Laptop to buy to play train sim 2017

[aggiemaniac07]

Hello

I need help, what laptop to purchase to run train simulator 2017? I'm looking at asus, hp and acer....is there a certain graphic card I would need I am coming off from of ati radeon 3100... my budget is no more than 450$, I'm not doing serious gaming just need a laptop to play train simulator smoothly

Any recommendations

[The Viking]

A laptop for 450$? Eh.....the most basic laptop in Europe that can run this game properly will cost at least 600€/700$. So yeah....look for second hand?

[dgre1950]

With that sorta budget, you may be able to purchase an Etch A Sketch,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,sorry. I think your going to be hard pressed with that one mate, also I,m looking at your 3rd to last word,,,smoothly! Good luck.

[The Viking]

Try looking for something with an i5 (any really, while it has 4 cores...) and a dedicated graphics card (either r7/r9 m-something or gtx m-something, "m" being for "mobile"). That's pretty much what you need ot run the game.

[aggiemaniac07]

Originally posted by The Viking:

Try looking for something with an i5 (any really, while it has 4 cores...) and a dedicated graphics card (either r7/r9 m-something or gtx m-something, "m" being for "mobile"). That's pretty much what you need ot run the game.

When you say r7/r9 you mean AMD radeon right? AND any i5, i7 intel processors??

[The Viking]

By r7/r9 I do mean AMD, yeah. For laptops, they are cheap & pretty good (had a laptop with a r7 m260, was pretty good for what it was). Besides, this game doesn't benefit from high end hardware, so it's more than enough to power the graphics. But rest assured, most laptops now-a-days, that have a dedicated gpu, come with an nvidia gtx m variant.

And yeah, any laptop that has an "i5" is more than enough. The game doesn't benefit either from expensive i7's and extra cores, so an i5 is more than enough. On laptops you also get a cut-down version of intel, usually ends with a letter (so i5-whatever HQ/U/etc). Just means it's a cheaper/less power hungry/weaker version than the desktop.

Seeing your budget is so tight, eventually going to a retail store near your place (I guess you live in US so Walmart and similar, if in Europe, Carrefour/Media Markt), check the various laptops they have and check reviews online. I'll investigate a bit further the minimun specs for a laptop, but yeah, don't expect much at ~450$

[Typhomat]

The number of cores is not what you should be after, it's clock speed. I just recently upgraded to an Alienware 15R3 with an i7-7820HK, from an i7-4700MQ, which had a standard clock speed of 2.4gHz. This was alright for train sim, but would still struggle on anything above medium. The i7-7820HK though easily takes on Train Sim at an easy 40-60 FPS with high settings. The key here is that you want to look at the processor clock speed, not just the number of cores. You can get a dual core processor with a 3.0gHz clock speed, and it will outperform an i7 with a lower clock speed when it comes to TS2017. It's a poorly optimzied game based on an engine designed for a single processor core. Speeds, not number of cores means everything here, unlike most games.

[aggiemaniac07]

Originally posted by The Viking:

By r7/r9 I do mean AMD, yeah. For laptops, they are cheap & pretty good (had a laptop with a r7 m260, was pretty good for what it was). Besides, this game doesn't benefit from high end hardware, so it's more than enough to power the graphics. But rest assured, most laptops now-a-days, that have a dedicated gpu, come with an nvidia gtx m variant.

And yeah, any laptop that has an "i5" is more than enough. The game doesn't benefit either from expensive i7's and extra cores, so an i5 is more than enough. On laptops you also get a cut-down version of intel, usually ends with a letter (so i5-whatever HQ/U/etc). Just means it's a cheaper/less power hungry/weaker version than the desktop.

Seeing your budget is so tight, eventually going to a retail store near your place (I guess you live in US so Walmart and similar, if in Europe, Carrefour/Media Markt), check the various laptops they have and check reviews online. I'll investigate a bit further the minimun specs for a laptop, but yeah, don't expect much at ~450$

See a computer 7th gen intel core i5-7200u processor 2.5 ghz
With Intel hd graphics 620
8gb ddr4 sdram
1tb 5400 rpm hard drive

Would this work??

[Chicken Balti]

Originally posted by aggiemaniac07:

Originally posted by The Viking:

By r7/r9 I do mean AMD, yeah. For laptops, they are cheap & pretty good (had a laptop with a r7 m260, was pretty good for what it was). Besides, this game doesn't benefit from high end hardware, so it's more than enough to power the graphics. But rest assured, most laptops now-a-days, that have a dedicated gpu, come with an nvidia gtx m variant.

And yeah, any laptop that has an "i5" is more than enough. The game doesn't benefit either from expensive i7's and extra cores, so an i5 is more than enough. On laptops you also get a cut-down version of intel, usually ends with a letter (so i5-whatever HQ/U/etc). Just means it's a cheaper/less power hungry/weaker version than the desktop.

Seeing your budget is so tight, eventually going to a retail store near your place (I guess you live in US so Walmart and similar, if in Europe, Carrefour/Media Markt), check the various laptops they have and check reviews online. I'll investigate a bit further the minimun specs for a laptop, but yeah, don't expect much at ~450$

See a computer 7th gen intel core i5-7200u processor 2.5 ghz
With Intel hd graphics 620
8gb ddr4 sdram
1tb 5400 rpm hard drive

Would this work??

Hello, no, you require 'at least' 60GB/s memory bandwidth from your graphics chip or proper GPU to play TS2017 without problems. The intel 620 chip only provides 34.1GB/s memory bandwidth, chips like that are never ever intended for playing demanding games.
One reason DTG don't support such chipsets.
You would be much better off trying to find a second hand older gaming PC that contains a far more capable proper more powerful graphics card and reasonable CPU.
Best.

[76561198219211377]

Lots of good advice above. You might find my experience helpful.

This system is a laptop with a 1.7GHz i3, 8GB RAM and integrated graphics. It's really meant for presentations and the like, which is what it was bought for, but it will cope with TS with some serious caveats:

Frame rates rarely get above 20fps- when the scenery or AI action ramps up the frame rate goes down and that's with the graphics settings (including screen resolution) dialled back. I can get away with driving on the Weardale and Teesdale Network and Sherman Hill which are largely rural and low speed. On the Köln-Koblenz route, with its urban vistas and prevalent catenary, frame rates crash and chunks of scenery can go missing.

This system cost just over £450 new IIRC- more than your budget but it's a 17" screen so a 15" laptop (with a faster processor) should be in your price range. One with a GPU might be a different matter. It may depend on what you want to drive. I like pottering around the W&T so this will do for me (it'll have to)- you may want to hoon through cities on multi-track electrified lines in which case I doubt you'd find a laptop that will fill your needs. Not a new one anyway.

[The Viking]

Sincerely, if you're in the US and have an income and can somehow save 100-150$ more (so the budget is 550-600$) I'm sure you would find really good laptops (here in EU everything in technology is expensive, we pay really high taxes, around 21-25% on technology depending where you live, so on a 1000€ laptop we pay close to 200€ in taxes).

[Typhomat]

Originally posted by The Viking:

Sincerely, if you're in the US and have an income and can somehow save 100-150$ more (so the budget is 550-600$) I'm sure you would find really good laptops (here in EU everything in technology is expensive, we pay really high taxes, around 21-25% on technology depending where you live, so on a 1000€ laptop we pay close to 200€ in taxes).

Also, if you are a student at a college or university, or work for a larger company, they might have deals with certain laptop maunfacturers that will help here too. Check outlet stores as well, you can find some good deals there too if you don't mind getting something that is a refurb (what I did to get my current laptop). Check for coupons too. As The Viking said though, if you are in the US and have an income, I'd recommend saving up a little longer and get something that will last you and have decent performance.

[The Viking]

Oh, refurbished is actually a pretty good option, as usually, for example, it makes a gpu 50€ cheaper (a gpu sold for 300€, refurbished willl be 250). So for 450$ you could probably get a 550-600$ refurbished laptop. For that you need to check online though, as they usually don't sell them in stores.