Welcome to the forum. 😀

If a T42 is good for your task, then a T40/T41 should be equally good and they may be a bit cheaper. The only difference is slower stock CPUs. None of these machines is very reliable, I wouldn't spend a lot on them.

First you need to decide if you want to play games in native DOS. It's a yes/no decision.

Once you have made that decision, then you can narrow down a laptop to suit. Wanting a laptop that will handle XP/Vista/7 almost certainly means that it will not have support for audio in native DOS.
You *can* play a large number of DOS games in Windows, and later sound cards/chips can often support the audio requirements of DOS games via this route (though it's never 100%) - but the question of wanting native DOS support is the number one decision you need to make.

If you want something to cover the *entire* range you have suggested then you *will* have to compromise.

Some things to think about:

- Support for running games in native DOS
- Scaling support for the LCD panel/graphics chip (i.e. how well do non-native screen modes display; earlier laptops are quite crude)
- Do you want support for the widest range of games/titles in DOS? If so, then this means good quality Soundblaster Pro support, with *good* FM synthesis
- Do you want to run Windows-based games? If so, from what years/generations?
- Do you want to run Windows-based games that require 3D hardware acceleration?

The more requirements you include, the smaller your pool of options.

I'd suggest, as a starting point: The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga

For requirements slanted more towards native DOS and early Windows, the Toshiba Tecra/Satellite range (4xxCDT) is quite common (though with common battery leakage issues). The Compaq Armada 7xxx, 3500, 1500 all have good DOS support. All with either S3 or C&T VGA chips and sound support from ESS chips that have good DOS compatability.

Moving more towards late DOS and Win95/98 games (non-3D) you then look at laptop models with ATI Rage Mobility chips which have better scaling support, PCI audio from Yamaha and ESS. Some options are the Compaq Armada 1700/1750, Fujustu Lifebook C-series, Toshiba Satellite Pro 4xxx, Tecra 8100.

For later, Windows-only systems, then the options become more varied, with lots of later ATI video and the introduction of Nvidia, too. Sound is basically a non-issue as Windows standardises all of that for you. But the vast majority of machines in this category will have trouble playing games natively in DOS, or running early versions of Windows (lack of drivers).

The older range of Thinkpads has some models with good DOS audio (CS4237B in the 560X and 560Z, ESS Solo in the 240). I would *not* reccomend a Thinkpad with the CS4280/CS4239/CS4264 as a mainly-DOS system - from personal experience they sound very odd playing back DOS game music compared to other options (you see these in the T20/21/22 and X20/X21, late 770 and 570 models).

Honestly, there are compromises everywhere. You need to pick what your priorities are so that you are not disappointed with something that doesn't live up to expectations.

You might find this Excel spreadsheet helpful - it's a list of every model of vaguely-DOS-compatible laptop that I have looked at so far (it's focussed on later Pentium - circa 133MHz and above - through to high-end Pentium III). There are over 250 models in it - you might find something that fits your criteria?

At the very least it's a good summary of the specs of a huge range of models. I intend to put this into an online database at some point... when I get the time!

If you have the budget get 2 laptops one for the earlier stuff and one for the later stuff I hear that a good core 2 duo can cover xp/vista/win7 with 4 gb mem

dr_st wrote on 2025-01-28, 12:28:

Welcome to the forum. 😀

If a T42 is good for your task, then a T40/T41 should be equally good and they may be a bit cheaper. The only difference is slower stock CPUs. None of these machines is very reliable, I wouldn't spend a lot on them.

Thank you! This is good to know. T40/T41 do seem to be cheaper on eBay.

megatron-uk wrote on 2025-01-28, 12:36:

First you need to decide if you want to play games in native DOS. It's a yes/no decision. […]
Show full quote

First you need to decide if you want to play games in native DOS. It's a yes/no decision.

Once you have made that decision, then you can narrow down a laptop to suit. Wanting a laptop that will handle XP/Vista/7 almost certainly means that it will not have support for audio in native DOS.
You *can* play a large number of DOS games in Windows, and later sound cards/chips can often support the audio requirements of DOS games via this route (though it's never 100%) - but the question of wanting native DOS support is the number one decision you need to make.

If you want something to cover the *entire* range you have suggested then you *will* have to compromise.

Some things to think about:

- Support for running games in native DOS
- Scaling support for the LCD panel/graphics chip (i.e. how well do non-native screen modes display; earlier laptops are quite crude)
- Do you want support for the widest range of games/titles in DOS? If so, then this means good quality Soundblaster Pro support, with *good* FM synthesis
- Do you want to run Windows-based games? If so, from what years/generations?
- Do you want to run Windows-based games that require 3D hardware acceleration?

The more requirements you include, the smaller your pool of options.

I'd suggest, as a starting point: The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga

For requirements slanted more towards native DOS and early Windows, the Toshiba Tecra/Satellite range (4xxCDT) is quite common (though with common battery leakage issues). The Compaq Armada 7xxx, 3500, 1500 all have good DOS support. All with either S3 or C&T VGA chips and sound support from ESS chips that have good DOS compatability.

Moving more towards late DOS and Win95/98 games (non-3D) you then look at laptop models with ATI Rage Mobility chips which have better scaling support, PCI audio from Yamaha and ESS. Some options are the Compaq Armada 1700/1750, Fujustu Lifebook C-series, Toshiba Satellite Pro 4xxx, Tecra 8100.

For later, Windows-only systems, then the options become more varied, with lots of later ATI video and the introduction of Nvidia, too. Sound is basically a non-issue as Windows standardises all of that for you. But the vast majority of machines in this category will have trouble playing games natively in DOS, or running early versions of Windows (lack of drivers).

The older range of Thinkpads has some models with good DOS audio (CS4237B in the 560X and 560Z, ESS Solo in the 240). I would *not* reccomend a Thinkpad with the CS4280/CS4239/CS4264 as a mainly-DOS system - from personal experience they sound very odd playing back DOS game music compared to other options (you see these in the T20/21/22 and X20/X21, late 770 and 570 models).

Honestly, there are compromises everywhere. You need to pick what your priorities are so that you are not disappointed with something that doesn't live up to expectations.

You might find this Excel spreadsheet helpful - it's a list of every model of vaguely-DOS-compatible laptop that I have looked at so far (it's focussed on later Pentium - circa 133MHz and above - through to high-end Pentium III). There are over 250 models in it - you might find something that fits your criteria?

At the very least it's a good summary of the specs of a huge range of models. I intend to put this into an online database at some point... when I get the time!

Loads of useful information here. I'll look through that spreadsheet - thanks for compiling this! Also that forum post is an interesting read.

I don't care to play games in native DOS mode. I'm more interested in having a laptop that can run a range of OSes - Win 95 up to Vista/7. The games is a bonus. I don't want anything mega expensive or overkill, just a laptop that works and has good IO and driver support. It sounds like the T40-42p was well supported and is the last laptop IBM made that is fully compatible with 98. I don't know what games I want to play - I just want to start exploring that world. I'd rather spend the money on a laptop that could run games all the way up to 98/XP (I know some XP games are intensive) rather than ones that run on native DOS.

So that's where I'm at. Had a look at the 550x and there's one on eBay for £100 (seems a little steep) and the 4300 (£150). Seems like the T40/41/42 are much more widely available but I don't know if those are best.

Greywolf1 wrote on 2025-01-28, 13:53:

If you have the budget get 2 laptops one for the earlier stuff and one for the later stuff I hear that a good core 2 duo can cover xp/vista/win7 with 4 gb mem

That's a good point. Any suggestions for later laptops?

I’ve got an old acre aspire timeline that I’ve down graded from vista to xp 32 bit it’s alright for generic xp games but no good for the higher end range games but I got this laptop for free as it used to belong to my mother in law.
And I’ve got a dell inspiron win7 64bit i5 if you’re wanting win7 there’s tons of choices laptop wise anything that runs on win7 will run on any current laptop but comes with a price tag

Greywolf1 wrote on 2025-01-28, 16:25:

I’ve got an old acre aspire timeline that I’ve down graded from vista to xp 32 bit it’s alright for generic xp games but no good for the higher end range games but I got this laptop for free as it used to belong to my mother in law.
And I’ve got a dell inspiron win7 64bit i5 if you’re wanting win7 there’s tons of choices laptop wise anything that runs on win7 will run on any current laptop but comes with a price tag

Yes, you are right. To be honest I don't need to run Vista/7 on it, would just be nice but not necessary at all.

If you want better performance in the same form factor, you could look at a T43p. They use faster processors, faster memory, and, mostly, faster graphics. They're compatible with Windows 98 (with the right drivers), Windows 2000, and Windows XP , all with support for DirectX 9.

The T43 is the lesser model with OK graphics if the model has a Mobility Radeon x300.

There are quite a few laptops that fit your requirements - for Win98/XP and running DOS games / software under a win9x enviroment. Here models I've used to run win98 or dual boot 98 and xp:

- The aforementioned IBM T40/41/42
- HP NC6000 and NC8000 (Pentium M, Radeon 9600). The NC8000 has a bigger screen. These have great XP compatibility but will run 98 with the right drivers.
- Compaq N800C (pentium 4, Radeon 9000) - great for both XP and 98.
- Compaq Evo n1000, n1020v (pentium 4, radeon 7500 or 9000 depending on configuration) - be carefull, some come with a radeon 340 IGP instead of a dedicated GPU. As a general rule, if it comes equipped with a Celeron, it's got an IGP. If it comes equipped with a pentium 4, it's also got a radeon. If a good GPU is important to you, stick with the N800.
- Dell Inspiron 8000 - pentium 3 + Geforce 2 Go, great for running winME and 98. Be carefull with these, the speakers tend to blow. Some versions come with a Mobility M1 chip witch is not a great 3d accelerator, but it can be upgraded as the video card on the Inspiron 8000/8100/8200 is socketed! You can go as high as a radeon 9600.
- Dell Inspiron 8100 - pentium 4 + Geforce 4 Go 440.
- Dell Inspiron 8200 - pentium M + Radeon 9000 or Quadro4 700 GL. the 700GL is basically the quadro version of a Geforce 4 Ti4200.... a fantastic card for win98 games. The 8100 and 8200 have the same speakers and case as the 8000, and suffer from the same issues (blown speakers, cracked case)
- Acer Ferrari 3200 - Athlon 64 2800+ and Radeon 9700M (basically a desktop 9600). This one is far better in XP but you can get 98 running on it.