Phoenix sim on a laptop

[Ian Southerton 1]

Hi, I'm considering buying phoenix flight sim as the weather has been too bad for flying of late and the nights are dark when i get home.

I have a dx6i so no problems there, but i only have a tablet and an asus netbook, so nothing suitable for running phoenix.

So, can i run phoenix on a laptop from Tesco or currys (i don'tbwant a desk top)? If so, can anybody point one out for me? I also want a laptop that'l enable me to copy cds onto an mp3 player and burn sd card mp4 from my video camera to dvd.

Thanks, Ian.

[Allan Bowker]

Hi Ian

This is not an easy question to answer for you.
You will need a laptop with a good processor and graphics chipset. Your budget will determine if this is possible.

Personally I would recommend a desktop computer as they are more reliable, flexible to change and cheaper to maintain/upgrade.

I'd recommend you set your budget first.
Including screen and base unit, £400 as a minimum will set you up with a good basic rig.
www.ebuyer.com is a good place to buy from.

[avtur]

I run Phoenix on a laptop, a Lenovo ThinkPad T410, it's a real brick of a machine, helps me keep fit while carrying it! It has an Intel i5 - M520 - 2.4GHz processor. Although it's a business machine it runs Phoenix fine, as smooth as anything, no problems.

The Laptop has a 14 inch screen which is adequate (just) in terms of size, but obviously it's better with a larger display.

With that in mind I run the laptop through a 23 inch HP display running at 1920 X 1080 resolution and of course that is so much better.

There are pro's and con's to the laptop/desktop choice but I think you could pretty much guarantee that an up to date laptop would have HDMI output and therefore be compatible with most modern TV's; I would imagine that Phoenix on a 50 inch screen would be quite entertaining !!!

Just my 2p ...

 

 

Edited By avtur on 18/02/2014 02:33:23

[andyh]

I use Phoenix on an Acer Aspire v5 471 laptop (about £350 last summer - comes with a DVD burner & you can get USB SD-card readers for a few quid) & it runs just fine. it might be worth giving the netbook a try, you might be pleasantly surprised, especially if you can hook it up to an external monitor/TV

the only downside I've found to using a laptop is that its USB circuitry gets rather warm when using the Phoenix dongle/cable & Tx. I may investigate a powered USB hub so the laptop isn't having to provide the current

[Ian Southerton 1]

Thanks for the replies.

I realise a desk top would be the best bet, especially as they are upgradeable, but don't have anywhere at home practical to keep it, hence the laptop idea, but then arises the problem of finding one powerful enough!

I also intend to plug it into the tv in the living room 42" or dining room 32" so need it to be mobile!

At least i now know it's feasible, it's just a case of transposing the requirements from the phoenix web site to the spec of the laptop

Ian.

[flytilbroke]

Going by another thread, get Phoenix 4 and do not at present "upgrade to V5"

[andyh]

I really don't think you need anything too powerful - the graphics cards they specify as a minimum have been around for 10+ years, so I would expect the graphics in a current laptop - even a budget one - to be at ;least as good as their minimum

[Stevo]

I run mine on an old Dell... 5 years old and plodding.


No problem.

Plugs into my 40" tv... and the projector at work!!

[Ian Southerton 1]

I loaded the demo on my asus shell netbook thingy.

I had to load some directx files that it needed, but it ran.

Took a while to load the title page, but the main demo ran ok, but not sure if it will be good enough.

So, the plan is to buy the software, use my sons laptop to copy it to a usb stick and load it to the netbook. If it doesn't work then nothing's lost.

Question is, do i buy a £70 copy of Phoenix, £50 copy ot £10 copy and a £12 usb adaptor (with driver cd's)??