Laptop Users, I got questions...

Phraust

Phraust

Pro Squid Wrangler
Adventurer
Joined
Nov 2, 2004
Messages
1,282
Location
At the bottom of the bottle.
Nation Banner
Bastok
Server
Quetzalcoatl
First off, for the love of god.. I don't want 2centers to reply unless you have ACTUAL experience playing this game on a fucking laptop.

I have the following questions:

1) For those of you that Play on laptops, have you played on a Workstation as well and was there a Huge difference in performance?

2) What was your Gaming experience like? I.E.: Did it only work set on the lowest settings?

3) What kind of Laptop do you use? and How much is it worth TODAY(roughly).

4) Does the Windoer Work for you?

5) Any tips?

There are only a handful of things at the moment that really bring me joy, Coffee, This Game, Sleep, Food Network, & Peeling Squirrels. I would like to be able to leave my house once and a while and drink coffee at the Local watering hole(Which provides interweb access) and do simple stuff like Fishing, or Crafting if I wanted, was bored, or was waiting on somone. So basically I want a laptop... I been putting it off for about 6 years or so, and feel now computer technologies have sort of capped in terms of RELEVANT performance, and Laptops are up to speed.

So for the Purpose of this Game in particular, What already works?
 
I play this game on a Gateway laptop in addition to my PS2. Here's the specs if it helps:

Windows XP SP1
2GHz Mobile Processor
512 MB Ram
20 Gig HD
Mobility M6 Graphics card

I can not compare it to a work station, as I primarily play on a PS2 when I am home. I use my laptop so I can craft at lunch or when I am out of town, I can craft from a hotel room. I dont XP with it, mainly because I am not comfortable with the control, but it works great for casual play. My only problem technically has been that the laptop occasionally gets a Kernal panic when I zone. This may be solved with a better graphics card, I know there are Nvidias all over the place now.

I have never played in windowed mode, ot fiddled with the graphics settings. As for cost, this is a "work" laptop so Im guessing, it was around $1800 about 2 years ago. Now? Who knows. Hope this helps.

OH! And I have connected on a wireless network without trouble. Let me know if you have any questions.
 
i play on a Dell Inspiron 9100. it cost over 2k (fully loaded) about a year ago, but dell has discontinued this and the XPS line (kind of).

its whats known as a desktop replacement laptop. it uses a P4 2.8Ghz (NOT a mobile chip) and has 1Gig memory and 128MB Radeon 9700 mobility graphics card and a 16inch (i think) wide-screen. great gamming laptop, blows anything other than an Alienware laptop out of the water.

i normally run ffxi with max graphic options. it does has some issues with lag in heavy traffic zones (lower jeuno), but who doesn't. just turn down some in-game graphic features like clipping pane, no. of characters displayed and problem solved. (in-game. not ffxi-config tool). my desktop can still render nicer looking graphics, but the laptop loads them (avatars/menus) faster.

ffxi-windower works too. it doesn't on my desktop.

wireless card can drop my net-connection from time to time, so i use a hard line when D/C-ing would be extremely dangerous to others (not just me).

the only real problem: its HUGE and HEAVY. it won't fit into most laptop bags, and it weighs about 10 pounds (power adoptor is huge too). i use to take it to work, but i got tired of carying that damn thing.

i dunno how much it costs today since Dell discontinued this laptop line. Dell does still have an XPS laptop line, but they use a mobile processor now (less power).
 
I have only played on Laptop so I can't compare, but I have a pretty good idea on how the experience will differ.

My Laptop
Centrino 1.4 GHz
512 MB ram
60GB 4200rpm HD
nVidia GE force mobile 32MB
Windows XP SP2

1) I regular gameplay will not differ very much, but since the Harddisk speed is slower, operations that go to the HD are slower. For example zoning and waiting for the character to appear in low Jeuno. Once the zone and the character models are loaded into memory it's fine.

2) I don't have to change to lower settings, but that depends on your laptop. If you have a decent video card, memory and processor you should be fine.

3) I'd say my laptop is worth $1200 USD, bought one year ago at $1800

4) Windower works fine for me, I use it almost exclusively

5) - Buy a laptop with 5200rpm HD or faster, it will mitigate the problem stated in reply 1)
-Bring your laptop to work and connect to your corporate network and Farm, Craft, Fish and hunt NMS while your Boss isn't looking :D
 
Hi i got an Inspirion 8500 from dell.

Its Mobile P4 2Ghz
came with 512MB i upgraded to 1GB with Crucial memory.
60GB HDD
CDRW/DVD
Win XP SP1 Upgraded to SP2 wish i didn't lol
Geforce 4 4200 go graphics 64MB

the graphics card sound old it is but its nice as hell I play everything on my laptop never played FFXI on desktop. I played KOTOR as well if that means anything.

I have graphics up to high. I get lag like everyone does in Jueno. I always use a wired connection. I bring this laptop to school also i could use wireless but i know the good spots to wire up to lol.

cost me about $1500 after rebates and free shipping. I got it 1 1/2 years ago.

I say go wit dell if you want one cuz there warranty is too good lol.
 
I have only played on Laptop so I can't compare, but I have a pretty good idea on how the experience will differ.

My Laptop
Centrino 1.4 GHz
512 MB ram
60GB 4200rpm HD
nVidia GE force mobile 32MB
Windows XP SP2

1) I regular gameplay will not differ very much, but since the Harddisk speed is slower, operations that go to the HD are slower. For example zoning and waiting for the character to appear in low Jeuno. Once the zone and the character models are loaded into memory it's fine.

2) I don't have to change to lower settings, but that depends on your laptop. If you have a decent video card, memory and processor you should be fine.

3) I'd say my laptop is worth $1200 USD, bought one year ago at $1800

4) Windower works fine for me, I use it almost exclusively

5) - Buy a laptop with 5200rpm HD or faster, it will mitigate the problem stated in reply 1)
-Bring your laptop to work and connect to your corporate network and Farm, Craft, Fish and hunt NMS while your Boss isn't looking :D
 
Hey Phraust,

Any laptop with a PIV will work. The most common problem people experience today is, after buying one, FFXI doesn't work because they do not have a compatible video card.

Make sure you have a video card from ATI or NVIDIA, those are the only chipsets supported by FFXI. Maybe some other ones, but as far as I know, those are the only 2.

Video cards that do not support Hardware TNL such as TNT2, Intel Chipsets, or S3 chipsets will not work. I've known several people who buy laptops with cheap video chipsets, and were disappointed to find out after spending hours updating FFXI.

Between a computer and a laptop, it really depends. My laptop is about the same speed as my computer, (HP zd8060, bought it a few months ago worth $2300, now about $1600) but of course I say same speed because the pure number of clocks in hertz doesn't matter anymore. Hard Drive seek times and RAM type plays a major role in calculating a system's overall performance. This laptop has a X600 ATI card, which is plenty. I never lag in Lower Jueno fully loaded at the highest resolution 1440 x 900 with Background Resolution set at 1024*1024, uncompressed textures, smooth environmental animation, and MIP mapping enabled. If you do get a laptop with a widescreen be sure to set the aspect ratio to 16:9, inside the game's config menu.

Playing on a laptop keyboard is really troublesome, so I adept to an external one.

I've never tested widower on any system, so I could not tell you anything about that.

If you do decide to get a laptop with wireless networking built into the LCD, do not get anything with an Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200BG type wireless adapter. I've tried it recently on a Sony S360P ($1800 when I got it, maybe a little less today), the connection always drops to 1MB per second. It is not my router’s problem, because I configure all my routers personally. I use Cisco Catalyst routers, so I’m not really familiar with those PnP routers you see today from Linksys, Netgear, Buslink etc, so maybe it’s a compatibility issue? But I’ve seen people will a simple router and still have problems, so I’m safely assuming it’s not a connection type problem. Sadly this is the most popular type of wireless adapter built into high end laptops today, so you'll be pressed to find one without it, including a compatible video chipset as mentioned above. Intel still has not figured out a way to fix the problem, and Sony could careless, after several attempts to contact their support, who are usually paper certified idiots anyway.

Well, that’s all that I can think of as for the simple issues with playing FFXI on a laptop, if you have anymore questions, post up. :-P.
 
What about Heat Issues, Durability, & Battery life?

I was looking at the XPS Gen2's (Dell)... A little Pricey, but there's less guesswork in the configuration, and comes with an awsome screen, the only Issue is that it is a flashy beast, and anyone looking to steal a laptop would be quite attracted to it, and I think I might end up buying Bumperstickers and duct tape to Ghetto Camoflage it... Note:It comes with two Options for the WiFi, One being the 2200, the other being the better bigger brother of it (a/b/g).

The Inspirion line looks to be the best option, I can get a good Notebook for about $1800.00 with the 6800 Go Ultra, 1GB, and a 1.6GHz.
 
Actually i had a qustion related to this subject.....

im buying a laptop my self, and im going to install FFXI on it. Is there any way to transfer my PS2 Characters and/or info to it, or do i have to start from scratch?

any info would be help fulf^^
 
It's a centrino processor so you will get massive battery life (average of 3-4 more hours) compared to a laptop with a piv. DELLs are a good choice if price is an issue, if you really want, I could get a discount since I work for them :-P (Very part time). But it isn't much.

Personally I wouldn't trust anything with a 2200 for now.

Heating issues: Next to none w/ centrino. piv = hot. yes.
 
Aristarc said:
Actually i had a qustion related to this subject.....

im buying a laptop my self, and im going to install FFXI on it. Is there any way to transfer my PS2 Characters and/or info to it, or do i have to start from scratch?

any info would be help fulf^^
Click to expand...

Character data is stored on the server. The only things stored locally are stuff like macros and screenshots.
 
Aristarc said:
Actually i had a qustion related to this subject.....

im buying a laptop my self, and im going to install FFXI on it. Is there any way to transfer my PS2 Characters and/or info to it, or do i have to start from scratch?

any info would be help fulf^^
Click to expand...

When you want to migrate to another machine all you have to worry about is resetting your macros, or just move your mcr folder to the correct #path.

Log in using your current PoL ID and pass, and you'll be fine, character information is stored on FFXI servers, not locally.
 
Princemercury said:
Aristarc said:
Actually i had a qustion related to this subject.....

im buying a laptop my self, and im going to install FFXI on it. Is there any way to transfer my PS2 Characters and/or info to it, or do i have to start from scratch?

any info would be help fulf^^
Click to expand...

When you want to migrate to another machine all you have to worry about is resetting your macros, or just move your mcr folder to the correct #path.

Log in using your current PoL ID and pass, and you'll be fine, character information is stored on FFXI servers, not locally.
Click to expand...

TYVM :D
 
Note that you'll need some way to install FFXI on your computer (you can't use the PS2 disks) - either buy a PC version, or borrow it from a friend (you should be able to install everything off of someone else's disks and use your own registration info).

A few other comments...

The only computer I've played FFXI on is a laptop, and it works just fine for me. It cost me about $2.2k when I got it ($1.8k after rebates), now it's probably down to a little under $2k. Note that you'll have to set it to a "compact" keyboard if your keyboard doesn't have a number pad (it's in the Config menu somewhere, don't remember offhand). The default setting with a compact keyboard is the WASD keys to move and hitting the space bar brings up the text input box for chatting. You can also change the keys to whatever you feel most comfortable with (I use ESDF, it's the normal keys my hands rest on while typing so it feels the most natural).

Battery life may be an issue (FFXI takes up a lot of battery power quickly), so if you want to play for more than half an hour either bring a lot of spare batteries or have some place to plug it in. Most laptops -should- be able to run indefinitely without running out of battery power if plugged into an external power source. Heat shouldn't be an issue (if it is, that means there's a problem with the laptop itself).

As for where to get a laptop from... I recommend not getting a Dell. I've had a few minor issues with mine (nothing major) and the tech support I've been getting was horrible. Definitely not gonna buy from them again.
 
I originally played on a laptop, but it died so I'm on a desktop now.

I had a Dell Insprion 8600, but it was a graduation gift so I'm not sure about the cost. Anyway, the info on it was:

1.3 GHz CPU
512 MB DDR RAM
nVidia GeForce 440 Go (really a refurbed GeForce 2)
40 GB HD (forget the speed)
Windows XP SP2

I never tried it with a windower, but it ran fine on maximum settings. I never tested it in dynamis though, so I'm not sure about how that would work.

One thing that you should be aware of is that you will have to change your keyboard configuration. In the misc2 tab under config, you need to set your keyboard layout to a Compact layout.

It changes some of the controls, like WASD is for movement, instead of the numpad, V is toggle first-person, R is auto-run, comma and period are zoom in and zoom out, and some others. It's not a serious issue, but it is something you will have to get used to if you're not used to using the compact layout. I'm still using the compact layout on my desktop, just because I used it for 8 months and I didn't want to have to learn a new layout.
 
I am not too concerned with the Controls, I got a USB Gamepad. I Use it for pretty much everything. But thanks for all the heads-ups. Still waiting for all my vacation expenses to clear.

I saw an HP Notebook that was pretty big, but kinda neat, it had a numberpad built in and a full sized keyboard.. Still looking for it on the web but been kinda busy, and HP has not been too reliable to friends that have owned them.. However.. my pops works there and I am sure I can have him beat people up if something goes wrong. (No there are no internal discounts inside HP :( )
 
FFXI does not need the best laptop money can buy to run, If you are planning to play another game in question that is out right now that requries the best then yes, I guess you have no choice. But buying a laptop with power to spare for a game that will not come out not in the next 1-2 years is overkill IMO. You'll prob buy another laptop before the game comes out anyway, and if you plan right it will be cheaper to do so too.

Biggest issue for me is weight, battery life, and warrenty. You most likely will drop it once or twice when having a notebook. Dells warrenty is a HUGE lifesaver for that.

The biggest differnce for me is the screen. I like my huge lcd screen, nuff said. So while I do play on a laptop I like it on my desktop more.

FFXI worked fine in most of the newer laptops i've played on, get the one with the most ram and vid mem, altough that will eat up your battery life. Get a GEforce FX or equivalent.

Used Dell, Acer, Toshiba, Gateway. Some worth upwards of 4,000 some 2,000 now they all prob worth crap though. Nobody wants a used laptop =P.

Yes it does. But on some computers it crashes like hell.

On a side note using a public computer is still the best way to go lol. =P :twisted: Joking

Phraust said:
Coffee
Click to expand...
On a another note, for some reason me and all my friends have ulcers because of this. =P Kinda like a bunch of old men, but we not. It prob is also from the cig and alcohol binges but this is what i miss the most. =P
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top