looking for a portable laptop for DOS games

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newbones
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looking for a portable laptop for DOS games

Post by newbones »

I've been searching everywhere but there is not enough demand that my questions are easily answerable with a google search.

I am currently looking for a netbook or notebook that is preferably 13.3" and UNDER $300 that can run DOSbox with most <2000 games. I will be traveling a bit in March and throughout the summer and waiting around in airports or long flights are a drag. Mobile games just don't entertain me enough.

I have been searching thinkpads, dells, acers, everything. But I have no source to go to that compares what processors are the best for DOSbox. RAM and hardrive space isn't much of a priority for me.

If anybody has a better source I can go to or knows from hands on experience PLEASE let me know. I will keep this tab open for about a week before I purchase something as I have a flight in about three weeks.
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Quadko
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Post by Quadko »

I don't know about netbooks, but just about any notebook that runs windows XP or better will run dosbox fine. (Though "later" dos games may need better processor speed, depends what you want to play.)

Looking on Amazon.com for "notebook computers" with price "max $300" came up with many options. If memory is measured is Gigabytes, and processor speed in Gigahertz, and it's a Window's OS, you should be good.

All my experience is with Windows. I assume the same guidlines are true for a Mac or Linux laptop. What OS are you looking for?

However, you DON'T want a chromebook, or Atom processor, or Microsoft Surface RT, or something "tablet-y" or "netbook-y" or "cloudbook-y" like that. Those tend to require being attached to the internet and may not allow you to run local applications - not worth the risk in my opinion! So they are unlikely to be able to run DosBox, especially the under $300 ones. Maybe someone else has experience with those?

Best of luck! You planning to run any other emulators, Mame or Apple II or Atari or anything? They should work fine, too, if DosBox runs.
newbones
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Post by newbones »

Quadko wrote:

Looking on Amazon.com for "notebook computers" with price "max $300" came up with many options. If memory is measured is Gigabytes, and processor speed in Gigahertz, and it's a Window's OS, you should be good.
I actually got pretty lucky on eBay. Someone recently put up a gateway laptop with a Pentium 4 processor and 2 gigs of ram. I know Pentium processors has a history of overheating from what I searched, but from the games I will be running I don't think it will be a problem. This brick of a computer costed me $50 as I was the first one to buy it!

They even included a windows XP install disc so I can use it on my lenovo laptop which is dead and see if it will work with an older OS.

From the pictures the seller sent me, it looks barely even used. All I got to hope for is a pretty decent battery life and hope that the machine won't overheat.

Other fun stuff: it has a floppy disc drive. I'm going to be reliving my childhood with this machine.
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Quadko
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Post by Quadko »

Haha! Sweet! I hope it gives you many happy computing and gaming hours. :)
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MrFlibble
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Post by MrFlibble »

Recently I found this interesting channel, and the author happens to have recorded a video on How to pick the best gaming laptop for MS-DOS games. Note however that this is not about running DOSBox, but authentic MS-DOS (hopefully FreeDOS works on these machines as well).
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