Is Window media center XP good for games?

[KenM]

I'm thinking of buying a notebook PC. Most of the ones I have looked at say they come with Windows Media Center XP operating system. Whats the difference between this and XP home? Aslo, if a game says it will run on Win XP, will it run on media center XP? i'm not going to do too much gaming on it, but i want to make sure games will run on it.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Media Center is (basically) XP + extra stuff for TV tuning, PVR functionality, etc. I've not seen if offered on many notebooks, but I tend to pay more attention to the business market than the consumer.

You *should* be able to run games on it with no trouble. The biggest issue I think you'll see is with driver updates, as Media Center is not stock XP, so using generic XP drivers could cause issues. Most likely, though, you'd just break some of the media center functionality that depended on certain driver revs. So long as you run it as-is you should be fine, but sooner or later you'll hit a game that wants newer video drivers.

 

[drothgery]

The important thing for playing games on a notebook is really avoiding integrated graphics, but it's hard to find a decent graphics card in a notebook that hasn't thrown size and weight considerations out the window.

 

[KenM]

The important thing for playing games on a notebook is really avoiding integrated graphics, but it's hard to find a decent graphics card in a notebook that hasn't thrown size and weight considerations out the window.

I know about that, my main concern was if a game says that it runs on Window XP that it will run on XP Media edtion. Providing you meet the other specs, of course.

 

[drothgery]

I know about that, my main concern was if a game says that it runs on Window XP that it will run on Xp Media edtion. Providing you meet rhe other specs, of course.

It will; it's just another edition of XP. And XP drivers will work fine, it's just not guaranteed that devices that should integrate into the media center funcitonality (mostly video cards and TV tuners) will.

 

[Mycanid]

Hey there Ken ...

If I may ask, whatcha looking at to buy?

 

[KenM]

Hey there Ken ...

If I may ask, whatcha looking at to buy?

Not sure yet, still looking. I want something that can run some games decent, but most of the ones I looked at have shared video RAM. I know this is bad for games. The ones that I have seen with dedicated video RAM are alot more expensive.
I know i won't run Battlefield 2, just some of the older shooters and WOW. I also just want to web surf, ect.

 

[drothgery]

Not sure yet, still looking. I want something that can run some games decent, but most of the ones I looked at have shared video RAM. I know this is bad for games. The ones that I have seen with dedicated video RAM are alot more expensive.

What's your budget, and are you looking at any specific size/weight range?

 

[KenM]

Looking to spend about $1100.00 max. Price is more important then size and weight.

 

[KenM]

One other question, most of the laptops I have looked ar say they have 128 MB ATI 200M IGP graphics. I'm not familiar with laptop video cards. How is that compared to a desktop card? What is the equivilant desktop card?