System Requirements for Laptop?

[agoodfella]

Hello Civfans,

I'm not a very "tech" savvy guy, but I have an IBM Thinkpad A21p (I got handed down to me from my brother).

I love Civ and was wondering if this machine will be compatible / capable of playing / processing CIV IV?

These are my brief system stats:

OS: Win98SE
Processor: Pentium 3
Speed: 850 + step up
Ram: 512
Graphics: ATI Mobility 128 8/16MB

Thanks in advance for help.

[LordShiva]

Doubt it. Sorry dude.

[Solver]

I likewise really doubt it.

[Sabre2th]

Very very iffy. I'm still trying to make up my mind how playable the game will be on my computer:

Pentium4 1300
512 RAM
GeForce4 MX
WinXP

I'm confident it will run, but I doubt it will be very smooth

[conmcb25]

Your Pentium 4 is kind of low but it may make it.

I just got a new laptop so Im one happy camper right now.

Pentium4 2600
1 GB RAM
ATI X300 128K
WinXP

[agoodfella]

thanks for the detailed responses.

i understand that the quality may be poor, but as long as it will run, that's all that matters to me until i can SAVE UP for a new system.

i'm wondering if it will work at all?

i.e. if it's not going to work at all, obviously, i'm not going to buy it.

thanks again guys

[Sabre2th]

Pirates used the same engine as Civ4 and its processor requirement was along the order of P4 1.0GHz. Civ4 should have similar requirements.

Even if the game will run, my guess is that it will be so slow as to be essentially unplayable. You'll have to wait for Firaxis to release more information to be sure, but I don't think you'll be able to play it.

[Solver]

I think the card supports T&L which is surely needed for Civ4. We still don't know whether Civ4 requires shader support or not - there are no official requirements. If it does, you won't get it to run. If it doesn't, I would expect the game to run, although you should probably play small maps.

[agoodfella]

Thanks all.

I hope that I can get by minimizing all the graphic requirements...

Time to get a new laptop I guess...

If I had the funds, I'd definitely get the Toshiba G25, that machine looks so sweet.

I'm not that familiar with the Alien machines, are they better than the Toshiba Qosmio?

[Solver]

If the game requires shaders, you won't most probably be able to play, minimizing graphical settings or not. If it doesn't require shaders, however, it will probably be playable if you have the patience to wait between turns, for example.

[conmcb25]

Large maps on my old laptop took forever, but I think that was a function of RAM more than anything else.

[H Tower]

Win98 isn't going to do you any favors either.

[Disk Killer]

Originally posted by agoodfella
Thanks all.

I hope that I can get by minimizing all the graphic requirements...

Time to get a new laptop I guess...

If I had the funds, I'd definitely get the Toshiba G25, that machine looks so sweet.

I'm not that familiar with the Alien machines, are they better than the Toshiba Qosmio?

Alienware laptops are desktop replacements, good gamers but might be too loud/battery hogging for your purposes. Pricey, too.

Start here: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=918616 (mobile computing FAQ) and then work your way through some of the threads in the Hardforum mobile computing section to get up to speed.

[H Tower]

lurker alert!

[Disk Killer]

Originally posted by H Tower
lurker alert!

LOL....

I remember signing up when I was looking for CivIII info and found a great forum.... unfortunately I spend time on several forums and don't get to contribute here as much as I would like...

Came back when I started getting excited about IV; looks like it will eat away at my life. Thankfully, my girlfriend (future wife, obviously) is as much a Civ-Fanatic as I am (you all have me to thank for that!)

Now I can't wait for the last week of October......