80s_Atari_Guy

I have been looking for the best Laptop, specs-wise, for Windows XP gaming. Not a Laptop that is powerful enough for Windows 7, so something from around 2001 - 2003. A decent video chip from Nvidia, or ATI, would be nice. Certainly better than anything from Intel. Single core CPU, 1 - 1.5Ghz CPU. A dual core would be nice, but I doubt it would have the older ports. 1 - 1.5Gb RAM. Should be enough for XP. HD size - not too fussed. Will probably replace with a DOM, or a SDCard solution. Ports - Definitely looking for older ports such as Parallel, RS232 Serial. These would be mostly for projects. USB 1.0/2.0 - USB would be nice, 1 or 2 ports. VGA port - Not a necessity, but I'm seeing them on a lot of Laptops from this era, anyway. So far, after a few hours on Google, I have found a few models, some maybe from specific regions only. Dell Latitude D600 - This looks like a great all rounder. Fairly decent Pentium M CPU, ATI 9000 series graphics, CDROM/DVDRom Drive, Cheap and easy to find. Dell Inspiron 8000 - This looks a bit old for XP. Pentium III-M, Nvidia GeForce 2 mobile, a possible ESS Maestro 3 audio card( Not all models). Dell Precision M6300 - This looks a bit too new for XP (Thinking of drivers), Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, Nvidia FX 1600M, 3Gb RAM, SigmaTel STAC9205 Audio chip. Dell Inspiron 9300 - Too many Dells. Intel Pentium M 1.86 GHz, 2Gb RAM, DVD Drive, 2Gb RAM, ATI Radeon X300 1440 x 900 or Geforce Go 6800. STAC9750 Audio codec. This looks good, cheap, easy to find. IBM Thinkpad T42 - Intel Pentium M 1.6 GHz, 1Gb RAM, 30+GB HD, Radeon 7500 or 9000, Built like a tank. Not easy finding one working and complete. Compaq Evo N610c - Pentium 4 M 1.8GHz, Mobility Radeon 7500, DVD Drive, Hard to find complete. I can only find parts. Would run XP well. To me, the best so far, with all the ports I want, is the Dell Latitude D600. Easy to find, cheap - about £60 ($75) for a good one with everything I need including PSU. I Can still get the drivers from Dell, and it appears to run XP very well. I would love a 3.5" floppy drive, as well. But finding a Laptop able to run XP, XP games, and have a floppy drive, is asking a little too much. I know you can buy external drives, but compatibility with the programs I want to use, isn't great. I need a floppy drive connected to a floppy controller, not a USB controller. What I don't want is a desktop, I don't have the space for one. And, I need portability. So, anyone rocking a XP Laptop for XP gaming ?

Great they have got to 0.200. Still strange to see 0.200, since MAME is incredibly mature. Is there a MAME that doesn't have MESS merged into in it ? And, no gambling games ?

The most amazing thing of a 2600 is that, after 40 years, it's still better than Stella.

Yet, I bet my 1701, a CRT that was actually meant for the C64, looks even better than your LCD. Especially since I am using the proper Chroma + Luma cable. Of course. But then, my comment was more of a dig at the mini, than the TV. The image of the mini reminds of Winvice running on my PC. Just too perfect, too sharp, everything too defined. If you like that look, great. I don't, which is also great.

I think you are on about something completely different to me. I have replaced ALL my CRT TVs, for watching TV, Movies, Blu-Ray, Xbox 360/One/PS3/PS4. There is, like you said, no niche market for that. I use CRTs to connect a Atari 800XL/ C64/ ZX Spectrum/2600/Colecovision etc... A Commodore 64 looks so much better on my Commodore 1701 than my C64 mini does on my Sharp Aquos 60" LED TV. The mini is dreadful, it doesn't even play sid music properly. So, just to be sure here. I do NOT use a CRT TV, AS A TV. And haven't used one like this for years. I could never watch Blu-Ray Bladerunner 2077 on a 4k TV, then go and watch a DVD version on a CRT. That would be nuts. But at the same time, I can't use my ZX Spectrum, with a interface called ZX-HD - which connects a ZX Spectrum to my Sharp LED via HDMI - I can't use this, it looks wrong, to me. I use my ZX Spectrum with a Ferguson RGB Interface on a Sony Trinitron. RGB looks amazing. Another thing, my car analogy isn't about the actual physical car itself, it's about the conversations about the car vs bike. I can take the OP's post, replace CRT with Car/Vinyl/Digital Downloads, and the conversations go the same way. Perhaps you aren't seeing this in the US. But here in the UK, the "End of the Car" is posted in online Newspaper articles almost every month. And the comments sections all look exactly like the ones here. There is a massive divide between Car ownership, and bike ownership. The last one got really nasty with some car owners saying things like "If I see you on MY road, riding your bike, I will knock you off and drive off laughing" - They really get nasty. And the defenders of car ownership defend theirs, while those who see technology marching on see car ownership as a thing of the past.

Space, is another complaint I don't get. You can find space for a massive 60" Flatscreen, a Xbox One, a PS4, and possibly a media PC. But, not a 14" CRT ? Strange.

I like GoG, and use it regularly. But, a couple of months ago, they changed their T&Cs and changed the Privacy settings default setting to completely open. It seems they want a more social media type of GoG, and this didn't go down well with everyone. You can change it all back to private, but it took members of the forum to point this all out, not for GoG, themselves, to do the same.

I don't think I will ever suffer from 8-bit or 16-bit fatigue. There comes a time when you are genuinely burnt out from modern gaming. I am actually burnt out from open-world games, super shiny FPS games - I'm nearing the end of Far Cry 5 and I'm almost begging for the end. I'm burnt out grinding in Elite Dangerous, and fed up with Project Cars 2 and terrible A.I. smacking me off the track while they suffer nothing. I am looking forward to Forza Horizon 4, but again, it's more open world. There comes a time when you say f*ck it, switch off the PC or PS4/Xbox One, and just go back to simpler times and more importantly, FUN times. No multi-gig updates waiting for you, No DLC to tempt you to buy, No game-breaking patch to download. Switch on my 2600, and have a blast on Solaris, while thinking to yourself - How the hell did they do that on a 2600.

Like Austin said, you are in a different Country to me. I keep forgetting about the US market being different to the UK and Euro market. Here, our Trinitrons were mostly Scart (for RGB), RF, and Composite. It would be rare to find a UK CRT TV with Component, and S-Video. I've tried to find UK CRTs, mostly modern 2001 onwards, with 240p Component, but I've not found one yet. Even Flatscreens, are rare with 240p Component. I would have to look for very specific models that have been marked 240p by the internet community.

Lol, triggered. I think you need some anger management. I see it every week on ebay. I could list quite a few of my own CRTs on ebay, now, and I guarantee you I WILL sell them, and quickly. There are posts on this very forum asking for CRT recommends. There are posts across the net, where many are seeing the benefits of a CRT when using classic systems, and want advice for what to get. PVMs, and BVMs, have never been so wanted than today. And their value reflects this. If none of these CRTs were wanted, then their value would be reflected in the prices. Retro, is bigger than it's been since the 80s, and it's NOT HDMI that is causing this resurgence. So prove me wrong.

Possibly. When we perfect HDR, and TVs have a real high number of Nits(Far higher than we currently have), then we might be able to simulate that glow and brightness of a CRT. The GPU, though, will always only be a part of getting to this. But, so far, I have never seen truly accurate emulation of the Vectrex. Nothing looks anything like the real thing. It really doesn't.

Just to add. The more modern Sony Trinitrons, at least mine do, have a noise reduction feature than works wonders on RF. It works on composite and RGB, but the difference is minor. On RF, the noise is almost cleaned up and looks great. Not that I want to use RF, I just have a few machines where RF is the only option unless I mod the machine - Colecovision, Intellivision, 2600, etc..

Isn't the PCE, technically, 8-bit ? Also, surely if you have to restrict your systems then surely back compat would be a major consideration ? I mean, I have a PS2 and a PS3 with the PS2 hardware inside, I would keep the PS3 purely because I would get the best of both worlds, PS2 and PS3.

Are these common components the ones that will stop my CRTs from functioning ? I see plenty of sellers from across the globe, all selling capacitors, diodes, switches, flybacks. My analogy is to do with the death of the car. You might not be seeing these discussions, but they're happening. The death of cars, Vinyl, CDs, DVDs, CRTs, Videogame physical ownership. I see, among the retro community, CRT ownership getting bigger. Only a few weirdos on here who want this bizarre rush to HDMI everything. In a few years, your nice shiny 4k HDTV will be worth less than any of my branded CRTs from Atari, Philips, Sony, and Commodore - These only increases in value, not decrease. Eventually, HDMI will be replaced, and possibly by something a lot more DRM protected, and out of reach of hobbyists. Then what do you do ? Those nice flatscreens only last for so long. After reading this thread, I want more CRTs, not less.

Knob.

It's a perfectly valid comparison. But hey, it's you again, so why am I am surprised.

You can't go wrong with Sony Trinitron. This will depend on whatever size you are looking for. There are plenty of 14" models that show up on ebay for cheap prices. If 14" is too small, then try a 20-21" model. Mine are as follows Sony FD Trinitron KV-14LT1U 14" TV - Nice flat tube, small footprint - so it doesn't need a massive amount of space. Great picture. But, only 1 scart, 1 RF, and 1 RCA input. I use a multi-scart + multi-RCA adapters. Sony Trinitron KV-X2582U CRT TV 28" TV - This is massive, but the picture is amazing. RGB looks amazing on it. Not many inputs, but again I use multi-adapters. JVC Model C-21TX1EK 21" TV - Nice all-round size, not too big, not too small. Picture isn't as good as the Sony TVs, and inputs are just scart and RF. For multi-use monitors I use Philips CM8833 Mark 1 RGB Colour Monitor. Philips CM8833 Mark 2 RGB Colour Monitor. These produce amazing pictures. Great inputs from TTL, to scart and RCA. They do come up on ebay, but I'm in the UK, so it might be different if you're in the US. Hope that helps in any way.

Why would it ? What technical problem are we all going to face that makes it a expensive futile effort ? Why, after 30 - 40 years of going strong, would a CRT suddenly, catastrophically, fail in such a way that it's not repairable ? Why do I see more and more flat-screen TVs in my local electronics recycle tip, than I do CRTs ? These are HDTVs that have barely lasted 5 years, and they're thrown out because there is nothing serviceable inside. When they go, they go. When 8k, arrives, then watch as often perfectly working 4k sets are thrown out as the rush to get something "New and Shiny" takes over. It's already happened with 1080p, while 720p HD-Ready is long dead. Remember that ? What happens if/when HDMI gets replaced by something that might require DRM from the device to the TV, and the license to use it becomes ever-more expensive. I remember the same doom and gloom for Vinyl, and look what happened to that. In 2017, Vinyl sales accounted for one in every 10 physical music sale. Vinyl albums sold around 5 million, in the UK in 2017. I remember stories of your old record decks will eventually break down, as well as your speakers - I mean, who uses speakers anymore ?,</sarcasm>. All my consoles, computers, VFD Tabletop games, 80s LCD games,all still work perfectly. Only one of my Vectrex machines has a problem, and even then a good full re-cap will more than likely fix it. All my 14 CRTs, of various makes and models, all work perfectly. I mean, why would they suddenly fail, big time ? Sure, a cap might blow, but replace it and I'm good to go for many years. My CRT monitor's switches might go, but there will always be replacements, new old stock, or enthusiast-made replacements. I don't get this resistance thing ? What am I "Resisting" ? Are Vinyl owners resisting going full digital ? Are classic car owners resisting going to battery cars ? Infact, are car owers, full stop, resisting moving from fossil fuels to battery-powered cars ? I don't think I have ever seen a post, anywhere on the net, that said something like "You can't hold onto that V8 for long, soon you'll all have a Tesla".

I don't think it is, no. The PAL TI had different video output than the NTSC version. I believe all we had (PAL) was RF and 240p component. Whereas NTSC had RF and composite. You could mod the metal version of the PAL TV Encoder for composite, but the plastic one(above) was a bit more involving - hence why it's useless to me. I'm hoping to take the plastic case to a friend, who has the right tools for the job, and will cut-out everything in a more professional manner than anything I could attempt.

Yeah, don't get me started on the movie, "300". The grain was nuts, especially if you watched a DVD version where the resolution of DVD just couldn't handle the grain, and you get a pea soup effect. The Blu-Ray version was passable. On a really bad, and rare, VHS transfer where there is no detail at all, then grain can give the impression of detail, but then don't go and compress the hell of it using the ancient xvid - I used to see lots of those.

I'm not confused in the least. I knew what exactly you were "Hinting" in your original reply. I just sent back a less-than subtle reply, regardless of the original intent. The wording is subtle, but you didn't need to word it that way, but you did. But hey, thats the type of poster you are.

There are subtleties, in all your replies on this topic, that suggest you have something against CRT in general. Perhaps, my reply edged on the CRT-fanboy side, in me. But, I don't think you can say you are entirely innocent. This will be my last reply to this, since I don't want to continue to further derail the thread.

Without banging the drum, if I could replace ALL my cracked tosec disk images, across ALL platforms, with 100% original copies I would do this in a heartbeat. The Amiga had CAPs, the ST had Pasti (??), the Spectrum has TZX, The Atari 8 has ATX. I think preservation is great, and long may it continue. I have finally ordered my parts, after a few days of work getting on top of me. I will be housing mine in a plastic version of the TI99/4a tv modulator case. If you look closely, you can see that there is already a place marked to cut-out for the screen. Can't wait.

I liked it. He didn't shove it in a cardboard box, or dremel something he had lying around, just to house it. He paid respect to the XL/1050 styling, and apart from a few rough edges, it looks good.