change from the HD3000 (low performance profile) to the Radeon (high performance profile)

I could not fix the problem so I gave up and removed FSX.

 

Just recently I had a new problem playing music videos on iTunes (lagging playback but audio would continue) and I though the HD3000 was the problem again.

I went into device manager and deactivated the HD3000 thinking it would then use the (supposedly) stronger 6333M.

Guess what it would run even worse?? stutters beyond believe

What is that about?

Why even have a dedicated GPU if it cant run even music video?

 

 

So here comes my question.

How do YOU switch from the on board GPU to the on die GPU?

Look here PClaptops, orgin, or asus.

http://www.pclaptops.com/

http://www.originpc.com/gaming/laptops/

best buy has good asus in store.

Rob i had the same issue with a laptop. I had to unistall windows and reinstall it. It was a driver issue that i couldnt fix any other way. Hope that helps

mainating 27-30 fps with the NGX, FTX Global, REX latest version, Active Sky 2012, FSDT, FlightBeam, FlyTampa, Aerosoft. Tweaked using ******* twak and Kostas guide. All scenery settings on max exept water on High1x, scenery complexity on normal and autogen on normal. As of now only default AI traffic, as soon as i startd adding airlines FPS will drop. Cars, boats on 10 %. Did I miss anything?

No you missed nothing.

That is very impressive!

 

On take off at default FSX KJFK with Aerosoft Manhattan X and PMDG NGX and REX clouds + UTX + GEX I get 20 - 30 fps. (FSX is set fixed to 30fps).

Oh yes, and I do have Mytraffic for AI as well, set 20% traffic.

FSX sliders are set to very high.

Zero traffic does help maintain my goal of 30fps.

 

Airborne it does better and maintaining 30fps is possible most of the time.

As soon as I get closer to the airport (or Mahattan) while low (below 1000ft) frame rate is 20 - 30 fps again.

 

It is quite incredible to read that you get pretty much the same performance on a laptop!

Look here PClaptops, orgin, or asus.

http://www.pclaptops.com/

http://www.originpc.com/gaming/laptops/

best buy has good asus in store.Rob i had the same issue with a laptop. I had to unistall windows and reinstall it. It was a driver issue that i couldnt fix any other way. Hope that helps

Interesting.

Is that the music video issue or the FSX issue?