Hardware Asus Zenbook UX 305 or Dell Latitude 12 inch 5000

[Iberville]

Hello everybody,

I have a small question regarding Hardware and Orbiter. I do not play Orbiter that often since my work is taking so much time but I like to use the software when I travel and have some free time in hotels or at home. My laptop is mainly used for browsing and doing productivity stuff. Since my old dell is dying, I am shopping for something new that will be mainly for work.

I have my eyes on an Asus UX 305 with an Intel M and Intel HD 520. I am also considering the Dell 12inch 5000 series, that comes with UMA Graphics and an older processor.

My question is this: would any of these laptops be ok for Orbiter?

Thanks,
Eric

 

[Lmoy]

Orbiter 2010 runs smoothly even on pretty old systems. Practically anything manufactured this year will be able to run it just fine. If someone ever thought it was a good enough idea to bother with, Orbiter 2010 would likely run perfectly smoothly on most modern smartphones as well.

I can't say the same for the upcoming Orbiter 2015 though.

 

[Iberville]

Lemoy, Thanks for the post.

 

[Spacethingy]

I ran Orbiter 2010 on a pretty ancient Dell laptop with an Intel GMA and just 1GB RAM, managed to keep up above 25 FPS most of the time, even with heavy stuff like the XR2.

As per the new betas, I'm now using a Dell series 17'' 5000 Inspiron from a year or two back, which has a Nvidia 960M card and an i7 processor for the integrated graphics. Here's what I get with a scene on Brighton Beach while looking around, zooming in and out, all of which are with the DXD9 client (maxed out AA and filtering settings, 1600x900 resolution):

Orbiter 2010:
100-150 FPS (Nvidia), 50-100 FPS (integrated graphics)
For a scene on Earth with the KSC scenery, that goes down to about 30-50 FPS on the integrated graphics.

Orbiter beta (including terrain):
About the same as 2010 on both graphics devices, maybe about 10-15 FPS less on both? The earth scenery was about 20-30 FPS on the integrated card.

Hope that helps. If you've got a budget to meet like I did when getting my machine, you may find it comes down to choosing between getting a machine with a graphics card or a machine with a SSD or Touchscreen.

 

[jedidia]

If I have the option between a Dell and whatever, I choose whatever. Dell is from Hell