Occasionally I ask around about the possibility of playing modern sims on a
notebook computer. I made the switch to a notebook computer 3 years ago and
would never go back to a desktop, but occasionally I am green with envy at
the games that can run on a desktop versus a notebook. We all make our
choices in life, I guess, and for me the space savings and convenience of a
single notebook are worth giving up the latest, greatest games, but it
doesn't mean I can't dream a little.
Anyway, perhaps some might be interested to hear about my latest experience
with notebooks. It would seem that the gap is closing somewhat, or at least
enough to make racings sims and notebook computers no longer mutually
exclusive.
I have been demo'ing a Dell Inspiron 5000, their latest all in one notebook
offering. The current model offers a PIII up to 650 MHz, or Celerons in 450
and 500 MHz. The PIIIs are the Coppermine chip, and the Celerons have a
100MHz bus, so they are not as primitive as some notebook detractors may
think. I tried a PIII-500, 64Gb ram, DVD, and 14.1" XGA TFT screen. All
this in a package about 1.6" thick and under 7 lbs.
For control I hooked an Interact UltraRacer (handheld wheel) through a JC
Designs PC-Card game port. This little handheld wheel was in keeping with
the portability theme, and I have nothing but praise for it the more I get
used to using it. When I hooked it up to a friend's desktop, I was quickly
within a second of my best GPL laptimes, and the convenience of such a small
controller was quite nice. While it's not a Hyper Simulator, the suspension
of disbelief is slightly greater than with a joystick, with the separation
of steering from throttle and brake. The computer and controller easily fit
in my thin briefcase.
The graphics card in the i5000 is the 8Mb Rage Mobility -P, a meagre step
forward from the old Rage chips from about 1.5 years ago. Nothing to get
e***d about, but notebook 3D is still in its infancy. One must also
remember that the notebook environment puts really tight constraints on
packaging, power use, and heat. The average GeForce draws more power than a
whole notebook computer, and the heat sinks on the high-end graphics cards
are thicker than most notebooks.
So, faced with this graphics bottleneck, how did things run? Surprisingly
well, actually. The first games I tried were from the archives, so to
speak. I gathered up GP2, with a full download of new tracks and carsets.
On the PIII-500 it ran really well in SVGA (sky off), as most of you already
know. The graphics, although lacking the final level of polish that 3D
hardware offers, are still good looking with the updated tracks. I played
MGPRS2 and GP2 back-to-back and didn't feel I was missing so much stepping
back down to the unaccelerated GP2 graphics, and in fact some graphical
things are better done on GP2 (in my opinion) like the car models. I also
gladly put up with the older GP2 for its better driving "feel" than the numb
and frustrating MGPRS2. Other older software titles that ran really well on
the Dell notebook were ICR2 and Nascar 2. Full details, full fields, and
30fps. No surprises, of course - one should hope a 3 or 4 year old game
would run well on a PIII-500. Again, they're not as beautiful as the latest
offerings, but they look surprisingly good (and more than a little cool) on
the flat panel. A friend's copy of N3 was a no-go in D3D due to the known
issues with the ATI chipset and the program. I would stick with N2 for the
better frame rate, as I didn't find much in N3 that would make it worth the
purchase if I already had N2.
SCGT installed and ran fine, as did Viper racing. The graphics on the 8Mb
Rage won't make anyone with a desktop jealous, but they are certainly
decent, and the frame rates seemed solid. Need for Speed III ran fine, but
NFS4 was a no-go for some reason. Rally Championship ran fine (I was
surprised) at 640x480, although there is certainly something missing when
compared to a desktop with a good card. The ATI chip in the notebook does a
very good job of "stretching" the 640x480 or 800x600 up to full screen
resolution of 1024x768 (remember, the flat panel physically has 1024x768
pixels), adding anti-aliasing in the process to smooth any jaggedness.
The TFT panel itself is fixed at a 60Hz refresh rate. On a static image,
like a Word screen, there is no noticeable effect of this "low" refresh rate
as the LCD pixels don't flicker. However, the moving images create a slight
ghosting effect. It's not a headache causer, but it is noticeable. On the
other hand, the screen in the Dell is big, bright and very crisp.
On battery, I managed to get about 2 to 3 hours of playing, which seems
quite good with the drain of the 3D chip running full blast. The sound is
meagre from the built in speakers, but a set of headphones would solve that.
Compaq also builds notebooks with the ATI chip, and the JBL speakers in
those models are amazing for their size.
Now, what's exciting about a computer with a less-than bleeding-edge
processor and a historical graphics subsystem? ATI has recently introduced
their ATI Mobility 128 chip into the Apple Powerbooks, and once production
ramps up, it will show up in Intel notebooks. It is pin compatible with the
older Rage, so the upgrade path is painless for the manufacturer (not, I
emphasize, for the consumer - an upgrade after-sale will not be possible).
A 16Mb version will be available. The chip is the same as the Rage 128
(Fury) chip from the last 6 months or so, with its clock speed turned down
slightly. A recent comparison showed that the performance was quite
competitive, stepping all over the old Rage, S3's latest mobile chip (which
was supposed to be the next great thing for notebooks) and running with
VooDoo 2s and TNT2s. It won't get you 100fps in Quake 3, but it will have
more than enough power for current sims and perhaps even newer ones on the
horizon. It also has all the other nice features of the ATI chips, like
flawless DVD play and excellent 32bit performance. Finally, some in this
group has reported success with the OpenGL patch of GPL and the Rage Fury
(using some mirror tweaking etc.), so perhaps finally my dream of taking the
'Ring on the train with me is not far off. By the way, the OpenGL GPL was
an absolute no-go on the current Rage Mobility chip.
So, while the notebook will still not drag the *** gamer away from the
desktop, the notebooks can even now be considered a viable platform for
having a lot of fun with sim racing. If you have, like me, made the choice
to forego a desktop for home and office use, then it is now becoming
possible to have your cake and eat it too. When it comes time to finally
replace my old notebook this summer or fall, I will be looking to machines
with the newer ATI chip.
Oh, and the next time you drag all your desktop gear off to a LAN party,
think of how nice it would be to carry one 7lb package...
Comments are welcome.
Stephen
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