I'm looking for a good replacement for my PSS Airbus. I would like a less complicated B737 or A320, either freeware or payware is not a problem; just a nice airplane, good looking as well :)Any help in my search will be most appreciated.KenSomerset, England

the PMDG737 is the only one to fly.

Hi Paul, thanks for your reply. Just visited the PMDG site, their 737 is 'something else'. I've noted that PMDG Aircraft are rated highly among Avsim members.I wonder though if my 'puny' PC would do the B737-800 justice. My PC is self built with an AMD Athlon 3000+ CPU, Nvidia GeForce 6600GT 'Golden Sample' graphic card 128Mb and 1Gb of RAM; this is a little below the PMDG top requirement. I wouldn't want to 'struggle' with such an aircraft.KenSomerset, England

Hi Ken,I run the PMDG 737NG series on an Athlon 2500, ATI Radeon 9800Pro and 1GB RAM so you should not have any trouble.However like all things it depends on what you run with it and how high you have your scenery settings, I think any rig could be down in low teens FPS with very little effort :-)I have a number of add-on airports which I use regularly and also run ASV but no AI aircraft, I do see lowish FPS in very heavy cloud around the detailed airports but it's not a show stopper.HTH

I'm far from expert enough to advise you on technical specifications, but personally I put off buying the PMDG 737 until I had a machine I knew would run it.There is a special forum in Avsim for PMDG, why don't you post in there and see if there is anyone else running it on a machine like yours? I'm sure you'll get good advice in there.I rarely fly anything else but the PMDG 737 now, so that tells you how good it is (I also have the PSS A320 by the way and haven't touched since I got the 737).I find the 737 slightly less heavy on resources than at least one other top quality product - the 737 gives slightly better FPS than the Flight1 ATR which I also have. I don't have what seems to be the other market leader at present: the Level D 767, so can't comment on that. One thing you may not have picked up on, the PMDG 737 has a VC panel as well as a top quality 2D panel (and indeed has a virtual cabin interior too). However, you can easily select to run it with the 2D panel only if the VC and virtual cabin aren't important to you and if that gives you better frames.One thing though, you said you wanted something simple. The PMDG 737 is at least as complicated as the PSS A320, in fact somewhat more so I'd suggest. If you could manage the A320, you won't have a problem, but it's not simple.

I'm far from expert enough to advise you on technical specifications, but personally I put off buying the PMDG 737 until I had a machine I knew would run it.There is a special forum in Avsim for PMDG, why don't you post in there and see if there is anyone else running it on a machine like yours? I'm sure you'll get good advice in there.I rarely fly anything else but the PMDG 737 now, so that tells you how good it is (I also have the PSS A320 by the way and haven't touched since I got the 737).I find the 737 slightly less heavy on resources than at least one other top quality product - the 737 gives slightly better FPS than the Flight1 ATR which I also have. I don't have what seems to be the other market leader at present: the Level D 767, so can't comment on that. One thing you may not have picked up on, the PMDG 737 has a VC panel as well as a top quality 2D panel (and indeed has a virtual cabin interior too). However, you can easily select to run it with the 2D panel only if the VC and virtual cabin aren't important to you and if that gives you better frames.One thing though, you said you wanted something simple. The PMDG 737 is at least as complicated as the PSS A320, in fact somewhat more so I'd suggest. If you could manage the A320, you won't have a problem, but it's not simple.

Hi Vulcan,Thanks for your thoughts; since your system is similar to mine I have taken the 'plunge' and purchased the 'entry level' PMDG737. I do like the 'cut of it's jib', as ailchim comments it is a little more complicated than my PSS A320, however, I can't resist a challenge nor advice from a reliable source. So here I am, loaded it up had a look around inside, yes I could get comfortable in here :) - But at the moment I cannot cycle the outside views i.e. key S does not work, never mind I'll get it sorted.Paul, Vulcan and ailchin thank you all for your help, much appreciated.Sorry about the long paragraph.I'll let you know how I get on.KenSomerset, England

Hi Vulcan,Thanks for your thoughts; since your system is similar to mine I have taken the 'plunge' and purchased the 'entry level' PMDG737. I do like the 'cut of it's jib', as ailchim comments it is a little more complicated than my PSS A320, however, I can't resist a challenge nor advice from a reliable source. So here I am, loaded it up had a look around inside, yes I could get comfortable in here :) - But at the moment I cannot cycle the outside views i.e. key S does not work, never mind I'll get it sorted.Paul, Vulcan and ailchin thank you all for your help, much appreciated.Sorry about the long paragraph.I'll let you know how I get on.KenSomerset, England

Strange that you can't cycle the views Ken, 'S' works fine on my rig.

Do you mean the 737-600 and 737-700?Because there are improvements for the 600 & 700 panels contained in the 800/900 product.An odd way of doing things and mean you have to buy both for best effect.Before you buy, I think the improvements are for the VC, so if you don't intend using that, you don't need the upgrade.

Was just browsing the PMDG forum....The 800/900 product DOES affect things other than the VC.One thing it gives you is TCAS which is..... Traffic Conflict Advisory System or something.... shows nearby aircraft warns you when your flightplans are coming into conflict with the potential for collisionWhatever TCAS means, can't be lived without and I don't think it comes with 600/700!

Hi Vulcan,OK now, I fixed the 'cycle' views problem. When I referred to the 'S' key (which is the standard) I had in fact changed to the 'A' key, more convenient for me, all my other Fs9 aicraft work fine, so I guess the PMDG B737 uses the 'A' key for something else; anyway as soon as I reinstated the 'S' key everything was fine.I am delighted with this PMDG Boeing 737 best thing since sliced bread I'd say :) - a lot of stuff to read though, maybe a couple of days before I call for Pushback (another smile here).My PMDG B737 is parked at the EDDW Bremen Terminal, I'll put a pic on the Avsim Screenshot Forum later.Thanks everyone for pointing me at the PMDG B737.KenSomerset, England