Laptop for Game Developing?!?!
What kind of game development are you going to do? If it's 2D a netbook might be sufficient. If it's more advanced 3D you might need a better one.
Quote:Original post by Chad Smith
Honestly, I would say check out a Macbook pro. Why go Apple you ask? Well mostly because I must say, those machines are really powerful. I love them! Plus you could just use boot camp now, boot up into Windows and you have one machine and easily develop applications to be cross platform if you wanted too.
I really don't like developing on my own macbook, I only deal with it when porting or doing iphone development. I'd probably enjoy it more if I put windows/visual studio+visual assist x on it though. It's purely a preference thing because I don't use it often enough to be really comfortable with the interface... And I don't like xcode much compared to visual studio. I have a nice tablet convertible laptop that was pretty damn cool though. Great because I sketch too.
Anyway, I'm just winging about preference, but it's important to feel comfortable in your environment. I find myself fighting my tools more on a mac.
I develop on different machines. For CPU-based stuff like infrastructure I often use my Acer Aspire One Linux box (netbook :) ) which even supports OpenGL 2.1 through Mesa. So I can develop and test my applications with simple setups when I'm commuting. For more complex tests/better experience I'll continue development on my windows or linux desktop at home.
So I'd say a netbook is fine for developping and testing CPU-based parts of your game. However, it's also more comfortable to have a bigger screen at hand. Those IDEs can get quite crowded, especially on a 10" display :)
So I'd say a netbook is fine for developping and testing CPU-based parts of your game. However, it's also more comfortable to have a bigger screen at hand. Those IDEs can get quite crowded, especially on a 10" display :)
Hi!
Apart from performance and GPU features available on a laptop, make sure you check out the keyboard. I cannot stress enough how important a good keyboard is when you really want to get work done on that thing. I consider this even more important than lots of the performance topics. Pay special attention to keys like the spacebar and whether they register input when hitting the key only on one of its sides and not centrally.
If you are willing to spend a little more money I would go for a Thinkpad that features a decent GPU and screen resolution. The built quality of those machines is simply awesome. Keyboard is great and the UltraNav Pointer keeps your hand in the same place when switching from typing to "mouse" movements. You might also keep an eye open for the refurbished systems which are great as well and sometimes quite cheap. I would recommend something in the T60 T61 range.
Apart from performance and GPU features available on a laptop, make sure you check out the keyboard. I cannot stress enough how important a good keyboard is when you really want to get work done on that thing. I consider this even more important than lots of the performance topics. Pay special attention to keys like the spacebar and whether they register input when hitting the key only on one of its sides and not centrally.
If you are willing to spend a little more money I would go for a Thinkpad that features a decent GPU and screen resolution. The built quality of those machines is simply awesome. Keyboard is great and the UltraNav Pointer keeps your hand in the same place when switching from typing to "mouse" movements. You might also keep an eye open for the refurbished systems which are great as well and sometimes quite cheap. I would recommend something in the T60 T61 range.
If you are going to school and want something to take to class, then get a netbook. Seriously, after a year, none of my friends that had a full sized 14+ laptop bothered bringing it to class. Usually notes are far easier to take by hand because eventually the prof is going to want to make some quick sketch of something. Those that I now with a 17+ inch laptop left it on their dorm room desk after a few weeks. You get no battery life, and they weigh a tonne. Don't bother.
If you are doing computer science stuff, usually for the first few years any classwork can easily be done on something with 300mhz or less for the most part. They're not making you write Doom X on your first year. Sometimes you'll get large number crunch problems, but usually I've found just going to a computer lab best for those.
Get a cheap system now, and upgrade when you actually NEED the power, and for serious power, get a desktop. All the "Gaming" and "Extreme" laptops I've seen friends use have had fairly short lifespans due to the fact that they double as a cooking grill. If you wander around the Library at my University you can find tables with strange bubbles in the laminate top. These are from friends playing GTA or some other game with their laptop, and melting the glue.
If you are doing computer science stuff, usually for the first few years any classwork can easily be done on something with 300mhz or less for the most part. They're not making you write Doom X on your first year. Sometimes you'll get large number crunch problems, but usually I've found just going to a computer lab best for those.
Get a cheap system now, and upgrade when you actually NEED the power, and for serious power, get a desktop. All the "Gaming" and "Extreme" laptops I've seen friends use have had fairly short lifespans due to the fact that they double as a cooking grill. If you wander around the Library at my University you can find tables with strange bubbles in the laminate top. These are from friends playing GTA or some other game with their laptop, and melting the glue.
Author
Yeah, I dont recall if I said but I'm not really that into computer games as much as 360 games. So I wouldn't really be spending a whole lot of my time on this laptop for gaming. I would mostly use it for taking notes, surfing the web, and (beginning) game developing. I don't need the greatest computer but anything under 1500 would be acceptable because the parents would pay for some :P...buy yeah, if I was to get reaaaaaally into Game Development would there be a mininum amount of space I need? specific processors? anything?
Quote:Original post by Talroth
If you are going to school and want something to take to class, then get a netbook. Seriously, after a year, none of my friends that had a full sized 14+ laptop bothered bringing it to class. Usually notes are far easier to take by hand because eventually the prof is going to want to make some quick sketch of something. Those that I now with a 17+ inch laptop left it on their dorm room desk after a few weeks. You get no battery life, and they weigh a tonne. Don't bother.
How about one of those new Intel Classmate Tablet PCs? $550 or so, and it can fold over to become a writing tablet of sorts.
Quote:Original post by TalrothCouldn't agree more - I traded in an all ready light 15" MackBook Pro for a 13" MacBook, just to lose the pound of weight. Next time around is an eeepc (or similar), and a desktop for my apartment - in fact, half the time these days I take notes on my iPhone, and upload them when I get home.
If you are going to school and want something to take to class, then get a netbook. Seriously, after a year, none of my friends that had a full sized 14+ laptop bothered bringing it to class. Usually notes are far easier to take by hand because eventually the prof is going to want to make some quick sketch of something. Those that I now with a 17+ inch laptop left it on their dorm room desk after a few weeks. You get no battery life, and they weigh a tonne. Don't bother.
Quote:Original post by M2tMQuote:Original post by Chad Smith
Honestly, I would say check out a Macbook pro. Why go Apple you ask? Well mostly because I must say, those machines are really powerful. I love them! Plus you could just use boot camp now, boot up into Windows and you have one machine and easily develop applications to be cross platform if you wanted too.
I really don't like developing on my own macbook, I only deal with it when porting or doing iphone development. I'd probably enjoy it more if I put windows/visual studio+visual assist x on it though. It's purely a preference thing because I don't use it often enough to be really comfortable with the interface... And I don't like xcode much compared to visual studio. I have a nice tablet convertible laptop that was pretty damn cool though. Great because I sketch too.
Anyway, I'm just winging about preference, but it's important to feel comfortable in your environment. I find myself fighting my tools more on a mac.
Really? I love developing on a MAC. I hardly ever find myself fighting the tools at all. X Code is just fine for me. I never find my self fighting the OS unlike I do in Windows. Then again I develop on an iMac and not a Mac Book Pro. I just don't see the need for a notebook for me. I take notes by hand in school and it works out just fine. I'll even take notes with my iPod Touch sometimes if I am lazy and don't feel like writing.
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