Hello.
I am looking to have some Classic GOG game action on the go. I know that most games will run on very minimal hardware, by today's standards. I am wondering what should I get to get to run games such as FarCry, Painkiller and maybe The Witcher. If you have any advice for something that could run those games ( or more) close to max and also be portable with decent battery life, I would greatly appreciate it. I am also wondering what solutions should I use for those finicky touchpads. I hope to play mostly strategy, RPGs and FPS.

Thank You and Happy Holidays,

angrypole

Pretty much anything with a non-intel GPU. (and even Intel can do something)
Witcher 2 is about the only game in the catalogue actually needing decently powerful hardware.

With both AMD and nVidia the second number in model is more importtant than the first one, (ie. HD HD5600 is better than HD6300 despite being previous generation) and you can ignore the mentioned amount of VRAM.

If you post a possible candidate, we can say something further about it....

Except Witcher 2 only Spellforce 2 demands somewhat stronger video card (512 mb).

All other games should run fine. Although, some DOSBox games can be pretty demanding, but nothing that good dosbox config wouldn't fix.

Gothic 3 will also be pretty expensive, though not necessarily because it has very good graphics... (Not that it looks bad or anything.)

Uhm.... Whatever € 500+ laptop sold during the latest 3-4 years?

If you emphasise portability, I would look into seeing what AMD Fusion netbooks are available in the US (they combine an AMD C-50 / 60 / E-350 processor with a Radeon GPU). A netbook is going to be cheaper than a full size laptop, and their capabilities are pretty good now if you find the right one.

I have a Toshiba 550D (not available in the US), and out of the box it could probably play all games on GOG except The Witcher 2. It can play The Witcher, but it's a little sluggish. With the RAM upgraded to 2GB or even 4GB it's capable of playing the likes of Modern Warfare 1 & 2, to give you an idea. Even with just 1GB RAM, mine plays perfectly well the likes of Bioshock, Portal 2 & Dark Void!

Okay, Great.
Thanks for the input guys. I will look for something with an AMD c-50 - e350.

Budget?

Note that GOG is looking into selling new titles, so it's not quite as simple as finding something to run the older stuff. That is, if you care to get into any of the newer titles.

Note also that integrated graphics might not be up to snuff on some older titles. If you can swing an nVidia Optimus processor, that might be ideal since it essentially gives you two different GPUs in one laptop, allowing you to choose which one to use for any given app. Might be convenient if certain games don't play nice with a particular GPU family. I have a 6-month-old lappy with Optimus and some games clobber the built-in Intel GPU so I have to designate the nVidia GPU for those (for instance, ArmA CWA was all but unplayable with the Intel integrated GPU). Likewise, maybe one of the newer AMD CPUs with the more powerful integrated Radeon GPU will do the trick. Er, I guess that's what Lucibel was pointing out.

I would highly recommend getting a mouse to go with it. Maybe it is just me but I cannot imagine trying to play most games using a touchpad vs a mouse. I got a nice little Logitech laptop wireless for mine for pretty cheap. I think it was maybe $35. USD or so.

Fortunately, I've yet to need that old laptop for any games. I've had good luck with everything running fine on my Win7 desktop. But it is nice to have that old machine with XP on it just in case.

Agreed on the mouse. Even on games that don't require it, it generally gives a vastly better experience than using keyboard alone.

Be careful with Farcry - that game still has fairly high system requirements.
I installed it a while ago on my laptop with pretty decent specs and it ran like crap.
Same with Two Worlds. Almost unplayable.
On the other hand, I can run games like WoW and SC2 without a problem.

This is my computer:
http://usa.asus.com/Notebooks/Superior_Mobility/U6Vc/#specifications
except that I have a T9400 processor.
Of course, the graphics card is the weakest link in there.

edit: oh and as far as mice go, do yourself a favour and get yourself a gaming mouse. They are very affordable these days. Try looking at some Logitech, Razer, Steelseries, Roccat, etc products and see which one suits your hand the best.