Acer 1410 Netbook - Gaming Capabilities (part1)
Although netbooks are not ideal gaming machines, it is possible to have some fun on them! Here are some examples of games that run (and some not so much!) On my netbook, whose specifications are as follows:
Acer 1410
-11.6" screen
-1.4GHz intel core 2 solo
-2GB 800Mhz RAM
-Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
-intel 4500mhd
Soon to get another stick of ram, which should marginally improve things, but for now, here are some examples of how certain games run, and note, in the clips below, fraps was running in the backround, which will have taken up some of the CPU and ram ..!
Game settings:
All low, 800*480
Playability:
Very playable, can be playable at higher resolutions, but from time to time will stutter a bit. Quite stable at the above settings at about about 20+. (playable IMO)
Game settings:
All low, 800*480
Playability:
Very playable, can be playable at higher resolutions, but from time to time will stutter a bit. Quite stable at the above settings at about 20 - 30 fps (fraps). Some strange things going on with objects in the distance getting fogged out from time to time, but I think that is due to me selecting such low model/texture/shading settings.
Game settings:
All low, 800*480
Playability:
Playable in levels with relatively small maps, gets stuttery when many things happening on screen, and / or on a large map.I find it is not really playable at higher resolutions.
Game settings:
All lowest, 3d off, everything off, 800*480
Playability:
Not playable. It is barely playable in the beginning with small map, but in the jungle, i imagine it would just be a complete slideshow. I'm going to upgrade to 4GB ram(not because of this game) it may improve things slightly, but I assume the CPU is the bottle neck. Drawback of solo processor..!
This netbook(and many others) are, despite what many think, capable of playing many fun games well enough for an enjoyabe experience. I realise mw2 and Avatar are realisticaly not playable, but games from early 2000's and below should play fine on medium settings!
If you have any requests of PC games you want tested on this netbook, leave a comment, and I'll get right on it!
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How to Install & Play Games on Netbooks (without ext. DVD drive!)
Netbooks are great, so handy and portable, but they do have their downsides. The lack of a DVD/CD drive make playing games a bit awkward, but it is possible (depending on spec!). Here are 6 well explained and simple steps on how to install and play any PC games on your netbook.
Step 1) First of all, you need a program called Daemon tools. You can download it here. Basically this program makes your netbook think it has an internal DVD drive, containing a DVD, but really the “DVD” is simply on the hard drive , as a disc image(basically a copy of the DVD). Download and install Daemon tools.
Step 2) Now you need your disc image. The normal file extension for a disc image is .iso , but it can be in other formats, such as .bin, for this tutorial we will stick to ISO files. These can be obtained in two ways:
a)If you have a desktop PC or a laptop with a DVD drive: Download and install Ashampoo (download here )(other software can also do this part). Insert the game you want to eventually play into the DVD drive. Run Ashampoo and select ->Create/Burn Disc Images ->Create a Disc Image from a CD. You should then see something like :
Click next, and the ISO file will be created where ever you chose to save it:
There you go, your ISO file is ready, go to step 3.
b)If a netbook is all you have, and have no access to a machine to do a) above, you can hunt online for an ISO of the game that you own. I am not condoning piracy, nor will I share what particular sites supply such files, all I am saying is in my opinion, if you legally own a physical copy of the game, I personally and morally have no problem with the owner downloading an ISO of the game so he can play it on his netbook. Whether this is legal or not, I’m not certain. Do it at your own risk!
Step 3) By now you should have the ISO on your netbook hard drive , for example , C:\GAME ISO, and you should have Daemon tools (newest version supports Win7). Run Daemon tools , and you will notice a small icon(grey circle with blue lightning bolt through it) on the bottom right of your screen. Right click it, and select Virtual Devices-> Device 1-> Mount Image… and navigate to your ISO, and click open.
Step 5) As you may know, most games require the DVD to be in the computer for it to run, and many games will detect that Daemon tools is running , and because Daemon tools is associated with piracy , the game will not run. If this is the case, I’m afraid your only option is to go hunting for a “crack” for the game. I suggest googling “game-name-here PC crack” or “game-name-here no cd “. You should quite easily source a crack for the game. Once obtained(and extracted if it is .rar or .zip), you should have a file called game-name-here.exe , or something of that nature. Simply navigate to where you installed the game, and locate the original game-name-here.exe is, probably in C:\Program Files\game-name-here Simply replace the original game-name-here.exe with the cracked version of game-name-here.exe.
Step 6) You should be ready to play the game now! No external DVD drive and with step 5, you wont even need Daemon tools running in the background! Remember , use this tutorial only if you have a legal copy of the game, I don’t want to condone piracy here.
Questions, tips or anything else, please comment!
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Cheap Memory card for PSP
Without a decent memory card , you are limiting yourself. PSP has many capabilities, and with a large memory card(4GB, 8GB and above) you can ditch your mp3 player, and even an mp4 player if you have one, as the PSP will take care of your (almost) every need!
Without a decent memory card , you are limiting yourself. PSP has many capabilities, and with a large memory card(4GB, 8GB and above) you can ditch your mp3 player, and even an mp4 player if you have one, as the PSP will take care of your (almost) every need! If you’re a pirate(curse you!) a memory card of at least a few gigs is essential.
Unfortunately, the price of Pro duo memory cards has not lowered as much as the more commonly used memory cards such as micro SD , or SD, so now your left with the dilemma, you want a big reliable memory card for your PSP, but don’t fancy the price tag!
You can do what I did, and purchase cheap cards online. The lesson I learnt from this was if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is. Here are the main reasons why you should be cautious before handing over money for a cheap memory card:
-Cheap(/fake) memory cards can suffer from numerous problems. Firstly, although they may be labelled as being genuine Sony or SanDisk cards, they will on average have a lower build quality then their authentic counterparts.
-Another problem that arises is the fake memory card may not have the advertised capacity. Even if your “8GB” card comes up on your PC as having 7.67GB free, if may only be able to hold 4 GB of data before it complains that it is full.
-The final main problem associated with fake memory cards is that the read and write speeds will be unbearably slow. Too slow to play demos / backups. Not to mention you can have your dinner in the time it takes to copy an album onto it!
Although there are legitimate cheap memory cards on the net, my advice would be as follows:
Purchase a micro SD to Pro Duo adapter, and purchase a micro SD card of the desired size locally, in a trusted shop. Chances are it will be considerably cheaper than an actual Pro Duo card of that same size!
They will most certainly be of decent build quality, have decent read and write speeds, and also, will have the advertised capacity, which is always good!
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Installing Windows XP on a Netbook
This will guide you through the installation of windows (XP in this case) on your netbook(…or laptop)using an external DVD drive. This is quite detailed and at an easy to understand level for those who may not be familiar with such a process.
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