Sunday
Nov292009
Netbooks for Gaming?
Sunday, November 29, 2009 at 05:20PM
Netbooks truly started to come into their own early last year. Its not so much a question of whether they turned "mainstream tech" or not- the fact is that the eeePC and its competition already consisted of a an ultraportable, far-from-cutting-edge machine with a basic target, and that demographic was mostly in the mainstream. So the netbook's success is in the fact that it actually managed to reach its audience. For the wired (or wireless, to be more accurate) user, it was little more than a very convenient novelty. But only 2 years into its own, the netbook has grown enough that it has the potential to rival companies like Apple, who've pioneered the idea of simple technology as a "fashion." How?
Such is the netbook phenomenon that many are starting to wonder just what these absurd little-calculators-that-could AREN'T capable of... whoops, forgot who I'm talking to for a second, of course you know: games. Its been obvious from the beginning that these machines aren't designed for the technical hurdles of a modern FPS, so there's no way they could handle a decent game or two on that puny processor and Intel chipset, much less with Linux fueling the tiny thing..or have we been too assumptive?
We often forget all too easily how quick technology leaps forward, and how small it can get. So lets be realistic about this- your netbook wont be running Half Life 2 any time soon, but if you want a decent game to run on it, what can it handle?
Theoretical limitations to work with:
Let's whittle this list down a bit. Lets assume your netbook has an SDHC card or USB thumb drive plugged in for extra space, if in fact its a lower capacity SSD drive to begin with- or even better: if you're serious, a portable hard drive. This makes it possible to install many programs that wouldn't use the registry if they were in windows (in the case of the USB drive or portable hard drive, even that doesn't apply to you). If its Linux, there isn't a registry to begin with, so you're all set. That takes care of space.
Lets also assume that you've picked up a cheap $20 wireless mouse. This is self explanatory for many gamers, especially FPS. I use a Wacom Graphire tablet myself, and the mouse for that is more than suitable. And finally, we're also going to assume that either you have, or you're willing to get, a cheap external DVD-ROM drive, primarily for the purpose of installing the games in the first place (no DRM here, kids!)
But I'm not letting myself off the hook here, we'll still assume that the OS is Linux (a fine OS, but at a disadvantage even with WINE), the CPU is still a mere 1.6ghz (which we really wouldn't want to overclock for the sake of battery life), and the graphics are still integrated Intel (I cringe every time I remind myself of that, oh the nightmares I've endured of Intel one day owning the graphics market.. I digress)
Games that I've tested (on an EeePC 900A, running OpenGEU linux):
Games that I know would work fine (if I felt like installing them):
Feel free to add your own suggestions to the 'certain' and 'proven' lists, there are many hundreds I'm sure. Even if you need to run a stripped down WINE for one or two things (like steam), you can get these running on Linux. If you have a netbook with windows XP installed, you're even better off. MechWarrior 2 would be great to play on the go. But I haven't tested many games because I don't need many games. Don't kid yourself, these aren't gaming machines, if you're thinking about getting one it should be for different reasons. This is no PSP. But when I'm done taking notes on my Asus in class, and I have a short hour for lunch on campus, its always fun to break out Armagetron and challenge a friend to a network match through meebo, or to get lost in World of Goo trying to finish more OCD criteria. Its more practical than bringing my DS with me too, and sometimes its just as fun.
Such is the netbook phenomenon that many are starting to wonder just what these absurd little-calculators-that-could AREN'T capable of... whoops, forgot who I'm talking to for a second, of course you know: games. Its been obvious from the beginning that these machines aren't designed for the technical hurdles of a modern FPS, so there's no way they could handle a decent game or two on that puny processor and Intel chipset, much less with Linux fueling the tiny thing..or have we been too assumptive?
We often forget all too easily how quick technology leaps forward, and how small it can get. So lets be realistic about this- your netbook wont be running Half Life 2 any time soon, but if you want a decent game to run on it, what can it handle?
Theoretical limitations to work with:
- SSD Size
- No DVD Drive
- Proven graphics chipset (as in, proven to be terrible in almost every way...CURSE YOU INTEGRATED GRAPHICS!)
- Power-efficient Intel Atom 1.6ghz processor (while some netbooks offer lower processing power, this quickly rose to become the standard)
- Small Screen and Keyboard
- Touchpad
- Linux
Let's whittle this list down a bit. Lets assume your netbook has an SDHC card or USB thumb drive plugged in for extra space, if in fact its a lower capacity SSD drive to begin with- or even better: if you're serious, a portable hard drive. This makes it possible to install many programs that wouldn't use the registry if they were in windows (in the case of the USB drive or portable hard drive, even that doesn't apply to you). If its Linux, there isn't a registry to begin with, so you're all set. That takes care of space.
Lets also assume that you've picked up a cheap $20 wireless mouse. This is self explanatory for many gamers, especially FPS. I use a Wacom Graphire tablet myself, and the mouse for that is more than suitable. And finally, we're also going to assume that either you have, or you're willing to get, a cheap external DVD-ROM drive, primarily for the purpose of installing the games in the first place (no DRM here, kids!)
But I'm not letting myself off the hook here, we'll still assume that the OS is Linux (a fine OS, but at a disadvantage even with WINE), the CPU is still a mere 1.6ghz (which we really wouldn't want to overclock for the sake of battery life), and the graphics are still integrated Intel (I cringe every time I remind myself of that, oh the nightmares I've endured of Intel one day owning the graphics market.. I digress)
Games that I've tested (on an EeePC 900A, running OpenGEU linux):
- Stepmania
- World of Goo
- Armagetron
- Chess
Games that I know would work fine (if I felt like installing them):
- Counterstrike (or any early Half-Life derivative, I'm certain of that)
- Quake
- zDoom
- Unreal Tournament
- Deus Ex (may need a bit of configuration editing)
- Emulators up to SNES/Genesis Era
Feel free to add your own suggestions to the 'certain' and 'proven' lists, there are many hundreds I'm sure. Even if you need to run a stripped down WINE for one or two things (like steam), you can get these running on Linux. If you have a netbook with windows XP installed, you're even better off. MechWarrior 2 would be great to play on the go. But I haven't tested many games because I don't need many games. Don't kid yourself, these aren't gaming machines, if you're thinking about getting one it should be for different reasons. This is no PSP. But when I'm done taking notes on my Asus in class, and I have a short hour for lunch on campus, its always fun to break out Armagetron and challenge a friend to a network match through meebo, or to get lost in World of Goo trying to finish more OCD criteria. Its more practical than bringing my DS with me too, and sometimes its just as fun.
Reader Comments (1)
Written -Rolex Swiss watches-really good