Retro gaming rig?

bloodninja · 17 Oct 2009 at 21:02

So I've got an ever increasing pile of old games that are a whole lot of trouble to get working on my Vista x64 desktop rig - I have problems running something as recent as Knights of the Old Republic

- and a few nights ago a pal was telling me that he got an old Windows 98 laptop that he'd use it every now and then to play a bit of Theme Hospital or Fallout on the train with and I got insanely jealous. I know I could whip together a desktop solution easy enough but I just don't have the room.

I've had a look on eBay and I've seen plenty of 2nd hand Pentium 4 laptops but I'm unwillingly with part with £170+ for a piece of obsolete hardware, especially when a brand new ones can be picked up for a little over £200. The Pentium 3's weren't much cheaper but perhaps it was just a bad week to check...

I'm looking for it to be primarily old games, watching the odd DVD and a spot of light surfing.

All ideas welcome!

Moeks · 18 Oct 2009 at 11:10

You could probably achieve this on a more modern machine simply using a 32bit Windows XP install, most Netbooks are configured with XP Home out of the box, I imagine that should work for most of what you want. The Dvd watching would require the use of an external optical drive though, as would installing much of the software you wish to I imagine.

Sneaky Peaky · 19 Oct 2009 at 23:15

Don't post it again after it was deleted the first time.

bloodninja · 20 Oct 2009 at 13:06

Sneaky Peaky said:
Don't post it again after it was deleted the first time.

Eh?

Sneaky Peaky · 20 Oct 2009 at 14:53

A P3 cheap laptop might just do the job for you and come up occasionally in the Members Market here

jamief · 20 Oct 2009 at 15:35

bloodninja said:
Eh?

Yellow text means a moderator has edited the post.

The yellow text is obviously a moderator giving a message to "Sneaky Peaky"

whitecrook · 23 Oct 2009 at 19:30

You should be able to get a laptop (Pentium 4 M) for less than £150, and a PIII closer to £100 if you look hard enough. Maybe need to add some RAM. And Older laptops of this vintage will likely need a new battery or you'll have about 30-1h of time (IME) Pentium 4 (not m) run very hot and use loads of battery - avoid) You should get a basic 3d chip in there as well.

Alternatively check out DOSBOX - lots of people report running loads of old game in it on modern hardware.