Laptops and PDA's at the table... what do you use?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm disappointed in the roleplaying support currently available for the iPhone, although maybe Apple just isn't letting a good hypertext SRD onto the app store. The die rollers all have issues of some sort, even the best of them (MachDice, for my money).

That said, the demand is certainly there from me. If MotionX -- which actually shows polyhedral dice on their Web site -- ever puts out an RPG dice roller, I'll happily plunk down the cash, and if someone comes up with other DMing tools that don't gobble up all my RAM like MachDice does, I'll grab them too.

I find my iPhone to be vastly more convenient than a laptop, except for things like looking at Dungeon Crawl Classics PDFs, and I'd likely use a netbook for that, if I had one.

Note: I'm a wired kind of guy. One of the things holding me back from playing more non-D&D games is the lack of an online SRD-type document, etc. Even a proprietary piece of software that would let me run Storyteller games or whatever would be a big boon for me.

 

[timbannock]

Now then. This is very promising. Pretty much the size I'm looking for, at about the right price.

If you don't mind me asking more questions: it's solid state, so very quiet right? No HD fan? How's battery life?

Very quite...there's a fan inside, but it's not noisy (and not very good, unfortunately). If there's one thing that worries me, it's the system running a little hot, but the solid state can take the heat.

Battery life is decent; two hours-ish. I travel with the charger though, so I haven't run the battery down all the way yet, nor do I really plan to.

A key is optimizing the OS as much as possible. Strip off all the crap. Also, be aware that most Anti-virus programs are memory hogs. I run Symantec and if it's running full-tilt, the Asus is pretty much a paperweight. I purposely boot up sometimes when I don't need to and just run the Symantec updates and a system scan so that it doesn't do that crap on me while I'm actually working on stuff.

Do that once a month and you're golden. Find a smaller anti-virus program and that'd be even better (and let me know if you do!).

 

[timbannock]

As a note, I did try to use a PDA once, and it was a nightmare. I put my game notes on there, pulled them up to see what it was like to use in-game, and then promptly shut it off (and sold off the PDA too). Maybe it was just my PDA, though.

Verizon VX6700

Not a bad PDA, but I just realized I have no need for such a device.

 

[Malacoda]

I have ran most of my games in the last four years or more from a laptop. Currently it's a MacBook, here soon it will be a 17" MacBook Pro.

The laptop screen is the DM screen, I use Excel for tracking initiative and damage, Word or PDF for monster stats, and PDFs of the various books I use.

I use a dice rolling program to roll d20s. The program I use is a pain to switch dice types, but otherwise I like it, so I just roll d20s with it, and use the dice of whomever sits to my right for other dice needs. Until recently that was my girl friend, and she would get mad because I generally rolled better with her dice than she did.

I have had to try to run a game without the laptop since then, and I really missed the ease and convenience of the laptop, programs and well-bookmarked PDFs. Plus, I love being able to close the laptop when getting into more pure RPing situations where dice were less relevant. It easier than dropping a DM screen.

 

[Alan Shutko]

As a note, I did try to use a PDA once, and it was a nightmare. I put my game notes on there, pulled them up to see what it was like to use in-game, and then promptly shut it off (and sold off the PDA too). Maybe it was just my PDA, though.

Verizon VX6700

I had the Sprint variant of that. Yeah, it sucked. Newer ones have bigger screens with higher res and better web browsers, so they might work out better. But for my purposes, I still prefer having a bigger screen, or a few big pieces of paper, over using my iPhone.

 

[Turbiales]

I use a Asus 1000H ultralaptop (It's pretty little 10" screen. It's very useful if you haven't a lot of space in the gaming table).
- Hypertext d20 for easy reference
- Pathfinder adventure path in Pdf (Curret campaign)
- Openoffice for everything from notes to tracking initiative.
- Other pdf's for player leveling (Using Foxit pro).
- Some dice rollers.

I was using a 17" laptop before that and the portability was an issue I wanted to adress (Carry with 10 or more books in a blackpack was not an option).

 

[Michael Silverbane]

I use my laptop when DMing or playing (except in cases where the DM does not want a laptop at the table). Mostly, the laptop sits on the floor next to me (where my books and/or character sheets would go if I was using non-electronic gaming materials). I suspect that I would be pretty pleased with a tablet PC for this purpose, as well...

 

[Festivus]

I use a 15" widescreen laptop on a stool next to my DM seat at the table for my 3.5 game, mainly to track experience and quick rules lookups in the SRD.

I don't use a laptop at all for my 4E game, and don't think I need one yet. My crystal ball says that honeymoon with 4E simplicity will fade with each book released from WoTC

 

[kitsune9]

Does anyone here regularly use a laptop, PDA, or similar device at the table?

I don't necessarily mean as a fun diversion (e.g. for sound effects) but as your basic, go-to medium for rules and even adventure text. As a replacement for books and (most or all) paper, in other words.

If so, what device do you use?

With the quality of the Compendium, and with the fact that I write all my campaign notes, encounters, and adventures in an on-line wiki anyway, I'm looking for a compact device to use at the table. It must have as a minimum 802.11b/g (wifi) support.

I've tried my laptop, but it takes up almost the entire space available to me behind the screen, and I need something more compact. I figured someone here might have had a similar experience.

I am thinking a tablet PC might do the trick. You use the stylist to pull up files and stuff and read off the screen. I want to go completely electronic myself (with the exception to dice) and I'm looking at tablet PC's to do the trick. I find PDA's too small for my eyes.

 

[jdrakeh]

I have a Toshiba e750 that I use for carrying around character sheets and small text files (usually stat block extracts and such). It also has the Bag O' Bones dice rolling app on it. Like most handheld devices, though, it's functionality is pretty limited, so it's really not much more than a replacement for paper character sheets and a bag of dice.

I recently bought an Asus AspireOne, which I have loaded up with some basic mapping apps, choice MP3s, and the better part of my PDF game library as well as the Small Roller dice app, Skype, and various spreadsheets for games that I play. Sometimes I bring it with me, sometimes not (it honestly depends upon what game I'm playing).