VOGONS


First post, by Violett'Blossom

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I want to aquire more thinkpads, what models should I look for for gaming ? It doesn't have to be period correct, which would make them not really perfect for gaming in their era. 🤣

I want to play thru years 1990-2006ish since anything newer can be handled with my desktop computer. 😊

Any help is appreciated 😊

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Retro gaming : Compaq Armada E500
Portable : MacBook Air 2012
Hackingtosh : I5 6500 8GB DDR4 RX480 8GB

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Reply 1 of 3, by Warlord

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770 and earyer. 770x/z is the last thinkpads that have ISA soundcards. 770x/z also had a Mobile Trident 975 which is very dos compatible, Earlyer thinkpads also used trident chips of various versions.

Reply 2 of 3, by martin_boro

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My personal favorite is probably the T23, but from what I heard, it does have sound card compatibility issues in DOS. The earlier T20 to T22 are fine though. I am also not sure about compatibility with the super early DOS games.

For later games, it's either A31p or something from the T4* series with dedicated GPUs, but those come with their own issues as well, like dying CCFL backlight tubes in FlexView panels, or insufficient GPU cooling.

The rest could be probably covered by a T60(p), a T61(p) or maybe even a T500 or a W500/W700. Or you might get lucky and find a G50.

But the point is, that Thinkpads are not generally the best laptops for gaming. They are primarily designed for work, so graphics are not the best in most cases, especially in the later models.
If you must have a laptop for games though, I'd suggest looking at the Dell XPS line

Reply 3 of 3, by Violett'Blossom

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Warlord wrote:

770 and earyer. 770x/z is the last thinkpads that have ISA soundcards. 770x/z also had a Mobile Trident 975 which is very dos compatible, Earlyer thinkpads also used trident chips of various versions.

I wish I could get one of those, these are really rare in my area. 😢

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Retro gaming : Compaq Armada E500
Portable : MacBook Air 2012
Hackingtosh : I5 6500 8GB DDR4 RX480 8GB

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