I tried - I really did !!

[TSR2]

Tweek.... You'll struggle with FSX on any laptop mate. Whats more, if you had a state of the art laptop in 2005... you'd struggle to have run FS9 then.

I'd hope a 2007 laptop would run a 2004 program well!

The big problem with laptops is Disk I/O... and FS uses it in spades

[DelP]

I'd be embarrassed to tell y'all about my machine..but when I built it 5 years ago it was almost the bee's knees..

Strangely enough, with careful housekeeping, FSX runs fine with a few basic addons..certainly well enough for testing ;-) I wouldn't try MP though. I'm probably missing a lot of the candy..but when flying what exactly are you looking at.. ;-)

Even if I had the cash for an upgrade there'd be no point ATM..things change so fast..

Derek ;-)

[DanKH]

You're absolutely right there Derek. And I think the clue-word is housekeeping. Whether you like it or not, a clean house tends to function better than a "dirty". Both virtually and in reality!

[tonymadge]

But a heavily modded FSX will blow a heavily modded FS9 out the water!

complete cock of an answer...FS9 with add-ons will beat FSX anyday...why?? well have a hunt around the forums, speak to folk..have you ever heard of so many dissenters?? When a new product comes out as in FS, you normally get a huge vote for it as its a big step up, FSX is NOT IT WAS BULLCRAP from Microshaft and us mugs fell for it... backwards compatibility... as I said before they must have been talking about the designers ( I guess this post will be moderated )

[DanKH]

I take it that you're still not quite convinced of the wonders of FSX, Tony?

[DaveB]

Whether you like it or not, a clean house tends to function better than a "dirty". Both virtually and in reality!

A brand new HD and a clean install of FSX (the reason for buying the HD in the first place). I think we've been there already Dan Just for you.. I'll defrag this new drive today and wait in wonderment for the outstanding increase in performance I'm gonna get. Watch this space...

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[Pielstick]

The big problem with laptops is Disk I/O... and FS uses it in spades

Hmmm, going to have to disagree here. I've been using FS on laptops since early 2004. I've never had any real problem other than the cutting edge laptop is always going to be some way behind the cutting edge desktop. Right now I'm using a brand new laptop (HP Pavilion HDX9095EA to be precise), which has 2x 200GB 4200RPM HDDs, it runs FS9 very well indeed, but the loading times are looooooooooooong (no doubt a combination of the slow HDD and the huge amount of aircraft, AI and scenery I have installed). Once the sim is up and running everything is great - 20+ FPS even under the most stressful scenario, i.e flying the PMDG 747 into a large detailed airport with lots of AI traffic. No blurries, no stutters...

Having said that, the HDDs really are the bottleneck in this system right now and I'm looking into the possiblity of swapping in a couple of the new Fujitsu 7200RPM 2.5" drives. I found a really nifty little piece of hardware, a cradle for a 2.5" drive that connects to your current laptop via USB. The provided software copies your current HDD image to the new drive, and theoretically it should then just be a matter of popping the new HDD into the laptop and everything should be exactly as it was before but with a faster drive. Only problem is this nifty little bit of kit only seems to be available in North America!

If you really want top of the range laptop performance, you can go the Alienware or Dell XPS route. You'll pay through your nose, but you get the very best hardware available. The only problem is (as I found out last month) they are more than happy to take several grand out of your bank account, but don't bother to tell you that your laptop won't be available for many weeks because there's a shortage of parts!

If it was feasible I would be more than happy to get a desktop system. You can get an excellent system from the likes of Yoyotech now for under £700. I'm talking Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, 8800GTS graphics card, all would be superb for FS, but alas I can't drag a desktop halfway round the world with me every time I join a new ship!

[DaveB]

Dan..

I defragged the FSX HD even though it said I it didn't need it (still has 89% free) and looking at the visual representation.. very little has changed (bourn out by the fact that it only took a few mins to do) If it's changed the way the sim runs.. I can't see that either ;-) Never mind mate.. I tried - I really did!!

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[tonymadge]

no fiddling just aquick shot taken as I climb out from Jersey heading to Gatwick, I just hit printscreen so its an un touched jpg.... ignore the crappy paint scheme look at the weather the colours and the life it breathes... now unless your a Simpsons fan and have all the Tom and Jerry Cartoons on DVD and just love bright blue skies with fluffy clouds like the ones you used to paint at school.. stick with FS9 it has a long life ahead..don't get fooled into believing that all that gliters is gold etc etc

[Trev Clark]

Take a look at the screenshots I did in the gallery of CBFS, if somebody can better the 'realism' look I have on those FS9 shots in FSX, I will eat my hat! :o

I have used both sims and (try as might) I just cannot get FSX to look 'real', maybe when it is full of add-ons (that will run at max, like my FS9 ones), it will look better, but by that time we should have FSX1 (or whatever it will be called).

I have now given up reviewing stuff on AVSIM because I cannot be 'seen to be positive' just to tow the 'company line' with AVSIM and MS and virtually all payware stuff has to be done in FSX to show off the 'stunning' effects that slow down the sim.

This shot uses freeware water and cloud textures in FS9 and is also a straight screenshot taken at dawn over the Channel.