Best laptops for retro gaming? \ VOGONS

Best laptops for retro gaming?

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First post, by dreamscape86

Posted on 2022-10-10, 20:59

dreamscape86 Offline

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Hi all

I've got myself a Pentium M Toshiba Tecra M2 which features a Geforce FX Go 5200 which by all means is no power house but plenty for Windows 98 SE games at the native 1024x768 screen

I was just wondering if there are any other laptops which are particularly good for retro games, especially under DOS with good sound compatibility. I did order a Toshiba 200CDS with a Pentium 100 in it. It has an awful screen and im not sure yet what the sound compatibility will be like but it was the best i could find outside of a 486 which seem to be really expensive now.

Just curious if anyone else uses retro laptops and what are the best ones for DOS / Win 3.x, Windows 95/98.

BTW, the reason for laptops and not a nice desktop is space limitations... 🙁 so no other choice currently.

Reply 1 of 3, by Ensign Nemo

Posted on 2022-10-11, 00:03

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dreamscape86 wrote on 2022-10-10, 20:59:

BTW, the reason for laptops and not a nice desktop is space limitations... 🙁 so no other choice currently.

If size is a limitation, thin clients are also an option. They aren't perfect, but you can often find them for a lot less than the more popular retro laptops.

Phil's computer lab has covered a few of them:

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5T8bmLx … pBdT3zpZfHPtbDJ

Reply 2 of 3, by fosterwj03

Posted on 2022-10-11, 00:34

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I have a Thinkpad T42 connected to a Dock II hosting a Aureal Vortex. The screen is beautiful and the Mobility Radeon 9000 is no slouch at DirectX 8 gaming.

It's my favorite DOS system when I use the Aureal Vortex with a Dreamblaster S2. It also responds pretty well to slowdown programs.

Is not very big. I posted some pictures to this thread:

Re: Your Retrogaming laptop/portable machine megathread (recommendations, tips, minutae)

Reply 3 of 3, by dr_st

Posted on 2022-10-11, 08:55

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fosterwj03 wrote on 2022-10-11, 00:34:
I have a Thinkpad T42 connected to a Dock II hosting a Aureal Vortex. The screen is beautiful and the Mobility Radeon 9000 is n […]
Show full quote

I have a Thinkpad T42 connected to a Dock II hosting a Aureal Vortex. The screen is beautiful and the Mobility Radeon 9000 is no slouch at DirectX 8 gaming.

It's my favorite DOS system when I use the Aureal Vortex with a Dreamblaster S2. It also responds pretty well to slowdown programs.

Is not very big. I posted some pictures to this thread:

Re: Your Retrogaming laptop/portable machine megathread (recommendations, tips, minutae)

It's a pretty awesome config, I'll give you that.

You know - I have a T42 myself (it's even the 15" SXGA+ model with IPS screen and Radeon 9600). It is currently unused because it's become too weak to do anything useful, even on XP. I also have an (also unused) Aureal Vortex somewhere. Looks like all I need is a Dock II, and I will be able to replicate your setup. Perhaps this is the direction I will go if my current DOS system dies, or if I want another one. 😁

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